Everything you Wanted to Know about Mic Stand & Rack Cases but forgot to Merge

[Dog BBQ]

I'm in the process of racking most of my gear in road cases because, Why Not? You never know when you can make a buck by bringing your gear to another studio or location!

My concern is if I should go with all Shock Mounted Racks or would standard cases be good enough. The equipment will more or less be transported by me!

What do you think Steve¿¿¿¿¿

[Remoteness]

Yo' Dog,

How's the BBQ?

The correct answer really depends on what you're gonna put inside the cases. If you're talking about computer stuff, drives, etc., I recommend you go with shock mounted racks or a case within a case setup which is (as you already know) surrounded with foam.

What would you do if you got an important gig, and they needed to handle the equipment transportation themselves? Would you blow off the gig because you can't handle the rig?

Even if you carted the gear on your own, anything can happen. Things can go wrong when you least expect it. Your equipment can be damaged by a fall off a loading dock, et cetera, etc.

It may cost more upfront, but it will be worth it in the long run.

I hope this helped.

[Tubelover]

It may cost more upfront, but it will be worth it in the long run.

OK, but none of the gear in your pics is in shock mounted racks. So what's your point ?

[Remoteness]

Originally posted by Tubelover


OK, but none of the gear in your pics is in shock mounted racks. So what's your point ?

The equipment in the picture is just part of the total inventory. We have additional gear that live in similar racks like you saw. They are used individually and/or stacked and ratcheted in the truck's control cabin. These light weight cases are very handy when you want to "throw" them in the car or similar situation.

Quite some time ago, I came up with an interesting concept. Why not use the outer (larger) case of a floating rack case with foam and all and just stack various sized SKB cases inside it? With a few small changes and additions to the standard double case, it would work great. The math was figured out, so I knew how many 2U's, can if in a 4U space, can fit in a 6U space, into a 8U, etc. This design is very simple and flexible. An outer case rack rail shall be used to hold down the top SKB when you short load the case. You can throw your mics or extra cables in the empty space of a short loaded rack.

At the moment we are using standard case within a case outer shells until we get my design built. We leave the back SKB covers off so you can wire it up like a single rack. We even have Audio Accessories patch bays in 2U SKB cases and 4U drawer cases, so they can live within the system. The line level patch bays also have power conditioning so all the gear can be wired and powered as if it was a single equipment rack. Anytime you want to change a unit out, all you do is un-patch the device, loosen the top hold down device, tip the rack on it's back and pull out the unit and replace it with some other flavor toy.

One of these days, I will build 6 of these babies to start. Unfortunately for me, it's on the back burner for now.

We also have equipment that live in both, shock mount cases and case within a case units. Some of the double cased units are empty waiting to place something in them for travel, if all my other options are being used.

So, to make a long story short, If Dog BBQ only had one option, I truly believe he should go with the shock mounted or case within a case setup. The equipment will last the longest and he would not need to change out when something big like a tour comes his way.

[Dog BBQ]

Thanks for the Info Steve

I could only Imagine how many cases you use!!!

Hey TubeLover since you think Steve can't have a Point about shock cases because they weren't used in a Picture I Might begin to think twice before asking you about a Urei 1176 or a 1272 Neve Pre?

Magine

[Tubelover]

Hey TubeLover since you think Steve can't have a Point about shock cases because they weren't used in a Picture I Might begin to think twice before asking you about a Urei 1176 or a 1272 Neve Pre

Huh ?

Steve Remote didn't take offense, no reason anyone should. It was just a question.

[Remoteness]

Originally posted by Tubelover


Huh ?

Steve Remote didn't take offense, no reason anyone should. It was just a question.

Tubelover,

Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think Dog BBQ was trying to say, He (or she) was gonna think twice before asking you about solid state devices, since you're a "TUBE LOVER" and not a "SOLID STATE LOVER" baby.

Wow, I answered this in under 50 words.

[Remoteness]

Here's a picture I took of my SKB case with in a case setup at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska back in March of 2001. I placed my audio recording (for Video) rig next to the FOH position.

The FOH position is my favorite place to setup portable flypacks. I time delay the headphones & speakers so I hear exactly what everyone else is hearing at the back of the arena. But that's another thread for sure.....

Here's the picture, SKB's in isolated cases...

[Tubelover]

Correct me if I'm wrong but....

OK, I guess I missunderstood.

Ironically, I work on a Neve 8128.

It's the location stuff I'm new to.

[Tubelover]

Here's the picture, SKB's in isolated cases...
Remoteness has attached this image:

Well there you go then, that was the POINT I was asking for, a shot of your SKB shock racks.

I've got one of the big (16 space) SKB shock racks sitting in the garage waiting for me to trust it. With tubes it's just not something I'm willing to do easily. After all, burned-in tubes sound great, shaken' and stirred ones may not.

[Remoteness]

Maybe I missunderstood your last post...

The SKB cases in the picture are NOT the shock mounted ones. They are SKB's in the outer shells of an ATA style case within a cases. The inner case is removed and replaced with various SKB cases.

