Band mates won't wrap cables properly

[DirtDog]

I don't let anyone coil cables. I suppose more accurately, I tell them not to.
As long as everything makes it back into the truck at the end of the gig, I will deal with the cables.
I will wrap the cables my way, and it's easier and faster for me if I don't have to un-do cables that have been wrapped wrong.
It's a therapeutic couple of hours and I can inspect them for damage along the way.
And I can make sure that the 20's are binned with the 20's, the 25's are binned with the 25's, etc - rather than being surprised when I go to reach for a cable at the next setup only to discover that I've just run a cable that's 5 feet short.
I'm glad to let the guys help with the heavy lifting, in and out, but leave the cables to me - they're mine anyway.

As long as they will take the heavy stuff _to_ but not _into_ the truck.
Stuff fits in exactly one way, and I'm tired of having to unload everything at the end of a 0300 load-out because stuff got put in wrong...
This inevitably happens on either the hottest or coldest day of the year... Bonus points if it is raining or snowing...

This is the only way (to maintain your sanity) with cables.

 

[2112]

Our 5-piece brings in a central PA with 2 mains & 2 subs, lighting, full drum kit, and of course instruments. We don't coil cords, we reel them up. If you ain't helping with cables, you're moving and loading heavies. Load-out is typically 45 minutes.

 

[Yellow Bang66]

I agree. With just a little practice it really doesn't take any longer, and it actually does facilitate setup and extend cable life.

Unfortunately most people generally don't like to be told how to do things, so your best course of action may be to try and get them to let you wrap all of the cables. Or maybe one other person who is willing to use over/under can help you.

Yeah, No one likes being told, " you are doing it wrong!"
If you were told that, what is your response?
It almost always is "Thats how I ve always done it" or its how I do it. If you want that to change, you need to let them know Why, or no thing will change. Its how you're telling them! be nice, change your tone, like if dealing with a stubborn child you really like.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I wrap my cords, others wrap their own, even though I have the majority. We have a pretty good system where the other two members have specific jobs, put equipment in the correct cases, etc, while I wrap the cords for the PA. After I power down, they can unplug and move equipment out of the way which makes it easier too.

 

[pcake]

i lack the neatness gene, when i coil cables - or attempt to - no one is happy. i've solved this by always using my own cables.

 

[51PRI]

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

When you buy new cables why don't the cable companies sell the wrapped the "correct" way?

 

[Guild B301]

When you buy new cables why don't the cable companies sell the wrapped the "correct" way?

The ones I buy, are coiled the correct way.

 

[Sascha Erni]

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.

Same approach, different colour. Mine are orange-red. Also helps with accident prevention onstage. I use different colour velcro ties to, well, differentiate between different lengths (white for 10m, black for 6m), this way I don't need two boxes for the cables.

I must admit though that I've coiled cables the wrong way all my life, and only adopted the over/under technique a bit over a year ago. I look at my teenage self with disgust.

 

[lokikallas]

My bandmates wrap their own cables, but I always over under all the PA cables. I’m still using the same cables, some 20 years old now lol. Meanwhile my bandmates destroy cables left and right.

 

[sprekik]

I've been doing that for the past 30 years and still using the same cable, most friends get amazed when they learn it's a 30-year old cable and happy to learn the secret is in proper wrapping, which I learned from a Japanese musician 30 years ago

 

[StatesideRambler]

When you buy new cables why don't the cable companies sell the wrapped the "correct" way?

The machinery to coil cable in one direction is faster and cheaper than machines that would alternate direction. (My engineering specialty before retirement was automation and industrial controls so I know whereof I write.) A thirty dollar cable would go up to $30.35 and most of the people we know would spend hours on social media bitching about the 35 cents while wondering why they’d wrap it like that. Since there’s no retail benefit let ‘em keep their 35 cents.

BTW alternate coiling (over/under) lets the cable lay nearly flat on the floor when you do set up. Tightly-spaced stages are troublesome enough without having cables arched up enough to be tripping hazards.

 

[murph7489]

wow...me and the singer do the PA...we are the only two that do any of it..mostly me..he coils cables at the end of the night and helps tear down but the snake, monitors, 2 subs ( which I run into the snake) and two tops that are fed with short xlrs from the high pass of the sub..the snake I have on a reel which is nice..one guy in the band puts his cables in a suitcase that looks like a den of snakes afterwards..everything thrown in haphazardly..he has never once helped tear down..i don't care because he would do the same with our cables..I do the over under method but I learned that a long time ago being an electrician..you should see people taking romex off the roll sometimes...all twisted and impossible to staple to joists..lol...

I don't mind doing the PA set up because I know it so well that I can do it quick and I use a couple of inputs on the snake to run the subs /mains, and one is a male end so I have to use an adapter...they would never figure it out...ha ha...I despise tear down / load out..I could tear my gear down in 5 mins and be gone, but I'm a bass player which means I help with everything..

I even set up the LG players amp, mic, tune his guitar, have it all plugged in ready to play and tear it down too..he is older and his body is wrecked from working on the railroad, but I don't mind because he can flat out play and he plays everything exactly right..in return he supplies me with an order of chicken nuggets from BK to take home...

 

[OogieWaWa]

Almost on-topic, or for what it's worth: more anal retentivity. I made a couple of these reels for some 30' rope lights that we use as a barrier around us. They're suspended by a banner in front of us 8-10 feet away and the speaker stands.

Straighten the lights out a little, put the reel on the floor/ground with the center point between the 'spokes', and spin to coil it up. To uncoil, two guys each grab an end and pull. No kinks, no twisting, they store compactly. Probably not best for audio cables bending around the 'spokes', but good for other stuff. Like I said, for what it's worth.

The beat up bulky old rope light on the right is getting replaced, the spokes will be shorter for the new one.

All my lighting stuff goes in this rolling bag. I have a smaller one for cables where everything lays flat inside.

The reels stack in the bag's movable dividers. There is also a 65' extension cord "power snake" with outlets every 6 feet that goes all the way around us: everything non-audio related plugs into that, on a separate circuit if we can find one. No lighting wires crossing the stage.

We run with about 8-10 light units, mostly LED, at an unlit outdoor event. Here's our stage setup from July 4th. Everything you see lit plugs into the snake. There's also an LED flood on each side on the ground pointed up at the roof that you can't see. Total power draw is only about 150 Watts.

 

[Downunderwonder]

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. I showed him how to wrap the cables properly,didn’t do any good. Now I get his mic cables when they break, repair them, and use them in my practice room.

You can hand over elbow in a figure 8 which is also not winding up the cable.

 

[Downunderwonder]

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.

Technically that is not winding up the cable either. If you undo the knot and grab one end it will come away flat, not that the tangles would be much fun if you didn't hold your mouth right.

 

[SimonSays32]

It is like a hose - wrap in the direction the cord wants to go, I have had the same set of 30 or so XLR cables in my studio for 15 years now (I've replaced maybe 5 in that time) - I have gigged with these cables as well as had to move spaces many times.

I can't stand seeing a cable wrapped poorly - it just kills the lifespan, I work a job repairing industrial construction equipment and the number of poorly wrapped power cords I have seen is just unnerving to me. But I tend to take good care of anything I am using as if it were my own which I have noticed over the years is not how most people operate (in my experience, that is), lol