I got back from holidays just before the new year and I am always reminded when I get back, just how much I loathe unpacking, but this time, it was a bit of a nightmare.
You see, some drama ensued on the morning of our departure from Sydney. We discovered to our horror that collectively, we might have gone just a little overboard with our consumerist endeavours. As a result, not only did we have to purchase additional baggage allowance, but also, some major reshuffling of our packing was required – and that meant that something from everyone’s suitcase ended up in one that wasn’t theirs. I cannot describe the anxiety and panic that caused me but as luck would have it, once we were done, I discovered about a fifth of a bottle of wine that had to be finished. Okay it didn’t actually have to be finished, but waste not want not and all… Of course, it was a very opportunistic moment that had to be taken advantage of. So with that, the entourage was finally on our way to the airport for our 11am check-in, with me staggering behind.
Now back in Singapore, rested and not quite recovered from our travels – no one actually does, and the prescription for that? Another trip in the works, obviously. Anyway, fast forward a couple of days and we finally had six empty suitcases. I returned my audio gear to my studio. My Steinberg UR-22C audio interface – my secondary audio interface for virtual sessions with clients, was left sitting on my desk waiting to be reconnected to my studio set up. All it would take were three cables to be reconnected and I’d be all set.
‘twas the second day of 2024 and I got ready for my 3pm session. I was ready with the Zoom link that the client had provided, the script was printed and by now, my UR-22C was reconnected. 3pm came and everyone was connected on Zoom. Horror of horrors… the client couldn’t hear me. I quickly scanned the equipment, connection ports and cables and recited to myself what I always do when tracing cables and connections, “What goes in must come out”, and, lo and behold, discovered that I had neglected connecting the male end of an XLR cable to the UR-22C line input (female port) which would send the mic signal over Zoom so the client could hear me. What doesn’t go in will most certainly not come out!
And thankfully that was the only hitch in that session; everything else went beautifully and the client was happy with the end product. It was many years ago that, to my amusement, I discovered that cables had male and female genders and learnt the lesson of my life – what goes in must come out. Much like Sir Isaac Newton’s “What goes up must come down” this is the basis of all technical set up life that you simply cannot run away from. Especially in the days of bulky equipment – pretty much one piece for each function, patch bays and endless miles of cable, when anything went wrong, it literally went down to the wire. Of course, some more obvious problems needed to be ruled out first but very often, the fault would lie in a loose or damaged cable, or an incorrectly connected one or the complete absence of a cable from an important pair of connection ports.
Always male to female. What goes in must come out. Some things you just do not forget and thankfully, this simple rule saved the day for me yet again.