Cutting corners with mic stands (it really works)!

[kikling]

I was looking at different mic stands for my amp, vocal and drum recordings. And I noticed how expensive they are (im just 14 years old, and I'm just discovering the terrors of buying essential add-ons). Like tall mic stands are $30-60 and those small holders for miking amps are $7-14. Well since Im a kid i've worked around it. For miking my drums and singing, I just find a way to wrap the mic around a cymbal stand until it doesn't move, then i do some tweeking and it's almost perfect. I could still adjust the stand up and down and side to side. It's great! and for those small ones for amps, I just take one of those mic clips (they sometimes come with the mic you buy or you could buy one for a couple of bucks)and I duct tape or glue them to a solid, portable surface. For example i had this change holder (change as in $$$) in the shape of a heart (kind of reminds me of cardoids mics) and I put pennies in it until it weighed more than the mic, duct tape the holder, good enough for it to stay but still be able to bend up and down, and i put in front of my amp. I compared it to my friends real one and it looked to be miking in the same spot, picking up the same sounds, just looking kind of ugly.
I just want everyone to know that cutting corners is not always bad, you could save lots of the money you would of spent buying mic stands and spend it on more important investments like buying my future book "How to save money on stands and being able to spend that extra on my book"-by Jack
tell me what you think, I like the idea of not posting questions, but giving ideas.
(kikling@mail.com)

 

[kikling]

oh yeah also reply and tell me what you think of my ways and also how you guys cut corners.
Extra info- I use pc recording using Cool Edit Pro

 

[James HE]

My favorite is to take a drum stick, put the micclip on top of it- adheared with a lil tape, then tape the drumstick to my guitar stand. Wanna move the mic over a few inches- just move the stand! But to raise or lower then you gotta retape . oh well. But the guitar+mic stand is cool.

-jhe

 

[toad_uk]

I used to tape a mic to an old hat stand and sing into that. In my first band our drummer used my dad's plastic barrel for brewing beer as a bass drum, various large margarine tubs stuffed with cloth for toms, and a biscuit tin covered with cardboard and filled With small stones for a snare drum.

I played my guitar through an old reel to reel tape recorder and our bass player played through a 1940s amp that looked like something out of an old sci fi B movie hooked up to numerous car speakers.

We taped ourselves onto cassette with a single mic. To overdub we played the tape back through the built in speaker and recorded the result on a second cassette recorder while playing the overdubs. We actually got offered a gig based on it (no one noticed that there was no cymbals).

Now I use and 8 track digital recorder, Fender Srat, compressors, good mics, good stands, midi sequencers and no one's interested. Stick with the corner cutting it keeps you innovative.

[This message has been edited by toad_uk (edited 06-07-2000).]

[This message has been edited by toad_uk (edited 06-07-2000).]

 

[JeffTheEngineer]

You can sometimes find pipe at a plumbing supply store that is threaded similar to the mic clips and make your own custom stands for under $10. I have a friend who did this once.

I once made a stand out of spare wood that I used for the vocalist/bass player in my first band. I didn't have any mic clips so I used 2 bent nails to hold the mic.

 

[Scream Sophie]

PVC pipe is useful for making all types of stands, from mic stands to keyboard stands to guitar amp stands. The stands are sturdy if constructed with proper bracing, and the associated T's, 90 degree bends, etc. are cheap, you can cut it very easily, and once you glue the parts together, it is virtual indestructable. Great for permanent fixtures, not so great for travelling. You can paint it flat black and it looks cool.