One thing I noticed last week, while out recording ambiences, was how much I depend on my little mic stand. Take these two examples:

In both instances (& probably another dozen or more last week) I used a collapsible mic stand to support the mic while I stood well back & recorded 5-10 minute ambiences. I enjoy the enforced silence of recording such ambiences, but I start to get annoyed if I am forced to hold & point the mic & start to hear my hand/arm getting tired translated into mic bumps….
Most places I was recording were a short walk from where I parked, but that isn’t always the case. And apart from carrying the recorder, mic & stand I am also usually carrying my stills camera & half a dozen lenses… And I well know, when I bought a tripod for my stills camera I paid maybe more than I should to get a carbon fibre tripod with the primary benefit of it being light. So where is my lightweight mic stand?
I also own a tiny mic stand, the kind that are about as big as your hand & while they do function, they provide very limited means of positioning & angling the mic. You only have to hold a shotgun mic in your hand & then slowly rotate 360 degrees while listening with the gain cranked to appreciate that the sound you record as the ambience of a location is VERY dependent on what you choose to point the mic at. So I dont really use my tiny mic stand much at all, simply because I want a mic stand that can be set from ground level to waist height….
The mic stand you see in the photos is designed to be used on guitar amps, or the underside of snare drums, with no consideration to its weight. So do you know of a lightweight but solid mic stand that I can carry for miles without cursing it? Or alternatively can I get a thread adaptor & simply attach my mic to my camera tripod?




I did just that, I bought a small to big adapter thread from a camera shop and just keep my tripod with me.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRIPOD-BUSH-THREAD-ADAPTOR-4/dp/B00131LE1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1240826896&sr=8-1
I also bought a pair of bush washers to adapt my Joby Gorillapods to the mic cradles, and that’s been really useful. You can even tie a microphone into a tree, etc
http://joby.com/
Yeah, I was going to suggest going the camera tripod route. Shouldn’t be much of an issue to adapt it to mic use. Good selection of carbon fiber available as there are more photographers who work ‘in the field’ than sound designers.
What about a light light stand? Not sure if you can get thread adaptors for those as well?