Microphone Stands: Not All The Same

A microphone stand is a key piece of equipment for a worship team.  Even the use of a standing microphone for a guest speaker makes the stand itself very valuable.  Dispite the low cost, it’s an important piece of equipment.  But aren’t they all the same?

Types:

There are two types of microphone stands.  The boom and the stick.  The stick is where the stand is make up of a base with a tall poll in the middle.  The Microphone then clips to the top.  The boom stand is a stick stand with another poll attached at the top with pivots at the top of the stick.

A boom mic is good for piano players or anyone who needs vocal amplification with some breathing room for an instrument.  Boom mic’s can also be used for amplifying a piano, or anyplace that requires amplifcation that is not easily mic’d any other way.

The stick mic’s are good for people or as holders for microphones that will be held when in use.

Bottoms:

Stands have two types of bases.  The tripod and the round base.  The tripod stands are lighter and easier to port around.  However, if you are using a boom microphone stand where the microphone is at an unusual angle and thus a lot of weight is located in a manner which offsets the mic’s center of gravity, the stand will fall over.  The round base stands solve this problem.  Their weight is significantly higher and thus the microphone boom can be at almost any angle without tipping over.

The example where a boom mic might tip over is mic’ing a piano player for vocials

Bonus:

If you use mic stands as "holders" wherein the singers pick up the microphones when they sing, grab a microphone bar dual mic holder.  These attach to the top of the stick stands and can hold two microphones.  Similar mic bars can be used for holding personal monitor mixers as well.