PRG Production Tips 2

PRG Production Tip #2 – “One Is None, Two is One” - Always Run Redundant Data Cables

by Chris Conti

When it comes to data cable I have a mantra I like to follow “One is none, two is one.” Data cable is the central nervous system of lighting, audio, and video systems. Without data cable the lights won’t turn on or move, nothing comes out of the speakers, and the LED video wall is just a big dumb Lite-Brite. Redundancy is king…whenever I run one data line I always run a spare. Obviously, it’s not practical nor cost-efficient to have a duplicate cable for EVERY data cable in the rig. However, it is reasonable to have a spare on home runs from lighting trusses, speaker arrays, or video walls. “One is none, two is one” was born out my experience that a critical data cable would, for whatever reason, fail several minutes before the show was about to start. Having a spare in place, ready, and available enabled our crew to remedy the problem as quickly as possible while minimizing any potential delay to the show. So, remember … “One is none, two is one.”