The Sound Couple's "Cords" and Cases
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- Опубліковано 12 січ 2023
- By viewer request, the Sound Couple pops the lids on our the cases to show you what they carry and supports them for all their gigs.
We begin with an overview of the evolution of transitioning from road cases to totes. Stacy then breaks down the content of what we carry in each tote.
We hope you enjoy this diversion from or gigs videos and perhaps give you some things to consider when it comes to your cable pack.
The Sound Couple primarily use PreSonus gear featuring:
PreSonus UC Surface
PreSonus CDL12
PreSonus CDL18s
PreSonus 32R
PreSonus SW5E
PreSonus NSB Stageboxes
PreSonus AVB-D16
Please see our "About" for a more comprehensive list of gear we use.
I started out as a dj almost 30 years ago and carried all of my records in 100 count record bags. Once I started using a laptop to dj with and doing my own sound I repurposed those record bags to put all sorts of cables in. I totally understand this and love your channel.
Repurposing your existing gear is a good mindset. We try to do everything with a purpose and maximize the resources we have. To us, that's using sound judgment. Good luck!
Bart, you are a lucky man! The organization and work ethic that Stacy brings is amazing.
Thanks! She has many talents that crossover into our sound business!
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AND PROVIDING PREVENTIVE AND BREAKDOWN MAINTENANCE A VIDEO TO SHOW HOW MUCH CONNECTIONS ARE USED AND SOUND !
top video congratulations ....
Glad we could help!
Having watched all of The Sound Couple videos at least eight times, while I am not at all surprised, I am even more impressed than I ever imagined I would be with the organization of these multiple cases. Wow! Talk about efficiency and an orderly way to make certain the production company has all of the cables and components needed.
Thanks, very much, to Bart and Stacy for sharing this information with us.
Now, at some point when you have the time, I would greatly appreciate having you share the contents of each of the various “bags” that we see you use. I am particularly interested in how you have organized the contents of each bag, the purpose of the various contents, and how you arrived at the decision of what to place in which bag.
Hi Dean....I don't know how you do it, but thank you! You are truly the professor of the Sound Couple!
Stacy, with her many talents, has custom made most of our soft cases...so yes, we will add that to our list of future videos.
Nothing beats dragging a half pack trunk into a bar gig… if we only had the black and yellow Costco special tubs back in the day.
We ran a multi color for our drum snake made it very easy for whoever was pinning the drums.
You guys definitely have it dialed in
Thank you! We still carry a larger tub for just in case...but we rarely ever go into to it. These small tubs deliver everything we need for most shows!
Happy I found this, I was looking at new flight cases for my company, and honestly half the weight is just the case. So now, sort of like you, I switched over to plastic cases and have tape for each category, so volunteers can easily move it based on color. The flight cases I do have mostly stay in storage, unless I need a ton or extra long ones. Good stuff guys!
Glad we could inspire you! We’ve found ourselves saying at some gigs, glad we have these and not flight cases, whether due to storage space or logistics of getting from point A to B!
Mostly I'm used to running stage boxes and a long snake, so the XLR cables tend to be 20foot ones and plug two together if something needs more cable (or use a 6ft extender if it's nearly there). But a stage box near the drums, a stage box front/front edge of stage for vocal microphones and instrument microphones;, and DI boxes for guitar, keyboards and anything else with pickups. Most of what we do uses five vocal mikes (wired) plus maybe two wireless microphones, five instrument microphones, the drumkit microphone setup, two stereo keyboards, and maybe three or four instrument level DIs. So 20 channels plus drums. Then again, most of our stuff is acoustic music and often without a drumkit (possibly hand percussion for the celtic style stuff). A lot of it is singer/songwriter with possibly two singers and two acoustic guitars. One of our regular performers is a harpist with her own headset microphone and we use two instrument microphones on the harp.
I didn't see the power testers in any of those boxes, did I miss them or is there another box for testing tools and such? I assume the power leads for the laptops and ipads are stored in the laptop bag ... is that right?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We did not show everything, such as our toolbox, gig bag, electronics bag, and all of our accessory power stays in our mixers racks.
I use colored bins also. I usually work alone so using bins makes it easier. I’ve also color coded my XLR cables by length. Another thing I’ve adopted is to carefully but loosely coil my XLRs together in a pile and wrap them at home before my next gig. I have enough XLRs for two gigs. Doing that actually gets me out of gigs about 1/2 hour sooner. I’ve said it before but I really like your videos. Please keep them going.
