How do you keep your cables & plugs organized on the road?

[pajhonka]

Hi,
I could use some advice on cable/plugs/converter storage & organization.

To prepare for live shows, I meticulously roll and tie my cables with velcro straps. But when I have to break down the set in less time than I took to set up, the cables and wires tend to get tossed into my big Rubbermaid bin.

Is there a better way? I was thinking about getting a tackle box for all the plugs & converters, but I could really use a device to quickly organize my mic & instrument cables. Thanks!

[tnjazz]

Originally Posted by pajhonka

Hi,
I could use some advice on cable/plugs/converter storage & organization.

To prepare for live shows, I meticulously roll and tie my cables with velcro straps. But when I have to break down the set in less time than I took to set up, the cables and wires tend to get tossed into my big Rubbermaid bin.

Is there a better way? I was thinking about getting a tackle box for all the plugs & converters, but I could really use a device to quickly organize my mic & instrument cables. Thanks!

What's wrong with throwing it in the bin and sorting it out later? That's what I do when I need (or want) to break down fast.

Otherwise, the only answer is to take about as much time breaking down as you do setting up.

Or get an intern.

[bishopthomas]

Practice wrapping cables if you are too slow at it. Don't throw your cables into a pile, you will hate yourself for it later. As far as connector adapters, I use a tackle box sort of thing for that, but if you're really pressed for time then throw them all in a small plastic box with a lid and sort through them later. They're much easier to untangle than 30' mic cables.

[Ozpeter]

Treat your cables with love and you'll be much less likely to have an embarrassing cable failure down the track. The stereo cable I use with my main pair must be heading towards 20 years old, and it's still in very good condition.

Bundling them is fine at the time but untangling them later tends to be unkind to them. I guess we've all done it in an emergency, but I wouldn't recommend it as a routine thing to do.

Years back I developed my own weird way of coiling cables - I use a reusable plastic cable tie to make a loop at one end, then roll the cable up using that loop as the starting point. Then I put another larger cable tie round the lot. Thus there's never any kind of twisting applied to the cable as it's always rolled as if on an invisible drum. Laying it out is of course simply the reverse.

And if anyone ever offers to help wind your cables up - thank them but tell them not even to begin to think of touching them.

My grandson lives in another country but I've seen a video of him rolling up cables very neatly when he wasn't even two - I sense a recording engineer in the making!

[Corran]

Originally Posted by Ozpeter

And if anyone ever offers to help wind your cables up - thank them but tell them not even to begin to think of touching them.

I hate when people get all offended when I tell them I'm fine and don't need any help. They're all like, "it's just cables!"

One time this guy helped me without asking and did the "around the elbow" manuever on a hundred foot cable. The cable then was stuck because he wrapped it so tightly and he started losing circulation in the arm and was freaking out. I was nonplussed.

[MichaelPatrick]

Originally Posted by pajhonka

Hi,
I could use some advice on cable/plugs/converter storage & organization.

To prepare for live shows, I meticulously roll and tie my cables with velcro straps. But when I have to break down the set in less time than I took to set up, the cables and wires tend to get tossed into my big Rubbermaid bin.

Is there a better way? I was thinking about getting a tackle box for all the plugs & converters, but I could really use a device to quickly organize my mic & instrument cables. Thanks!

I use the large cable cuffs from these guys.

Cable Tie Wraps Replaced by Patented New Clamp!

I also use velcro, like you do, to keep individual and stereo cables together, then I bundle them together with one of these. I can carry about 250 feet of Mogami mic cable into a venue on one clamp. It's got a ratchet action like a handcuff, and the handle lets you grab the whole bundle and toss it around without twisting or separating anything.

If you really like them I suppose you could use small clamps instead of velcro for individual cables.

[Sonic Lush]

Michael, I bought some kiwi mic cables off CL and they came with the Cable Cuff, from Cable Clamp.

one by one they've failed to clamp anything. they kind of strip out.
not sure how, because they're so simple and brilliant.
perhaps they're too small for the cables.

maybe the mega clamps are more sturdy.

I love it at a gig when people want to help.

them: "What can we do to help?"

me: "Make beautiful music and be happy, thanks!"

walter

ps my favorite one is, after I've spent days organizing and planning and loading and setting up and recording and breaking down and loading out, they're like:
"come join us for a drink!"

yeah, like I'm going to go have a drink right now with all my kit in the car.

"thanks for thinking of me, but maybe another time."

[MichaelPatrick]

Originally Posted by Sonic Lush

...maybe the mega clamps are more sturdy.

Walter, I use only the big ones to lump cables together. With one or two I can carry all my cables easily, and they haven't given out or even show a weakness since I've had them, which is probably a year or so. I do about 40 location recordings a year, so that's a pretty fair record of reliability I think.

[Ozpeter]

ps my favorite one is, after I've spent days organizing and planning and loading and setting up and recording and breaking down and loading out, they're like:
"come join us for a drink!"

Heh, I know that one! If I saved up all those refused drinks and had the lot for Christmas, I wouldn't be alive for the new year!

