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[Matthew Knischewsky]

Not to throw a topic swerve in, but does anyone know of an "industry standard" for color-coding cable lengths?

I can tell my own cables by eye knowing what lengths I have in inventory, but if I color-code I'd like to go with the philosophy that others have already adopted.

The only standard is resistor code. Everything else is made up.

[dave briar]

Politics has kinda eliminated that referenced as the LBQT etc. community has adopted that moniker.

Well we do indeed take Pride in our cables!

[Dave Garoutte]

The only standard is resistor code. Everything else is made up.

Well, that was made up too, once.
I just ordered some (cheap) colored cable wraps on amazon(ugh).  We'll see how they work.

[Dave Pluke]

Black(no label)/Brown/Red/Yellow/Green/Blue/etc,

Does everyone here work in well-lit rooms?

I have a heckuva time telling Brown from Red, Red from Orange, Blue from Indigo in low light conditions. For that reason, I prefer higher contrast colors or just white labels with lengths printed.

Dave

[Tim McCulloch]

Does everyone here work in well-lit rooms?

I have a heckuva time telling Brown from Red, Red from Orange, Blue from Indigo in low light conditions. For that reason, I prefer higher contrast colors or just white labels with lengths printed.

Dave

THIS ^^^

Under stage light is that violet, gray, or blue?  Yellow or faded green?

[Steve Eudaly]

THIS ^^^

Under stage light is that violet, gray, or blue?  Yellow or faded green?

Heh, yes just today we were pre setting a stage for an indoor festival this weekend while the lampies were doing their thing and it was pretty tough at times to tell the colors apart, but even then, if you're used to working with 5/10/25/50 etc length XLRs, it's not difficult to know what's what with a quick look or feel of the coil itself, IMO. Even a 5 foot coil vs a 10 foot is pretty obvious to the trained eye. Ideally when you're building things out (the time when you're actually digging the appropriate cables for the job out of the trunk) you have some sort of halfway decent work light. Of course we know that's not always the case. But if you're just working under colored stage light, chances are you're striking an opener when the length doesn't matter because it's all going back in the same trunk.

I understand the simplicity of fewer options when working with the stagehand du jour, but I personally really like the variety to be able to use the shortest cable for the job. Sure, 5 foot XLRs may be a bit extreme, so we don't own a ton and only send a few out on applicable gigs, but they're pretty great for jumping that wireless rack that lives on top of the split or the Kick In mic that's right next to the subsnake. It's a low-carb plan for the often seen stage spaghetti.

Everyone finds a workflow that works for them and the crews they regularly work with. As they say, "YMMV," just find a system that works for you and stick with it.

I do agree that the ol' ROYGBIV is relatively easy to remember for many, hence why we adopted it.

[Helge A Bentsen]

It's a lot easier to see colors if you code your cables with Neutrik BXX.
PVC tape + shrink tube can be difficult to see.

My XLRs are 3m, 6m, 9m with BXX ends and company name under XXCR rings.

[Nils Erickson]

I had mine printed on heatshrink.  It looks great, and it's durable.  On mic cables, it fits over the connector if you order it correctly.  On mic cables I do not clear shrink over it, though I do on NL4 and Power cables.
I ordered them from heatshrink.com, and back in 2020 it was $.67 ea.  I am happy with it, it looks a lot better than many other things I tried (which included P-Touch).

[Dave Garoutte]

THIS ^^^

Under stage light is that violet, gray, or blue?  Yellow or faded green?

Nothing a headlamp can't fix.
Bought a couple of these really cool led strip head straps.  Fit like a sweat band, so not floppy like some single bulb types.
Unfortunately, I didn't save the source, so I can't share the specifics.

[Brian Adams]

I also use resistor code, for cable length as well as fantail numbers. I have some electrical tape in pastel shades for numbers past 10, up to 16. Works great. I find it MUCH easier and faster to find a color in a bundle than a number written somewhere.

Most of my cables also have the length written on them as well, sometimes on a Brother label over colored electrical tape with heat shrink over it, sometimes on a thin Brother label under a clear Neutrik ring (in the case of XLR), but also written in silver Sharpie on the Velcro ties I make. This way even people who don't know resistor code will easily know what the cable is.

I've never found anything that I can print myself that will hold up as well as a Brother label with heat shrink over it, but some of these suggestions have me curious.

I don't disagree with the accepted color code for steel, there aren't that many lengths to deal with. Red, white, and blue cover the majority, with only a few others occasionally. It's a very patriotic color code.

[ProSoundWeb Community]