# Audio Organization: Cables



## The_Guest (Sep 5, 2004)

What do you guys do to organize your XLR and other longer audio cables (TRS, etc)? Currently our XLR supply is sitting on top of a cabinet, it's not working out for us. I purchased two different styles of hooks just to experiment with what will work out the best. We don't have a lot of space so we can't have hooks allover the place. The XLR and long TRS supply almost all have velcro cable wraps on them. I bought more wraps this weekend, it should all be covered. All the short TRS, adaption, and patching cables are hung from there connectors these little hooks mounted on the wall to hand them.


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## mbenonis (Sep 5, 2004)

A couple of years back we built a frame out of 2x4's and put a pegboard over it. Currently, it's positioned in the booth next to the sound console. We can have three rows of 7 columns each, and each hook can hold 2-3 XLR cables. It's organized like this: The top row has 50' XLR audio cables, and all DMX cables. THe middle row is exclusively 20'-25' audio XLR cables. Finally, the bottom row is any short XLR cables, TS cables, XLR-TRS cables, and any random cables. This system has really worked out well for us.


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## SuperCow (Sep 5, 2004)

We use a pegboard for our shorter cables, but for the really long ones, we use somewhat sturdier coathooks. At one of the places where I worked, we just coiled all the cables tightly and tied them up, and then put them in those large totes, with labels on them, according to length. The latter option has the benefit of being stackable (it takes up less space) and also easily transportable.


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## avkid (Sep 5, 2004)

i have a room with pegboard covered walls that is used to hold coax, xlr and all other types of cables, we also keep our backup system in that room, it consists of a Peavey xr-86 mixer a pair of beat up yamaha speakers and hopefully (i'll see this week) a newly repaired set of JBL speakers ( they are about 10 years old and were not used for years , until i saved from a life of siitng in storage ) they are almost in mint condition minus a few scratches.


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## bdesmond (Sep 6, 2004)

Given a shortage of vertical space, I'd look at picking up some plastic containers with lids at your local Crate & Barrel, Linens 'n' Things, Contianer Store, etc. I'd imagine you probably have a good sized handful of cables in varying lengths. Take an inventory, and then logically group them by length and function into the containers. So long as the cords are wrapped neatly, you won't have any trouble getting them out. I'd also pick up a selection of rip-ties in various colors. Designate one color for each length. This will let you grab cables very quickly. If you frequently rent stuff, you might want to sync up your color scheme with theirs to save the confusion.


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## Nephilim (Sep 7, 2004)

The warehouse has large shelves with cable classified by type and length; every single cable in use has a velcro strap. When pulled for rental or jobs; the cable is stored in milk crates by kind; and then the crates go in square-pack cable bins.


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## Lightingguy32 (Jun 18, 2006)

For XLR or Stagelighting cable, to easily make identifying lenght, near each connector end use different colors of electrical tape rings to ID lengths for instance a white ring would be a 25 foot cable, red would be 5, and so on, other wise i can't help you with the different 3, 5 and 6 pin configuration sorting


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## Dillon (Jun 18, 2006)

The best system I've used has been a big steel bracket lagged into the wall. It was a custom build that we did -- welded 1x2 tube steel at about 30 degrees to a second piece that went flush on the wall. We had 4 or 5 of these on the wall -- 2 for long XLRs (all of ours were 25-30 feet), one for speakon cables, and one for black extension cords. We had a couple smaller ones too for short patch cables. A great way to store bulk amounts of cable!


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## bdesmond (Jun 18, 2006)

Coiled gaff-wrapped bundles in milk crates is/was how we did it at Payton. Worked well enough for quite a bit of cable, easy to load on a cart and haul whereever.


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## Peter (Jun 18, 2006)

This is going to seem ... backwards... but it works really well. My college has several (3 or 4) bins that are about 2 foot cubes with hinged lids. Each bin has a (roughly) equal asortment of XLR and speakon neatly coiled and stacked inside. Each coil is held togeher with velcro straps that stay right on the end of the cable when unwound. Also, each cable is color coded by length, so you can just reach in and grab the color (length) you need. If you need a cable that is not on top, you lift the top ones out, grab your cable and lay the others back down flat. It doesnt sound like it would work, but it does. and it has the added benift of being super easy to bring arround to all the venues we work in. I think the real key is neat coiling so each cable lifts out without getting tangeled. If you can pull that off, it may just work for you too. (be warned if you have alot of kids who arnt great at coiling, or mic cables that are already bent in all kinds of funny ways, this may be hard to do!)


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## jonhirsh (Jun 18, 2006)

For indentifying the pins on cable i love the chrisite lights method. You use differnt colours of cable for each type ie. 

4 pin black 
3 pin purple
5 pin green 
etc. 

also you can get some heat shirink and label them with lengths and your company or the theatres info. 