[slaphappygarry]

Doing things myself allows me to do a mental stock check of what i have and what i should have.

When you say this people get the hint.

G

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by slaphappygarry

Doing things myself allows me to do a mental stock check of what i have and what i should have.

I usually say things along the same lines.

After one concert, a lady offered help untangling cables, saying she was into sailing and knew all about tangled ropes etc...

[gareth.h.rees]

A bunch of guys I know who put gigs on use a cable drum and put all their mic cables on it.

Just wind the first one on, attach the next cable to the one on the drum, wind that one on, then repeat!

Works for them

[valleysound]

Originally Posted by pajhonka

Hi,
I could use some advice on cable/plugs/converter storage & organization.

To prepare for live shows, I meticulously roll and tie my cables with velcro straps. But when I have to break down the set in less time than I took to set up,

Break down should be faster than setup! It takes roughly half the time to tear down than set up for me. I can wrap a cable 10 times faster than it took to wire my rig and neatly run the cables for the show. Over/under is the way to go.

[Remoteness]

Ah yes, you have come to the right place.
Some very good thoughts and suggestion have been stated.

We are all about the organization and storage of cables, connectors, adaptors and such.
We also prepare for our gigs in the same fashion you do, but for the most part, we don’t stop that meticulous and thorough approach when we’re striking the session or set. A systematic line of attack is the best way to handle the quick breakdown situation that may occur during a live date.

IMO, when coiling cable, the “over / under” technique is the only way to handle the task!
Keep in mind that this is coming from a guy that does the “over / under” maneuver with his garden hose! In other words, don’t even think about doing it any other way.

We have a number of work boxes for all the cables and big stuff and various adaptor boxes for all the small items like connectors and adaptors. Some of our racks have rack mountable drawers or lock boxes for anything that's relative to that rack or individual session pack.

I will get some pictures together the next time I’m in the field shop.

Like tnjazz said, “What's wrong with throwing it in the bin and sorting it out later? That's what I do when I need (or want) to break down fast.”

…As long as it’s not a seriously tangled mess you’re okay – With that said, I’d still do my best to pack the cables right the first time.

[cleantone]

Velcro Ties and Milk Crates works for me!

[MichaelPatrick]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

“Over / Under” baby!

Absolutely! Anyone who does remotes who does not know how to do over/under should find some kind soul to learn from. Without it your cables kink, and that is a waste of time when you have the least time to spare.

[BobSchwenkler]

I've developed an over under method that is a little bit different than how probably most people do it. Instead of starting with the XLR jack pointing forward in the hand to be coiled over I start with it pointing toward me. I then wind it normal over under, but the movement is backwards and feels a lot different than the "normal" way. After getting the technique down better I can coil cables maybe almost twice as fast as I used to.

Does the description make sense? Explaining over under in text is really hard.

[Ozpeter]

An alternative emergency technique is to fold the cable in half (not of course with a tight fold) then in half again, etc, till the length is reasonable, then whip a cable tie or other securing device round the middle. It may take a little sorting out back at base but at least the cable will not have been twisted.

[joelpatterson]

Originally Posted by Corran

I hate when people get all offended when I tell them I'm fine and don't need any help....

Oooh, this is the worst.. If there's no time pressure, I'll actually have an impromptu workshop where I 'teach' the over/under technique. Some people pick it up quite naturally, and then later they tell me like Steve they apply it to all aspects of their coiling lives.

Funny how people either have an innate respect/understanding about the complexities of cables, or they don't imagine there's anything to it. Like stepping on cables. I'll see some people gingerly skip over a cable on the floor, and others will just blithely tromp, tromp, tromp.

[hanuman]

Taking the right cables is kind of alright.
Getting them back in the studio/household is another thing.
Next round I will have a separate bag for camera/Ipod USB cables, telephone chargers, (marked) LaCie power-supplies, mic/monitor and power and FW cables. (and yes i will take a video transfercable next time to have everything on board.)

[Remoteness]

It's amazing how cables (and such) can grow legs and walk -- all in one day mind you.

I just replaced all my XLR cables for all my rigs with laser etched Aura-Sonic logos on all the XLR connectors.

That's about 328 cables in 25', 50', and 100' lengths.

At least now when someone steals my cables they will know where they got them from!!!

[staudio]

I do the "over under" coiling technique for everything from mic to power cables. Then I put all the cables in milk crates, one or two crates for each type of cable. Adapters and little things get put in a clear plastic box with a few compartments for basic sorting. Milk crates are super cheap (often free), very durable, come in two basic sizes (square or rectangular), and make good seats or platforms when empty and upside down.

[just.sounds]

I saw a lot of people using these



Just connecting the end of the first cable to the beginning of the second.
and so on..

It does put some extra stress on the connectors but not a whole lot.
And it is a whole lot faster!!

[Remoteness]

We used reels for all sorts of cables in the 80s and part of the 90s, but my crew hated them -- I ended up selling them all...

Well, may be not all of them -- I still have two large Hanny reels mounted in the rear I/O area of Jethro.
We use them for our two 52 pair snakes.

