On The Road

I just finished a week long trip out to the Raiders. It was a great experience meeting a bunch of new people in an organization I have not worked with before. I spent a majority of my time getting electronics programmed, set-up, changed, changed again and changed again. I did some teaching while I was there, which was great to get away from the laptop. They also had a great team, so it was nice to not have to be in every second and then programing at night.

As I have been designing more and more, I find myself going to see/work with these groups more. I have also been helping set up electronics/sound systems more over the last few years. As I am doing this more, I find myself packing specific things for these trips that I don't normally worry about when I am teaching. Now that might be because I have easier access to things when I am closer to home, or I am more conscious of needing to maxmize my time on these visits, or both.

Anyway, here are the things I have in my bag when I am on the road.

Laptop - This one is obvious because it stores my work. However, I brought this with me to an audio install recently. I ran into a wall in my set up and had to watch a YouTube video to figure it out. I also had files shared with me to upload and I needed to access my email to use them. I needed to get them on the school's laptop, but I didn't have access to my email on their computer. Luckily everything was Mac, so I just airdropped everything over.

USB Hub - This one is actually funny because I had to go buy a couple while at Raiders. One was for the corps Mac Mini, and one was for me. The personal one was to be able to export samples to load on a DTX. This wasn't in my bag before this trip, but this stays with my laptop now.

USB Thumb Drive - This goes hand-in-hand with the USB hub. This has been in my bag for a while, so it is shocking to think that it took me so long to add a USB hub. This is so I can upload samples into a sampler that requires a USB thumb drive.

Headphones - I don't always use these, especially on short in and out trips. However, if I am going somewhere for a couple days, or longer, than chances are I will be designing on the road. While I was at Raiders I had to do some work in a lobby and without my headphones I would have been distracted, or not able to hear what I was working on.

Portable Screen - I use this to be able to see a score and logic file at the same time. This is nothing special, and only requires a USB-C cable to connect to my laptop. If you do this, just make sure the screen can receive power and data in the same port and your cable carries both.

Portable MIDI Controller - Again, nothing special with this. Just something to get work done on the road. I actually just found the cheapest one on Amazon that had a mod wheel on it so I could do pitch bend. This is powered by a USB cable, so it takes a USB-C adapter or the hub to connect to the laptop.

The following items I add to my bag for when I am going to do an audio install for a group.

Cable Tester - Specifically I keep an XLR cable sniffer with me. This is a 2 piece tester and plugs into the ends of an XLR cable. My understanding is it sends phantom power through the cable to test if it is good. It could totally be a different kind of signal, but it works. The reason I use this on the road is because it is small, and you can plug it in to a daisy chain set up. A box cable tester requires the ends of the cables to be close to each other, while the cable sniffers just require you to walk around more. Highly recommend these!

Colored Electrical Tape - I carry this to label cables on my audio installs. In a pinch, you can buy this at a hardware store. Most carry 6 basic colors (Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, White, Black) but some are carrying more now. I order tape off of Amazon because it can give you a broader choice of colors. This allows you to not have to double up on tape/colors.

Zip Ties - These allow me to fasten cords to frames/carts. I have seen some people start to use velcro to do this. I still use zip ties so I don't have to think about it, but I like that velcro is reusable every season. You will need 11" zip ties to fit around 1.5" frames/carts.

Cable Cutters - Obviously these are for cutting zip ties. You can also use them to snip off the ends of cables if you need to. I keep cable cutters, and a cable crimper/striper with me depending on what I am working with. The crimper is nice to have if you are working with Speakon and you have to open the cable up. Now these can also double as scissors in a pinch. The catch with these is not taking them with you when you are flying.

There is one more item I would carry with me, but I don't know how to really use it yet. I also don't own one. That item would be a Soldering Iron. I have had people solder connections for me, and it would just be nice to be able to do it myself. Currently, I don't have an projects that need one but I am looking to add this to my bag in the near future.

So that is what I take with my when I am going to work with different programs. Is there anything I should add to my bag? What do you carry that I didn't list?