Oh Tubelover, I just realized something pretty interesting. The original picture you refered to, which I posted in another thread, DOES have "case within a case" and "shock mounted" style cases in the shot. They are in row's three and four. The two 24 channel XTA active mic/line splitters are in shock mounted SKB cases and the Millennia Media mixer is in ATA style case within a case in row three... So what's your point to begin with?

There you go!

[Dave Martin]

On a semi-related note, I'm a fairly big fan of the 'rack-in-a-case' approach, for a couple of reasons. I've got three 8 space racks (two deep, one fairly shallow) which live inside 'lid-over' cases. Besides the fact that an 8 space rack is about the biggest that I want to lift without wanting help, it means that if I need to, I can open the case and either pull out the rack to stack it somewhere else, or I can leave it in the case (where I can roll it around on wheels), or I can take the rack out of the case and either put it on the lid (which raises it up and makes it easier to get to) or close the case back up and put the rack on top of the whole case, raising it up more and lettimg me roll it around.

[Remoteness]

Here's a better shot of those SKB's in foam cases, setup next to FOH at the Sullivan Arena in AK.

[JayCrouch]

has anyone seen, or built a case design that had the 19" rack rails set up vertically opposed to the standard horizontal method?

I am deigning a new case within a case rack strictly for my DAW, and want to rack my G4 in the marathon rack that simply replaces the plastic handles with rack ears: http://www.marathoncomputer.com/grac.html

The reason I want to have a vertical rack on the "side" of a standard rack is due to me wanting to keep the G4 vertical as in naturally stands. Some people have issues with their drives and burners working properly when their G4's are racked horizontally.

The G4 marathon rack is 6-U, meaning there would have to be two veritcal 19" rack rails that were 6-U wide rather than tall. Ideally I would love to have the rack have the 6'U vertical rack on the left, and on the right have another regular horizonal rack section for the TrippLite, 2408mk3, Firewire HotSwap drives, Firewire burner, and even a racked monitor that slides into 2U of rackspace, and a firewire hub/patchbay taboot.

This is basically my ideal dream rack for the DAW that could easily patch into anyone's studio or truck, and would be very easy to interface between remote and studio gigs on a day to day basis.

Anyone have any leads on who can build such a rack for me (perhaps I can scan the blueprints I drew up on a bar napkin)

[Kamurah]

Jay....

Maybe I am not getting it due to my stupidity....but....

Couldn't you just get a couple of horizontal rails and connect them inside a normal rack at the distance needed for a vertical setup of your Mac?

In fact...I think they sell these rails on the Marathon site.

Or another option is to buy a 6u case and turn it on it's side. (thus making it a vertical case....this can easily be done with SKB cases- as they have "pods" on the sides to accomodate vertical positioning)

Another note of interest: I have had my G4 rackmounted (with Marathon rack ears) for about a year now and have had absolutely no problems running it in a horizontal position. If you have one of the Superdrives without the special clips needed to hold media properly...Marathon sells those as well.

Also FWIW: Even though Marathon states the rackmounting of a G4 takes a 6U enclosure......you can actually get away with a 5u enclosure if you don't care to have anything above or below the 'puter.

I had a custom foam padded shock case built....but in reality....a drop or fall would probably still shake a few things up.....computers are just too damn delicate.

Cheers


EDIT: OK...I just re-read your post....because I am too A-D-D to read completely in one go...
I still think two racks might be the best option. One 5 (or 6)u for the computer to sit vertically.....and a second rack (in the normal position) for the rest of your gear. The other option is just one really big rack, and the horizontal rails from Marathon....then you could rack the monitor and drives and stuff above the CPU.

Or you could call Anvil (or another case builder) and have them make you a custom job....but that will be pricey.

Best of luck

[Remoteness]

Jay,

Rack rails are normally mounted vertically to support horizontal gear. You could buy or build a special rack with horizontal rails, to keep your computer standing, but why not go with Kamurah's suggestion and just mount your computer in a standard rack case, then turn it on it's side? You could always move or add rubber feet on the side you stand it up on. Even install handles where necessary.

Your "ideal dream" rack sounds good. I would like to see it when it's complete.

later...

[fatty]

hi steve and crew,

not sure if you guys remember but i came here to ask some advice about a mobile set-up a little while back. anyways i'm finally up and running. its a pretty basic set-up but it suits my needs well. i designed it to be very portable, and easy \ quick to set up (mostly just because i am lazy!).anyway everything is racked or in cases except for my mic stands.
i'm sure a lot of you guys use big heavy road cases or something like that, but remember i'm trying to keep everything small and light. so far it all fits in the boot (that's "trunk" for you american folks) of my sedan. so what would your advice be? i really have no idea what i'm looking for so i'm open to suggestions. the only idea i've had so far is some kind of big sports bag, or a drum stand case ( but that seems a bit too cumbersome for my needs). i only have about 8 stands.

thanks!

ps- i'm doing a session this weekend, i might try to take some photo's and see if i can post them up here if anyone is interested. it will be totally at the opposite end of the spectrum from the remote gigs most of you guys do, kinda a ghetto version of steve smith's "what i have been up to..." thread

[fatty]

oops! i just re-read the title of this thread.
just to be clear, i'm not actually enquiring about cases to carry cases in, rather cases to carry stands in....

