Professional way for storing mic cables?

[KurtR]

I searched and didn't find much on storing mic / instrument cables.

So how do you do it so everything is easy to get to and looks decent? I know some have many many mic cables and I have no clue on how you sort / store them.



So if anybody would like to elaborate please do so!

[Harley-OIART]

-Don't throw them in a pool
-Don't Shower with them
-Coil Them Nicely
-Avoid Spilling Coffee on them
-Don't Step on them
-Don't Roll over them with chair
-Don't bend them so they kink
-Don't cook them (overkill in sun or too close to space heater)
-Coil Them Nicely

[top]) I know you were looking for a serious answer

) I work for a major production company and honestly dude it really doesn't matter that much. Expensive cables get thrown around stage all night, then packed in the bottom of a road case along with another 150 cables + stageboxes / snakes. These things get torture tested every day and at the end of the year they still sound fine.

Just follow the above steps and you should be fine =) lol... p.s. i was kidding about the pool (washing cables [not connectors] is fine to get gunk off them)

The biggest problem is kinks / shorts... coil them well and always keep your cable lines run neat... other than that hang em on a peg and your set

[Fletcher]

We sort them by color... which designates length. Purple is like 10'; Red 15'; Blue 20'; Yellow 25'... they are coiled in like a 1ft. diameter with a stage tie and hung on hooks on the wall.

[Harley-OIART]

Good call, Should have mentioned that
I recall we use :

-Red - 10ft
-Green - 15ft
-Blue - 25ft
-Yellow - 50ft
-White - 100ft

(2 White + 1 Yellow = 250) Easy stuff

[subspace]

Our cable management system uses 8 extendable rods for hanging rolled cables.
It also handles foosball duties...

[scoop2]

I don't know what's professional, but I know what's not-

When one end is tied around the coil to hold it together.

Get some velcro, you cheap bast*rd. You know who you are.


Or when they are hung on the edges of shelves or racks, rather than on hooks.
Jeez.

[pan60]

i do not coil mine, i bring the two ends together, the newly created end to meat the two original ends and repeat till the cable is a manageable size.
i use velcro ties to hold them in place.
i store them in Rubbermaid totes.

[pan60]

Originally Posted by Fletcher

We sort them by color... which designates length. Purple is like 10'; Red 15'; Blue 20'; Yellow 25'... they are coiled in like a 1ft. diameter with a stage tie and hung on hooks on the wall.

i like the color for length designation.
nice thanks feltcher

[JTR]

3 Interns - arms outstretched to hold cables

sorted by height

give them a break every 4 hours, so they can make coffee and clean bathroom

[2leod]

^ ^
..l l..

[squeegybug]

For storing, I just coil and hang on hooks in a closet. I use over/under coiling, as here:
http://www.allchurchsound.com/ACS/edart/awu.html
and http://stagecraft.theprices.net/gallery/cablewrap/


Velcro cable ties are ok, I prefer these (http://www.cableclamp.com/):




Another option that's pretty good is to use spools, connecting each cable to the next one. One size of cable per reel is handy:




Also, if your cables eventually get kinked or twisted, you can stretch them out on a driveway in the sun to soften and straighten.

Steve

[neve1073]

Originally Posted by subspace

Our cable management system uses 8 extendable rods for hanging rolled cables.
It also handles foosball duties...

You mean everytime you need to play foosball you have to throw the mic cables on the couch?

[mitgong]

Ooooh finally! I love cable talk. Who is using the over/under cable wrap? I'm trying to sell my boss on it.

[djui5]

I've always used over/under wrapping.


Whatever you do, ALWAYS wrap or roll them the same way everytime. Cables have memory and if you wrap them differently every time you will weaken the wires and eventually break the cable.

I've seen most of them wrapped and hung on some kinda hooks somewhere. Another nice way to keep them is to get a rod that sticks out of the wall up high, and hang the cables from that so the middle of the cable is on the rod and the ends hang towards the ground. It looks nice anyway. Gravity might impose a problem over time on the connections though.