Thanks for sharing Harlan. I don't think it would work well for us, but fully support your goal of process's that get you in/out of the gigs faster.
For smaller companies like me, the stackable boxes are definitely the way to go. My organisation methods are different to yours, but I'm definitely an advocate of this approach. There is nothing among my kit that I cannot carry or move solo. I use 80L retail boxes; they're cheap to buy used (around £6-8), they're strong and they interlock while stacking. I can fit 3 rows of 5 boxes per row in my van behind the bulkhead and nothing moves.
Thanks for sharing! It's interesting to see how people approach this...the most important thing is to keep evolving and at least thinking of better ways.
I'm all by myself in an Astro Van so I carry a large suitcase with wheels. Contents include DIs, XLR cables and adapters, 4 1/4 cables, extra 8 and 4 channel snakes and all power (IECs, extention chords, 6ways, ground lift cheeters). Everything is color-coded for easy setup. All of the other gear fits in a 10U rack case.
In the case: 2 wireless 4 wired, drum mics, 3ft XLRs, main snake stays plugged in and XR18.
Color coded and wheels make life so much easier!
Great video with some excellent ideas!
Excellent! Its all about making the best of whatever works for you.
You are correct Joel..functionality and what works is key
Thank you guys for sharing all you go through, tips you provide along the set up of your shows have helped me in multiple occasions. Greetings all de way from Belize.
That's really nice to let us know! Thank you!
great ideal arrangement... thanks for remember me new ideal wire arrangement
Glad we are able to help you out!
Usually I sort the cables:
- Everything that transports higher levels, than line or headphone level. Almost cables for 230 V, because I use powered speakers, but possibly I may buy a speaker system, where the bass has 3 amplifiers and the top speakers are passive and needs speakon cables.
- Everything light related, I use a system with standard cables for powering and 3 pin XLR for DMX control.
- Cables for balanced signals, almost XLR, few are with ¼" stereo jack
- Cables for non balanced signals, almost with ¼" jack, but also Cinch to jack and stereo jack to left/right
- I have old VHS boxes, I use them for small adaptors.
The most important thing is to have a system that works for you- not just a big messy case of cables!
This is very important to make the work faster and more practical! thanks !
You bet! Efficiency is at the core of how we do things.
10k subscribers👏...congrats The sound couple..Keep going , ...Love you both
Thanks for noticing! This has been quite the fun journey!
We use roadcases with movable partitions, this way you can pack a case with different types of cables and still have a system. We pack our cases for each production, however we still mark the inside of the lids on what is in each partition. When it comes to transport, we use a foldable wheel chair ramp so that we can roll our equipment into the van - that defenetly saves the back as most of our larger cases and speakers are on wheels or in road cases. In the van, the cases are flipped so they are not on their casters, and therefore not able to move. A big pro to using road cases is that it is much easier to stack things on top of each other and not worry about damaging the equipment. For us, it is faster to use one cable case instead of multiple smaller ones, since it is just one you'll need to take in and out of the van and less small cases to deal with later :)
Love the idea of movable partitions!
The organization of each box is awesome! I personally use the rigid base with wheels for most of my cables as well as a bigger box that stays in the trailer.
Thanks for sharing!
Genius with color coding for length! I need to do that! All my gear has pink tape and/or my name/branding on them.
Great point… ours has our name as well. Pretty funny when a band you work with says… oh, this must be your cable! (After they’ve been using it for who knows how long!)
I'm a newbie in this channel but I like it so much! I've done the same change: from one big box to a more smaller boxes (I'm not a professional like you). Very useful the colored tape! I will copy it from you. Thank you for share your experiences with us. Bye from Italy
Awesome Andrea! Glad we could give you some ideas!
Awesome job guys! Great organizational skills! Would love to see a video of the racks and how you keep them organized too. Keep up the good work like always!
Thanks! Will add that to the list of future topics.
Thanks for sharing this video - cable management is so time consuming.
We settled on using roll-along flight cases with removable front with removable Euro stacking boxes as drawers (production case). When transported in the trailer the whole flight case could be used but if it was a smaller gig then just the euro-box could be taken. The top of the flight case made a great work surface at the gig. You could take an individual draw out an plane it next to where they were needed. This worked really well.
Keep up the great content and congratulations on 10k subscribers 🎉
Thanks for sharing Alastair!
I Wanted to be the first to offer my congratulations on hitting 10k subscribers, it is well deserved 👍. Great video and great advice on sorting things. I especially like the power cable you use for monitors, I have never seen anything like it in the UK. Having all the sub snakes already set up really help with set up speed.
