Soundboard into Minidisc

[slipperyPete]

Hi everyone, I was hoping for some help with a couple questions.

First, I am looking to record from a soundboard into a minidisc recorder. I was told that I need a Dual XLR Female to 3.5mm (1/8") stereo miniplug cable in order to connect the two. My first question is whether or not this is correct, and my second question is where can I find one of these (I am hoping to use it on Wednesday so online ordering isn't an option?)

Any help at all is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[BulkHead]

Radio shack, if they don't have the exact match- they sell soldering irons too.
You could also go from a headphone out of the board, which would be male TRS 1/4" to male TRS (stereo) 1/8", the shack has got to have one of those.

 

[slipperyPete]

Thanks for the quick reply, I have another question now.

Will there be a noticable sound quality difference between using the XLR vs the Headphone jack?

 

[Dugz Ink]

The biggest loss will be at the contacts on the 1/8" jack... not the heaphone jack. Using the XLR jacks will only mean that you are sending a nice balanced output to a relatively cheap unbalanced input jack.

Switching to the headphone jack will also give you another level control; you can adjust the signal level that you are sending to the minidisc, without touching the Main levels. You would need a stereo 1/4" to stereo 1/8" cable for that, and those are pretty easy to find.

Another alternative is to route the "TAPE" outs (if your mixer has them... most do) to the minidisc. If 1/8" jack on the minidisc is a "line level" input, then this would actually be the best choice. Typically, you would need a Y cable that has two RCA plugs and one 1/8" stereo plug... which is fairly easy to find.