Any tips for cable management?

[cashhewn]

I’ve bitten the proverbial bullet and gone through all 192 points on my four patch bays and made sure that every single connector is labeled and I’ve now unplugged everything from the patch bays and am going to attempt to make it all much neater, starting from the bottom bay and work my way up.

I’ve got an analog console as well as outboard on racks either side of the console, all of which are feeding the patch bays (which are all stacked to the left of the console).

Is there any conventional wisdom/tips for keeping this orderly/convenient/sensible etc?

While I was setting up the studio and acquiring gear and wiring outboard in piecemeal and moving things around on the patch bay it became a huge mess of knotted spaghetti, but now things are pretty much plumbed and dialed in so I feel like I can start again and make it neater.

Any advice and practical experience appreciated!

[Arpangel]

If you’re sure about the layout, keep leads as short as possible, you can use multicore looms for multiple inputs/outputs, there’s not much more you can do, I've had lots of experience in this "area" cables in different colours can help if anything goes wrong. Also choose a cable and stick to it, for studio wiring a small diameter foil screened cable works well. As for keeping cables tidy, it depends how far you want to go, from just keeping things out of sight, neatly laid, maybe cable ties, if you want a truly professional look behind racks etc, you can lace the cables in, but this is a bit OTT and a pain if you want to change a loom or trace one faulty cable, in professional environments fine, but not in a home studio, it’s just not needed. It does look cool though, in big racks and is a work of art!

[Drew Stephenson]

I like this stuff: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alex-Tech-10ft ... d_source=1

Wherever you have a bunch of cables following similar routes it tidies things up. And unlike cable ties you can add and remove stuff without affecting anything else.

[cashhewn]

Thanks Arpangel and Drew, good stuff, I appreciate the insight!

[The Elf]

Add some ties behind the rack to relieve the weight on the rear plugs, as far as you can. Sometimes I've got away with some of those sticky-backed cable tie mounts, but often they aren't strong enough, so you may need to look at a more secure solution - maybe screw-in, or find an achor point somewhere. A couple of bars across the back of a rack can be a good fastening point too.

[cashhewn]

Elf, yes very good point thanks! Don’t want to stress those connectors. The weight of all the cables/snakes is surprisingly heavy.

[Bill S]

I’ve just been through a similar exercise and 95% of the job was done by simple black cable ties. I got a pack of 100 from Amazon for about 5 quid. So easy and effective at tidying things up.

[James Perrett]

I'm going through this right now...

Quite a while ago I bought a 30m long Horizon snake cable very cheaply and cut it into shorter lengths so that I now have a couple of lengths running between the mixing desk and patch bay as well as more lengths of it running to the various tape machines. I'm currently trying to work out how to keep it in place neatly behind the mixing desk. I've built a new shelf for the computer monitors and nearfield monitors so I'm going to try some hooks under that to hold the cables up.

Sometimes I find lengths of spiral cable wrap to be handy - it is easy to unwind if you need to add another cable to the bundle.

[mixsit]

I’ve just been through a similar exercise and 95% of the job was done by simple black cable ties. I got a pack of 100 from Amazon for about 5 quid. So easy and effective at tidying things up.

I was going to add releasable wire ties to the thread :>)
In addition, I quickly learned a preference for the type of release as well. 'Till just now I didn't know there was a name for it (them' actually).
https://www.cabletiesplus.com/product-c ... able-ties/
It isn't even particularly obvious until you go to release them.. Enter the 'Pawl release :>)

[Moroccomoose]

Check out youtube for IT network router cabling. There are lots of videos about keeping cabling neat and tidy. Slightly different to audio, but there are lots strategies and techniques which may be applicable.

[Fishnish]

I recently rewired my patchbays and racks. Previously the cables had been bundled with cable ties but this time i went for spiral wrap like this: https://hilltop-products.co.uk/ldpe-spi ... -tidy.html and it turned out much better. With different colours and diameters available, it's not only much tidier but also easier to see what's what. Back rails on the racks and a few strain bars help a lot too.

[James Perrett]

I recently rewired my patchbays and racks. Previously the cables had been bundled with cable ties but this time i went for spiral wrap like this: https://hilltop-products.co.uk/ldpe-spi ... -tidy.html and it turned out much better. With different colours and diameters available, it's not only much tidier but also easier to see what's what.

Yes, that's the sort of thing that I was suggesting.

I have also found hook and loop cable ties to be very useful and you can buy large packs on Ebay like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185534335635

.

[cashhewn]

Ah, the “pawl release” zip tie. I do like a releasable zip tie. In my experience permanent zip ties never are and inevitably end up needing to be snipped (or worse, the catch fiddled with a knife or some other hand stabbing tool).

In the film/video production world these “bongo ties” are sometimes seen, and I’ve nicked the idea for my studio in many applications (though they aren’t cheap): https://nsiindustries.com/product/bongoties/

When people say “bars” or “rails” on the backs of racks, what exactly are they referring to?