[Telecastr]

Over/under is the only correct way to wrap a mic cable, unless you're working with union guys. They'll just do it however they want. Just a joke if there any union guys here.

About color coding, I wish someone could decide on one color coding standard that everyone used. Working regularly for multiple production companies gets confusing when trying to keep 3 different systems straight.

Those orange spools are terrible, because they don't wrap the cables over/under, and it's way to easy to get the cables stuck when unwrapping them, unless you're really OCD about wrapping them on there in the first place. Forget the cable clamps too. Along with the over/under wrap is the tie that goes at the end, rendering the cable clamps, ties, etc useless.

[squeegybug]

In My Opinion.... run out 300-400 feet of cable for some SR shows and those spools start to earn their keep. Reusen shield cables will not break down when wound one direction. And there are few things in the sound business I dislike worse than lumpy velcro strips attached to a cable, snagging and hanging on anything they can find when being strung or wound.

Steve

[effectsnut]

here you go

[r0ck1r0ck2]

ha....
i think i know what kleenex under the bed is for

[effectsnut]

Originally Posted by r0ck1r0ck2

ha....
i think i know what kleenex under the bed is for

well actually i have to use paper towels

[r0ck1r0ck2]

Fool!!
rub it in like a real frenchman....
it brings out the animal in women!!

phermones (sp?)

[r0ck1r0ck2]

ok...i'm putting the Stops on this before it gets too gross..

cables....

[Rail Jon Rogut]

..in addition to the above.. always start with the same end consistently... I suggest the female end.

Rail

[zarembo]

used to do the old 'bring the ends together and then half, slightly less, then half and so on and TIE the whole thing on itself' hang and uncoil when needed.

this makes the cables all kinky and strange and they begin to retain that tied oval weirdness.

over-under with a nice cable tie is the order of the day.

I HATE IT WHEN JACKASSES THINK THEY'RE BEING helpful AND TIGHTLY WRAP THE CABLES AROUND HEAPHONES (sony 7506) rrrrr......uh, thanks just let me do it my way.

[Mr. PC]

I have thought that if I were super rich and equally stupid I would dig a thin "chord shaft" that was 35' deep on the side of the tracking room. It would have those little racks that hold 2' patch cables, only the cable could hang underground without being wound. Then I could wow all of my friends by showing them the ultimate chord storage solution. Man, that would rule. Then everyone would want to do their records at my place.

PC

[minister]

dumb question...

what exactly is over/under?

[Rail Jon Rogut]

http://stagecraft.theprices.net/gall...lewrap-qt.html

Rail

[minister]

great! thanks as always rail! you are a big help!

good to know i do it right, without knowing what it is called!..

[Telecastr]

Originally Posted by squeegybug

In My Opinion.... run out 300-400 feet of cable for some SR shows and those spools start to earn their keep. Reusen shield cables will not break down when wound one direction. And there are few things in the sound business I dislike worse than lumpy velcro strips attached to a cable, snagging and hanging on anything they can find when being strung or wound.

Steve

I've done my fair share of 400+ cable runs, and any of the cables/feeder/snakes I've been using would :
a) break those spools in no time with as heavy as all of the large mulitpin snakes are...don't even think about feeder cable.
b) never fit on one of those. A mic cable is about the only run that long that would actually fit on there, and why are you running a 300-400 foot mic cable? Run the thing through a sub snake.
c) lots of different types of cables go in the same road cases so try throwing those spools in there and getting them to fit.
d) none of the large audio companies like 8th Day Sound and other companies of that size use those things.

[squeegybug]

Forget it... has nothing to do with my original response to the OP. Which was how to store mic and instrument cables. And yes, spools can work good for that, connected end-to-end, 10' cables on one, 20' on another, ...



Steve

[mitgong]

Sorry if I hijacked. We wrap 'em and lay them on their sides in a drawer.