How to roll your cable

Jul 10, 2023 • 2 min read

Today, we'll teach you how to roll cables using the over-under technique, and your audio cables will never tangle again, no matter if it's an XLR or TRS cable.

How to roll your audio cable

Before we start rolling, I wanted to quickly tell you why every audio engineer gets so frustrated when you wrap their cables the wrong way.

If you don't properly roll your cable, you will coil the cable into a spiral, so when you pull it out straight, you will end up with a twisted mess.

Over time this could permanently damage any cable.

Over-under alternates the way the cable turns with each loop, so there is less twisting stress on it, and it will pull out straight and relaxed every time.

Apart from preventing damage to the cables, the over-under technique ensures that your cables won’t get tangled.

Over-under rolling technique

So how do you do it? Easy.

1. Point the cable away from yourself. Take your other hand and draw back the cable, pointing the thumb towards the connector.

Step 1 How to roll your cable

2. Then make a loop and draw back the cable again, but this time point the thumb the opposite way and turn it in just like that.

That's the under loop.

How to roll a cable

How to roll a cable part 3

3. Then repeat the process repeatedly until the cable is rolled.

How to roll a cable

My cable rolling loop is not working

If the cable won't form a nice loop, try twisting it in your fingers.

Sometimes, when a cable has been rolled incorrectly for a long time, the rubber will be bent, and it will be hard to form a nice loop, even if you try twisting it.

You can try putting your cable flat on the ground on a sunny day. This often helps relax the cable. However, please be careful – if the surface you put the cable on is too hot, it might damage the cable.

For very long cables, you can alternatively try the figure-8 rolling technique.

Written by

Thomas K. Tobias
I like words.

Hi, my name is Thomas, and I lead the content team. I like words, so next to managing the team, I love to create scripts for videos, blogs, product pages, ads, poems, cool slogans, and farewell card texts. I enjoy psychedelic jam sessions but only feel at home playing in Dorian mode.

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