[Arpangel]

I've just finished a major reorganisation, from chaos, to a bit less chaos
Trouble is finding cables the right length in my tea chest, there's never the one I need, so as usual, I use leads longer than I need, which makes things look untidy, but why spend money when it at least works.

[Wonks]

When people say “bars” or “rails” on the backs of racks, what exactly are they referring to?

Exactly that. Good rack units have mounting strips on the rear of the rack as well, and you can get bars/strips that mount on these to run along the back of the rack which you can then tie cables to for support.

[jimjazzdad]

I've just finished a major reorganisation, from chaos, to a bit less chaos
Trouble is finding cables the right length in my tea chest, there's never the one I need, so as usual, I use leads longer than I need, which makes things look untidy, but why spend money when it at least works.

A strong argument for soldering your own cables: more economical and always the right length.

[Hugh Robjohns]

When people say “bars” or “rails” on the backs of racks, what exactly are they referring to?

Bars across the backs of professional patchbays are common, like this:

Cables from each socket are secured to, and run along the bar to the side, and then secured to the rack side frame, normally with a sufficient loop to allow the panel to be hinged out from the front for servicing.

For equipment, cables are normally secured to the sides of the frame and looped across — with sufficient slack to allow the device to be removed and disconnected from the front!

Always worth remembering that while individual cables are light, a thick bunch of cables tied together gets very heavy indeed, and that combined weight on the connectors is not a good idea... so always try to support cable looms to minimise the strain!

[cashhewn]

Hugh, thanks for the pictures!

The bars across the back are a perfect solution, if only my patch bays had them (maybe there’s something I could rig up). Giving enough cable slack and being able to pull the bays from the front was exactly what I attempted to do for this recent total rewiring, but unfortunately even though I banded together all cables per patch bay in an enormous wad, because there was no strain relief it became a huge effort to pull the bays forward and also resulted in a few connectors coming loose when I tried to do so. Makes sense there is a hardware solution available for this technique. Still requires measuring and executing the wiring and securing just right.

At this point I cannot stomach doing it all again, but maybe in time I will recuperate and get some bars rigged up and try again!

Also, having to access the cables from the back is infuriating at best: in the video world there was a “BNC puller” tool that made this task much easier (of course the bayonet construction of the connector makes this possible), but there doesn’t seem to be anything similar for TRS style of plugs. I bought the longest, double jointed needle nosed pliers I could find and it still doesn’t really make it any easier sadly.

[James Perrett]

Also, having to access the cables from the back is infuriating at best: in the video world there was a “BNC puller” tool that made this task much easier (of course the bayonet construction of the connector makes this possible), but there doesn’t seem to be anything similar for TRS style of plugs. I bought the longest, double jointed needle nosed pliers I could find and it still doesn’t really make it any easier sadly.

I wonder if something like this

https://www.soundtronics.co.uk/ic-extraction-tool.html

would work? NB - I've never tried using one for connectors.

[Zukan]

And if shit starts humming........ you know who to call.

[Wonks]

The bars across the back are a perfect solution, if only my patch bays had them (maybe there’s something I could rig up).

Just search for '19" rack cable management'. You'll get plenty of hits for things to tie cables to.

E.g. https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/enclosur ... anagement/

Not all of them are that wonderful for audio cables, but there are plenty that will do.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Canford Audio have similar solutions, including "lacing bars"

https://www.canford.co.uk/Cable-management

[Arpangel]

When people say “bars” or “rails” on the backs of racks, what exactly are they referring to?

Bars across the backs of professional patchbays are common, like this:
45-793_03.jpg

Jackfield-Wiring.jpg

Cables from each socket are secured to, and run along the bar to the side, and then secured to the rack side frame, normally with a sufficient loop to allow the panel to be hinged out from the front for servicing.

For equipment, cables are normally secured to the sides of the frame and looped across — with sufficient slack to allow the device to be removed and disconnected from the front!

Always worth remembering that while individual cables are light, a thick bunch of cables tied together gets very heavy indeed, and that combined weight on the connectors is not a good idea... so always try to support cable looms to minimise the strain!

That looks like GPO cable, that’s what I had to do, lacing in racks, it’s an art, and you either take to it or not, and I didn’t. Then real pain came from having lace blocks of 200 wire multicores about a foot square, I used to dread it.

[cashhewn]

Thanks James/Wonks/Hugh:

At that price the IC extractor is worth a shot I suppose, but I think the real winner for tidiness and ease of service would be one of those Canford lacing bars at the back and level with each patch bay, with enough slack to slide the bay out the front to access the rear patch points. One can dream…

Frankly I can’t imagine going through all that right now having just put everything back together! However, it was worth it: things are much neater, everything is labeled now on both ends (even power supplies), and all mains cables banded together in neat runs (please don’t tell me that’s a problem…inductance loop anyone?!).

[Arpangel]

A messy studio is a busy studio, don’t worry about it.