Re: Desolder Rig / Unbelievable Hamhandedness
So what do you do when the hands coil everything over/over and literally destroy all your cables? Which costs more, an extra half hour of load-out or replacing/fixing thousands of dollars of cable?
I sure don't work big shows like many people on this forum, but I'm pretty happy with how I run things at the level of shows I'm doing.
Basically I have found two statements to be very applicable when worrying about things like this:
1). "Relax".
2). "Choose your battles".
1). At some point it's cheaper to accept a ruined mic cable or XLR shell than saving that item by having labour or clients wait for you. Besides that, high quality mic cables etc won't be destroyed after being coiled over-over one time or three. Many people do it for years and years. Look at musos who always coil over their elbow: I'm staggered at how well some of their stuff holds up...
I used to aim for a perfect-looking mic cable box also, but at some point I just decided that I'd rather have a few tricky cables or make a repair once in a while at the warehouse than to have an ulcer. There's such a thing as a "spares box" and some things can be delegated to dry rentals where nobody coils the cables anyways.
If I see people start doing something way wrong at a gig I'll either teach them right there or I delegate them to something else and have someone else do the original task. By not being 110% immersed in doing every little thing by myself I manage the gig better by being observant and catching these things. Sometimes, if something's kinda sloppy I'll just stick it on top in the work box and think "I'll be redeployed in 14 hours anyway, we'll recoil it at tear-down tomorrow "
Relax - I'll be allright
2). Oversee the really vulnerable stuff 100% and don't be a nit-picker with all the other stuff. Unless I'm working with skilled labour I oversee coiling any big multicore, casing the consoles, dropping wind-up stuff that's in the air and counting mics that may be lost. Routine tasks I try to delegate after having "shown them one" (think: Press this tab to release, rotate counter-clockwise, don't lift this lamp by the moving head, etc). Choose your battles.
PS: I have found that making cases and packing systems such that there is ony one way that will "work" really helps, too. Monitor wedges that will only fit in the cases in one orientation. Mic stand box that won't house the stands unless completely folded down. Also: Using lots of robust mults with breakouts and shorter individual cables seems to help. Often these individual cables can be attached permanently in the back of whatever rack their coming out of, so that they may in worst case just be dropped into the back of the case before being lidded. I have found that it helps to have as few "loose" items as possible as it is both easier to figure out what goes with what as well making it harder to leave stuff behind.
