Tech Tip #10 Restrain Yourself

Welcome to my tenth tech tip. Say that five times fast. As you know here at tech tips we try hard to keep it simple and give you pointers that help in our everyday (or should I say every weekend) sound adventures. Got a mess of cables that threaten to pull your gear right off it's stand? Then you really need this weeks tech tip entitled................

Strain relief.

Do you recognize this term? Well for a lot of us this would mean putting your feet up and relaxing for a while or resting that shoulder you hurt and perhaps putting a hot pack on it. However in the audio industry it means something completely different. Who hasn’t walked by the back of a sound board (or your home stereo) and seen multiple cords and cables hanging down with so much weight on them that they look like they are ready to pull everything they are connected to, off the desk/stand/table?
Just the mere weight of this can cause a connection to be intermittent. (a fancy term for cutting in and out) If you have ever plugged in an audio multi snake you may have noticed that there is a sort of wire loop built right into the ends where the connectors plug in. This is the strain relief that the company builds right in and is meant to hook on to something to take the weight off of the cables and connectors, hence the term “strain relief”
This concept is HUGE and is a big part of preventative maintence. Cables can also be gathered together and supported using one of many available velcro type ties. I staple multiple velcro strips in my racks and leave them there. In this way it is not hard at all to gather cables together and wrap the velcro around them, holding them in place and taking virtually all the weight off of them. Another benefit of this is that it all looks neat and tidy and organized and other techs will admire you for your dedication to excellence.
In our band 2Suite, Suzanne’s keyboard setup has many cables and I am fanatical about supporting them and taking the strain off. We can’t afford an equipment failure in the middle of a performance and this is just one of my “insurance policies” I do this to give me some peace of mind and allow us to focus on the music and reduce the chance of technical difficulites. I believe in the old saying “and ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” Another factor is that should a fellow performer or someone else catch a foot on one of the cables, there is a less likely chance that it will become disconnected. In fact, strain reliefing them usually gets them out of harms (and foots) way.
This all takes a bit of time and effort but the pro looking results are by far worth it. See you soon.
TT
techtips@mts.net