Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

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DrummerMan
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Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by DrummerMan » Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:56 pm

Where do you like to put your little stuff?

I've got a new space to organize and my default is to do shelves mostly with big hooks for mic/inst cables and headphones. But I dont want to discount to value of cabinets and drawers, especially if you've found them particularly useful. It's a one room space with ally instruments and control room in the same place.

My main concern with something like a school locker (or any cabinet really) is the potential for doors and hinges rattling right when that perfect frequency is hit...


These are the immediate categories of little things I could think of:

-large cables
-little cables
-headphones
-mics
-random electronics/pedals
-computer related things (cables/hard drives)'

-tape (little 1/4" reels)

-books
-stationary

-small hand drums
-small percussion/toys

-little flutes and wind instruments

I'm sure I'm not thinking of other items, so feel free to remind me of that.

Ok, inspire me!
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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:41 pm

I’m in the same boat with my new room. It’s also a one room job. Storage is a bitch.
- I’m looking for an old, solid and heavy duty two drawer file cabinet to store mic cables and mics. The new ones are too flimsy and seem prone to rattling. At the moment the cables are in milk crates and the mics are in bankers boxes (a hold over from my move). It’s a pain.
- I’m thinking that headphones and extensions will end up on wall hooks. At the moment they’re hooked over the top of gobos.
- Bantam patch cables will end up draped over the meter bridge or maybe on hooks mounted to the side of a rack.
- Amps are in a neat stack.
- Small keys are piled on top of big keys.
- Percussion is currently all in a suitcase but it’s not ideal and there’s no room to grow. It’s a game of Tetris to put things away so you can close the suitcase after a session.
- Tapes that are currently in use are stashed under the machine or piled on the desk. Everything else is stored in the house.
- Hard drives that are currently in use are on top of the Mac tower that sits under my desk the rest are in storage.
- Pedals and noise gadgets are currently piled where they’re visible and accessible. I approach those things the same way I approach kitchen tools. As soon as they’re put away I cease to use them.
- Tools and odds and ends are in the piano bench.

I’ve only been in the new space for a few months but it feels maxed out in terms of space and storage. I’m going to have to get creative or start curating which parts of the collection are in use vs in off site storage.

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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by I'm Painting Again » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:43 pm

Swedes have these low profile storage sorta diagonal drawer modular storage units - at IKEA they are called TRONES

they're made of polypropylene and probably won't cause any problems with vibrating

I wrap my cables properly and put each one in a large ziploc bag to avoid dust and air - they get stored in a plastic box that slips right under my right wall first reflection absorber panel

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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by vvv » Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:28 am

I keep mics in Sterilite or similar-type boxes. I use the grid ones for dynamics, and the ammo-box-type for tube mics and large LDC's and ribbons.

I use clear and mesh shoe-hangar bags for quick-access stuff like tools, the odd mic, the back-up pedals, slides, mic clips, etc ...

I use wire-rack shelves for amps, and I hang shite like cables off door-back towel bars.
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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by kslight » Fri Apr 12, 2019 9:53 am

I have many clear plastic boxes about the size of a ream of paper for different things, ie: guitar tools, USB drives, audio adapters, etc...

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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by DrummerMan » Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:44 am

Thanks for the thoughts! As I think about it more, the biggest issue is things i DON'T like to look at, which is mostly cables. I like seeing the mics, even in their cases. I want to see the random electronics and pedals that I often forget about. Percussion needs to be easily accessible otherwise I wont use it. Etc...

I'm think about making a simple built in cabinet that's 8-10" deep and kind of tall. Inside can hang mic/inst/speaker cables, on the door I could put hooks for headphones and maybe one of those fork/claw things for patchbay cables.

Also appreciate the idea of small clear sterilite bins. They could house things like hard drives, or other random oddities then go on a shelf where it's still visible but a little less ugly....
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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by markjazzbassist » Fri Apr 12, 2019 11:05 am

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:41 pm
Pedals and noise gadgets are currently piled where they’re visible and accessible. I approach those things the same way I approach kitchen tools. As soon as they’re put away I cease to use them.
Sage advice here Dave. I am going to move some stuff around in my space to make sure all my pedals are out and visible.

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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by roscoenyc » Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:38 am

I like putting stuff away.

Years ago when we were in a semi-shared space we bought some of those rolling tool cabinets. Now we have 3 of them. They are also locking.

Smaller microphones
Tools
Mic Cables
Speaker and power cables

Misc Guitar stuff
Guitar Pedals
Guitar cables
Drum stuff (Percussion)

Headphones
DATs (yeah, still have some)
Misc Computer cabling.
DI's

They look nice, they don't make any noise
They come in many different sizes and drawer configurations.
We have all the drawers labeled on the front so visitors can find stuff if none of us are there.
Since we bought them we have moved twice and they were super handy for that too.

Ours were the Husky brand from Home Depot.
They also make some nice wall mounted cabinets that are reasonable.

I have a stainless steel one at home also for bike parts/tools as I live in a loft type apartment and don't have a garage or basement.

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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by Trick Fall » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:34 pm

I sort of use all of the above. My basement studio was formerly a basement apartment so some of the kitchen cabinets get used for guitar pedals and odds and ends. I also have two large heavy duty shelves that I got from Home Depot. One has a bunch of stuff on it and the other is dedicated to guitar amps. For cables, mics and headphones I have Rigid tool boxes that i got at HD. I really like these as they're sturdy and stackable. They also make matching milk crates. My next project though is to build some wall mounted hooks to hang frequently used cables on.

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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by Scodiddly » Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:49 pm

For me it's all about frequency of use. On the workbench I have a "three tool" guideline, where I should really only have at most three tools laying on the bench at once, and the rest in a nearby organizer. Then the less used tools are in a chest a bit further away, and the rarely used tools are on a high shelf.

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Re: Organization: shelves vs cabinets vs drawers vs hooks

Post by DrummerMan » Sun Apr 28, 2019 6:21 pm

Scodiddly wrote:
Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:49 pm
For me it's all about frequency of use. On the workbench I have a "three tool" guideline, where I should really only have at most three tools laying on the bench at once, and the rest in a nearby organizer. Then the less used tools are in a chest a bit further away, and the rarely used tools are on a high shelf.
That seems perfectly reasonable and logical
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