boompole on a budget?

J

JayR

Active member
Can someone suggest a fairly cheap boompole for me that would work well with an SGM-1X? Does anyone know if a Painter's Pole would work, and if so, if there is a way to get the mic to angle down at a 45 degree angle?
 
Hi Jay,
The short answer is: Yes a painter's pole will work, but not as well as a proper pole. I understand you have budgetary issues. First you will need an adjustable mic suspension. It looks like your mic has a mount for a camera only. If the rycote or K-tek mounts are out of reach you could try something inexpensive like an Audio-Technica AT8410A Shock Mount. As far as a pole, if you already have a painters pole, go ahead, but I wouldn't buy one just for this. My first pole was a long length of bamboo with a threaded bolt expoxied in the end. It was light,cheap and strong. The only downside was it wouldn't collapse.
Cheers,
Jon
 
JayR said:
Can someone suggest a fairly cheap boompole for me that would work well with an SGM-1X? Does anyone know if a Painter's Pole would work, and if so, if there is a way to get the mic to angle down at a 45 degree angle?
Click to expand...
try buying a used real boompole
 
You don't give a budget, but Guy has a couple aluminum poles under $180 at the dvestore.
Rode 10'
K-Tek 7'6"

Add on a shockmount (Scroll down to the SM4 on the Rode page) and you're still under $200 with the Rode pole, and just over that with the K-Tek.
 
HPIM0727.jpg


Here's a DIY boompole I made from one of those extendable poles for unscrewing lightbulbs, cost me around $40. I used one of the adapters that came with the pole to attach a 3/8" screw that would go into a $5 mic holder I had. I only used the mic holder for the hinge on it that would allow me to move the mic to any angle I wanted, and cut off the actual "clasp" part that grips the mic. Then I used abs cement to attach it to a DIY shockmount I made for about $3.50 out of a plumbing pipe and o-rings for suspension.

All-in-all, cost me around $50 CAD, and seems to work just fine. It extends from 54 inches to 12 feet and is very light as well. Slap some matte black paint on it, touch up the shockmount a bit (I just did a rough job of cutting it out and it could use a little makeover), and I'm all set for my boompole. I just couldn't see myself spending all the money on a proper boompole at this point, when I could quite easily make my own for a low cost. It only took me about 25 minutes to make the entire thing.

Hope this helps!
 
The shockmount you linked is intended for use with larger diameter mics in a studio setting.
That type of mount also tends to be quite heavy, not something you'd want to be swinging on the end of the pole all day.

Also, never wrap your cables like the one in btownproductions' picture.
 
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JordanBlock said:
The shockmount you linked is intended for use with larger diameter mics in a studio setting.
That type of mount also tends to be quite heavy, not something you'd want to be swinging on the end of the pole all day.

Also, never wrap your cables like the one in btownproductions' picture.
Click to expand...

Haha, no I know how to wrap cables as I go to film school. I am interested in trying what btownproductions did there. I'm not sure if I could do it without messing up but it looks nice.
 
My item description (I just ordered the SGM-1X a few dyas before making the original post) says this: Integrated shockmount attaches to camera shoe or mic stand. So wouldn't that mean the shockmount would work on a boompole?
 
JordanBlock said:
Also, never wrap your cables like the one in btownproductions' picture.
Click to expand...

Lol, thanks for pointing that out :-BlackEye(DBG. Those were just some cheapo cables my friend gave me since he works at an electronics store. I just took them out of the box and put them on there to take a picture of my boompole the day I made it.

(Growing up with a "handy-man" dad, you don't know how many times he gave me hell for wrapping wires the wrong way as a kid haha)

It's true though, you really don't want to stress your cables, especially when dealing with something as crucial as audio. And, possibly even more importantly if you put a lot of money out for decent cables!
 
JayR said:
I am interested in trying what btownproductions did there. I'm not sure if I could do it without messing up but it looks nice.
Click to expand...

I could send you some more detailed pictures of the shockmount and how I attached it to the pole if you'd like. It was actually quite easy. I'm going to re-do the shock mount though, because I made it the day I bought my mic and was so excited to mount it that I rushed the job too much and did a pretty rough job on cutting. But the main principal is all there, so you should be able to get a good enough idea from some pictures.

