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[Bryson]

Roland Storch wrote on Mon, 31 January 2005 15:26

The AKG stands are from K+M, also stands from Sennheiser are made by K+M.

I remember Beyer stands/booms that were just like AKG too.

[Bryson]

dpaton wrote on Mon, 31 January 2005 08:18

Atlas stands, K&M booms. Of course, I'm a dealer for both, so my pricing is kinda stupid. The thing is, that was my preferred combo before I got the dealer gig, and it will still be after it's gone. -dave

Yeah.  I never liked Atlas booms....especially that old grey Baby Boom.  Actually there was a point back in high school when I thought their new one piece, one bolt, round cast aluminum one was pretty cool.

[ted nightshade]

I find myself using clamp-on drum hardware for counterweights.

[Bob Olhsson]

My favorite is a three section K&M plus their two section boom with the addition of a Black Audio counterweight.

I haven't a clue why dealers stock mostly lame stands instead of the good ones. The differences are pretty obvious.

[Gary Flanigan]

I think I just read that Black Audio is going out of business...

[covert]

Bryson wrote on Tue, 01 February 2005 01:34

dpaton wrote on Mon, 31 January 2005 08:18 Atlas stands, K&M booms. Of course, I'm a dealer for both, so my pricing is kinda stupid. The thing is, that was my preferred combo before I got the dealer gig, and it will still be after it's gone. -dave Yeah.  I never liked Atlas booms....especially that old grey Baby Boom.  Actually there was a point back in high school when I thought their new one piece, one bolt, round cast aluminum one was pretty cool.

They were great, until you really needed to crank one down, or you stripped the cable that you fit into that nice groove, or you tried to take apart and fix that one you tried to crank down tight.  The following generation of atlas stuff was better, separate set screw for the boom, and better tightening hardware.  And they always had pretty useable and removable counterweights.  I'd be pretty happy with the K&M stuff if I could dissasemble more of it and replace parts.  

[Bob Olhsson]

Gary Flanigan wrote on Tue, 01 February 2005 15:37

I think I just read that Black Audio is going out of business...

not again!

[hollywood_steve]

Like most location guys, I've learned more about mic stands than any human should.......

Some opinionated rants:

1. Atlas stands are a real pain in the ass.  But they are better than any other mass market stand with the exception of the K&M brand (AKG, Beyer, etc.)  Between Atlas and K&M you can find stands to handle most situations.  Both brands are easily repairable, unlike the cheaper stands sold at home studio supply stores.

2.If you never record outside of your studio, you can probably get by with K&M and / or Atlas stands.  But if you record on location, you need serious stands, and that means lighting / grip stands.  There are so many varieties that it would take an hour to type out all of the different types and options available.  So go check it out for yourself; the best brand is Matthews Studio Equipment, MSE, from Burbank, but they are expensive.  Still good, but cheaper are stands from Bogen/Manfrotto/Avenger.  MSE came out with a cheaper line to compete against these stands, they are called the Revenger line.  To put things in perspective, you can get grip/lighting stands for as little as $75, but you can also spend thousands!  But when you need to hang a Decca tree 25ft in the air and out over the audience, these are the stands you need.

3. If you are staying put in your studio, but you want something nicer than the Atlas / K&M lines, you've got two great choices:the Starbird from Manley, and the new stand from Latchlake Music.  The Latchlake stand is a little less expensive and has more flexible features, but the Starbird is the "classic" for a reason.  They are both great stands.

4.  There is nothing more lame than going into a top tier studio filled with the best of new and classic gear and finding that they only have a bunch of cheap stands.  Anyone who trusts a U47 or similar to a $50 stand deserves what is bound to happen, sooner or later.  If you own a nice room with expensive gear, dig a little deeper and provide suitable stands.

5. Finally, save yourself a painful lesson.  Invest in a bunch of sandbags and use them!  Yeah, they are expensive, heavy and a pain in the ass, but anybody who sets up mics long enough will one day watch a stand holding a very expensive mic tip over and send the mic crashing to the floor.  Sandbags are the best solution.  

[Bob Schwenkler]

i'll cast another vote for the akgs.

[maarvold]

I thought this looked pretty interesting: a combination of portability, sturdy footprint, mix of video & audio approaches and it gets tall AND extends pretty far.

http://www.seemics.com/stand.html

[hollywood_steve]

http://www.seemics.com/stand.html

I'm interested to see how those hold up after a year or two of heavy use.  On one hand, they offer a lot of features/reach for a moderate price.  On the other, no one will mistake them for a Matthews stand once you've held one in your hands.  THey remind me of Sabra, the mic attachement company in that they make parts that may look good at first glance, but feel kinda plasticky in your hands.

To add to the weirdness, this stand is being sold in the USA by two different distributors under two totally different brand names.  There have been some recent magazine issues with the same stand advertised on different pages under two completely different names.  Strange.

[dpaton]

Is the See Mics stand really all that special? It looks to me like a normal Manfrotto geared head video tripod with a 5/8" pin, a lighting clamp, and an aluminium fishpole on it. I'd think most houses doing video would have all of those parts already...I know B&H keeps most of them in stock.

Of couse, we're rapidly digressing from the original question about smaller, more portable stands

My $0.02.

-dave

[PookyNMR]

hollywood_steve wrote on Thu, 03 February 2005 18:10

5. Finally, save yourself a painful lesson.  Invest in a bunch of sandbags and use them!  Yeah, they are expensive, heavy and a pain in the ass, but anybody who sets up mics long enough will one day watch a stand holding a very expensive mic tip over and send the mic crashing to the floor.  Sandbags are the best solution.

Great idea!  I don't know why I didn't think of that.  We've just been taping stands to the floor.  A real pain when you need to move them...

[plughead]

Meriphew wrote on Sat, 29 January 2005 23:49

Nathan Eldred wrote on Sat, 29 January 2005 20:57 I have a couple of the Quicklok A-50's.  Cheap (I think I paid well under $300, I'll have to look it up) & exceptionally sturdy...they could take a bullet and hold more than any mic or stereo mic set will ever weigh.  7' boom, counterweighted, locking solid metal core rolling tripod.  I wish they made a short version of it for kick drums, etc. I paid about $130 - $140 for my A-50's. They are nice for the price.

Ditto - the only downside is "plastic" knobs - they'll always cack after reg. usage over time, then they're useless, stripped POS...

Atlas makes nice stands, as well as manley's Starbird, but not for the faint of hear price-wise...

best regards,

[Greg Dixon]

[quote  I'd be pretty happy with the K&M stuff if I could dissasemble more of it and replace parts.  [/quote]

You can get K&M parts. The dealer where I get my stands from seems to always have parts in stock. I've also used their parts to fix a couple of cheaper stands that are still lurking around here.