I do lots of portable recording gigs using a Fostex D160. So I am
constantly wrapping up my equipment, and tosing it around.

I take care of my XLR cables, they are wrapped "properly" and stored
loose in a hard-case. But, they are not tied up, and stored in baggies,
or anything else. So sometimes (always) they get tangled.

How do other people store their XLR cables for remote work? I was
thinking about putting each one into a ziplock (tm) freezer bag. Is that
over kill? Just to prevent tangles, is there something else that is
REALLY obvious that I am not thinking of? TwistTies doesnt sound like a
good idea to me AT ALL.

Thanks
-Minga

Best way to store XLR cables for portable recording sessions?

Group: rec.audio.pro Date: Tue, Dec 9, 2003, 5:14pm (EST+5) From:
(Minga)

How do other people store their XLR cables for remote work? I was
thinking about putting each one into a ziplock (tm) freezer bag. Is that
over kill? Just to prevent tangles, is there something else that is
REALLY obvious that I am not thinking of? TwistTies doesnt sound like a
good idea to me AT ALL.
Thanks
-Minga

Get some velcro cable tie straps at your local home center.

Eric

Minga wrote:
I do lots of portable recording gigs using a Fostex D160. So I am
constantly wrapping up my equipment, and tosing it around.

I take care of my XLR cables, they are wrapped "properly" and stored
loose in a hard-case. But, they are not tied up, and stored in baggies,
or anything else. So sometimes (always) they get tangled.

How do other people store their XLR cables for remote work? I was
thinking about putting each one into a ziplock (tm) freezer bag. Is that
over kill? Just to prevent tangles, is there something else that is
REALLY obvious that I am not thinking of? TwistTies doesnt sound like a
good idea to me AT ALL.

There are all kinds of ties. There are wide nylon things that lock into
place, there are wide soft-rubbery things that lock into place, there are
various kinds of velcro things.

Markertek Video Supply carries several kinds.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Minga" wrote in message
. ..
I do lots of portable recording gigs using a Fostex D160. So I am
constantly wrapping up my equipment, and tosing it around.

I take care of my XLR cables, they are wrapped "properly" and stored
loose in a hard-case. But, they are not tied up, and stored in baggies,
or anything else. So sometimes (always) they get tangled.

How do other people store their XLR cables for remote work? I was
thinking about putting each one into a ziplock (tm) freezer bag. Is that
over kill? Just to prevent tangles, is there something else that is
REALLY obvious that I am not thinking of? TwistTies doesnt sound like a
good idea to me AT ALL.

Try velcro cable wraps. You can find them through Markertek, or if in Los
Angeles, call Pacific Radio, or go to their website and search around.
www.pacrad.com I beleive PacRad would ship, as well, if you aren't in LA.
They wrap around once, and attach to the cable, then the remaining "tail" is
used to secure the rest of the cable in a loop. Very handy.

Kendall

--
Remove "123" from e-mail
address to reply


Thanks
-Minga

Minga wrote:

I do lots of portable recording gigs using a Fostex D160. So I am
constantly wrapping up my equipment, and tosing it around.

I take care of my XLR cables, they are wrapped "properly" and stored
loose in a hard-case. But, they are not tied up, and stored in baggies,
or anything else. So sometimes (always) they get tangled.

How do other people store their XLR cables for remote work? I was
thinking about putting each one into a ziplock (tm) freezer bag. Is that
over kill? Just to prevent tangles, is there something else that is
REALLY obvious that I am not thinking of? TwistTies doesnt sound like a
good idea to me AT ALL.

Thanks
-Minga

Save some of the plastic bags your newspaper comes in.

--
Les Cargill

Velcro straps it is. Thanks!

In article writes:

How do other people store their XLR cables for remote work?

These days I coil them up the right size to fit in a milk crate and
hold them together with Velcro cable ties.

When I had my remote truck, I had a drum and would just connect them
end to end and roll them up. Actually it was two drums on the same
axle, one for cables that were too long, the other for cables that
were too short. I never had any that were just the right length, and
still don't.

