Dual microphone stand?

[Mark Levesque]

What do you'all use to be able to sing and play the mandolin into a mic at the same time?

thanks,
Mark

[Ray(T)]

Usually the "antique" version of one of these - http://www.studiospares.com/Mic-Supports/K+M-Multipurpose-Mic-Arm/invt/408080
Ray

[allenhopkins]

Bought one of these, (http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/OnStage-Stands-MSA9508-PosiLok-Side-Mount-Boom?sku=452057) clamped it on the vocal mic stand.

Later: Tony's posted the same link below.

[TonyP]

Mark, here's what you need:http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/OnStage-Stands-MSA9508-PosiLok-Side-Mount-Boom?sku=452057

I don't know when these came available, but I had to make something similar out of an old stand. Then I was browsing deep in accessories and saw this. Got one, and now I wish I'd never cut up the old stand. This thing works great(as you can see by the feedback) and it's hard to believe they can make it for so little. I especially like the locking mechanism. NFI of course

[mandroid]

Attach a ,say, 12~18" flexible 'Gooseneck' to the stand with a hose-clamp .. basic but it works .

[Mark Levesque]

Thanks everyone,

I also found this one:
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/KM-Microphone-Arm?sku=450492&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=73823131

It's more adjustable but a lot more cash than the one you guys found.
Hmmm

[TonyP]

If I may, for me, that's more adjustment than is needed. When I made the first adapter, I was determined to make it so it would slide up and down the main tube of the stand, and even made it so the "arm" would telescope. I know now it was way more than I needed. I was afraid the little unit Allen and I recommended would be too short, not so. And what's not apparent in the pic of the unit is there this wonderful knob on the back that you can take loose, and the arm has like gear teeth in it, so you can set the angle however you want, tighten the knob up again, and guarantee, it ain't goin' nowhere. You can raise and lower the unit by taking the knob loose that helps hold it to the stand, and move it up and down. It doesn't flop around like, when I look at the unit you showed, that's all I saw. And I don't like booms all over the place. I've cut down all my stands so in order to be vocal, and instrument height, with none of the reaching over at 90deg like when they were the normal height I bought them at. I don't like the forest of stand's look, and with this little jewel, stands themselves are double when needed, so there's only four stands, instead of 7. And the thing will fold right up on the stand out of the way, and not get bent or broken in transit. I love things that are just enough to do the job without anything extraneous. The bonus was they are so well made and affordable. But that's just me.

[Tim2723]

I agree entirely with Tony. I prefer to say that you can never have enough adjustabiity, but you can have way too much complexity. The one you found seems way too complex for it own good.

Don't forget that as you add stuff to a mic stand, you'll need to assure solid stability to the stand itself. They can get top heavy pretty fast. I've found that the average $20 mic stand is far to flimsy to do much more than its basic task. If you need to get a better mic stand, look for one with very solid, broad tripod legs (if you like that kind) or a very large, heavy iron base (if you like the circular kind). My all-time favorite is this old timer:

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Atlas-MS43E-3Section-Adjustable-Mic-Stand?sku=450651

You can get a real Christmas tree going on that one; telescoping boom, side arm, two mics, pick holder, pint of beer, ashtray, sign that says 'It's called a Mandolin'...

[Mark Levesque]

Thanks Tony & Tim,
I agree with your observations, I'll order the $13.00 model today if I can't find it locally.

Tony, I just realized you are the inventor of the Tone-Gard!
I have 2 of them and may have to order a 3rd soon. It was quite a revelation how much more tone my instruments could have. Another big surprise for me was that I was able to stretch the Tone-gard to fit over the back of my Brazilian bandolin (the bass notes are amazing with the Tone-gard on).

Tim, I have two heavy boom stands from the 70's that I am not using.
They would be perfect for holding the pint, picks, hand warmers, beer nuts etc:)

[Tim2723]

Good, that's what you'll need. Nobody's made a really solid mic stand since the 70's. Remember the old Atlases that weighed 25 pounds? Kill a small gorilla with one of those babys.

[TonyP]

Personally, I don't care for those stands. Too heavy, and that solid base doesn't get small enough for me. For a duo I could see how they would be fine. But for a multi mic bluegrass band, I like the folding tripods, they are plenty sturdy for what we do. And the tripod makes it self leveling for those times we play outdoors, or the weird assorted places with non regulation stages.

