Band mates won't wrap cables properly

[IamJohn]

I've had two cables break in 13 years. One was a decade old no name cable. The other was a power cable that my drummer dropped his cowbell on slicing it in half mid song.

Sure, cables fail, but I was equally surprised when the no name one died as when my drummer thought he was will ferrell.

 

[Jefenator]

My own personal guitar & mic cables, I coil over/under. (The tricky part can be to gather up all my stuff before it winds up in the “band” bin but if I get on it immediately it’s usually not a problem.)
“Band” cables, I honestly don’t care that much. Non-over/under won’t kill them and it’s mostly the others who use those. If everyone is helping with teardown and we don’t wind up with a rat’s nest, that’s good enough for me. (Extra cable ties are good to have.)
I am more fussy about setup. I can’t believe the way some folks will suspend their cords above an obvious potential pathway, almost as if they *want* for there to be an accident. (I hate to be like a grumpy fire marshal, but I’ve seen gear get busted, and even saw an audience member get injured.)

 

[lermgalieu]

We rarely if ever bring a PA when gigging but I do deal with this at home with my son. He makes fun of my obsession with cable management. But I’ll convert him yet...

 

[Kukulkan61]

No excuse just plain laziness...

 

[Bassamatic]

I find it hard to make people understand what the difference is - even when I show them! I have been doing it that way for so many years I don't even thing about it. Same for AC cords and garden hoses - one of the worst offenders.

My neighbor, that hires out as a DJ and engineer, has a couple of cable reels, and he plugs the XLRs into each other and winds them all up on one big reel. Saves space and tangles and lets you easily carry them and just take off what you need.

 

[Aceman]

Maybe I am just being picky, but my band mates refuse to wrap our cables properly.

Yes you are [/endthread]

Over under is FASTER. Larger and rounder could are safer. You are not only picky, but you are incorrect.


Hey man - you asked...

 

[micguy]

The absolute first thing you teach someone who wants to do FOH is how to coil cables. Part of it is to protect the cables, part of it is to sort out the folks that don't want to do the boring part of the job. I've had people tell me they wanted to do the mixing part, not coil cables. I explain that that's part of the job. None of them ever come back for a second time.

Coiling cables wrong (say wrapping them around one elbow) is faster for a novice on the coiling part, but far slower when you come in next time, and all the cables are twisted. Plus, after 50 or so years of coiling cables, I can do them the right way, with my eyes closed, quite fast. I don't normally practice doing that with my eyes closed, but having torn down stages enough times, while talking to other people (eye contact with them, not the cable), that skill just happens.

 

[StatesideRambler]

Our drummer rolls up his cables over the hand & elbow method like he’s going to hang it on the back of a construction truck.

Having spent many years in and among the construction trades, I can assure you that’s not how the competent ones do it. If I had seen that kind of sloppy work by tradesmen I knew whose work I’d be watching most carefully as the project went along.

To the OP, you’re the one who will have to adapt. Voice of experience here.

 

[Milo Spleen]

Cables get a "memory" when coiled a certain way for a certain length of time, and then along comes the left hander (me)!!!!

 

[kevindahl]

What?? Nobody elbow wraps anymore??

 

[Killing Floor]

Look to your right, look to your left.
Those people are idiots.
You can't teach them anything.

But what you can do is say "Y'all clearly don't want to take care of our gear so maybe it can be your turn to replace the cables next time."

 

[Bander]

Just have them bring their own cord, mic and stand.

 

[fhm555]

in 49 years I've had a handful of guitar cables go bad, can only remember one speaker cable going bad. Not that I wouldn't roll cables the way I was asked, it's just that no one ever asked me to roll them in a special way and it's never been a problem.

Pretty much the same here. I’ve had cables fail but it was from being pinched and/or crushed, but never from coiling because i don’t coil. I keep folding in half until the bundle gets right then tie the bundle in a loose overhand knot.

I once played on a double bill and the opening band stored all their XLR cables on a garden hose reel. They were all numbered and went on the reel in numerical order. Just plug one into the other and reel it up. If you leave the tag end loose as it’s rolled up it will lay naturally on the bundle with no kinks.

 

[BarfanyShart]

Quitting the band won't help, you have to kill them. Seriously, you have to do it for the good of humanity. (Unless it's rented gear, then you are paying someone else to wrap the cables ;-) )

 

[Richard Martin]

I've given up trying to teach them how to roll cables. Now I tell them that it doesn't matter and I will just fix it later. I think of cables as disposable items anyway, like strings or picks. I buy middle of the road cables and I buy a bunch of them all at once. All of my mic cables are the same, all of the newer speaker cables are the same. My guitar cables are all the same. All of my patch cables are the same. When I start having trouble with any cable, that cable and all of it's partner cables get replaced. I refuse to work with unreliable equipment or tools.

 

[instrumentlevel]

I just throw them out and buy new ones.

Cables or bandmates?!

 

[Dr Zee]

This is one of my pet peeves as well. Fortunately everyone in may last couple of bands knew how to do it
correctly. They all did or had done jobs that required it. A sailing ship captain, a pro photographer, an HAVC guy
and , don't laugh, a Campfire Girl.

 

[Matty Koff]

There was a time I did it like I was coiling rope, where I'd hold it in my hand and wrap around the length of my arm from the elbow but someone pointed out to me the threat of damaging cables that way many years ago.

It's really not that much more effort just to coil them properly. Throw in a $3 pack of velcro ties from walmart and you're pretty much set for life on packing cables for storage and transport. Same pack of velcro ties also handles cable management on my pedalboard. I still have like 70+ velcro ties left.

I mean.. it takes me like 20 seconds to gently and neatly coil a 20' cable loosely around my hand.. and the velcro tie keeps it like that until I'm ready to use it. Anybody who wants to do it differently can provide their own cables. If I was supplying xlr cables for the band I'd probably tell them to just leave them for me to coil.

 

[Sin Nis]

I worked television sports production for many years.
Miles of camera and audio cable every game.
Doing it wrong would get you fired.

For people who don't care and are dismissive like that, I don't know what to tell you.

Ya this, or work for a live sound man or a studio engineer. That BS will get you fired in a flat minute.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Maybe I am just being picky, but my band mates refuse to wrap our cables properly. We bought a bunch of xlrs and I would like to make them last so I've shown them the over-under method several times (it makes cables easier to roll out and prevents them from getting that twist overtime). Anytime I remind them lightly I'm always met with "the way I do it is faster" or "I've never had problems doing it my way." Coiling cables correctly is just as fast once you get used to it and helps during set up.

It's not really a big deal, it's just cables, but it is a little annoying that they don't bother to try

Actually, I can say from experience, it is a big deal. I toured with a nightclub group for three years in the early 70's playing 5-nights a week, 50-weeks a year. One of the biggest maintenance problems early on was cable failures. Then the drummer gathered everyone together and taught them the over/under method. He explained that took the twist out of them that you normally get by the "wind around your elbow and hand" method. Then to demonstrate how it could make all our lives easier besides giving the cables longer life he held onto one end of the cord and tossed that 30-ft mic cord straight out in front of him with absolutely no tangles.

It was not only better for the cords because they didn't break internally and crap out on us, it was also night and day easier to roll out. As long and you don't cross the end through the coils and try to throw it out crossed, it works great. All other methods I've ever seen always twist the cords and they knot up when you try to unwind them. If you don't want to replace your cords anytime soon, insist that your bandmates do it right or keep their mitts off the cords.