Chony,

Essentially, all the cables are contained within a flexible, plastic tube that runs from the mixer to the individual components.

For example, lets assume that you have 5 mics on stands across the front of the stage. Each cable would be cut to the exact length needed to reach the appropriate stand(s). Same holds true for instrument cables from the keyboard, guitars, etc... The flexible tube has various ports, which are nothing more than small, wire-size holes, where those cables pass into the main corridor or channel, thereby housing all the cables within the flexible tube.

At the other end of the tube, the wires exit and connect to the various items such as the power strip(s) and mixer. Each cable end is labeled so there's no question which cable to connect to the individual components.

I first began doing this in 1957, at which time we used to lace the cables with wax-coated lacing cord. The guys in the band loved this because the only thing that had to carry around was their instruments. No cables to worry about, and if one of them happened to fail, we always had spares in a canvas bag that could be used in a pinch.

The only drawback was if someone wanted to do some silly dancing across the stage like Chuck Berry while playing his guitar--the cable length(s) limited the distance they could move. Back then, the only drawback was when a cable failed, you had to unlace the entire housing, put a new cable in place, then lace it up again, which took quite some time. Todays cable tubes eliminate that problem.

The tubes are available at Radio Shack and some computer stores, they come in various sizes and it's not expensive.

Hope this helps,

Gary