[Remoteness]

Hey there,

I remember you. Thanks for dropping by again...

I understood your original post and my best suggestion is;

Buy a Drum stand soft bag for your stands. It's what we use and it works out very well when you done over pack them.

Eight to twelve stands seems to be the magic numbers. depending on the stand size, etc.

They fit and weigh just right for those soft drum stand bags.

I hope this helped.

[Dave Martin]

As a warning, I bought a canvas duffle bag (military surplus) and not only was it a bit too big, but the stands wore holes in the bag within a month. The Drum stand bag seems like a much cooler idea; I'm going to look into that. Thanks, Steve!

[fatty]

hmm drum stand soft bags eh? didn't know there was such a thing. all my drummer friends have those big hard cases. i don't spend much of my spare time in drum stores so i've never seen those, but from what you describe it sounds perfect! i'll check into it. thanks steve!
dave, i had looked into some kind of tent bag or canvas bag as you described, but couldn't find anything sturdy enough either.

anyway as it happens i have just returned home after a remote gig tonight, as i type this my stands are sitting in my car in one of those cardboard boxes that cheap guitars are shipped in. its doing the job fine for now, but i don't think its gonna be a permanent solution....
i have another session starting tomorrow night, i'll try to borrow the digital camera from my day job and post a few pics, maybe.

[Remoteness]

Yeah, we've been using the soft drum stand bags for over ten years and they still are in great condition. They stow away real nice too...

Good luck on the hunt for the perfect stand bag.

[Steve Smith]

the soft cases they make for shipping golf clubs work ok too, and they are a sometimes garage sale aquisition....

A drummer I use alot has a great stand case that is soft with wheels and a pull along handle.. that would be cool!

[fifthcircle]

I bought a photographic light stand bag and I can beat the shit out of it and it still looks new. It is about 2 years old now and still looks as good as the day I purchased it.

My bag is made by Tamrac and is padded on the sides and has a couple pockets in it to help organize your stands. I can fit between 7-12 stands in it and have it close. It is heavy as hell when filled, though (not the bag, but the stands).

http://www.tamrac.com/g_carryingcases.htm (Model 332, padded Tripod bag)

--Ben

[Remoteness]

Very cool Ben!

The soft drum stand bags we have are very much like Tamrac's 328 Professional Location Bag.

[fifthcircle]

I'll add that the photographic industry is a great place to look for gear.

As you may know, I do a lot of location classical work and need really tall stands that are light-weight, but sturdy. I ended up with Bogen stands that go up 17' (3076 is the model # I believe)and Tallon stands that go up about 13-14' (Can't remember the model number). Including the adapter I needed at the end to give me standard American threads, the Bogens cost me just over $100 and the Tallons were about $65. They are lighter and easier to use than the Shure stands. The tallons are even air shocked so if a section is loosened, it won't crash down.

--Ben

[hollywood_steve]

A question about photo / lighting stands. I picked up a massive boom arm with all of the necessary parts for use with mic clips. (5/8" adapter, swivel adapter so the mic hangs vertically regardless of the boom angle, etc.) But the boom arm is so heavy duty that it does not mount in the standard "Baby" size stands (5/8" mount). It requires the huge "Junior" sized stand (1+1'8"). Anybody know of a portable (folding) stand like those mentioned in the previous post that is in the "Junior" size range?

thanks

steve
lex125@pacbell.net

[hollywood_steve]

After too many gigs where I carried my stands fully assembled, I've finally started breaking them down into smaller pieces. Using an Atlas MS20 as an example; the round base, the main tube and any boom attachment now get transported as three separate pieces. This allows me to pack several stands together, instead of walking into a gig with one stand in each hand. (over and over again....) I now have a milk crate filled with the cast iron bases, and a small case filled with mounts and various stand hardware.

But I'm looking for some sort of long skinny case that could hold a half-dozen or so metal tubes. In a perfect world, I'd find a case that was 9" x 9" x 4ft long, and maybe made out of that material used in traditional drum cases (kind of like a rubberized cardboard?) The other day I tried a heavy duty duffel bag, but I am convinced that duffels are useless for anything other than laundry. A case that has a structured shape would make things much easier, regardless whether the section would be rectanular or round.

So, for the guys that break down their stands, have any of you found a decent case for transporting the long metal tubes? I'm sure that something exists from some other industry that would work great, I just don't know where to begin looking; maybe the film lighting stand manufacturers, they usually have much nicer hardware and accessories than we do?

[Walling1]

Onstage Stands makes a bag for mic / speaker stands that I use. I can even fit a few bases in the bottom if I'm only taking a couple of them, and I've fit about 10 or so tripod stands in there before. I think I bought mine new for $25 or so. It's the SB7000 on the page below. It's made of a pretty heavy padded gig-bag type material.

http://www.onstagestands.com/specsheets.htm

-Dave

[RobMacki]

I have a similar situation but with boom poles.
I went down to Lowe's (any home improvement supply) and got some ABS pipe put a cap on one end and a 'clean out' on the other end. (clean out is a threaded cap) It works great.
You can also do a search for fishing rod flight cases too.