I was
thinking about putting each one into a ziplock (tm) freezer bag. Is that
over kill? Just to prevent tangles,

The way to prevent tangles is to be careful and consistent in the way
you coil them. There's the "west coast school" that gives each turn a
half-twist in the opposite direction so the cable pays off the coil
straight, there are others who don't like that because it's too easy
to pass the end through the center of the coil and it pays out in a
string of knots. Your choice, but if you do it the same way every time
and uncoil it straight you won't have a problem.

Incidentally, there are some cables that are just so stiff that you
really have to be extra careful with them to keep them from kinking.
I bought several star quad "Optima" cables from Conquest several years
ago that are like that. They stay in the bottom of my milk crates and
are the last ones to get used, if at all. Mogami and Canare (and name
brands that use their cable) are about the best for handling that I've
found.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

In article znr1070993741k@trad, says...
When I had my remote truck, I had a drum and would just connect them
end to end and roll them up.

This is the system a buddy of mine uses for his live gigs, and it works
very well. He has a few cable reels for 10', 25', and 50' XLRs, and
just connects them end-to-end and rolls them up. You always have easy
access to a cable of any size, you always know where it is, it's easy to
transport, and it doesn't tangle.

I don't travel with my gear much, so I have it all over-under coiled
with Markertek velcro straps, and I find it gets just as tangled as when
I throw it in a pile on the ground. Maybe you need two straps per coil,
and not just one, so the coil can't flip around itself.

--
Jay Levitt |
Wellesley, MA | Hi!
Faster: jay at jay dot eff-em | Where are we going?
http://www.jay.fm | Why am I in this handbasket?

Jay Levitt wrote:

In article znr1070993741k@trad, says...
When I had my remote truck, I had a drum and would just connect them
end to end and roll them up.

This is the system a buddy of mine uses for his live gigs, and it works
very well. He has a few cable reels for 10', 25', and 50' XLRs, and
just connects them end-to-end and rolls them up. You always have easy
access to a cable of any size, you always know where it is, it's easy to
transport, and it doesn't tangle.

I don't travel with my gear much, so I have it all over-under coiled
with Markertek velcro straps, and I find it gets just as tangled as when
I throw it in a pile on the ground. Maybe you need two straps per coil,
and not just one, so the coil can't flip around itself.

--
Jay Levitt |
Wellesley, MA | Hi!
Faster: jay at jay dot eff-em | Where are we going?
http://www.jay.fm | Why am I in this handbasket?

I used to use velcro on my cables, but I found that they have an
unpleasant
habit of grabbing the carpet as I'm coiling them up. So I went back to
using
a piece of trick line tied to the end and just tying them up. I over-under
coil
them and usually plug the ends together which keeps them from getting
very tangled. They are schlepped in those plastic storage containers I get
at BJs. The ones with the attached half lids that interlock together in the

middle. They are inexpensive enough to be expendable, and are far more
durable than anything that cheap ought to be. Also are translucent, so I
can look inside and see approximately what is in each case without having
to read labels. ( This one has cable. this one has extension cords, this
one
has intercom, that's the junk box, etc. )

--Dale

"Jay Levitt" wrote in message
.net...
In article znr1070993741k@trad, says...
When I had my remote truck, I had a drum and would just connect them
end to end and roll them up.

This is the system a buddy of mine uses for his live gigs, and it works
very well. He has a few cable reels for 10', 25', and 50' XLRs, and
just connects them end-to-end and rolls them up. You always have easy
access to a cable of any size, you always know where it is, it's easy to
transport, and it doesn't tangle.

I keep my ~2500 ft of mic cable on those $5 orange reels
sold at hardware stores for extention cords. Works great.
Separate reels for 25ft, 50ft and 100ft cables.

I find Gotham handles even easier than Canare, and Canare's pretty darn easy.

I color code lengths by the Velcro tie: grey is 16', blue 25', red 50'.

