Telescoping Mic Stands and Labelers

[Howie J]

Hey all,

I've been doing searches on here for these two topics. Found a bit on the telescoping mic stands, but nothing much on preferred labeling tactics.

1. Telescoping mic stands for spaced A/B pairs. I have one Ultimate boom stand at work and an identical one in my personal collection, but I'm looking for tall stands (10-12ft+) that I could trust to hand a good pair of omni SDC's. The Shure S15A keeps popping up in many searches. Good buy?? Anything comparable/better?

2. Stupid question....but labeling. I bought a Dymo labeler from Wal-mart and it does good for mic stands and most semi-flat surfaces....but any "nice" labels for the connectors on the snakes I make fail miserably with this labeler. Peel off in an instant.

Thanks for any help on these and I'll keep searching on this great site.

Howie J

[bove]

Originally Posted by Howie J

1. Telescoping mic stands for spaced A/B pairs. I have one Ultimate boom stand at work and an identical one in my personal collection, but I'm looking for tall stands (10-12ft+) that I could trust to hand a good pair of omni SDC's. The Shure S15A keeps popping up in many searches. Good buy?? Anything comparable/better?

Manfrotto lighting stands are very nice for AB pars. You will need a small adapter to get the correct threads.

[Remoteness]

Hey, Howie J:

Thanks for posting your questions.

I'd like to take on your labeling question.

First of all, labeling questions are not stupid!
We take labeling seriously here at Aura-Sonic.

I found the Brother P-Touch system to be the best for our needs.
We bought into the TZ-tape cassettes; we have in stock pretty much multiples of every size, color ink, color tape and type they have to offer. We can address any possible labeling need when necessary.
Furthermore, we have the version that can connect to your PC so, you can use any font you like.
This comes in handy for that uniform look.

They stick on and stay on well, but if I feel we need extra protection we also add clear heat shrink tubing.

Color codes are important at Aura-Sonic, so we take advantage of the many colors the P-Touch TZ line has.

When we need to use a color that Brother doesn't have in their line we use colored electrical tape (or "Rescue Tape") and clear TZ tape with colored (black, white, red, blue) ink. The final layer is clear heat shrink since electrical tape can become nasty in hot weather.

I hope this helped.

[fifthcircle]

Steve-

How do the P touch labels stick long term?

I have a Casio label machine here and it is pretty bad. Labels don't stick to a lot of surfaces and even the surfaces that they do "stick" to don't last.

I don't want to necessarily engrave my gear, but I need to get a good label system for it so it is easy to tell what is mine and what isn't on a gig.

Suggestions?

--Ben

[Ken K]

I have a Brother P-Touch that works pretty well. I put labels on my mic cables with different lengths and they've held up pretty well going on over a year. I've labeled things on my rack and they work great. They come off too but don't seem to fall off on their own. My 2cents.

[Remoteness]

I also have a P-Touch III and it's a hit or miss with regard to whether it sticks.

From what I have gathered the TZ tapes seem to hold up the best.
Apparently, it's a much better system as long as you prep the surface before applying the label.

In any event, we also add clear heat shrink to labels that I feel may get more abuse than others.

We have an engraver; little by little eventually everything will be engraved, but that doesn't stop us from labelling and color coding all the applicable items.

[Legacy]

Hello All,

I find the PTouch labels fall off eventually also - depends on the surface of course. I usually wrap the label in a layer of scotch tape. If the tape goes all the way around it stays on for a long time.

B&H has rip-offs of the 13 foot manfrotto lighting stands ('Impact') that work well and are cheap:

Impact | Heavy Duty Light Stand, Black - 13' (4m) | LS-13HB

Get these 2 adapters to adapt to mic thread (US):

Manfrotto by Bogen Imaging | 088 Female 1/4-20 to Male | 088

MIBA | B&H Photo Video

I glue or use thread lock on the adapters. Add a boom and you can get up about 15 feet or so.

It works best if you don't need to remove the booms. Otherwise the adapters will come off inside the boom thread sometimes and the whole system eventually gets a bit shaky.

-Silas

[Howie J]

Love the labeling discussion. Seems like there is a bit of improvisation there. I figured there would be.

Silas-Thanks for those links. That is perfect. Good pricing on those. I have a Manfrotto monopole for my Rebel XT and they seem to make good stuff.

Howie J

[aussie_techie]

to label cables i just use some double sided tape a paper label and clear heat shrink over it.

[fifthcircle]

I've done paper labels of various shapes and types on cables before. Even with heat shrink over them, I find that in use the paper shreds and the label is not readable...

I have a bunch of stuff- mostly mics to label clearly before June. I must say that I'm still not sure what the best way to go is. I'm not sure I really want to apply heat shrink to a mic. Also, p-touch style labels fall off pretty quickly...

Hmm....

--Ben

[Remoteness]

Ben,

I totally understand where you're coming from, but we have had good results with the P-Touch TZ-Tape product.

Have you tried that particular one? The They seem to have a much better glue.
We started using them in 2007 and have had no problems as of yet.
I will let you folks know if we do.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by Howie J

I'm looking for tall stands (10-12ft+) that I could trust to hand a good pair of omni SDC's. The Shure S15A keeps popping up in many searches. Good buy?? Anything comparable/better

Several years ago, Shure changed the "manufacturer" of these stands.

