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Music Production

XLR

The locking 3-pin connector standard for pro mics, with balanced wiring that cancels cable noise.

XLR An XLR connector face has three pins — ground shield, plus signal and minus signal — whose balanced pair cancels noise picked up along the cable. 1 2 3 3-pin connector face Pin 1 — ground / shield drains away interference Pin 2 — signal + Pin 3 — signal − balanced pair: noise cancels Locking, balanced — stays quiet over long mic runs and around interference

The locking, three-pin connector that is the standard for professional microphones and much studio audio gear. Its balanced wiring uses two signal conductors plus a shield so that electrical noise picked up along the cable is cancelled out at the other end, which keeps signals clean over long runs and around interference.

Concrete example

a mic on a 10-metre XLR run will typically stay quiet where an unbalanced consumer cable might hum.

What it means when you're buying

XLR (and balanced TRS) connections are why studio mics, interfaces and monitors avoid consumer mini-jacks — when choosing cables and gear, prefer balanced XLR/TRS for mics and monitor links, especially for longer cable runs or noisy environments.

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