Re: [Harp-L] low rent mic stand (longish)

["Blake Taylor" <taylorb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another Cincy harp-l-er, Dave M., just got a new recording rig (I know
nothing about these things, but I thought it was neat how small it is.) 
Anyway, he wanted to try it out in a club setting, so he brought it to
our gig last night. Although I doubt it will be featured prominently on
Archive.org any time soon, I was impressed with the audio quality. 
Except, of course (here comes the relevance) that the party at the next
table was, I'm fairly certain, louder than our humble semi-acoustic duo
on many occasions. I wish it was from screaming and applause, but I
think that for them we were more for ambience. Perhaps Dave should head
out to garage sales this weekend to look for golf clubs and music
stands....

Anyway, Dave M (I know you're lurking here...and I will get you to jam
sometime), thanks so much for the spiritual, liquid, and audio support,
and I humbly await to hear the whole show, for I'm certain to be more
humble after I do. I still sound so much better in the car......

Oh yeah, and Dave was witness to my first clear, successful live OB4s -
I broke out what I call the "Gussow" run (draw 4, OB4, blow 5,Blow 6,
draw 6, OB6, etc...). Just sayin', as I totally credit Harp-L with my
even knowing about OBs....thanks again!

 - Blake
>>> Garry Hodgson <garry@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 10/28/05 9:49 AM >>>

as i foray into the world of recording live music, my lack
of any serious budget has encouraged interesting solutions.
i've written before about my rig: a sony minidisc recorder and 
a nice pair of mics from microphone madness.  of interest to
this post is that the mics weigh almost nothing.

so, my first few recordings were made just plugging the mic
into the MD and sitting it on the bar, or a bar table.  works fine,
except for one thing: the mics can pick up more of the crowd
than you;'d like, even though they are cardioids (directional).
you want to get 'em up over peoples' heads.

a mic stand is clearly in order, but i don't have a lot of (any) 
spare cash these days, and i don't really want to lug a big
heavy mic stand around.  one of the things i love about my
rig is its portability.  it all fits in a little fanny pack.

but i was at a rummage sale recently, and got to thinking.
always a bad sign.  they had a couple of those cheap music
stands that kids use for band class.  way too short for a mic
stand.  but...they also had lots of old golf clubs.  so i picked
up a mic stand for $1, and a couple of golf clubs for $2
(graphite, a 5 wood and an iron, not that it matters).

so i took them home, threw out the music holder part of the stand,
and straightened the top of the stand that it normally attaches to.
then i cut off the head of a golf club, and drilled a hole in the
handle.
voila.  instant mic stand.

you slide the club shaft onto the stand part and have a ~7 foot mic
stand.  tape the mics to the top, aim 'em, run a cable to the MD 
sitting on the table, done.  it's lightweight, portable, cost almost
nothing, and makes me chuckle every time i look at it.  i taped it
to the side of the bar table as meager insurance against it getting
knocked over.

works great.  it's way to flimsy if i was using big heavy mics, but i'm
not.
and it's a lot less obtrusive so i don't feel bad for people sitting
behind me.

so with many of you starting to play with microtracks and such,
you might want to give it a try.  it also makes the show more enjoyable,
since i'm not constantly worried about knocking into the mics, or having
them pick up table conversation or other noise.

----
Garry Hodgson, Technical Consultant, AT&T Labs

Your love, your anger, your kindness, your hate.
All of it creates the future for you and your children.
What kind of future are you creating today?
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