Hunting for a Pre-Made Stereo XLR Patch cable

[Steve J. Nordahl]

Hi all,

I'm going to be installing a Rode NT4 inside a Rode Blimp. The NT4 already comes with a 5-Pin Stereo XLR Female to Dual XLR Male as part of the mike kit. However, I have a K-Tec KE-89CCS that is already 5 pin cabled. I'd rather not run 2 messy (Heavy) 3 pin external cables outside of the boom. I've been looking around and I can't find a xlr 5 pin to xlr 5 pin male-female stereo cable in the 18" to 36" length to go from the NT4 direct to the pigtail of the K-Tec boom.. Rode doesn't offer one, nor does K-Tec from what I can see.

Any help>>>??

Steve
Bethlehem, Pa.

[Richard Crowley]

You can have Redco make any kind of cable you want. Redco Audio - Redco Audio Home Page
I have used Canare miniature "star-quad" cable to make myself ~600 ft of stereo mic cables (50-ft lengths) with 5-pin XLRs at each end.

[Steve J. Nordahl]

Thanks Rich I'll take a look.

Steve

[Pedanes Bol]

You are looking for this cable:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/287236-REG/Remote_Audio_CAX5QN25_Starquad_XLR_5_Pin_Male.html
I have it and it works great.

[Steve J. Nordahl]

Thanks Pedanes,

But I need a cable between 18" to 36" not 25 feet. I've already seen that one. I've also contacted Remote Audio and they don't make one that short.

I took Richard's advice and contacted Redco, They have indicated they will make the cable for me. I'm just waiting for the estimate and Paypal invoice.

Thanks again

Steve

[Battle Vaughan]

If you can solder, making custom cables isn't "rocket surgery"....the cable and fittings are available at electronics suppliers like Mouser.com and Allied Electronics, and a/v suppliers like Markertek.

Markertek has a one-foot cable but it sound like it might be too short: Connectronics Balanced Audio cable 5 pin XLR M-F - 1Ft XLR to XLR Cables at Markertek.com

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Steve J. Nordahl

Hi all,

I'm going to be installing a Rode NT4 inside a Rode Blimp. The NT4 already comes with a 5-Pin Stereo XLR Female to Dual XLR Male as part of the mike kit. However, I have a K-Tec KE-89CCS that is already 5 pin cabled. I'd rather not run 2 messy (Heavy) 3 pin external cables outside of the boom. I've been looking around and I can't find a xlr 5 pin to xlr 5 pin male-female stereo cable in the 18" to 36" length to go from the NT4 direct to the pigtail of the K-Tec boom.. Rode doesn't offer one, nor does K-Tec from what I can see.

Any help>>>??

Steve
Bethlehem, Pa.

If your boom is cabled for stereo through a 5 pin XLR, isn't the cable end at the top an XLR female that will plug directly into the mic without the need for a jumper between them? If it doen't quite reach you can probably adjust the cable so a bit more comes out of the exit at the top of the boom.

And another consideration, why are you putting a dual-capsule stereo mic on the end of a boom like that in the first place??? Booming is usally for dialog recording and that is invariably shot in mono on the set. If your release is to be stereo, you pan the single mono dialog track equally between left and right channels in post for the final mix. Using a stereo mic and recording dialog in stereo, you'll find that every slight movement of the boom as you foillow the action is going to change the stereo image, ultimately driving your audience bonkers as the voices appear to move all over the screen with no apparent correlation to the character's screen position and visible movements (or lack thereof).. Stereo mics need to be stationary to create a realisitic soundstage. Use your NT-4 on a stationary stand for music and ambience and get a mono hyper to boom indoors and a short 'gun for outdoors for your dialog recording.

[Steve J. Nordahl]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for sharing that on the cable length. I plan to keep the cable from the rode blimp in place as i will use that for my NTG3 on regular shoots. However I will use the new cable to patch past the the female 3 pin xlr in the handle of the Rode Blimp right down to the new K-Tec KE-89CCS 5 pin lead. The primary use of the NT4 is very specific and does not move. The NT4 will be fixed on a boom about 10 feet high recording passing railroad trains in industrial settings. Yes the camera will pan and zoom but the audio will be "arrival,mid-point, and passage" in either direction. I place perpendicular and level. I'm generally 25-50 feet away from the equipment, but the sound energy is quite high. I've tried the NTG3 in this configuration, but the arrival and passage sound is weak due to the side rejection of the NTG3. I tested a friends nt4 and the capture was much better and consistent from left to right.

I profess to be a novice at this and am limited on what I can use. So these seem like the best alternatives at the moment.

Steve

[Steve House]

Sounds like a fun project. Bit of a train buff myself. Haven't done any recordings but I've thought about using a pair of cardioids on stands along the track as an A/B set, spacing them perhaps 25 feet apart along the track and maybe 10 feet back from trackside, to capture run-bys. Suitable stands that can get them 8 feet or so up are cheaper 'n dirt at big-box music stores. Don't know what results might obtain but I think it would be an interesting experiment.

I wouldn't have expected the NTG-3 or any shotgun to be very good for this sort of thing for exactly the reason you cited. You need coverage over a full 180 degree hemisphere to capture the motion of the sound source entering from 90 degrees on one side, across the front, and off at 90 degrees on the other,

[Steve J. Nordahl]

Thanks again Steve...

Another Railfan....Very nice......I live only blocks away from NS's Lehigh Line.

Yes I fully agree on the NTG3 "Not" being the mike of choice for this type work. It's great though for all the other areas. This is why I decided to go with the nt4. I use a pretty heavy Avenger C-Stand and K-Tec's boom pole holder to get the boom-pole and blimp height I need, yet keeping it close enough to keep the cabling short. I also use a SD-302 for mixing.

Here is a shot of the rig, I hope to post two audio clips to show the difference in this type situation.

Steve Nordahl's Photos | Facebook

Thanks again for the help.

Steve

[Allan Black]

I've got all that gear, the supplied twin NT4 cables won't fit down the Blimps handle without a lot of hassle. Might be Ok if it's stable.

Steve that's exactly the technique I used to record the soundtrack for the No. 1 LOCO display at the New South Wales Powerhouse museum. Locomotive No 1: the first train in NSW

The brief was to present a pre recorded soundscape of the 3 carriage train arriving at a suburban station of Sydney in 1863. It was then held up because of a blockage futher ahead so the passengers talked amongst themselves.

I recorded this early model loco Rail Heritage Centre - Rolling stock and 3 single bogie carriages (used in the film Ned Kelly) at the Thirlmere Steam museum here, in exactly the method you described.

We started early on a 105F day, for lunch we cooked bacon and eggs on the engines footplate and the rep from the Powerhouse passed out from the heat during the afternoon.

I used 4 Neumann KM84s at about 18" height, spaced out along the line into 4 locked Nagra 4s recorders and only got 6 good quiet takes all day as the museum is on the flight path to Sydney airport. Xfered it to 24track and added the passengers (actors) voices for carriage replay.

This soundtrack is replayed via a series of 15" speakers positioned in the front of the station platform and the passengers speakers positioned in each carriage. It was the first Laser disc job in Aust. and on the Powerhouses opening day Radio 2GB asked us to lower the replay volume as it was disrupting their live adv schedule.

It's been playing approx every 20mins 9-5pm, 7days a week for about 20yrs now.

Because of the unusual procurement setup I had to provide everything for the job and it's the only invoice my outfit ever sent out with one ton of coal costed on it :)
Cheers.

[Steve J. Nordahl]

Thanks for sharing that Allen....

105F air temp, How did you ever manage to keep the eggs from burning??? I can imagine the footplate must have been 125+

Great story...

Steve

[Allan Black]

YW Steve. Yes it was very hot, the engine crew were used to it of course and I didn't notice it, I was more worried (read freaking out) about the damn planes going overhead.

There's 8mm video of it somewhere, it shows me walking along ahead of the loco like leading an elephant. The Powerhouse thought it was hilarious, thank goodness because it put their rep in hospital for a couple of days.

From memory I believe I mixed the 24Tk 2" to 4TK 1/2" and the Laser disc rig was NTSC gear from the US.

The soundtrack was mastered in California and we got it back just in the nick of time for opening day. Bunch of nervous nellies at the Powerhouse in those days.

Dejavu I'm doing a similar thing for a theatre in a WW2 Catalina flying boat as we speak.
Cheers.