Let me know if you're interested
 
Ah, I'm pretty bored, so I'm just gonna go ahead an put up some pictures of how my boompole went together. (Click on photo's for a larger view)

1.) 2.)http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj238/btownproductions/?action=view&current=HPIM0728.jpg 3.)http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj238/btownproductions/?action=view&current=HPIM0729.jpg 4.)http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj238/btownproductions/?action=view&current=HPIM0731.jpg



1.) Full view of assembled Boompole with mic.

2.)Exploded view detailing mic holder attachment.
(The yellow piece in the center was a suction cup attachment that came with the pole, I just cut off the suction cup and drilled a hole big enough for a 3/8" bolt to fit inside of it. This fits into the bottom of the microphone holder, and the yellow piece still screws onto the boompole.)

3.)Here is my rough shockmount.
( I just got a piece of ABS tubing and cut the center section out of it, leaving enough on the bottom of it to be sturdy and hold the two rings up on either end and attach the microphone holder to the bottom. To attach the microphone holder, I just cut the clamp part off of it, just leaving a mostly flat section on top of the hinge, and then used ABS cement to fasten it to the shockmount I made.)

4.) Here's a (Blurry) close-up of how I constructed the actual shock-absorbing part of the mount.
(All that's needed here is to cut some small grooves to hold some rubber o-rings that will support the microphone in the shock mount)


Hope this helps anyone interested in building a budget boom pole, let me know if you have any questions about it.

-Patrick
 
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btownproductions said:
Ah, I'm pretty bored, so I'm just gonna go ahead an put up some pictures of how my boompole went together. (Click on photo's for a larger view)


-Patrick
Click to expand...

My only question is, after buying all the parts, and spending the time putting it together, and in the end still not having a good of a mount as you could
if you bought a $50 dollar PSC ...was it really worth it?
 
Rippie said:
My only question is, after buying all the parts, and spending the time putting it together, and in the end still not having a good of a mount as you could
if you bought a $50 dollar PSC ...was it really worth it?
Click to expand...

Not sure which boompole you're talking about, since the cheapest psc one I could find was the Elite small for $360ish, not including a shock mount. but to answer you're question.. yes I think it was worth it, since for $50 and 25 minutes of work I was able to build a boompole with an adjustable angle shockmount with parts I got from a hardware store.

Is it as good as a proper boom pole? No, not by any means. But does it get the job done for the time being (until I can afford a better one)? Yes, definitely.

edit: The cheapest one I could find on B&H was the $72 Gitzo, which only extends to 4.5', of course I'm sure you could find cheaper ones on eBay or something.

yet another edit: I just realized I think you were talking about just the shock mount. In which case, I'd still say it was worth it, since mine cost me under $10 for all the parts needed for the mount.
 
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yeah, thats what i figured after re-reading your post, sorry. But like I said, obviously it's not the nicest shockmount, but it was incredibly cheap, and I just wanted to have a try at making one. It get's the job done for the money, but I will eventually get a proper shock mount. I can't see myself getting a proper boompole anytime soon though, I think this $40 diy one works great! I need to make some sort of system for holding the wire on the pole though, so I don't need to wrap it around the pole or something.
 
RERozak... that's a pretty helpful post. I don't know why anybody would choose a painter's pole over one of those.

After booming a few interiors the value of adjustable length (long and short) gets pretty clear. If a guy wants to use a painter's pole in the meantime I don't care though... but a long 6 section pole for $64? I'd be tempted to investigate that.

Rippie... trust me... resist your temptation... resist it... you will never win that argument here. I gave up trying to justify the professional value in already cheap items a long time ago. To me items like shockmounts, slates, etc. (all potentially sub-$50 items) are not worth engineering DIY solutions for... and seeing those testrite poles... I'd love to see that they're decent, but they MIGHT be junk... it's possible that they're not even as solid as a painter's pole... OR... they may be nice at the price... I'd really like to know.
 
RERozak said:
These are about the cheapest boompoles I've found:
http://www.markertek.com/Product.as...LES&mfg=TestRite+Instrument+Co.&search=0&off=

Then add a 5/8 to 3/8 adapter if needed.

At those prices, why bother making one? Most painter's poles only have 2 sections, so they don't collapse to something nice and short.

Not as sturdy as my Rode boompole, but much lighter ...


-R
Click to expand...

Good find.
This could be a nice alt for antenna masts for my cart rather than using
older VDB's.
 
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