Thank you very much David! Sub snakes do really make a difference - especially for the drums!
We don't have a power stringer either (also UK) but we use daisy chained 4-outlet extension leads ... could do it with two socket extension leads of course but having the extra sockets available for things like powering pedal boards or LED lighting units (either stage or for music stands and such) turns out to be really handy. And of course daisy chaining the power strips means each addition strip has it's own fuse for that length of cable, which can be helpful. Of course you have to protect the empty sockets from having a beer dropped into them, but that's what gaff tape is for! :D
And be careful with total string loads ... I really wouldn't go over 2.5kW (about 10-11A) even if using 13A leads, and usually a lot less per stringer.
I've used Rubbermaid Action Packers for over 20 years. They are Great!
Like the looks of those..thanks for sharing!
Greetings from Germany. Great system! I personally love the eurobox system. They are fairly cheap, you can buy them in almost every home improvement store over here, they come in many heights, with or without lid, closed or open, foldable or non foldable, … you can stack them and they come in different standardised sizes. You can even get special racks for your car. If they are also available in the USA, i would give them a try. I really love the ones withe lattice walls for cables.
Keep up the amazing work. Love your videos!
Good to know! Will check it out!
Awesome, I am going to copy you guys and organize my small rig is a similar way as yours. Keep up the good work.
Glad we could inspire you! This is why we like sharing information, not so you do like we do necessarily, but to get you thinking about how you do things!
I've been doing sound (FOH and monitors)for over 20 years and am constantly trying to compact my gear in any way possible. The first thing to go was my analogue board (Midas Venice 320), which I switched to a Behringer X32, then later to a Midas R32 Live. That alone cut over 600lbs of racks, cases and snakes from the trailer. The latest is using wireless connectors for my lighting. No DMX cables anywhere to be found. Very quick set-up and teardown. I'm surprised y'all haven't gone wireless with your lighting.
Busted Michael!! ha ha, just kidding....you need to check out more of our videos as we do a considerable amount of DMX wireless with our arsenal of Donner DMX system! The cables that Stacy is showing is mostly for power and jumping DMX between fixtures that are next to each other.
Just reorganized my cables again. I use MasterCraft cases.
Love this. I had Audiopile cases but same issue - too big for some shows. vs 2-3 tubs with lids.
Tubs don't always look super pro, but they are very functional.
@@thesoundcouple Yes! No one ever leaves a show going "wow, the storage system they used was great!" if it works better, then it is better.
For plastic cases if there’s a lot of weight it can get squished so I go for cases that are soft but not great and there’s a road case you can custom made that fits like 3 of the plastic cases in the video that is the 3 small ones and congrats on 10k subs for bigger gigs I use a suitcase full of cables what I would need
Thanks for the tip Talent!
First of all: Gratulations to 10k.
I would really live to also travel that lightly.
We have mostly drive around with a lot of NL4 (so, 4pin Speakon) and depending on the venue also with up to 100m 5x5mm² (should be around that) for CEE32-based Power. (Yep, it's in Germany)
Yeah, driving around with passive speakers and the amps is not really funny anymore ... But re-buying active gear as a kinda hobby band is not that easy.
At the moment we're at ~6-7 bins with like: power, 3m xlr, 5m xlr, 10m xlr, instrument (mostly trs, di-boxes), speakon. Even if it's nice to unpack ... it's pretty much never going back properly (often ~6+ people stripping everything down and nobody really cares about it)
Also some additional random stuff like soldering/fixing kit, then personal tech-bag for recording and stuff
But maybe re-organizing into something like system / band / light sounds like an interesting idea .. thanks 👍
Thanks for sharing! Ultimately, you have to do what works for you at the time. It is interesting to see though how your pack does evolve - and then you wonder, why didn't I do it this way before?
I use the stanley fat max tool boxs it lowers weight per container for easier carrying then they are strong for stacking or making a great step also weather sealed
Those are great! Something to consider when we get through our “archive” of spare totes!
Hi from Spain.
I use trolley type suitcases.
Second-hand, they are comfortable, have wheels and are cheap.
They give a strange point when they see you arrive with travel suitcases.
And since they are of various sizes, they adapt well to put them in areas. Even each musician carries his electricity cables, monitors, etc... So each one plugs into the main Snake or in the Stagebox assigned to him.
I would like to use a plastic Flightcase with wheels and a carry handle but they are very expensive.
A cordial greeting.
Love that idea! If we didn’t have the carts, that would be a great alternative.