JH


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## soundlight (Jun 18, 2006)

In response to Peter's post: If the mic cables are bent, lay them out in the sun for a few hours, then coil them really neatly, (this also works, in my experience, on new mic cables that have an irregular, tight twist to them) then leave them neatly coiled for a few days. That usually fixes them up...but laying them out in a driveway (my case) can be problematic, especially if a car drives up, so I had to be kind of careful...


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## BillESC (Jun 19, 2006)

All of our mic cables are color coded for length using colored boots on the male end.




Each cable also has a velcro "one wrap" at the male end for a neat wrap.

Due to our large rental inventory of mic cables, we constructed 2' wide by 2' deep by 4' long plywood bins on straight casters. These just fit under the first shelf of our rental shelving so they are absolutely out of the way until needed. Just pull on the handle and out rolls the bin, each one can hold around 2000' of mic cable or about 1000' of AC cable. We have them for DMX cable, Multi-cables, coax cable, cat 5e, and snakes. Makes storage convenient.

When loading out a show or rental you can roll a road case along the aisle and pull the cabling list as required... returning the inventory is just as easy.


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## saxman0317 (Jun 19, 2006)

for my personal cables i just put them in 5 gallon buckets by size after coiling them. At school we just have them whereever unfortunatly.


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## Peter (Jun 20, 2006)

Yep, once a year we block out a bunch of parking spaces and lay out the cables to streighten them out (and we have a BBQ at the same time  )


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## soundman1024 (Jun 22, 2006)

Ours XLR cables tend to end up in a stack somewhere in the amp room or, more likely at FOH. Lately it seems they've been coming to rest in rack drawers. I always coil them nicely then take the end i'm going to end on and use it to tie around so that the cable can be grabbed easily. Not everyone ties them if they did it would work out fine. It may not seem like the best system, but its much better than it has been in years past. I remember when we had a large round bucket (wider but shorter than a 5 gallon paint bucket) with a tangled array of assorted cables in it. Getting an XLR cable could have been a task that took more than 5 minutes.

As for instrument cables, we really don't have many spares. Musicians handle that. Inserts are all done by insert snakes which are in the main amp room hanging on the wall coiled. Thats where speakons are usually as well. On occasion there is a small drop snake on the wall, but sometimes its in a bucket or something on the floor.

It may sound quite unorganized, but once there is a system in place it tends to stay that way. The people who need to get stuff can find it quite quickly most of the time.


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## Ech725 (Aug 22, 2013)

*Heat shrink labels for audio cable and cable ties*

I've inherited a bunch of audio cables recently. Now that I have some downtime, I'd like to organize them. 

Can anyone recommend some inexpensive labels? 
I've seen the heat shrink labels and was wondering if the heat can damage the cables?
Also what about cable ties? Is velcro the best? What about tie line-what knot do you use?

Like always-I appreciate the advice and suggestions


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## themuzicman (Aug 22, 2013)

*Re: Heat shrink labels for audio cable and cable ties*


Ech725 said:


> I've inherited a bunch of audio cables recently. Now that I have some downtime, I'd like to organize them.
> 
> Can anyone recommend some inexpensive labels?
> I've seen the heat shrink labels and was wondering if the heat can damage the cables?
> ...




Heat shrink labels are fine, it's just expensive to print onto heat shrink. It's not going to damage your cable unless you can heat the cables enough to melt the plastic, the insulator, and the copper inside of them. 


Cable ties are a personal preference, velcro is decent. There are fancy 1/2" bungie type ties that are good to.

A square knot, like how you would tie your shoes.


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## gafftapegreenia (Aug 22, 2013)

*Re: Heat shrink labels for audio cable and cable ties*

I worked at shop that used Ripties on all of their cables, with the length of the cable and company name on the Riptie itself. I personally have become a big fan of putting the LENGTH of the cable on the cable, instead of choosing from the 30 color codes out there, or creating a new one. 

I still like tie line on lighting cable, but thats my theatre training. For stuff like feeder and mult, sash cord is better.


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## FMEng (Aug 22, 2013)

*Re: Heat shrink labels for audio cable and cable ties*


themuzicman said:


> Heat shrink labels are fine, it's just expensive to print onto heat shrink. It's not going to damage your cable unless you can heat the cables enough to melt the plastic, the insulator, and the copper inside of them.



When terminating thousands of cables while building radio studios, we use standard, Brother P-Touch labels and put clear heat shrink tubing over them. The same thing works on some connectors, too.


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## Chris15 (Aug 22, 2013)

*Re: Heat shrink labels for audio cable and cable ties*


FMEng said:


> When terminating thousands of cables while building radio studios, we use standard, Brother P-Touch labels and put clear heat shrink tubing over them. The same thing works on some connectors, too.



