How do you guys store your audio gear?
 

For some time I've had a couple of those aluminium (Yes the extra 'i' at the end is correct ;) )cases. One with foam for my XM2 and another to hold my other bits which consisted of, ME66, shockmount, small table stands, gaffer tape, XLR adapter, Sennheiser wireless and other assorted crap. Now it's getting a bit full and I'm trying to find a nice way to keep all this stuff organised and safe. I'm a stickler for organisation and optimising space usage, and I like things to have a place where I can get to them quickly without having to fumble through a lot of other gear - When I found a nice rubber pencil case (Made of same stuff as wet-suits but thinner) that held my wireless, antennae, batteries and mic I was rapt. ;)

So I was wondering how you guys store your gear, primarily your mics? Do you just have a case for each one and chuck all the cases in a big bin or do you have nice case with foam plucked where you fit them all in? Any specific cases you recommend for the job?

Just after ideas.

Thanks
Aaron

You might laugh, but every one of our wireless' that aren't rack mounted go in a small case we can buy at Old Navy. It's a padded lunchbox, totally nylon with water resistant Cordura, 2 zippers, and heavy padding. Even the wireless' that are in racks have these for each transmitter and spare batteries.
they're about 8" x 6" and come in a wide variety of solid colors and patterns, so we've likely got around 30 of them here. They cost around 5.00 USD.

I'm ALL ABOUT alternative use of existing products!

I've got a mix of PortaBrace bags and bags that were intended for other uses... Costco had some cordura lunch bags that were insulated and waterproof... for under $10. They had dense padding all around too.

If you find such items... even soft coolers... you often get a bag that's approaching pro-gear in quality and since those bags are made to hold temperature... all the better.

Not too long ago I sold a PC3 PortaBrace production bag... it was simply too big and heavy when fully loaded.

RIGHT NOW you can get a rolling bag at Costco for $59 which is VERY serviceable as a production bag. Is it JUST as good as the PC3 was? No. The PC3 was $340 plus shipping. 'Nuff said.

The lunch boxes and the rolling coolers don't scream "STEAL ME"

They also don't say "I'm a scmuck that packed all my best audio gear just so you can steal it all in one grab"

Jeez that last one could be worked into a country song. Do ya think Willie would be interested?

Seeing as we probably use some different terminology, what is a rolling bag? Just a cylindrical bag with a strap that you can chuck over your shoulder?

So I take it you put your mics in whatever sexy padded case they came in, and then put those cases in your bag?

Seem so messy ;)

Aaron

LIKE THIS

OR MAYBE THIS

And if you want to spring a couple bucks for the padded/insulated stuff I mentioned earlier you got yourself a very well protected bag that doesn't scream "steal me"... (Good point Beas).

Ahh OK, so you meant a schoolbag! ;)

Aaron

home depot has some awsome and *Cheap* padded tool bags

They're not big enough. I've already looked.

What matt posted is ideal. I use a roll on bag something like the one Matt linked us to.

You need a fair chunk of gear what with cables, mixer, mikes , mounts, wind gear, adapters , batteries, and the list goes on

maybe for *your* collection ;)

I unfortunately dont have the budget to afford massive amounts of mics and gear. the home depot bags do a great job for a decent amount of audio gear. lots of nifty pockets too

Dan, trust me, you will. Your membership card for GSA went out yesterday.

I actually had a good look at the padded satchells/tool bags as they're very well made and quite inexpensive, they're just too small for me and they didn't have shoulder straps.

I will admit that I keep checking. I buy my velcro wraps there. every bag I have has a herd of these stuck to outside of any bags I carry.

At home I keep my gear spread all over the house. The suckers going to have to look for his loot.

So how do you guys keep the little stuff organised then? Like Gaff tape, adapters, dB Pads, small table stands, hairballs etc, I'm just collecting more and more of this crap as I go along. I don't want to just chuck it all in a bag and search for hours to find it again. Guess I need to get custom size boxes to hold it all


Aaron

Well I'll leave it up to you to decide how to organize it. When I used the PC3 case it had 7 distinct pockets all marked with colored tags. That looked nice and it was a good idea... but in practical use about the only pockets that were true to my intentions were the biggest 3, then the whole inside. You'll want some seperation for all your cables... which in turn should be coiled with Rip-Ties... seperate colors so you can quickly tell what each length is. The delicate stuff needs it's own space too. That's why I suggested the padded lunch bags for inside the main space of the bag. Also if you go with the rolling bag like the one from Costco... I'll post pics of mine with crap in it within a few days... it's got about 8 seperated compartments anyway. Sooner or later crap is gonna' get piled on top of each other... you'll learn to pack your bag quickly and intelligently because it will be obvious. No eggs in the bottom.

The Ricardo bag that Costco has maintains controlled seperation for 3 distinct portions of the bag... so the only way stuff in one section is going to pile on stuff in another is if you flip the bag... and that's true for any bag.

I actually use some of the Home Depot stuff for smaller items and purposes. The bucket organizer works perfectly as a tripod apron... to go between the legs. The organizer comes with a pull-string that runs through grommets.... I removed that string and then tied in bungee cord (smallest diameter) just like string... evenly spaced... leaving blank holes between the 3 tied loops... next I slid this up on the legs and the bungees combined with the splayed legs keeps the apron in place... It works great for tapes, wireless, and whatever else I need at the ready. $10.

As an additional resource, I have a plastic 'hardcase' that I got at Bass Pro Shop. It is the large handgun case with pinch out foam. Not the perfect solution, but a budget item ($70).

We carry several "Gak" boxes, which are Pelican 1630 cases. They become the "everything" box that hold several small padded boxes. You can find the blem versions of the 1630's online all over the place. They are not quite as good as Anvil cases, but darn near. We fly a complete surround sound system in these things too, for the VASST classes. Nothing damaged yet, in spite of the TSA's best efforts to damage the gear.

What about the mics themselves? I haven't found a good way to pack them. Sometimes I just use the original boxes and bubble wrap they came in, but they're getting pretty beat up and it's pretty cumbersome.

A few things I haven't seen mentioned yet.

All of my mic cables are carried in a 5-gallon plastic bucket. They are just the right size to hold a coiled cable, and you can fit a bunch of them in a cheap bucket. You can also get 3 and 7 gallon buckets for different amounts of cable. Spend $5 and buy a Gamma Seal screw-on lid, as they are much easier to deal with than the snap-on type.

I use a small Gator case for my hand-held mics that also has enough room for my wireless transmitters. Other mics go in a briefcase-sized foam-lined case. Connectors and adapters and such are in a large tackle box with drawers on the bottom.

-Troy

I just use the zip bags that came with the mic, they have big white gaffer tape labels on them for the mic and adaptor, and those go in the Old Navy lunchboxes I mentioned previously.