Im using a drum bag for my cables. They’re not cheap but its a bag on wheels and they come in many different sizes.
Not a bad idea...we have seen this too!
I'm transitioning to ethernet cords using a modified CatRack and studio hub+ set up. At some point I will organize out what I don't need to a tub, I'm glad I'm not the only one using tubs. Using ethernet cables allows me to sort of sub snake 4 channels then split out to 2 channels and most of my cabling fits in with my mixer In a 6u rack case. I need to do a video. I actually as much as I do like powered monitors I use passive that's one less cable to run, I'm kind of old-school that way. It also keeps the electric away from things if moisture is involved. Speaking of tubs I've had moisture issues 2 inches of water in my basement so I didn't do the Rubbermaid I did the other ones with the crisscross pattern yellow lids it was kind of what will fit my speakers so all of my speakers except for the two powered ones that I use for small stuff are in containers with room for stuff to be snuck around on the sides mostly speaker cables. This is a weird one, I picked up some battery boxes I seem to find multiple uses for them that aren't for batteries. You know the kind you put car batteries in. I have one of them that has almost all of my microphones. This was sort of a new addition halfway through last year the bottom is watertight and with the cover on it is splashproof if you cover the little vent holes. When I bought my rack cases two years ago I had to decide between wheels or no wheels, I decided to go no wheels and buy a furniture dolly I need to get another one but so far this works out very well I can stack the two of them and unstack them and roll them as one unit.
Thanks for sharing! Going with what works is important with a thought out approach, which is what you do...we like it!
When I was child, I had a puppet with strings, the strings were twisted pretty often. Later I heard, the professionals cut the strings and attach these completely new.
Now I have to work with cables that twists, I tried Super 8 mm film reels, but this deformed the cables.
For me, the topic cables is challenging, I can try whatever I want, the cables twist. Ok, I doesn't made the attempt to put every cable in a single cotton bag.
Thanks for sharing!
Your big Big fans
and I lorning this work
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Thanks!
Is there a new gig video coming out soon, also thanks for alk the tips
We have more gig videos in the works! Thanks!
you are back ~~~~~!!!!!!!! yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to know I have a fan club!
@@thesoundcouple where?
Hi love your video's.....what kind of tape in the different colors for length are u using?
Electrical tape!
Nice
Thanks!
Hi bart. I saw u using furman power conditioner.is it only for the rack mixer? Are u also using power conditioner for your speakers?
We never use a power conditioner on speakers. We do use power strips or plug directly into the wall sometimes.
The problem with using plastic tubs is they crack/break, the get crushed under the weight of other items falling on them in the back of a van or truck, the lids pop off causing the contents to spill out. There is NO WAY I would would transport any of my gear to a job in plastic tubs no matter what the gear is. I still prefer using conventional ATA cases or using pelican style cases and you can buy used cases of this style for half the cost of new ones. There are so many companies that sell pelican style cases now, you just have to keep your eyes open for them when they show up for sale online.. Facebook Market, Craigslist and so on. The Apache cases that Harbor Freight sells work just fine and I've used the rifle case they sell to transport my K&M mic stands because the have the handle for lifting and they have wheels on one end of the case to roll it around.
Thanks for feedback! So far, we haven't experienced any of the issues you are stating, but something to consider for sure.
Nice setup! What are your experiences with people who wants to help out with packing/wrapping cables? Last years I'm insisting that nobody with proper technicque of wrapping cables hasn't my permission to pack any my cable. And if they do, I usually unwrap the cable immediately and do it again. :D A lot of people are offended at me by the fact that I don't allow them to help me but it saves a lot of time on the next gig/live stream. I still remember the event when we didn't wrap 200m (~600ft) fiber cable properly after a hard night. Oh, on the next day, I played a movie and had 2-3 hours session of unwrapping the tangled fiber cable (because the cable wasn't on cable drum at that time, because they didn't told us they changed the location of the event and suddenly it was an outside event without any cable protectors with us and we had to put fiber cable on a street lamps in 15°C/59°F (and put it down in 7°C/44°F in the night)... :D The place was this castle in Slovakia (beautiful place btw): ua-cam.com/video/p52Lie-T1DQ/v-deo.html
Love your videos! ❤
Ahhh! This is an age old question...to accept the help or not? Too much help or needed direction makes us less productive and more distracted. We typically decline help unless it's for a specific unmanaged task. Cable wrapping offers we accept from people we know....we know it won't be the way we do it, but the cables will be fine. Help with moving gear may be appreciated...however, people don't understand that there is a process and order of operation. They want to start bringing gear out to the truck and we don't even have all of the cable packed! Stacy and I prefer to do the lifting because we know exactly what to expect....this is another area where people want to help and lifting with others can be harder on me.
