Note that it is important that these cables are wired correctly.

The
electrical signal from the microphone is carried by the two
cable conductors connected to pins 2 and 3 of the XLRs. Although the cable
would appear to work correctly if the connections to pins 2 and 3 were
reversed (so that pin 2 at one end connects to pin 3 at the other end, and vice
versa), the effect would be a signal polarity reversal (often referred to as
a phase reversal); this is usually undesirable. The cable conductor that is
connected to pin 1 does not carry any signal − this conductor is the 'screen'
(or 'shield') of the cable, a metallic mesh or foil whose purpose is to shield the
two signal-carrying conductors from interference. It is generally recommended
that the screen is connected only to pin 1, and not also to the metallic shell of
the connector at either end of the cable, to avoid earth loops occurring by
incidental contact with other connector shells or adjacent metalwork.

For unbalanced signal sources such as direct feeds from keyboards and

guitars (that is, where a microphone is not used), a DI box should always be
used. A jack-to-jack cable is usually used to connect the unbalanced signal
from the instrument (or from its backline amplifier DI output) to the DI box,
which converts the signal into a balanced one suitable for travelling the
distance to the mixer. Microphone cables as described above are then used to
make the balanced signal connections from the DI boxes to the stagebox.
Regarding which source to connect to which channel of the multicore, see the
section below.

Connection of the multicore to the mixer

The mixer end of analogue multicores are usually equipped with 'tails' having
XLR connectors which may plug directly into the mixer, or which may connect
to the mixer via a patch bay. An alternative arrangement, often used with
patch bays, is for the mixer-end of the cable system to be equipped with a
multi-way connector. Where a patch bay is used, short cables are used to
connect from the patch bay to the mixer inputs.

In systems without patch bays, it is usual for line 1 of the multicore to connect

to channel 1 of the mixer, and so on for the required number of channels. In
this case, sound sources local to the mixer (tape, CD, etc.) are connected to
its higher-numbered channels.

In digital mixer systems employing a digital snake, the snake cable(s) are
usually connected directly to the mixer. The mixer provides the facility to map
the snake channels to the mixer channels as required.

It is common practice for the drum kit microphones to be allocated to the

channels in a 'standard' order, often starting at channel 1 of mixer. These are
typically followed by the other instrument channels, then the vocal mics. To
enable channels to be rapidly located for adjustment during performances, it is
useful to allocate the vocal channels (and sometimes instrument channels) in
the same order as the band layout, left to right across the stage. If the
multicore channel numbers are to correspond with the mixer channel
numbers, then the sources must be connected to the stagebox in the same
order that you want them to appear on the mixer. An example channel
allocation chart is shown below, for you to adapt to your own requirements.
(For example, if your mixer has spare stereo channels then an electronic
keyboard instrument could be connected to one of these.)

 1  Kick
 2  Snare
 3  Hi-Hats
 4  Tom (high)