5 Tips for Efficient Cable Management

As soon as you start working with cables, you run the risk of cooking up cable spaghetti. To help you organise your set-up, we’ve listed five cable management tips. Dive in before you tie yourself up in knots.

#1 – Go For The Right Length

The first thing you should look at is the length of your cables. Any excess length is slack you don’t need, not to mention a liability when it comes to knots. Fortunately, most cables are available in various different lengths. These lengths are often standardised and won’t always ensure the cleanest possible cable lay-out, so if you’re aiming for perfection, you can always craft your own custom-length cables fitted with hand-picked plugs. If you’ve built your own studio, this is a relatively simple solution that can save you some fuss.

#2 – Tie Down Longer Cables

If your set-up differs depending on where you’re setting up and custom cables simply won’t always work, it’s a good idea to tuck some longer cables away in your flight case so you’re never short on length. That said, using a 5-metre-long jack lead to bridge a 3.5-metre-wide gap will leave you with more slack than you might want. In this case, you can use cable binders to tighten things up.

#3 – Colour-Code Your Cables

Some cables are available in different colours, but that doesn’t go for every type of cable out there. If you’re using a plethora of different cables, it’s always a good idea to colour-code each cable so you can keep track of which cable is plugged into which bit of kit. All this takes is a bit of ever-useful gaffa tape, which comes in various colours and doesn’t leave any sticky residue behind. Another way you can mark your cables is by fitting coloured plugs or colour-coded rings.

#4 – Bundle Up Your Cables

Cable sleeves like spiral wrap can be used to turn a bunch of cables into one, and since spiral wrapping bands have a semi-open design, you can easily branch off any individual cables as needed. While you could also use cable bridges to bundle up your cables, this isn’t the most flexible solution outside of studios.

#5 – Properly Reel Out Your Cables

Our last cable management tip has to do with taking good care of your cables. Besides rolling them up in a knot-free way to prevent breakage, it’s important to reel out your cables the right way, that is, don’t just grab them by the plugs and sling the coil out to unravel it. Instead, unroll your cables with care.

Bonus Tip: Use dummy plugs to keep dust and dirt from making its way into unused ports and plugs.