Hi sound couple, regarding cables do you have any brand préférence for quality and durability?
Nothing specifically with XLR but to say you kind of get what you pay for. But even the cheaper ones will work if you treat them well or don't mind needing to take a soldering gun to them every now and then. I would also say that some premium branded cables are way over priced and wouldn't spend the money on them. For Cat 5 critical signal runs, we would recommend sticking with quality cable brands that typically have Neutrik connectors. Over the years, it's been trial and error with different brands. The variety of selection on Amazon just makes it harder these days!
Hi I know this is cable storage but I would like to know what the folding table is you use . The cross base one you use thanks
No problem… this is one of our most ales about “gear”! Ours is hard to find, but here is a similar version: www.amazon.com/Yellow-Station-Outdoor-American-Plastics/dp/B097Q8Z9XV/ref=mp_s_a_1_19?crid=22F4P50YSGW0J&keywords=foldable+work+bench&pscroll=1&qid=1654970615&sprefix=foldable+work%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-19&wIndexMainSlot=29
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What’s the purpose of the black fitted sheet?
We carry that to cover our table that we set the mixer on. We use this for weddings, corporate gigs etc where we want to have an upscale look. We do carry others as well to use to cover our gear in a pinch when we don’t have storage space.
You can try and painting those containers black with bedliner.
What does that do?
@@thesoundcouple makes it less of an eye soar at events lol. I once found the perfect bag for a specific piece of equipment but it was ryobi green and just looked out of place. I painted it black and it looked so much better
@@Elniniss Ahhh, ok...that makes sense.
How many gallons are your roughneck totes?
I am also sick of dragging around a bunch of road cases as well. 😒
Our two main ones are the 14 gallon size, and the smaller “speaker” bin is 10 gallons.
Why did you choose Presonus gear and not other known brands?
We got our first PreSonus digital console in about 2012 and adding an RM32 rack mixer/CS18ai controller in 2016. They have offered us the solutions we liked for the times and have not found a reason to change.
😃 Hello The Sound Couple, Saya Hadir Melapor Diri 10:08PM Friday, 13Jan
Hello and welcome!
Saya Ada Soalan Adakah Selamat Jika Ikat Wayar XLR Dengan Hujung Wayar Tersebut, Atau Ikat Dengan Tali Cangkuk & Gelung Pita... TQ.
Bart telah menggunakan kaedah pengikat kabel selama sekurang-kurangnya 20 tahun. Ia bukan tarikan yang kuat, tetapi cukup untuk mengekalkannya, dan sebahagian besarnya, kami tidak pernah mengalami kegagalan kabel sebanyak itu. (Sudah tentu terdapat banyak sandaran jika diperlukan!). Untuk kabel ethernet, kami akan sentiasa menggunakan tali leher velcro.
@@thesoundcouple Terima Kasih Atas Pencerahan... 😃 Dan Senantiasa Memberi Reaksi Pantas Kepada Semua Peminat... Sekali Lagi Terima Kasih Bart and Stacy, Atas Perkongsian Ilmu & Pengalaman... Semoga Dipermudahkan Segala Urusan...& Sihat Selalu... TQ
@@safarizantudin1223 Terima kasih atas kata-kata baik anda! Kami sangat seronok berkongsi dengan anda dan semua komen...alangkah seronoknya!
I have road cases for my road cases
Would love to see what that looks like!
Hey I have that big rubber maid.. It has wheels and I drag that sucker..
They are great...but I believe this is our third one now? They do have some weak spots and we have cracked 'em. It's hard to get upset because we are using them at their design limits. It doesn't leave the truck much now so that helps as well.
I thought she is a Dragonforce solo guitar player (forgot the name) HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
Herman A-Ree
Who....Stacy?
Clamps not brackets, Black extension cords for certain things black 3 ways for certain things. Those aren't road cases.
Nope- but they work well for us and are way more portable!
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This is so easy when only two person works always together and always in the same way. In a more large team, to keep in place and in order all the stuff, is surely and mostly difficult because everyone have his own idea of work. A lot of time i'm arrived on a event and for example i found XLR cables rolled up in a messy way causing me a big loss of time during assembly, or worstly no one say me that 3 or 4 cables are broke and when i've used them I found myself in a worse situation.
You are right when it is just the same two people that are putting things away. :). Messy and broken cables even happen to us every now and again!