mic cable question

Ken Williams · From: Arkansas

When recording sources that are beyond what a mic cable would reach, which one would produce less noise, hum, or whatever? Would it be better to use the preamps in the mixer(assuming they are quiet and sound okay) and linking two low Z mic cables, or going from the mic to a preamp then to the recorder?

I may be trying, in the not to distant future, to record some drums that are located in a different room from the mixer and just wanted to know if I needed more mic cables. If I went the external preamp route I'm sure I would have a purchase a cheap model(limited budget), which may add more noise, since I'm still going to have to run two cables.

Thanks,
Ken

Jerry Gleason · From: Eugene, Oregon, USA

I don't think you'll have trouble with long cable runs, as long as everything stays balanced lo-Z (three conductor mic cables). Long cable runs of a few hundred feet are done all the time in live sound applications. It's easy to test out, just record something with one cable, then try it with two (or more) hooked together. If you can hear a difference, there's your answer. I'd bet that with good quality cable, you won't likely hear any difference.

Hi-z unbalanced two conductor cable, like instrument cable, is another thing entirely. After about 20 feet, you can hear the highs start to lose definition, even with high quality cable.

Ken Williams · From: Arkansas

Thanks Jerry for the response. That's kinda what I figured but just wanted to make sure. I knew that snakes run the length of an auditorium but I always assumed that they had some type of special shielding around the snake.
I may to try to record a demo for my son's(pictured in avatar)group. They're mostly heavey metal with a few acoustic guitar songs. With all that heavy metal distortion huming, proabably won't make that much difference anyway. Very Happy

Thanks again Jerry for your help.

Ken

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

With heavy metal no one will notice 200' of cable runs...

I am planning pre-amps near the mics
with VCA control of levels and remote metering too.
But this is for tube pramps and I feel that they are
more sensitive to spurious signals than SS preamps.
Even though I prefer their sound.

I have done long cable runs,
but I pref short mic level and longer line level
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