I had a reel for our PTZ/A/V/P snake up until 2006, but my crew stopped using it.
They disliked dealing with it on so many levels.
It has been sitting in the field shop collecting dust ever since.

IMO, using reels for XLR cables is a real hassle.
It becomes a one person job and it seems to take a lot longer to roll them onto a reel than to over/under, especially when you have a few folks wrapping cables for you.

Hey, I bought them thinking it was the way to go, but it didn't really work for us, so they're now history.

With that said, I can see how it could work for a small portable rig, but I cannot see having to deal with the extra weight just so I can reel cables one by one.

...And, when the cables are not tightly reeled up (or get loose traveling to/from the gig) and the loops get tangled, man that's a serious bummer to deal with.

[tnjazz]

Let me just reiterate that I throw it all in a bag and sort it out later ONLY IF I want to get the hell out of there fast.

Most of the time I do coil everything up properly just so I don't have to screw around with it at home.

My mobile rig is set up with everything connected, so the only thing that really goes out on stage is the snake, splitter and a couple of ambients. We typically use all the house lines (although we sometimes sub our microphones in key places) so there's very little to deal with on stage. I can often get a lot of stuff packed away before the end of the show, which cuts down my break-down time. The biggest pain are the 24 channel snakes. Anything over 50 feet gets a little crazy to coil at the end of the night, especially when it's had beer spilled on it in a few key places...

You guys who get people offering to help you break down...where do you find these people?? I don't know that anyone's ever offered to help me.

I still say the best method is to get yourself an intern.

[plexisys]

Not sure why it takes you so long. You should be able to clear a stage of mic cables in about 10 mins tops. Are you using a single mic box or are you also using sub boxes?

First thing you do is build a mic loom for the drums. We use one with 12 cables. Once you unplug them all it takes less than a minute to wrap them up. It also makes setup much easier.

We also make the same thing for keyboards and percussion. 2-6 lines.

Using sub boxes and cable looms I've had crews that could clear out 40 mic lines in little or no time.

[Remoteness]

Ten minutes to clear 40 channels of XLR cables, sub snakes and such.

Man, I'd like to see a time lapse video of that situation.

With everything else that's going on (band, backline, etc.) ten minutes is an awesome accomplishment.

How many folks do you have hitting the stage for that record?


We now added a DrumDrop to handle drumsets and nearby backline. I like them much!

Four 12 channel sub snakes and one DrumDrop is our standard pack for each rig.

[plexisys]

It's pretty easy when your touring 300+ days a year. One guy and one stage hand hit the mic lines usually done in 10 minutes.

Typical setup is sub mic box for drums, one stage right, one stage left and one front of stage 8-12 lines per box.

No fancy velcro wraps or tie lines. Just an easy overhand knot. Probably only lose 2-4 mic lines going bad about every six months. This is how every major touring company does it.

If you're doing outdoor festivals, if you can't preset acts, you have to be able to strip and reset the mic lines that fast. Normally for outdoor dates we carried 2-3 sets of sub boxes so we could pre mic 2 or 3 acts.

The pre made mic looms do help quite a bit and I'm always surprised so many small sound companies have not figured that out. Once the mics are set I can plug up a full drum set in about 5 minutes. Easy set up easy tear down.

Most full time road crews can do it this fast if they are in the mood to knock it out.

Not braggin but years ago on a Ted Nuggent tour our trucks got delayed by snow. They arrived at the gig at 5:30. We got 3 semis worth of gear up and running and the show was only 15 minutes late. It kicked our ass but we got it done. It was kind of fun and a badge of honor for us that we pulled it off. Always remember Perkins Law when it comes to work.

[Remoteness]

Well, that makes sense.
I now see where you're coming from.
A seasoned crew on a 300+ day tour should be as fast as fast is.
It's how it's done.

IMO, location recording one-offs are a bit different than a touring live sound situation.
As you already know, besides the stage we have to deal with audience cable runs, feeds to various factions and such.

It can take a bit more time to wrap out.

I feel you with regard to that Nuggent situation.
We have had to pull off a few miracles due to serious snow storms ourselves.

I remember hitting one of New England's biggest snow storms heading to Boston from NYC.
We got there at doors (7PM) when we should have been there at 2PM.
We got the rig up and running ready for the show thanks to the fierce local crew ready and waiting for our arrival -- bucket brigade in action all the way.

It was a live broadcast so it had to happen on time.

[plexisys]

Yea remote recording is definitely a different animal. We were lucky, when we built our mic boxes we put in two 32 pair lines just for a remote. A few of them included transformers other boxes didn't. We always had two 32 pair mults in our shop that were 250 ft. long. Made life much easier for everyone. Out at the mixer we had 4 tie lines that could be used for audience mics so we could keep the number of lines running through the house at a minimum.

Now we also have 4-6 video lines, 2-4 communication lines and multiple digital lines for the mults. We started building our stage boxes like this back when Wally Heider's rig was around and it's changed dramaticlly over the years. If you look at some of the rigs guys like Ed Greene use now most gear was pretty primative back then.

PS. You got to love it when the local crew get's in to it.