Balanced Cables (page 3)
[Sidebar: Longer Runs]
If you need to move farther away than fifty feet, consider using a wireless microphone. With a wireless microphone, you eliminate the cables but you often end up using an XLR connection to attach the receiver to your camera anyway. Wireless audio recording has its own unique challenges. Wireless microphones rely on radio frequencies (RF) to send the audio signal from the transmitter attached to the microphone to the receiver attached to the camera. Wireless units transmit either VHF (Very High Frequency) or UHF (Ultra High Frequency) transmitters. VHF is a very crowded bandwidth in our modern world and is used for everything from pagers to remote control toys to broadcast television. Wireless microphones used in these frequencies can be very susceptible to RF interference from these other sources. This is especially true as the distance between the transmitter and receiver grows or obstructions like walls block the signal. UHF is less susceptible to interference, but of course it's more expensive and even that bandwidth is becoming crowded. Try to use a wireless system that identifies itself as a True Diversity System. Such a system uses more than one signal path and records the strongest signal at any given moment.
[Sidebar: Safe Cabling Tips]
Treat your connectors and cables with care. If you have no choice where you lay the cables, cover them with a padded mat and gaffer tape them so they won't move. Wind your cables in a manner that follows the natural bend in the cable. Also, it's a good idea to wrap your cables once around your camera tripod just in case someone trips and pulls them. This simple preventive act will protect the inputs on the camera.