You just need to be careful how you heat your shrink. All of those style of label maker use a thermal process to print the label and so if you apply too much heat in the wrong spot, your whole label goes the text colour (black on a default label). And yes, this is experience talking


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## themuzicman (Aug 22, 2013)

*Re: Heat shrink labels for audio cable and cable ties*


FMEng said:


> When terminating thousands of cables while building radio studios, we use standard, Brother P-Touch labels and put clear heat shrink tubing over them. The same thing works on some connectors, too.





Yep, the usual thing when building theatre shows is to put electrical tape down, P-Touch label, and then clear tape (not scotch tape, clear tape!!!) over that for temporary cable labels and clear heat shrink for installs. However I have used some heat shrink tubing that you can put through a p-touch, it was expensive but I have had a few clients who like the look of it better than regular labels.


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## arexlame (Aug 23, 2013)

I don't know what condition this left the cables in, but in a few venues/hire companies that I've seen around, the XLR cables have been wound around garden hose reels.... Connecting each cable end to end, and having one reel per cable length, makes for a good idea to just pull off what you need and wind it up when you're done, but I can imagine it being any good for the internal conductors or the connectors themselves.. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


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## redthree (Aug 23, 2013)

arexlame said:


> I don't know what condition this left the cables in, but in a few venues/hire companies that I've seen around, the XLR cables have been wound around garden hose reels.... Connecting each cable end to end, and having one reel per cable length, makes for a good idea to just pull off what you need and wind it up when you're done, but I can imagine it being any good for the internal conductors or the connectors themselves..
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free



I'm a big fan of doing this as a theatre venue for XLR cable. Keeps them in MUCH better condition than letting rental clients ruin everything with their coiling. I find the diameters of the hose reels tend to be too small for NL4 cable though, and you can't fit as much.


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## mstaylor (Aug 23, 2013)

Tie line,velcro or other easy methods work fine. As far as marking them, E tape is an inexpensive method, one color for type, another for length. The important thing is a system that everyone follows. The drop where last used is not a good method but unfortunately happens in many theatres.


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## NickVon (Aug 23, 2013)

I've got 12 of these 
Everbilt 25 lb. Handy Hook-01209 at The Home Depot 25Lb hooks from Home Depot. I have the luxuary of a solid wood door for my audio storage. I have them aranged in offset rows of 2, 3, 2, 3, 2. And i just Load them up with XLR. I dont have many differnet sizes but I keep the really long 75ft-100ft's in the top row which i don't get to that often, the 20-35fts in the middle 3 rows, and the 10-15fts in the lowest row. the smaller quantities of TRS that I have just get placed in a square milk crate and sat on a self. Short adapters (with any cable length less then 5ft go in a tool box, with barrel connectors and such sitting in the"small parts storage" in the lid. The hooks at less then 2$ a peices, milk crate at 8$ (and it's a real milk crate), and toolbox at 15$.

I also have velcro straps on all my cables. Amazon sells some packages that are like 100 for 3 dollars, while cheap, they do an adequate job. would not be so good though for heavy duty cables like NL4, or electrics.


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## jonnyfive1985 (Aug 29, 2013)

Alpha sound and Lighting has some great velcro ties that i use on all our XLR cables - black fro 25', red for 50', yellow for 100', then i use monoprice velcro ties for the DMX blue - 5 pin, white - 3 pin. Works great and is easy for telling volunteers what you need them to grab from the back room.


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## techietim (Nov 14, 2013)

Hi all,

Quick question for you all..how do you tell your cables from hired/venue cables?

I have seen stickers and zip ties used but am not a fan of using these for my new cables.

What do you guys use/recommend?

Thanks


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## techieman33 (Nov 14, 2013)

We put a couple wraps of e-tape around each end to show cable length and a piece of paper with our logo at one end and heat shrink them.


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## techietim (Nov 14, 2013)

techieman33 said:


> We put a couple wraps of e-tape around each end to show cable length and a piece of paper with our logo at one end and heat shrink them.



I'd love to see a photo/more detail on the heat shrink logo. Sounds great!


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## sk8rsdad (Nov 14, 2013)

Transparent heat shrink tubing from Thomas and Betts, among others


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## techietim (Nov 14, 2013)

sk8rsdad said:


> Transparent heat shrink tubing from Thomas and Betts, among others



Ah! I see! That would work fantastically...what do you personally prefer to heat it with? Over the gas hob?


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## josh88 (Nov 14, 2013)

A heat gun will do the trick


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## sdauditorium (Nov 14, 2013)

I don't have any personal cable so no issues there. But I ID my venue's cable to show length anyway around each connector/end with a distinct color of tape. We rarely need to rent additional cable. When a group comes with their own cable, ours is still more than easy to differentiate with the tape.


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## Footer (Nov 14, 2013)

We do the tape thing as well. We have a tape color code system that that tends to do it. Beyond that, I tend to like to have us supply ALL of the cabling or none of it. Same thing goes for 1/4", DI boxes, etc. Makes the out a bit simpler. We also mark up our stands, and all parts of them.


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