[tacos]

As odd as it sounds, microphone cables weren't standardized until 1992. Before then companies did all sorts of stuff.

Here's a Neumann mic from 1952 that could be set remotely. http://recordinghacks.com/microphones/Neumann/M-49

Today it is increasingly common to put the analog stuff as close to the source as possible and remote control it.

[Ericson2314]

What is the standard? I mainly see XLR but I've stared at far more live equipment than recording equipment.

[tacos]

It's XLR. But even then Americans and Europeans couldn't agree on where to stick the three wires.

This is the 1992 document that finally standardized "pin 2 hot" among other minutiae: http://www.aes.org/publications/standards/search.cfm?docID=1...

[Ericson2314]

Interesting, thanks!