Managing cords?

  • Thread starter Thread starter enferno
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enferno

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Hey guys.

I'm out if ideas on how to store my cords in my home studio. I have about 30 cords at any given moment, and it's tough keeping them from tangeling when i put them away.

I was woundering what you guys do to keep your cords from not getting tangled, and where/how you store or put them?

thanks
 
I bought a few (cheap) plastic coat hooks, the kind with 4 or 5 hooks. I just wrap them and hang them
 
I have a couple of 6' nylon straps that have Velcro loops sewn in every 8" or so. One end has a brass grommet so you can hang the whole thing from the wall. I probably have 30 cables -- mic, RCA, instrument, MIDI -- hanging on the walls that way. The only problem is my tendency to place things in front so I can't get to them.
 
first, i'd say make sure you know how to properly wrap cables. this will prevent probably 90% of all tangling problems and will help keep your cables in working order. then i just tie them up with a foot long shoe lace or tie of some sort.
 
Actually, I just returned from a trip to Austin where I recorded an acoustic duo, and I packed along my mixer+rack, headphone amp+rack, and mucho cables. After that experience I went to Radio Shack and bought several packages of hook&loop ties (aka velcro) for about $3 apiece: each pack has 5 ties, and they are colored. Next trip my headphone cords get tied, the Toslink lines get tied, the loose AC adapter cables get tied....
http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...name=CTLG_011_010_008_004&product_id=278-1676
 
Ya know what drives me nuts?!
Tangled cables!
Its like ill pull three or four cables out, hook em up and, PRESTO!
It never fails, ten minutes later these things are intwined in some spaghetti f*ck story.

Storing em is easy, just make sure they arent twisted when you wrap em up.
The ones i buy come with little vecro straps to hold them in a wrap.
Then just hang em on a hanger or a hook.
 
i'm going to home depot tomorrow and i'm going to buy a couple yards of velcro, that should keep them untangled while i store them.
 
Don't go to Home depot yet...

Learn this before you spend any money and if this does not totally satisfy your cord managing problem, then go get some velcro.

here's some pics showing how I rap my cords... at first it may seem somewhat disorganized, but there's absolutely no tangling and each cord very easily unraps. if you learn this, you'll never have tangled cables again... also it's very fast.

this is probably some sort of boyscout tie... i'm going to try to describe this

double up the cable... put the xlr ends together

where the cable bends (1/2 way point), tie a very loose knot and pull the cable back through to make a loop

now pull the the cable back through that loop making another loop... continue until the cable the XLR ends are reached... you'll have a bunch of loops

tuck the XLR into one of the loops... note how you do this... you'll need to untuck it

pull the ends and the cable will tighten up

now to unwind take the XLR ends, untuck from before, now pull the XLR ends and the cable unraps automatically. if the cable does not unwind just by pulling it, then you've untucked it incorrectly.

the great thing about this is that you can put these in a box or bin and they never tangle or you can hang them on a wall. no tangle, they unwind very easily, and no velcro to keep track of.

this may take just a bit of practice, but once you get it, you'll never use any thing else.

if I haven't sufficiently described this, let me know and I'll try again.

I used this while playing in Bands...
 

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Here's what I use.
 

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Oh my....
Sonixx thats either genious or insanity or both. :eek:
But i tried it and it does work pretty well.
Unfortunatley i dont have the hanger real estate to hand em like that in my studio.

Buti thank you for the tip, because i am going to use it for My live sound end of buisness! Man those cables coming out of that big rubbermaid can be like spagghetti hell sometimes!

Thanx. :D
 
xfinsterx said:
Oh my....
Sonixx thats either genious or insanity or both. :eek:
But i tried it and it does work pretty well.
Unfortunatley i dont have the hanger real estate to hand em like that in my studio.

Buti thank you for the tip, because i am going to use it for My live sound end of buisness! Man those cables coming out of that big rubbermaid can be like spagghetti hell sometimes!

Thanx. :D
Click to expand...
You're welcome...

This method is a godsend for managing cords when playing out. I used this method for years and it reduced setup and breakdown time significantly. I use it for all of my cords, hanging on the wall or not.

Also, I always loop them so the cable ends unrap first. One cool thing is that for long cables, sometimes you don't have to unloop the whole cable, just what you need.

-keith-
 
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Sonixx,

I got the first loop based one of the pictures, but I'm unsure how to wrap the rest. Can you be a little more descriptive, such as what part of the cable to wrap through which loop as you proceed through the process? Thanks, it sounds like a good idea.
 
my .02 on keeping cables accessable - We use one of those back-of-the door shoe racks that you can buy at target or wherever. If you're willing to wrap your cables the way most people do it(which might not be correct), this works great. you can see them all and grab what you need.

http://store1.yimg.com/I/always-organized_1802_247890
 
All of the inventions in the industry you would think this would be a problem solved easily. They did take time to design the mic stand drink holder!
 
jonhall5446 said:
All of the inventions in the industry you would think this would be a problem solved easily. They did take time to design the mic stand drink holder!
Click to expand...

:D :D :D :D :D :D And ashtray.

I just wrap mine the old way and use color-coded velcro from Radio Shank so I can tell the length at a glance. I keep 'em all in a milk crate that doubles as a handy amp-stand. The thing I like about wrapping them old style is you can grab one end and throw the bundle and it unwraps as it goes, smooth as silk.
 
MelloMan said:
Sonixx,

I got the first loop based one of the pictures, but I'm unsure how to wrap the rest. Can you be a little more descriptive, such as what part of the cable to wrap through which loop as you proceed through the process? Thanks, it sounds like a good idea.
Click to expand...
Sure thing...

Don't double the cable up for this example...

Take a Cable End and tie a very loose square knot...

Pull enough of the rest of the cable through the square knot to make another loop... refer to pics in previous post...

This will make another large loop...

Do this over and over until the cable is used up...

When you don't have enough cable to make another loop, tuck the end into one of the loops...

For cables longer than ten feet, I may double up the cable and start with the non-connector end. This way you unrap starting with the connectors.

Once you've got the hang of it, and you've done this a bit, i think you'll agree it's better than the old circular methods. This method absolutely never tangles and you don't have to try to figure out which end was wrapped last as with circular (old way).
 
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Another way of identifying cable lengths is to go to Hobby Lobby, buy a package of stick-on vinyl letters, and put the length of the cable on the connectors (works for XLR, ain't worth squat for RCA or TRS).
 
What I do is put the two ends together, and repeatedly fold the cable in half until it's down to about 2 to 3ft. Then I tie the whole thing in a loose knot, velcro the knot where the two "groups" of cabling overlaps.
You can then take a spare mic stand (no boom) and thread the shaft through the middle of the knot. you can stack up 15 cables on a mic stand and set it out of the way. Only works if all the cables are the same though, otherwise you got to take all the cables off to get to the one on the bottom.
 
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