How To Solder XLR Microphone Cables [Step-By-Step Tutorial]

In this video, you'll lean how to make your own XLR microphone cables! I'll show you what materials and tools are needed and I'll walk you step-by-step through the process of making an XLR cable.
Full Post (Audio University Website): audiouniversityonline.com/diy...
MATERIALS -
XLR Connectors:
- Amazon: amzn.to/3npV4TM
- B&H: bhpho.to/3xLWgX3
Bulk Microphone Cable:
- Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/MXoeD2
- Amazon: amzn.to/3q186Jf
- B&H: bhpho.to/3zQxEyl
TOOLS -
Soldering Iron:
- Amazon: amzn.to/3pX74hf
Budget Soldering Iron:
- Amazon: amzn.to/3pUoYRN
Solder:
- Amazon: amzn.to/3bmf4o9
Wire Strippers:
- Amazon: amzn.to/35jzr1f
Scissors:
- Amazon: amzn.to/38lci0s
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Watch the Equipment Maintenance Video Playlist: • How To Solder XLR Micr...
0:00 - Introduction
0:33 - List of Tools & Materials
3:26 - Step 1: Install Strain Relief Sleeve
3:42 - Step 2: Remove 1/2-Inch of Outer Jacket
4:05 - Step 3 - Consolidate Shield to One Side
4:36 - Step 4 - Remove 1/8-Inch of Insulation
4:52 - Step 5 - Tin Each Wire of the Cable
5:11 - Step 6 - Tin the Cups in the Connector
5:31 - Step 7 - Connect Wires to the Connectors
6:04 - Step 8 - Assemble the Connector
6:32 - Subscribe to Audio University!
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[@AudioUniversity]

View the full list of materials and tutorial for making XLR microphone cables here: audiouniversityonline.com/diy-xlr-microphone-cables/

[@woodworkerroyer8497]

Should I connect the shield to wire 1, or to the connector itself? I've heard both ways, and that one or the other can cause feedback or noise to get into the system. Can you explain why you say to connect the shield to the ground wire, and not to the connector?

[@jessezepeda3990]

This guy is a great Teacher! Love his Videos! Thanks Kyle!

[@jobaecker9752]

Perfectly done. Excellent and clear.

[@joelonsdale]

I love hearing our Transatlantic cousins butchering the word 'solder' into something like 'sudder'... Enough teasing, this is a great video and extremely helpful :)

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks, Joe!

[@chrismaddin8242]

Cheers for that soldering training. 👍👍

[@headphonecable]

Thanks for your video!

[@ahmedjina6964]

Very helpful

[@orjandus]

hry thanks my friends soldered cables so good under over method. rainer came showed his style but yours easier. thank you ! :)

[@broadcastedtube]

This is si useful

[@Sp00ksintheattic]

Thank you for the info

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching!

[@KallusGarnet]

First comment: very informative video, thank you for the video and keep up the good work. from the UK

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching! I'll keep making videos for you! Any suggestions for future video topics?

[@priyaldezoysa572]

Great video and I will no doubt use this to help me with my cables as they seem to be outrageously expensive to buy a good cable (if you can find one) these days. Also just wondering about how Neutrik seems to have a monopoly on all connectors and effectively driving prices up. They seem to be buying out all the competition out and thereby price fixing. Surely the monopolicies commisiion should intervene.

[@Al-po2oh]

I have 2 XLR female inputs connected to the circuit board of a Behringer Europower PMX 2000 mixer/amp which aren’t working. I think the pins inside these connectors are no longer making contact with the male pins of the mic cord. Can this be corrected without changing the female input? Thank you

[@angeligonzales927]

Hi, can you help me, because in our xlr mount panel microphone there was a grounded

[@dr.labbejl1686]

This video is gold. What about the oily orcream used to aid the soldering. I’ve heard it makes it easier. Thanks fot the info.

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad it helped!

[@helmanfrow]

4:22 Unless your cable has a drain conductor, in which case you can safely snip away the shield. Also in some cases (like Canare L-4E6S) the shield is quite massive and only a portion of it is retained for pin 1.

[@tamaracastro4379]

You’re a fkn g for this vid

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad to help! Thanks for watching.

[@juddberry8609]

Hey man! You have some really useful videos man, really appreciate your work! Could you possibly do a video on hearing compression or any kind of exercises one can do to practice it (like the one you did on frequencies). Would be super helpful!

[@AudioUniversity]

I plan to make a video on dynamic range and compression in the near future! In the meantime, you can practice hearing compression with the same tool I showed you in the ear training videos! There is a compression test tool too! Here it is: webtet.net/apcl/#/compression

[@silkroad1201]

I made a ton of these when I interned at a recording studio, but that was 8 years ago and I can't remember how to do it lol

[@billguitarvin]

Probably being a bit anal here, but after you have applied the soldering pencil to the joint and then remove it, I find the wire wiggles just a little before the joint sets, as it’s hard to hold the wire perfectly still. Can this lead to a cold solder joint because the wire is moving a bit?

[@cupakm]

Hi. What do you think about soldering shield to connector chassis too? The Neutriks you use offer this possibility.

[@ronaldsetiawan1708]

I do that...split the ground cable into two same portions, soldered one into pin #1 and soldered the other into the grounding pin.

[@epifaniocortez]

is it good to jumper 1 and 3?

[@heartless1645]

❤️

[@mondragonargelful]

I hope you see my concern. I saw the manual of qsc amp I'm using. The balanced xlr shown to their manual is a bit confusing. The wires 1,2 and 3 on the amp side are all connected while on the other side of xlr only 2 and 3 are connected. Is there any reason for it? I hope you see it. Thank you

[@ThereWasNoFreeName]

Probably for 2 reasons: 1) to avoid ground loop 2) amp has connection to the ground and will pass any interference induced signal to the ground while the source (guitar maybe?) has no connection to the actual ground. You only need hot and cold signal OR hot+ground OR cold+ground to pass the signal (if you have both hot and cold you don't need the ground actually) so with balanced connection shielding grounded only on amp side. Unless you don't cause ground loop in your line it should be OK to use regular wire with all 3 pins connected.

[@asymantix1611]

Can (or how do) I cut the connectors off of a dvi-d cable (or any old cable) and replace the connectors to a 1/4in (ts, trs)? Is this possible? I have some high quality cables and would like to convert/recycle ♻️ cables to by replacing the connectors. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

[@AudioUniversity]

You’ll need to ensure the cable you’re using has a shield and the appropriate wires. Some cables use much smaller wires than are recommended for audio cables.

[@TravisHenry09]

Should the cable shield going to pin 1 also be tied to the XLR shell pin or not? I can't seem to find a clear answer to this anywhere.

[@hintoninstruments2369]

Definitely not! Consider the situation where you pick up two XLR cables to mate them, one in each hand, and there is an electrical fault in something one is connected to the other end... You get a shock straight through your heart! Pin 1 of a chassis XLR should be connected directly to the chassis, not the signal 0V, and the cable shell will be connected to the chassis too when mated and will overlap the cable shield. The correct recommended professional practise is outlined in the AES48 standard.

[@Elevtr]

is the red positive or is the blue positive?

[@houndawg3]

63/37 solder is better and easier to work with than 60/40. Kester 44 is what you should look for.

[@jessezepeda3990]

I still cant figure out what I'm doing wrong. Could you help with my out of phase problem?

[@AudioUniversity]

Polarity can be reversed by swapping pin 2 and 3.

[@sigvardbjorkman]

If I reversed this, could that work as an inverted phase/reverse polarity, whatever it's called? Why do I want to know? My sound card lacks a button for the inverted phase/reverse polarity for my microphone, so I thought of getting a “xlr adapter cross wired reverse” for this, if it would work? I don't know if it would? If it would also, I think of maybe turning one xlr cable I have lying around into one, so I don't have to order one of these adapters.

[@AudioUniversity]

Yes. Keep the shield the same and reverse positive and negative.

[@sigvardbjorkman]

@@AudioUniversity Thanks!

[@teodorogabriel9325]

Sir what brand of XLR connector your recommended to use thanks for the answer

[@AudioUniversity]

Neutrik

[@teodorogabriel9325]

@@AudioUniversity thank you sir for your response i really appreciate it God bless

[@mr.selfdestruct2917]

I'm going to use sheilded cat6

[@samuelmaylor6634]

Can I use this cable as/for a powered speakers?

[@dabinielson]

Yes. You can use it for line and mic signals. However you can't use it for old passive speakers that use the xlr connection for amplified signals. They used to have xlr where now speakon is the standard.

[@babistsimoris1891]

Kyle, Is there a way we can get the logo of the university in a jpeg file?

[@AudioUniversity]

You should be able to find the image here: audiouniversityonline.com/about-me/ Why do you want the logo?

[@babistsimoris1891]

@@AudioUniversity So I can print it on a sticker for my notebook

[@mickellyrodrigues2191]

Hey what about the 4th pin .. why isn't that not connected ? And why is it there ?

[@AudioUniversity]

There are only 3 pins on an XLR. Some have a connection to the connector chassis also.

[@mickellyrodrigues2191]

@@AudioUniversity thank you

[@reypalabao986]

Hi how are you.I'm Rey Marsado Palabao,in Philippines I can see to you to

[@MaxsonJacki]

What happens if you accidentally Nick some of the inside of the wire when you cut it?

[@kusholhumedeo7851]

Which is male and which is female jack? After soldered figures must be shown clearly as it is our main purpose here. When cutting there was no white colored wire but when soldering there it is, why? In your diagram the colors are red green and black but in actual there is no green and black. This tutorial is confusing.

[@khall187]

Yikes. Dude, clearly you're not inclined for this. The diagram isn't meant to say "LITERALLY ALL CABLES WILL BE THIS COLOR", it's just a random color coating. Not to mention it's quite obvious which is male vs female. Just look at the pins 🤦🏻‍♂️ and a simple "male XLR" into Google would easily answer your question. Your condescending complaining is ironic considering how ignorant to this stuff you seem to be.

[@phxphy]

Regarding the diagram, the insulation around the conductors isn’t guaranteed to be any particular color configuration, but using green, red, and black to indicate ground (pin 1), hot (pin 2), and cold (pin 3) is fairly common. In this case, the best way to ensure you’re soldering wires to connectors correctly is by using an electronic multimeter to test the opposing connector for Ohms/continuity. Regarding the “white colored wire,”if you actually watched the tutorial in its entirety (a whopping 6 minutes and 40 seconds), you would know why the color of the copper shielding changed to “white colored wire.” Go to 5:05. Finally, you’re watching the wrong tutorial if you’re asking about jack genders and needing a closer look at after-soldered figures that are already shown sufficiently. But, the jacks on this broken transformer are both male (which you can see in the video), meaning the connector is female. You can also tell at the end as he assembles the connector. Best of luck.

[@barnyardstory]

Ah ain't nothing wrong with Cannon XLR's, they were the first and are still very good connectors. Of course don't buy crap anything, lots of Cannon fakes out there. If it cost $1 it's worth a $1.

[@dr.labbejl1686]

This video is gold. What about the oily orcream used to aid the soldering. I’ve heard it makes it easier. Thanks fot the info.

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad it helped!