If you can get an old one-quite old!- you'll be fine.

The new ones are complete crap.

They are said to be "manufactured" by Test Rite (if my memory is correct) of New Jersey. Well, they are the "supplier" and NOT the manufacturer of the stand. The stand is manufactured in Asia. Nothing wrong with that.

Except that, this stand is junk-it just happens to be manufactured in Asia. And is covered with Asian stickers. One advantage of that, though, is that I know I got one straight from the factory in an unopened box.

Mine arrived with the top threads pealed off- the effect you get when using an old fashioned can opener and finish by ripping the lid of something. The threads are directly on the support piece.

The top of the stand was weirdly discolored. Also, the stand was covered with chip marks where the top cheap finish material was coming off-this was particularly obvious on the stand connectors.

The worst, though-is that the fittings are these rotating "barrels". The problem is, they are "rough" finished-as in a hand grip. Well, all of the shiny metal meterial on these grips flakes off and goes everywhere-think microphones! It also stays on your hands and is very sharp.

In addition, the barrels are not independant at all, and setting up this stand is difficult to say the least-you would NOT want to try to do this in a hurry. Nor can you make any adjustments in a hurry-it is a major hassle. You will have pinched fingers and hands.

Sad to say, this is what Shure corporation is coming to. It's junk.

A stand for very little money? Look at Calumet photo. These stands are made in England, and cost considerably less than Manfrotto. One advantage is that they all come with a 1/4 inch connector on top-which fits the very common Euro-American mic adapters that come with all mic mounts. (The 1/4 connector sits atop the standard lighting stud-so you can still put any accessory on that requires a real lighting stud-such as a vertical extension!) You'd probably be interested in the 13 ft version.

Are they perfect? No, but they are good. They are finished in black-but not anodized black-they are shiny, but surprisingly they don't get in the way, even under stage and follow lights.

The "hardware" (or composite ware), is, frankly, two steps under Manfrotto. So Manfrottos are the way to go. If you want to spend less, and have a wider selection all with integrated 1/4 threads, than Calumet is very good. I have heard that if the fittings break (and they do for photographers), they will replace the entire stand if you simply bring it through the door.

I live in a city where there is a Calumet store. If I didn't, and I was buying my mail, I would buy Manfrotto from B&H.

Bogen and Manfrotto, for some obtuse reason, use totally different product numbers. They are the same. As minor product variations are phased in and out, they might be available in one line but not the other, etc. It's crazy.

Final thoughts: I do have some concerns about the resonance of these stands (both Manfrotto and Calumet). By coincidence, my top array pieces decouple very well, and of course I use shock mounts, even with omnis. But I also am concerned about purely acoustic resonances as well. So far, with careful listening, it seems this is not a problem.

For a relatively inexpensive lightweight stand with no resonances-think of the Ultimate Support stands for Lights and Speakers (not mic stands). They quit selling a needed "vertical joiner," but these are still available at some dealers. Of course, these stands are rated for the weight of PA speakers and lighting instruments-so they will hold up anything you've got.

Edit: others may differ, but I do not like the air damped stands. They sometimes resonate differently, but more importantly, you can't make quick mic adjustments because it can forever for even a single section to collapse. YMMV.

[bishopthomas]

Just a heads up: Staples has the Brother PT1010 (Brother International - P-touch Labeling Systems - PT-1010) labeler on sale for $10 (regularly $35). It doesn't connect to a computer or anything fancy like that but it does use the high quality TZ tape that Steve mentioned. Of course, be prepared to buy AAA batteries or the $25 AC adapter.

[Howie J]

bt,

Thanks for the heads up on that. I landed up getting the P-Touch PT-2100. A little more, but good options and bought some TZ Tapes for it 3/8" and 1/2" extra adhesive.


Howie J

[fifthcircle]

Got a P Touch just recently here and the TZ labels seem to be quite cool. They made it through a 9 day festival gig without a single ding in the labels.

So far so good!

--Ben

[Remoteness]

Very cool indeed...

I have TZ labels that have held tough for over three years now.

I even have them on our road cases as index marks with excellent results.

[Don S]

Yeah, just to make sure the point is understood, the S15A is complete garbage. Don't waste your cash. Go with Bogen. Their newer models now have 3/8 thread on top, so you can use the adapters that come with most microphone mounts.

[4blackbirds]

Has anyone tried stands from Bowens? They are black anodized aluminum so they are not shiny like those from Calumet. Should cost around $45-50 for a 10ft one.

Bowens - the power behind the picture. Photographic Studio & Location Lighting for Professional Photographers

BW6610 Bowens 10' Black Compact Light Stand

On the Adorama website it says the attachment size is 5/8" - would there be a problem to mount a stereo bar on that?

[Howie J]

Sorry to dig up an old post, but I found (and bought) another model of light/mic stand:

Westcott 13' lighting stand. I paid a little more at a local shop, but picked up two of them and adapters for them.

Westcott 9913 Stand, 13ft Heavy Duty | Full Compass

Manfrotto | 014-38 Rapid Adapter - 5/8" Stud to | 014-38

Just another choice that's out there

Howie J