Rack Management

I've been looking at pictures, in the context of some rather snarky articles, about wire management in audio racks. The two racks I'm currently maintaining are far, far, far from that ideal.

The places I work, however, are live theater. We don't set up the same way from show to show. There isn't a standard, there isn't a way of marshaling it all down to a turn-key solution. My racks are untidy because they are works in progress -- even, in progress in the middle of a run.

I've even been tinkering with the house speaker aim points and the processor settings for same. This is due to having to adjust to the sound I am attempting to reinforce itself changing location and character (such as, moving the orchestra into the pit instead of having them onstage or back stage).

At the other venue I support as more-or-less house engineer, we are about to do our first "straight" play after a bunch of musicals. How will we end up changing the new system to better support canned sound effects playback? Perhaps once we've discovered that, I can drag out the clips and wire ties and make something a little more sensible inside that cabinet.

At my primary theater, we're talking about moving the entire rack now. So it's a little early yet to be thinking about nailing things down!