Cable Wiring for 5 pin XLR to 3.5mm

Audio

Cable Wiring for 5 pin XLR to 3.5mm

Posted by Ben Edwards on October 16, 2010 at 9:31 pm

I am trying to make up a cable but cant quite work out how to wire it.

At one end there is a 5 pin XLR (Left+, Left-, Right+, Right – and Ground).

At the other end there is a 3 pin stereo 3.5mm jack (tip(L), sleve1(R) and ground).

Using 3 core I am guessing I meed to do Left+ to Tip(L), Right+ to sleve1(R) and ground to ground but am not sure.

Or should I use 5 core?

Can anyone please confirm this.

Thanks in advance,
Ben

Brian Reynolds replied 15 years, 7 months ago 5 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Ty Ford
October 16, 2010 at 11:42 pm

Ben,

For what?

Regards,

Ty Ford

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Ben Edwards
October 17, 2010 at 4:34 am

Ty,

The XLR end is a microphone, the 3.5mm is an solid state recorder.

Regards,
Ben
Ty Ford
October 17, 2010 at 10:32 am

Ben,

Unless you really like soldering fiddly bits,

https://tinyurl.com/27nes7o

https://tinyurl.com/24ofz46

To tell you the truth, it’s 6:30 AM here and I’m not sure what the differences between the two are, but Neumann makes very good gear.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar

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Richard Crowley
October 18, 2010 at 12:10 am

“The XLR end is a microphone, the 3.5mm is an solid state recorder.”

It may not be that simple. This is not necessarily a generic solution. WHAT microphone? WHICH recorder?

Specifically: Does the microphone require phantom power? If it does, then the cable will not work, no matter how it is wired.
Ty Ford
October 18, 2010 at 2:22 am

Excellent point, Richard.

Ty Ford

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Jordan Wolf
October 18, 2010 at 4:35 am

So, I’m assuming that you’ve got yourself a stereo microphone and are trying to take that balanced, stereo signal and go into a mono, balanced input (or stereo, unbalanced, since you don’t state what recorder you are using). Is that right?

The best way would be to split it to 2 3-pin XLRs using a breakout cable. The next MIGHT be to do some resistive summing so that nastiness doesn’t occur.

Let us know some more info, otherwise we’re just taking shots in the dark.

Wolf
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Brian Reynolds
October 18, 2010 at 11:48 am

Lets “assume” the mic is stereo, balanced and battery powered…. Try this for some connections

XLR output
Pin 1 Earth
Pin 2 L+
Pin 3 L-
Pin 4 R+
Pin 5 R-

And 3.5mm plug
Tip = L
Ring = R
Sleeve= Earth

Use a 3 core cable,
connect pin 2 [xlr] to the tip [3.5]
connect pin 4 [xlr] to the ring [3.5]
In the xlr plug join pins 3 and 5, this is then connected to the sleeve of the [3.5] using the braid of the 3 core cable.
If and ONLY if there is hum connect pin 1 [xlr] to pins 3+5 inside the xlr connector.

This combination should work EXCEPT on a phantom powered mic.
Give it a try nothing to lose…..

The difference between Knowledge and Wisdom is… Knowledge is the knowing of facts…. Wisdom is the sensible application of good quality knowledge…

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