The idea you have to be able to telescope that high is just a head shaker for me. We don't have any drummers in the band so don't need to do any overheads. Like I said, I took my cheap regular boom tripod type stands and cut them down I think something like 13 or so inches. Also shortened up the booms a little. What's funny is you can buy the stand like that, but where the longer/regular boom stand is somewhere in the $30 range, the smaller version is $75!!! wazzup wit dat?

[Patrick Sylvest]

We use this little extender and it holds my AKG C1000S just fine.http://www.nstuffmusic.com/images/PRODUCT/medium/ae00-5879.jpg

[Chunky But Funky]

Nobody's made a really solid mic stand since the 70's.

Tim...that is a bold faced lie! You need to get out more often. For a "mere" $750 you can get one of these:

Latch Lake MicKing (http://www.latchlakemusic.com/micking_stand.html)

You can even add on extra booms for $75 per piece. They even show micing an entire drum kit with two of these and extra booms. So.....$750 for each mic stand and 3 extra booms for each one at $75 equals $1950. Who says no one has made a really solid mic stand since the '70's? They even have a budget model for $450. Let me know when you get them and what you think!

Doug

[Patrick Sylvest]

We've considered going one step further and putting one of these on it so that we can stand on either side for breaks. http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/tn/4/1/5/500415.jpg

[Don Grieser]

Tony,

Did you just cut the booms down with a hack saw and then replace the rubber cap? I hate those long booms.

I use the clamp that Cayenne uses and it works just fine.

Don

[TonyP]

Don,

I have a cutoff style metal bandsaw. One of the cheapo harborfrieght's that I've had for 20yrs. The last one's I did(for the guitar player for his at home studio stands) I was going to take pic's of, just for a thread like this. Basically take the stand all apart, mark how much you want to cut off the bottom of the outer tube, and the inner tube(don't cut off the threaded ends), and boom(after you slide off the fake counter weight) and cut each off and de burr. I also make a double slice on the bottom of the outer tube, and bend it up to make it so the legs can't slide off the end when you are setting up the stand. Very handy when you have someone help you set up. I hate when they stand there looking all guilty with the base in one hand, and the rest of the stand in the other :)

It's not hard once you have done it, and to me makes the stands sooooo much more compact in their folded state, and no more 90deg stands on stage.

That little extender looks pretty cool, still like the baby boom though....

[Michael Eck]

We use this little extender and it holds my AKG C1000S just fine.http://www.nstuffmusic.com/images/PRODUCT/medium/ae00-5879.jpg


The banjo player and I both use these with six-inch gooseneck and it works out great.

[mandozilla]

What Cayenne and Michael Eck said...I use the exact same thing...works great. :mandosmiley:

[Ray(T)]

Puny base on your mic stand? You can easily add weight to the bottom by threading a weight onto the upright - the sort with a hole that weight lifters use. They are available in a range of sizes from small to downright unliftable!
Ray

[Tim2723]

Wow Doug! You could kill a BIG gorilla with one of those!! LOL!

[steve V. johnson]

Puny base on your mic stand? You can easily add weight to the bottom by threading a weight onto the upright - the sort with a hole that weight lifters use. They are available in a range of sizes from small to downright unliftable!
Ray

I have some of these in my studio for when I have to extend a mic boom beyond the center of gravity of the stand. Works great.

I have a couple of them in the traveling PA kit and I gave them some fresh
flat black paint so they disappear.

I also have some sand bags that I got from a theatrical supply shop. They're good for steadying the legs of a tripod stand.

stv

[MikeEdgerton]

I have both of the attachments shown in pictures above and I use them with goosenecks. They are fine until gravity gets the best of you. An easier answer for me was to give everyone a condenser mic of their own then I made it really easy on myself and gave the entire band a single mic.

[TonyP]

I had forgotten that one of the guys in a past band had the "little extender with a gooseneck". I found the extender too short, and the gooseneck(for me and him) was too awkward. The other thing I didn't like about the extender is it wouldn't fold up, so I had to take it off everytime. Setup is complicated enough for an old dude like me, so I need less parts that can get lost. And my rig is so compact, there's no room for stuff that doesn't fold up. But that's just me, YMMV fer shur.