Cable Management for Bands and Live Sound Production | Sound System Cabling 

Today's video is a look at cable management practices for the stage. Bands, sound companies, techs, stagehands... anyone that works on a live audio stage should find this applicable. I had collected a lot of footage from various shows with examples of these concepts in action so I used the opportunity to edit them all together into a video talking about the concepts at play. I went over 40K subscribers the other day so the next milestone is that 50K subscriber mark. So likes and subscribes, and shares of the video link are always appreciated! If you work with a church audio team this is probably a good video to share with the tech team/volunteers. And of course any aspiring band wanting to tour (or just venture from the garage to the stage), or stagehands, techs, etc. should be interested in this topic. So many times people just start running cables without any thought to anything except getting something from point A to point B. And that quickly can devolve into a mess. Plus, next to impossible to quickly troubleshoot. Trip hazards, bad for cables, slows down the teardown... etc... all are problems associated with bad cable management practices. 🎚✨ Support via Patreon: www.patreon.com/AlanHamiltonAudio 🎶🎶Channel Facebook Page: facebook.com/groups/livesoundproduction ----------- Affiliate Links----- 🚀🎤Sweetwater Affiliate Link: sweetwater.sjv.io/PybnYY Gaffer's Tape on Sweetwater- sweetwater.sjv.io/g1xZ3g Spike Tape (for safety and position marking) on Sweetwater- sweetwater.sjv.io/oqkEro Sub Snakes on Sweetwater- sweetwater.sjv.io/VmMqG6 Digital Mixers (Midas/Behringer/etc) on Sweetwater- sweetwater.sjv.io/g16Eng PA Systems on Sweetwater- sweetwater.sjv.io/q4mXZ5 📦Amazon Affiliate Links: 2 Channel Cables Ramps on Amazon: amzn.to/48juG5r Elite Core Sub Snake on Amazon: amzn.to/4aHufD8 Lyx Pro 4 channel XLR to Ethernet Cable Adapters: amzn.to/4bV9qVP ✨Alan Hamilton Audio Amazon Storefront (Items from video and more): www.amazon.com/shop/alanhamiltonaudio Items Used to Make This Video- 🎤PROAR 414 XLR Microphone and accessories: amzn.to/4aCrUK4 Sony ZV1 Camera on Amazon: amzn.to/3z9MHny Canon M50 MkII Camera on Amazon: amzn.to/3z6c8X5 “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.” "I earn from affiliate link purchases" Items purchased thru affiliate links come at no additional cost to viewers, but these purchases can earn the channel commissions. ✨✨Video referenced: Inputs, Stage Plots, and Patch Order- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FE2KRj8vEEc.html ✨Most recent video: How to Connect and use IEMs featuring Sennheiser IEMs- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XLCqQ3rF5Sg.html ✨Other Videos: Soundcheck in Action- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-k2wgnPQI_is.html A Soundman's Day - Mixing the Band: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iCzNO4lCyAs.html 5 Tips for Mixing Live Vocals: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oP4sdpkkNhY.html Audio Sub Snakes using Ethernet Cables- amzn.to/4aHufD8 Building an IEM Rig With the Behringer XR18 or Midas MR18: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xT9gTBFxvZk.html Direct Boxes - What are they? How to use them? Direct Box 101: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6iwW5_Ia9Uc.html 3 Tips For Aspiring Live Audio Engineers: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tEX2Prwfh-g.html Building a Concert - Production for Trace Adkins: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m2dJr5gR77g.html My 5 Most Used Adapters for Live Sound: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SFzPh3UYAoE.html

I’ve always felt the cleaner you are with your cables the easier it is to trouble shoot problems later on that may come up, especially when you have multiple bands on stage.

Cable management is one of my favorite indicators of what level of artist/company I’m working with

The part where you described where to leave the excess cable lengths was a big "ooohhh" moment for me. So obvious but easily over looked. Thanks man!

Cable management just makes perfect sense If im rehearsing with my band in my basement, or were playing on a stage, im very OCD about how the cables are layed out, tho my band doesn't play festivals or big stages or tour, cable management is still important no matter what size of show ones playing Great video as usual

I never knew it was called a festival patch... I try to learn something new every day so thank you. I in my experience have always just did festival patch on my mixers so i was always ready for what came my way. CHEERS !

Awesome video. Summarizes a lot of the thoughts I've had over the years. It's definitely going in my Sound info playlist.

I run the same drum setup like you, and have a custom snake I made with the proper lengths and a bit of slack to reach the subsnake with 10 in and 2 out behind or next to the drummer. Makes it super easy to setup, and can be easily adapted, if I need to mic up the toms I tend to use that one. I also use 3 of the 10/2 subsnakes for stage left, right and downstage for the drummer, so its super easy to move bands in and out, plug and unplug according to the number on the schematic for each subsnake, usually one side for bass, keys, guitar, drummer etc. Even if it dont fit, its so easy to talkback and say which port to use. I've tried to make one for foh as well, combining a powercable, ethercon, LR XLR etc. But it got way too heavy, so went back to individual rolls. The less time I spend worrying about cables, what to bring and long cables to roll back up, the better.

Amazing, thanks!

I know those local bands you were working with here!

Alan, what are your thoughts on Siamese Cables for speaker runs? Are they worth the cost or effort to build? When Striking the stage, do you rewrap cables that have slack coiled at the speaker? Thanks!

I notice, what I think is quite a lot of excess speaker cables coiled at the rear of the monitors. Will this not increase the impedance and potential cause a problem elsewhere? Great video.

Hello 👋🏼 Al!

Nice video! But I feel like nowadays with wireless transmitters, in-ears, powered speakers and Dante this is not that much of a problem anymore. I usually have just one stagebox by the drums with all drum mics and the keyboards plugged in. Vocals, guitars and wind instruments are all usually wirelessly connected to a rack off stage, which needs just power, two antennas and a network connection as the receivers can natively send Dante. The network switch rack is just next to it. If we do have wedges, they get it's sub-snake or stage box bellow the stage, but mostly it's in-eyers nowadays. The in-ear transmitters don't take Dante but have it's own interface in the rack. PA gets connected through a small interface, but our new line array system can take Dante directly. Then just two CAT7s to the FOH. So there isn't really that much on the stage... It gets a bit worse with pedal-boards and choirs, but it's still not as bad. Super quick, neat and convenient to set up! Yet I still come across techs who can't make it tidy! 😆😂

Hello sir How to make a FOH and MOH connection Create a video

Hi Al!

Good day. i need your help. my church recently purchased a Berhinger Xair18. very nice council but there is a little issue i am having with it. 1. whenever i use the usb input to record the live audio, it also affects the faders in the app. the bass channel fader goes up beyond the set volume cause the livestream to be bassy. 2. two of the channel faders in particular channel 5 and 8 are affected. they right down to 0. when trying to adjust them they automatically go back to zero but this doesnt happen when the usb is not connected. 3. i use logic pro x to record. can you assist me with this. thank you. your videos have been very hepful

Are sub snakes expensive?