Many of the new Mini Disc (MD) and digital video camers are coming with a phantom voltage supplied on their 1/8" (mini) microphone input jack. This voltage is provided to power the condenser microphones supplied with the unit. Unfortunatley, if you are trying to use a professional microphone that is not designed to use this voltage, then you may experience noise in the audio and even damage to the equipment. To work around this problem, you will need to build or buy an adapter cable that includes a blocking capacitor to stop the voltage from reaching the microphone. The blocking capacitor should be 100 mf @ 6 volts or better. One that is easy to find is a 220-microfarad, 16-volt. The Radio Shack Part Number is #272-956. This capacitor should just fit inside most XLR female connectors. This is wired in series with the tip of the mini plug and pin 2 of the XLR.   Cables can be purchased from several sources. Just be certain that they contain the blocking capacitor. Once source is: Markertek which has four models... XLF-H8-10: mono XLR mic to L+R camera mic ins, $50 XLF-H8M-10: mono XLR line to L+R camera mic ins, $60 XLR-H8S-10: dual XLR mics to camera mic ins, $75 XLF-H8SA-10: dual XLR lines to camera mic ins, $85 (Double check the specs and part numbers before ordering.)