I'm starting home recording studio business and right now I'm in a phase of setting up all that necessary gear: computer, DAW, monitors, microphones and stuff in my basement. The thing is that I have tons of cables, I need 'em all, and I tend to be organized as much as I can. Does anyone have some advice how to organize those, so I don't have to spend half of day searchin' which one goes where? Maybe I should put sticky notes
I suggest you try Gearslutz Forum, if you haven't already. But by all means update here if you get some good tips, because many audiophiles also face the problem of a rat's nest of wires behind the equipment shelves.
Try some colored tie straps. You can find multiple colored ones online. I separated by input and output and then by equipment. Gearslutz and Pro Sound web are good resources as mentioned.
Turnaround time is important so I would have a cable closet and hang the cables by their barrels if short or wound properly if they are long cables. I would arrange the cables as follows
I Analog I/O
a) XLR
b) TRS for instruments and DI boxes
c) MiniTRS if you will have a patch bay for outboard gear
II Digital
a) AES (XLR also so mark to differentiate)
b) SPDIF
-Coax
-ST Glass
-BNC
c) Clocks (BNC also again mark to differentiate)
d) Computer interface cables
-Firewire
-Ethernet
-USB
Keep each of the types in the same places and arrange them by length. Keep masking tape and a sharpie handy for signal flow purposes. Peel off when cables go back to storage. Good luck and enjoy!
To cut down on the many cables that are used, I have mostly DB25 cable looms. One cable for 8 mic feeds. Also, I have hardwired most of my connections to cut down on clutter.
As noted above, I also use the Dymo label maker to put on the ends of my XLR cables.