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Gear / Technical Help => Cables => Topic started by: willndmb on December 19, 2008, 11:50:07 AM

Title: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: willndmb on December 19, 2008, 11:50:07 AM
what do you guys do?
i have always done the over under method of rolling my silver cables and they are kinda used to it and don't roll up "straight" anymore
however when using the over under they get knots when undoing them much more then straight rolling
does over under really make any difference? if so what, and how can i not get them in a knot
thanks
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: Red Boink on December 19, 2008, 07:20:02 PM
Over under, when done correctly, should have no kinks at all.  It may depend on the type of cable you're using, I have no experience with silver cables.  I've worked news audio and could take a 75 foot cable, hold one truck end and throw the cable out to a straight line and they uncoil perfectly and lay straight.  But, these are just regular Belden xlr cables, although Mogami, Canare, and musiflux all perform the same way...  Like I said, maybe it is the material the cable is made from... I only use regular cables, have for many successful years.

Best,

John Hartney
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: JD on December 19, 2008, 07:35:03 PM
I had to look and see what over/under was. I learn something here everyday.  ;D

For others who might not know..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE)
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: Brian Skalinder on December 19, 2008, 07:38:56 PM
Over/under.  If I unroll incorrectly, I'll sometimes run into knots, so I try to pay attention and unroll correctly.
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: TNJazz on December 19, 2008, 10:04:33 PM
Over under only.

The key to avoiding the knots is to grab the correct side of the cable.  Every time I guess wrong I spend 5 minutes undoing knots myself... :P
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: willndmb on December 19, 2008, 11:03:40 PM
at least its not just me knoting it up from time to time
ok thanks
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: boojum on December 20, 2008, 02:08:19 AM
Over under only.

The key to avoiding the knots is to grab the correct side of the cable.  Every time I guess wrong I spend 5 minutes undoing knots myself... :P

TNJ, you made my day.  I have the same problem, look like a fool wrestling a rats nest, and feel dumb.  I am so relieved to learn that even the pros succumb to this on occasion.

Cheers
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: TNJazz on December 20, 2008, 08:50:48 AM
Over under only.

The key to avoiding the knots is to grab the correct side of the cable.  Every time I guess wrong I spend 5 minutes undoing knots myself... :P

TNJ, you made my day.  I have the same problem, look like a fool wrestling a rats nest, and feel dumb.  I am so relieved to learn that even the pros succumb to this on occasion.

Cheers

It only seems to happen to me when I'm setting up my audience shotgun mics on the stage in a packed club.  It's just flat out guaranteed to happen when 300 people are watching you.   ::)
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: sanaka on May 28, 2009, 04:22:43 AM
Like JD, this thread is where I learned (yesterday) about over/under. I tried it on some of my cables and it sure is better! These were pretty short cables though. I'm a little confused on TNJ's statement though:

The key to avoiding the knots is to grab the correct side of the cable.  Every time I guess wrong I spend 5 minutes undoing knots myself... :P

How do you know which side is correct? Or do you just mean don't accidentally grab the end that lays on the surface of the coil that's away from you and then try to throw 'away' ? If that makes any sense.

Peace,
Sanaka


Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: TNJazz on May 28, 2009, 08:11:01 AM
Like JD, this thread is where I learned (yesterday) about over/under. I tried it on some of my cables and it sure is better! These were pretty short cables though. I'm a little confused on TNJ's statement though:

The key to avoiding the knots is to grab the correct side of the cable.  Every time I guess wrong I spend 5 minutes undoing knots myself... :P

How do you know which side is correct? Or do you just mean don't accidentally grab the end that lays on the surface of the coil that's away from you and then try to throw 'away' ? If that makes any sense.

Peace,
Sanaka




All the FOH engineers I know coil from the female connector end.  The idea is that you connect the microphone and then can "throw" the cable across the stage to the stage box.  So you should start with the female XLR.  YMMV of course.

My problem is sometimes during tear-down I will coil from the stage box to the mic (starting with the male XLR) because it's easier.  I usually re-coil cables from the "correct" end later on when I get back, but sometimes I forget and that's when I run into my knot problems.
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: twatts (pants are so over-rated...) on May 28, 2009, 08:27:20 AM
I had to look and see what over/under was. I learn something here everyday.  ;D

For others who might not know..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE)

Interesting...  I guess I only learned half from our local soundguy - I've been doing Over Over...  I'll have to switch it up...

Terry
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: page on May 28, 2009, 12:09:14 PM
Interesting...  I guess I only learned half from our local soundguy - I've been doing Over Over...  I'll have to switch it up...

Terry


Ditto, I do Over, (Twist/roll), Over and it works better for me than the official Over Under method which I've only gotten knots out of. I blew one entire evening watching the video and trying it on my cables and gave up. Glad it works for someone.
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: fozzy on May 28, 2009, 12:26:18 PM
I do over under, and unroll by holding both ends and "Throwing" the cable
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: sanaka on May 28, 2009, 02:56:32 PM
Thanks TNJazz, I'm pretty sure I get it!

Peace
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: Brian Skalinder on May 28, 2009, 04:26:45 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE)
Link removed by user...

Not sure it's the same one, but just copied an over-under vid (http://www.taperssection.com/reference/audio-video/over-under_cablewrap.avi) into TS Reference.
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: rokpunk on May 28, 2009, 04:55:41 PM
if i see any of my crew wrap a cable any way other than over/under, i make them re-wrap all the cables in the cable trunk.
nothing more annoying than making knots in your cables because some assclown wrapped them wrong the last time.
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: rokpunk on May 28, 2009, 10:18:36 PM
. . . when I assist with live sound, I find another job to do, preferably involving heavy lifting  :P


you are hired.
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: Chuck on May 29, 2009, 12:25:16 PM
I have to admit that I didn't like over/under for short 15' - 20' cables when I was doing live sound.
I rolled connected mic cables on a cable reel and didn't have any problems. I never liked the figure-8 method for power cords either.



Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: sanaka on June 04, 2009, 06:08:07 PM
Well I just wanted to say I've been over/under rolling everything in sight over the last week since I read this thread and I feel like a freekin' pro now my self esteem is at an all time high!  :-*  I'm picturing a T-Shirt with some kinda cool loopy wire logo and it says: "Over/Under... That's How I Roll"

Yup yup a little too much coffee this morning   :o :o :o :o :o ..................

Peace
Title: Re: Over Under or Straight Roll
Post by: dactylus on June 30, 2009, 11:29:39 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU9JE)
Link removed by user...

Not sure it's the same one, but just copied an over-under vid (http://www.taperssection.com/reference/audio-video/over-under_cablewrap.avi) into TS Reference.

Thanks Brian - baustin demonstrated this technique to me at Knoxville recently as he watched me struggle with a pair of 15' vm-44 link cables...

 :coolguy: