Today's Lesson

Cable management is a great way to increase the aesthetic appeal of your stage setup as well as promote a bit more safety around your gear. 

There are a couple widely accepted methods for cable management, primarily focusing on the cables going to and from your loudspeakers. 

• The top method is to secure your cables to the speaker stands using cable ties, so that the cables run down the back of the stand. This method creates a very clean look as the cables become virtually invisible. From there, the cables can be run in straight lines and taped down to the stage or performance area floor. Try to keep the cable runs  close to the outer perimeter of the performance area to avoid stepping on the cables as much as possible.
• Another method is to simply wrap the cables in a spiral fashion down the speaker stand. This method is great if time is short. While not quite as clean as the invisible cables down the back of the stands method, it is certainly better looking than cables falling sloppily to the floor from the rear of the loudspeaker. 

In either method any excess cable should be coiled near the source, versus at the base of the loudspeakers. 

To be clear, none of these methods will affect the performance of your equipment in any way. It is simply a matter of aesthetics and preference. 

When running microphone cables however, it is common to leave excess cable coiled at the base of the microphone stand, so if a performer removes the microphone, they have some slack in the cable allowing them to move around the stage. 

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