Simple explanations, to start, what's a boom stand?

TheJackyl

Active member
Whats a boom stand? I see these stands with what looks like a boom pole attached, can this be detached and used as a boom pole? How does this compare to buying an low end k-tek boom pole? Can you just use a normal light stand with a boom pole and clamp it on or does the boom stand have better capabilities? id like to understand the advantages of owning a boom stand versus having other equipment, such as a boom pole and light stand because I don't own either but definitely need some type of rig. Thanks for the help.
 
ok, you could be talking about a few different rigs here. in studio they use massive booms on wheels with telescoping controls to swing mics over long distances. thats not what you want.

you get mics stands with telescoping boom arms or just abnormally long boom arms, these are commonly found in music studios on drum kits. Occasionally a location sound man/woman might use one to hold a plant mic, but not to actively boom a shot.

Lastly, normal film production booms (like ktec and similar) are operated by hand (by a boom operator) and are probably the method of mic placement for 90% of things you see because they are quick to deploy, low maintenance (no clothes rustle, batteries etc etc) and high accuracy.

A common option, and probably the right option for you, is a combo of a normal telescoping boom with a c-stand using a purpose made clamp/holding mechanism to hold the boom in place. You can buy such clamps from stores like B&H - DONT try to just lock the boom into the c-stand, because you can bend or shatter it, and this obviously affects how well it works.
 
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