A Great Debate: Zip Ties and Velcro for Studio Cable Management

Could cable management be the secret weapon to a sleek and efficient studio setup? And... zip ties, or velcro? 

Join us on Autofocus as hosts Dan Craft and Brooke Galligan take sides over the pros and cons of Velcro versus zip ties.

Brooke argues for Velcro, which boosts sustainability and offers unmatched flexibility for those who frequently reconfigure their setups.

Dan defends the plastic zip tie for versatility and strength.

Pick a side, or blend the two, as Dan and Brooke share insider tips and tricks to maintain a tidy environment that not only looks great but functions even better. 

From the subtleties of cable concealment to the larger implications of reducing plastic waste, this episode is packed with insights that are both informative and entertaining. 

Whether you're a tech enthusiast looking to optimize your setup or just curious about the behind-the-scenes magic, this episode of Autofocus promises to be a game-changer for your studio operations. 

Tune in and let us enlighten your path to a more organized and sustainable creative space!

(... and vote zip ties!!!  --Dan)

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:05

welcome back everybody. This is another installment of autofocus from podcastvideoscom. I'm dave craft I'm brooke gallagher good to see you again, brooke I know good to see you.

Speaker 2 0:15

It's like I saw you like two seconds ago what you mean. We don't just record this yeah, I just wear the same outfit like every day, me too.

Speaker 1 0:30

So we've done some pretty technical episodes. The intro was a little lighter, just kind of who we are, what we're trying to do with autofocus. We delve hard into the 4K cams and app. We talk some about the various features of the microphones we're using.

Speaker 2 0:45

We're going to go kind of behind the scenes today.

Speaker 1 0:47

This one's very important it is we're going to fight office people. This is about cable management mostly.

Speaker 2 0:57

And Velcro. Why is Velcro Zip ties? No Velcro.

Speaker 1 1:01

Velcro, okay. So why do we use them for anything? Eyes, no, velcro, Okay. So what do we use them for anything. I mean, here's a camera, okay, wait a minute. Here's a mic. Here's a camera.

Speaker 2 1:16

That's why I use Velcro Like done, we're done, asmr, asmr.

Speaker 2 1:24

But it only holds so much I'll put you as a friend like and I'll put it in front of the mic so you can add some of that. Okay, that's pretty cool, but no, the velcro. So one thing I've noticed is that, as I've been working here, um, we just change our minds me, I change my mind, like at least once a month, and so, like there's, we basically reconfigure. You know everything. Um, you know, like sometimes where, if it's cords that, uh, you know, once you do not see the cords as much as possible, so like there's cords that come this way they go under the table, or there's cords that like wrap and like snake around the cfc, like, and so every time I change my mind and I want to put new cords up, or we add ethernet, we have to add ethernet cables.

Speaker 1 2:11

Every time I have to cut those off and then, um, and you'd be able to see these a lot better if we had some white ones.

Speaker 2 2:18

But we use the black because it blends it yeah, but every time you want to change something you have to um you to cut them. You cut them and you throw them away. You don't have to throw away, they'll grow. You literally just have to peel one off and you put it up. You don't see the black ones here. Because we use the black ones, because of the black ones.

Speaker 2 2:37

Yes, the black ones, because they again. But like the black ones do, they blend in with the ceiling, they do everything. But you can just take them down, move something and put them, and that's what I like.

Speaker 1 2:51

The zip strip. You do have to have something to wrap around Velcro. There are Velcro versions where you can literally loop one side of Velcro to the wall and then you Velcro something to it.

Speaker 2 3:01

Yeah, like the lights behind the TV.

Speaker 1 3:03

Like all the art we have hanging out in the wall.

Speaker 2 3:06

Yeah, Everything's yeah.

Speaker 1 3:07

However, you can only hold so much with it. These will they're more will hold semi-permanent. They won't work, but they'll hold a lot more, particularly because you can get these in bigger sizes too than the Velcro.

Speaker 2 3:20

No, you can Because you want to. I don't know why we would need super thick ones, but you literally can just to the other. You can do wider. I mean it's, there's a lot more and you can just literally just like take them off, put it back. So I like Velcro for the environment and I just oh, I said it For the environment. Sustainability.

