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Band mates won't wrap cables properly

#61
I'm in the same boat, but would add... How many times do you have to explain the difference between DMX cables and Mic cables before they get it?

I spray painted the ends of all my DMX cables with white paint and still end out sorting them when I do the "post gig" untangling of cords.
 
#62
two fingers said:
I get it. :D

Nutn cool about that at all. If your band's gear (not including drums) wouldn't fit in the back of a minivan these days you need to explore better options. .
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Thank heavens I've got a big "mini Van";).
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#63
Richard Martin said:
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.
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I was playing a festival once, doubling on keyboards. The keys weren’t getting sound so the sound man comes over and discovers it’s the direct box. He pulls out a box full of direct boxes and grabs another one. No good. Third one, no good. Fourth times a charm. He gets me hooked up and throws the three bad ones right back in the box. DOH!
 
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#64
fhm555 said:
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.

View attachment 3902206

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.
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Me and my lead vocal coil differently, she does your method, my only concern is that in my cable trunk I worry that the weight of the cables can cause some problems when they're knotted. I've got a royal pile of xlrs and they lay better when colied. (I've also gone so far as to put velcro straps on them to keep them organized... If I was to give advice to me... buy more short cable snakes.

I sometimes wonder if in the world of musicians, the bassists are the most anal retentive about gear.
 
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#65
This isn’t a live music example, but at my recording studio which also doubled as my band’s rehearsal space; I don’t let anyone coil cables. My band has gotten used to me barking at them if I see them start to coil a cable, so now they just leave them plugged in when they power down and unplug their instruments. When I have artists in to record they’ll often try to be helpful and start coiling a cable. They’re usually shocked when I tell them not to worry about it and tend to offer “oh, it’s no problem I’m happy to help” type gratitudes. After I explain over-under’ing to them and that I have a system for putting them away I assume they think I’m just a nutty engineer that they’ve hired... and I’m fine with that... also it’s accurate :smug:
 
#65
Jared Houseman said:
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
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Relatively speaking, it sounds like a good problem to have.
 
#66
lfmn16 said:
I was playing a festival once, doubling on keyboards. The keys weren’t getting sound so the sound man comes over and discovers it’s the direct box. He pulls out a box full of direct boxes and grabs another one. No good. Third one, no good. Fourth times a charm. He gets me hooked up and throws the three bad ones right back in the box. DOH!
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Perfectly consistent story - no wonder at all why the first DI box he tried on you didn't work. Any decent sound company has a procedure whereby such things are isolated/marked in the field so they don't get put back on the shelf, and fixed promptly when they get back to the shop. I have no issue with a sound company having a failure, but if I saw what you described, I'd definitely hire a different sound company next time.
 
#67
Jared Houseman said:
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
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Yup, being a painter, I have learned one (among far more) thing, there are a vast amount of human beings in this world that are simply constitutionally incapable of being taught how to roll a hose. Its faster for one. It eliminates kinks. It reduces wear. And, it also keeps it all nice and neat. But, the vast majority of people just don't get it. So...do it yourself, or stop complaining. They aren't going to.
 
#68
lfmn16 said:
I was playing a festival once, doubling on keyboards. The keys weren’t getting sound so the sound man comes over and discovers it’s the direct box. He pulls out a box full of direct boxes and grabs another one. No good. Third one, no good. Fourth times a charm. He gets me hooked up and throws the three bad ones right back in the box. DOH!
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In defense of the sound man, they probably weren't his boxes. People are weird about gear. They'll have a piece of gear, say, a direct box, that is clearly broken, and they refuse to throw it away. I'm like "Really? What are you going to do with that? Fix it? The trash can is over there."
 
#72
I handle all the PA chores/ cables (other than the individual's own mic cables). I bought green cables and there is a well-known rule that nobody touches any green cables. Solved my issues with cable wrapping.
 
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#78
wmhill said:
I handle all the PA chores/ cables (other than the individual's own mic cables). I bought green cables and there is a well-known rule that nobody touches any green cables. Solved my issues with cable wrapping.
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Hey, all mine are green, too. Or have green duct tape bands on them. Makes things easier since we all run our own wires. I try to use the back and forth method, but I must not have gotten the tangle-free cables, they still seem to do strange things in the cable bag after I close it.

Now for ear buds, I have actually found ones that somehow don't self-tangle. I wish that company made cables.
 
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#79
Jared Houseman said:
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
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As soon as they fk one up just hand them the bill for a new one and call it a day.

I'm also allergic to people not giving a poopie about discipline and equipment care - I wonder if they treat their wife the same.

I would usually insist until people start rolling the cables the correct way or insist about splitting the equipment per person. This way you don't even have to give a damn about how they roll their own cables but I would definitely give him/her some poopie when he/she came up to the stage with a broken cable and no replacement.
 

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