So after months and months of procrastination, I finally spent a few hours managing all the cables in my studio. I am loving the new clean look. Surely I am not alone in my hatred of cable clutter. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for a cleaner looking studio? I snake my cables together, loop excess cable, and tuck the loops out of sight behind my rack. Any other less obvious suggestions?

 

You can get spiral cable wrap, which allows you to put multiple wires into one big bundle of them. Useful if you have a bunch of cables going in a specific direction within the room, and you want it to look tidier. Apart from that i think you have covered everything else! :D

 

One very important suggestion: keep the power cables as away as possible from the audio cables, especially if you loop the power cables and even more especially if your audio cables are not TRS [balanced] or XLR [also balanced]. Generally it's not recommended to loop the power cables as they create a much stronger magnetic field that way. But keeping them away from the audio cables should help and make it a non-issue.

What I do is just keep the audio cables on one side of the rack and power cables on the other side of the rack, all tied with these handy plastic velcro cable ties [ http://www.amazon.com/VELCRO-Brand-ONE-WRAP-Self-Gripping-Reusable/dp/B001E1Y5O6 ]. All power cables go into Furman PL-8C so I have only one power cable going from the rack to the main outlet. It looks so tidy and nice, not to mention that Furman also protects the equipment from power surges and bad electricity, and filters all the garbage out from it [hum, noise etc.], so when I need another rack I'm going to buy another Furman for it and also put it on top. Not to mention that those lights on Furman are soooo useful and light up the rack nicely, since I like to work in dim light! [lava lamps only]

 

The Furman-type of splitters/PSU are the best decision. Depending how much money you want to spend they may come with voltage regulators, Volt-meters and/or Ampere-meters. Especially handy if you have more than one rack

 

Yes, power conditioners are extremely handy. My connections are all either balanced 1/4" or xlr so I have that going for me.

@ SineWave - I am keeping the power and audio on opposite sides of my rack. Also, I've heard jumbled audio cables are more likely to introduce noise. I've never heard of the magnetic field aspect of coiled power cables. Very interesting. Are power cables shielded? I need to get more velcro cable ties; I am using about 2/3 twisty-ties haha!

@ SyNtH. - Any recommendations for cheap coils? Do any come with additional shielding?

Thanks guys, very good suggestions by all.

 

For long cables connecting different corners of the room I use cable ducts, for short distances I use these cable hoses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v72_eS5r0I

I don't change my setup often so that's the perfect solution for me.

What I need is a feasable solution for stuff like mikrophones etc. That thing is a mess for itself but I'm to lazy to pack it away after I used it. Plus, it kills my creativity if I have to set it up every time I want to use it. But it's just so messy and ugly, I wish I had a concept for it. Maybe a fixed installation on the desk like in a broadcasting studio, or something like this...

 

A lot of my cables and gear go back and forth between home and gigs. I just do penance with the Cable Tangle Monster as part of my regular routine. Here is an explanation of some physical laws of probabilities about cables and why they tangle.. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-reason-tangled-apple-iphone-earbuds-headphones-2014-6

 

That link was actually quite fascinating. Good post Algae! Thanks.

 

Power cables are NOT shielded! That's why they cause so much problem for us involved with the audio. Damn them. When coiled they actually create an electro-magnet that is influencing all your electrical equipment. Think about it, it's quite logical. Well, it's easier for me since I'm an electrical engineer by profession.

I cannot stress enough how good planning is really important for your studio. I do "visualisation exercises" and drawing exercises for that. Time is not of any relevance because what you do is going to last you for a long time and you might have to cope with some bad decisions you've made for a long time, too. You might end up selling some equipment that you bought. I personally really hate that. "Visualisation exercises" include visualisation of the studio in your head and trying to work with it in your head, tracking the ergonomic problems with it etc. It really really helps! Give it time to really "brew" properly in your head before you do anything radical with your studio, or when you think some new tool is that thing that you really need. Work it all out before forking the money.

btw. visualisation and knowing the complete specs of your tools can save you from a lot of headaches and losing money on the tools you don't actually need. Read the fucking manuals! Always have a plan of your studio handy in some graphical program, too, so you can see how the new equipment interact with the old. And to wrap my post: a studio is *never* finished! And if you plan it well you will have an easier time adding new tools to it. And enjoying it more. :P

Cheers!

p.s. yes it's a bit off-topic... but I'm currently adding new stuff to my own studio and giving it much thought. I've bought my Furman just recently, actually. I'm going half software, half hardware where it used to be all hardware in the 90s and then all software in the 00s. It becomes pretty complicated once you decide to include more hardware into your software setup, but it's well worth it in the long run, I think.