Peace,
Paul

Dale Farmer wrote in message ...
are translucent, so I
can look inside and see approximately what is in each case without having
to read labels. ( This one has cable. this one has extension cords, this
one
has intercom, that's the junk box, etc. )


I tried that, but after a while they *all* seem to be the junk box!

Buster Mudd wrote:

Dale Farmer wrote in message ...
are translucent, so I
can look inside and see approximately what is in each case without having
to read labels. ( This one has cable. this one has extension cords, this
one
has intercom, that's the junk box, etc. )

I tried that, but after a while they *all* seem to be the junk box!

The secret is to every so often pour all the extras from the !junkboxs
into the junkbox. I recover lots of fiddley little bits that I thought I had
lost that way. I am also in the process of constructing in the former
laundry room of my house a hanger for cable. Bunch of strong dowels
sticking out of a stand with a heavy base. This will hopefully allow me
to hang all my cables and hanging things in-between gigs, reducing the
amount of extra crap I end up schlepping to gigs.

--Dale

Minga wrote:

I do lots of portable recording gigs using a Fostex D160. So I am
constantly wrapping up my equipment, and tosing it around.

I take care of my XLR cables, they are wrapped "properly" and stored
loose in a hard-case. But, they are not tied up, and stored in baggies,
or anything else. So sometimes (always) they get tangled.

Well - it is live recording, isn't it?

How do other people store their XLR cables for remote work? I was
thinking about putting each one into a ziplock (tm) freezer bag. Is that
over kill?

I do use a plastic bag for some short cables.

Just to prevent tangles, is there something else that is
REALLY obvious that I am not thinking of? TwistTies doesnt sound like a
good idea to me AT ALL.

A BBC recommendation for short and medium cables I once read is to fold
them and tie them into a _loose_ knot. It is - somewhat depending on
cable characteristics - usable up to about 8 meters of mic cable.

-Minga


Kind regards

Peter Larsen


--
************************************************** ***********
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
************************************************** ***********

In article , P Stamler
wrote:

I find Gotham handles even easier than Canare, and Canare's pretty darn easy.

I color code lengths by the Velcro tie: grey is 16', blue 25', red 50'.

http://www.ziptape.com

Ziptape makes great stuff: Tyvek cable labels that last, literally
decades, including a set in the NEMA color codes. GREAT for coding
cables as to length, and they have numbered sets as well.

NOW: can someone tell me what the 'over-and-under' thing is about? I'm
only 50, and missed this somewhere along the line.

--
John Etnier
Studio Dual
http://www.studiodual.com

"John S. Etnier" wrote in message
...
NOW: can someone tell me what the 'over-and-under' thing is about? I'm
only 50, and missed this somewhere along the line.


Its harder to describe than do. first turn of the coil goes like coiling a
lariat. Use the forefinger and thumb to turn the line the other way so the
next turn flips around with an opposite 'set'. Nope. It is too late for my
brain to work well enough to tackle this. However, the result is that you
can take a coiled cord from the box and pitch one end of the cable across
the room and there will be no tangles in the line, no repeated twists to
unwind before the cable will lay flat. There was a nice thread on this a
while back. Maybe Google.

Steve King

"Steve King" (Take our WORMBLOCK to reply)
wrote in message news:QrTBb.505597$Fm2.490475@attbi_s04...
"John S. Etnier" wrote in message
...
NOW: can someone tell me what the 'over-and-under' thing is about? I'm
only 50, and missed this somewhere along the line.


Its harder to describe than do. first turn of the coil goes like coiling
a
lariat. Use the forefinger and thumb to turn the line the other way so
the
next turn flips around with an opposite 'set'. Nope. It is too late for
my
brain to work well enough to tackle this.

I like to describe the finger twirl as "in" and "out"

In article QrTBb.505597$Fm2.490475@attbi_s04 writes:

Its harder to describe than do. first turn of the coil goes like coiling a
lariat. Use the forefinger and thumb to turn the line the other way so the
next turn flips around with an opposite 'set'. Nope. It is too late for my
brain to work well enough to tackle this.

Film at eleven.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo