Putting It All Together
COMFORT AND CONTROL—SHOULDER STRAPS AND HARNESSES
Comfort is a must. When you purchase a mixer bag it comes with a single pad-ded shoulder strap for carrying—I wouldn’t use it for operating. Aftermarket harnesses that go over both shoulders and crisscross in the back are fantastic for distributing the weight of the mixer and all-round comfort. They’re a must if location sound is going to be your chosen career. They will not only save your back, they will also prevent the mixer from sliding to your side—which commonly occurs if you try and use the single padded carrying strap.
Figure 3.15 Single shoulder strap Figure 3.16 Harness
The fi rst thing you want to do is set the shoulder straps on your harness so that the bottom of the mixer is just above your belt line. Any lower, and the fi rst time you have to run, the mixer is going to bounce up and hit you right in the junk. It’s not a pleasant experience!
CABLING
If you’ve done any location audio you’re well aware of how frustrating it can be to coil and uncoil cables. Nothing says “amateur” faster than a mess of tangled and knotted cables spilling out of you.
First you must, yes must, know how to wrap a cable properly. Don’t say, “Oh yeah, I know how to coil a cable.” You’re probably the one who doesn’t! It’s time to drag your sorry self off the couch and master this skill.
Wrapping a cable in the fi eld is much harder than wrapping a typical home extension cord. What makes it so diffi cult is that both ends of the cables you’ll be wrapping are usually connected—the mixer to the camera, and the microphone to the mixer. This means any small twist created while wrapping can turn into a tangled mess.
During a shooting day I’ll coil and uncoil my cables 50 to 100 times—each!
The coiling procedure I use is a combination of two loops that you alternate. You want all cables that are hanging from your mixer to have no more than a six-inch diam-eter loop. Any larger and you’ll be getting snagged on all kinds of stuff.
Here’s how to do it, step by step.
1. Lay out a 25-foot XLR cable on the ground and straighten it out. It makes learning this skill much easier if you’re not starting with a twisted up cable.
2. Put one end of the XLR in your left pocket as it would be if it was attached to the mixer. Grab the cable about 6 inches from the end with your left hand. If you’re left-handed, mirror the steps. See Figure 3.17 .
3. Slide your right hand about 1 foot down the cable. See Figure 3.18 . Figure 3.17
Figure 3.18
4. Bring the cable up towards you and lay the fi rst loop into your left hand. Do not twist or curl the cable. That’s the fi rst loop. See Figure 3.19 .
Figure 3.19
Figure 3.20
5. Slide your hand down the cable 1 foot again and grab it with all fi ve fi ngers. See Figure 3.20 .
7. Place the loop on the index fi nger of your left hand. The trick is to touch the back of your right-hand pinkie to the top or pad of your left index fi nger as you lay the loop in your left hand. See Figure 3.22 .
6. This time, as you bring the cable up, turn your palm away from your body, keeping the cable touching all fi ve fi ngers. The cable will wrap around your right hand and all the pressure from the hanging end of the cable should be on your pinkie fi nger. See Figure 3.21 .
Figure 3.21
Figure 3.22
8. That’s the second loop. Now alternate between the two loops and you’ll be able to wrap a cable that is attached at both ends. See Figure 3.23 .
Figure 3.23
Cables that are improperly wrapped for long periods of time will develop a “mem-ory” and can be extremely diffi cult to straighten out. Often rental houses end up with cables like this, so look for the telltale sign of twisted and bent loops. Sometimes they’re beyond repair, and you’ll fi ght them every wrap.
Master how to wrap a cable properly before you go public. It should take no more than 15 seconds to wrap a 25-foot XLR cable with loops that are even and twist-free.
If you purchase new cables, make sure you wrap and store them properly by hang-ing them or layhang-ing them fl at. If you throw them in a box all kinked up, that’s what they’re going to look like when you take them out.
A cable that’s been improperly wrapped over and over will eventually break the smaller wires inside, and it can’t be repaired. The very expensive control cable can have as many as ten smaller wires inside, making it even more fragile—a costly mistake if it’s damaged.