If you're having trouble getting your microphone stand to stay in place,
I'm going to show you the most common problem with mic stands, how to fix it,
and how to avoid that problem in the future. But if you're new to this channel, my name is Kyle.
Learn audio production at audiouniversityonline.com.
When I first started recording my band in high school over a decade ago, my friends and
I couldn't afford anything but the cheapest mic stand at Guitar Center. You might be in a similar
situation. If you're having problems after buying a cheap mic stand, you're not alone. Tell me if
this situation sounds familiar. You set up your stand and no matter how much you tighten it down,
the weight of the microphone is too much for the stand as it slowly and frustratingly falls toward
the floor. My friends and I tried everything when our cheap stands inevitably started to slip
and fall. We tried duct tape, counterweights, more duct tape and it wasn't until I was an
intern at a live sound company that I learned that this is one of the most common problems
with mic stands and there's actually a really simple way to fix it in most cases.
I still remember how amazed I was. I was amazed at how many stands I had bought
and replaced without knowing this really simple trick. If you're having this problem, try this
out. To fix the boom angle problem, you'll first disassemble the boom angle adjustment.
You'll have the nut, a washer. As you remove the bolt, it frees up the boom, and on either side
of the stand you'll find these rubber pads. These rubber pads often accumulate dust, so we'll take a
wet cloth and just scrub any sort of debris that has built up on these rubber pads. It can also
be good to give a once-over to the threads of the bolt. They often get clogged with dust, as well.
As you're reassembling the stand again, the pads go on either side of the stand piece,
the boom slides over those pads, the bolt will go through the holes,
and then the washer goes on last just before the nut. And then tighten it back down.
If the technique I showed you fixed your stand,
well that's great. You don't need to buy another stand. To avoid this happening in the future,
always make sure to loosen the boom adjustment before adjusting the boom angle.
If you adjust the stand when there's a lot of friction on these pads, it will quickly degrade
the pads and the stand will start to slip. If the technique I showed you didn't fix your stand, well
unfortunately it may be time to replace your stand after all. But this time consider investing just
a little bit more for a nicer stand that will last you a lot longer.
Any stand you buy will eventually start to slip. With a cheap stand you'll probably start to see
that problem within the first year, but I like to use K&M stands like this one. They're used by many
professional studios and live sound companies, as they're somewhat of an industry standard. They
cost between sixty dollars and eighty dollars but I think it's totally worth it because they're just
so much more reliable and robust. They fail less often and when they do fail you'll probably be
able to fix them because the parts will just need a little cleaning with the technique I showed you.
All right, listen. K&M doesn't pay me anything to make this recommendation. K&M
doesn't even know who I am. This is the stand that I'd recommend to my own friends. I will receive a
small commission from Amazon if you use the link in the description to purchase this stand or any
other stand. Think about it like this. I get a small cut of the purchase at no extra cost to you
that will help me bring more videos like this to you and the rest of the Audio University audience.
If you're interested in learning more about music production
and audio engineering watch one of the videos that's on your screen now. Thanks for watching.