Speaker 1 3:45

The overall environment or the environment here in the studio, Because, well, your title is Studio Innovations. Basically, it would appear to the naked eye that Brooke's entire job description is hey, let's trash this and redo it. When that finally gets done, she's off to somewhere else. She'll leave the chair in a barn and yell at her.

Speaker 2 4:08

But I'm saving the turtles.

Speaker 1 4:10

There's less plastic. And when we ask her what is she doing? We always say I'm innovating.

Speaker 2 4:16

And I'm saving the turtles and.

Speaker 1 4:17

I'm saving the turtles.

Speaker 2 4:19

I'm saving the turtles, and now I'm innovating.

Speaker 1 4:22

Yeah, but you can innovate to so much weight where they Sorry, zipstrips, zipstrips for life.

Speaker 2 4:27

There's not a lot of weight.

Speaker 1 4:28

Now we will also talk about. In another episode we talked about having to cut the ZipStrips. Yeah, you can repair scissors but not always.

Speaker 2 4:34

You talked about having to cut the zip strips, those, yeah.

Speaker 1 4:35

Even a pair of scissors doesn't always do it. You could really use a pair of pliers or side cutters. We will talk about the fact that you need an entire truck toolbox full of random tools to keep a studio like this going. In this case, my entire truck box full of tools, yes. But we will lay a whole bunch of those out and say, hey, guess what we use in the podcast studio. It'll get weird.

Speaker 2 4:57

Yeah, but yeah, the pliers and stuff. But another thing too is so. One of the main things that we're holding up in the CLA is XLR, you know the cables. So, XLR cables. They're pretty sensitive so you can't you know, if you're trying to cut a, uh, a zip tie that was put out too tight, you're gonna even just putting them on too tight, crinkly skate yeah, exactly, and so you can, um, you can, anything that breaks in here.

Speaker 2 5:24

You can, that you can. If you accidentally nick it. If you uh break some wires, um, you're gonna start getting some extra buzz, and so we already had that happen in one of the studios, and of course it's the studio that's the furthest away. So we had to basically pull and you can't pull just one cable because they all go through PVC pipes along the sea.

Speaker 1 5:44

That's not the same as everybody's necessarily.

Speaker 2 5:46

Most setups aren't going to do it. But yeah, so it's like, but it is a lot easier because we couldn't just take one cable down, we had to take all four, string them back, put new cables, four new cables, because we probably damaged all of the rest of them, bringing it back, pulling through. So we, you know, so we ended up just having to do all we had to do all new cable management for the xlr cables. Um, you know, within like one month of me like getting here and so that everybody else knows.

Speaker 2 6:11

The timing carried me right after she got here when I I ran for gunner fear, I noticed things breaking, so they were probably already broken, but yeah. But it's just that the Velcro is a lot easier. They're reusable and you aren't committed and you can't accidentally cut them. You can't accidentally cut the important wires like the XLR cables. And now we have HDMI that's going through and those are even more sensitive.

Speaker 1 6:37

I now resolve to put zip strips on everything, just so we're taking things apart.

Speaker 2 6:42

Yeah, no, I'll still cut them up.

Speaker 1 6:47

I'm just going to put them all up high. I have a stepstool.

Speaker 2 6:50

Stepstools are also very important in everything that I do. I need a stepstool to get my laundry out of the washer. If not, I have to climb in the things I did not expect to hear on this podcast. You need to know it. Autofocus, it's a stepstool.

Speaker 1 7:12

Autofocus, autoload. I wish you did. Okay so so takeaway here you will use weird things in the studio that aren't super fancy, like mics and mixtures and cams.

Speaker 2 7:24

Velcro.

Speaker 1 7:25

Some people think it's Velcro, others love the zip tie. Yep, we're going to get really mad at each other about this now, so we better sign off. So that's not on camera, but until next time. This has been Autofocus. I'm Dan Craft.

Speaker 2 7:40

I'm Rick Galligan.

Speaker 1 7:42

See you later, guys. Bye.