Fine-Tune Cabling For An Efficient Live Sound System Setup & Strike Every Day

If the band is utilizing rolling risers, 50 feet will give you enough length to be flexible in their movement.

If you’re working in clubs, perhaps only twenty feet is necessary, but if it’s a stadium tour, you may need an extension loom.

Store and travel the stage looms in a case with the stage mic cables (also color coded and loomed), stage input boxes and other items used on the deck every day.

When the stage is set, the trunk is empty. Find a convenient spot nearby to store it, so that you can get the stagehands working on getting the cables up right after the show ends.

Removing the stage looms is key to getting out of a venue in a hurry.

The loom concept is also applied to the cross stage runs for the main PA system, and the FOH snakes.

All of these cables come together at the monitor position, where the main system interfaces are located.

Upstage and downstage loom excess coiled behind racks on the floor at an arena date. Note the ends coming over the top from behind the racks, keeping the floor clear as possible in the working area (click to enlarge).

At the end of the show, the first thing I do is systematically disconnect the various looms and clear them from the immediate area.

The front of house snake goes to the downstage edge. The upstage loom goes upstage near the first riser, clearing a path for the backline.

The downstage loom goes to the downstage wedge line, and the cross stage loom is pulled toward downstage center.

In this manner, they are all independent and ready to be coiled into their proper trunks. This also clears most of the cable from the floor in the monitor mix location, where most of the gear is located, making it easier to strike the racks and console from there.