Do-it-yourself boom pole

Loud Orange Cat

Loud Orange Cat

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indiePRO
At the recommendations of Indietalk members who've "been there, done that", I'm attempting to create a cheap, do-it-yourself boom for my mic (Sony ECM-NV1).

From the local Lowe's, I've purchased a Wooster Sherlock painter's 6' - 12' retractable extention pole for $30. The pole extention is exactly 1" wide.

From B&H, I purchased a 50' male to female XLR cable for only $9.95. :clap:

Okay, I'm 40 bucks into a $300+ solution. Not bad.

Now for the mic mount. Should I invest in this for $65 or should I spend two measly bucks and rubber-band it to a paint roller frame?

(If you've done the latter, please provide instructions!)

Thanks for your input!
 
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You definitely need a shock mount, otherwise, whenever you change your grip, or if you tap on the pole, it will go right into the mic.
 
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Try eBay...

mrde50 said:
At the recommendations of Indietalk members who've "been there, done that", I'm attempting to create a cheap, do-it-yourself boom for my mic (Sony ECM-NV1).

From the local Lowe's, I've purchased a Wooster Sherlock painter's 6' - 12' retractable extention pole for $30. The pole extention is exactly 1" wide.

From B&H, I purchased a 50' male to female XLR cable for only $9.95. :clap:

Okay, I'm 40 bucks into a $300+ solution. Not bad.

Now for the mic mount. Should I invest in this for $65 or should I spend two measly bucks and rubber-band it to a paint roller frame?

(If you've done the latter, please provide instructions!)

Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...
You definitely want your microphone shock mounted... Try doing a search on eBay for something a little more reasonable:

http://search.ebay.com//search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=microphone+shock+mount

I found one last year for less than $25 that worked perfect for me...

filmy
 
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You could build a shock mount yourself from a chopped up piece of PVC and some rubber bands.. but a store bought one would probably work better.

For the PVC option though, you'd probably want to do something like this:

Take a piece of PVC pipe about 2.5" wide by 4-6" long.. cut it so that a 1/2" to 1" section remains on either end with a piece about 1/4 of the circumference running along the bottom between the two full sections.

Then, as you look at it from either end, cut notches into the full sections in an X formation with another two notches making a horizontal line across the center of the X. These notches should be cut into both sides of each of the remaining full sections of pipe.

Then, stretch rubber bands around each full section into the notches so you have the X with a horizontal line running through it. You will basically have an asterisk at each of the four openings of the two remaining sections of full pipe. The mic would rest beneath where the two bands making the X cross, and above the horizontal bands.. so it would stretch it into a sort of triangle opening, keeping the mic centered in the tube.

The last step is to attach it to your pole, and you'll want a swivel of some sort to adjust the angle of it, that part shouldn't be too tough to figure out, as it would be basically the same as any 'clip on' mic holder that screws onto a mic stand.

I'll see if I can't come up with some kind of diagram to help explain this better. By the way, to ensure enough support for the mic, you'll probably want to use two rubber bands for each notch, so it would be a total of 12 bands.
 
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Here's a rough sketch... hope it helps the description above.

shockmount.jpg


On the left.. without a mic, on the right, with one.. (duh)
 
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Seriously? You've never actually built this?

Damn! That is almost exactly the design I came up with years ago. Believe it or not, my first attempt was a wire coat hanger, straightened out and then one end bent into a circle. The long end was taped to a broom handle and I put the mic in rubber bands into the circle.

Worked great until I got my first shotgun mic which was too long for the coat hanger method.

NO WIRE HANGERS!!!
 
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Yeah.. never built one. I guess I'm like Tesla that way.. I can build something in my head and know if it will work or not before trying to build one in reality.. Though I'm not quite as hip to the wireless power units and all that funky stuff Tesla worked on..
 
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I would definitley invest the 65 in a shockmount. I constructed a 15ft boom from a painters extension, shockmount and some superglue and it worked like a champ for 3 months of shooting. A little noisy when it's mis handled, the low frequencies like to rumble. But for the price we wouldn't have been able to beat it.
 
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Pool cleaner poles

Don't rule out pool cleaner poles... $18.00 Australian presumably FA where you are if you are in the States. Aluminium, telescopic up to 12 or 18 feet and rubberised... complete with ribbing for grip. Ooo er.

I am in the process of cannibalising a webcam mike and camera to make a boom with an eye (horror shots) so I can usually just use it as a mike and also do weird shots when needed.

I built a normal boom like this and used a 70 buck sony mike on the end of the pole... the pole makes no noise because of the rubber.

I actually enjoy building this stuff to be honest even though I have the cash not to have to any more. Always nice to do it yourself iMO.
 
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I have a beyerdynamic mic which came with a small shock mount, and the only thing i had to get is one of those ceiling bulb replacement kid from Home Depot or DIY ($19.95), it comes with a suctioning heads which can be modified easily to actually fit into my mic's handle and it gets very secure (I however do tape it more with a duck-tape to avoid accidental falling), this ceiling bulb replacement kit can open as long as 11' but one thing I've learned is it gets tiresome after holding it for a bit it gets heavy.

Also found at Big Lofts, worklights (2 500watts) with stand (to go up to like 4.5' high) is for $18.85
 
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mdifilm said:
...one thing I've learned is it gets tiresome after holding it for a bit it gets heavy.
Click to expand...

It's that way with any boom.. the more you do it, the more accustomed you become and the less bothersome it will be. Also there are a few different ways to hold it, and alternating between them can reduce the strain on your arms.

Could have sworn I'd seen a webpage illustrating a few ways, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. I can think of two off hand..

1. Arms outstreched, straight up, either holding the boom parallel to the ground, or using the arm closest to the talent as a pivot point, and manuvering the boom with the other arm (up/down/left/right/etc)

2. resting on shoulders, behind head. This is probably only useful if you won't be moving the boom at all, since there is a much greater chance of handling noise with so much of your body in contact with the boom. But, it's a good rest anyway.

You know, now that I think about it.. I wonder if a bit of counterweight wouldn't help out a lot too. Granted it would increase the overall boom weight, but if it were extended quite far it would me much easier to control.
 
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I agree Will, I've been trying to explain to a few people that I've worked with to show them the proper way to hold the boom (Learned it from a site with illustration) :P Yet, I find us, the human, being a bit 'lazy' in understanding the counter-weight thing. :)

But I've also found some boompole to be lighter than the other, the one I have, the bulb changer, is heavier comparison to some others I've seen.. Do, for $20, you get a cool yellow color one, but you get tired faster than most other boom operators. :)

Johnny

PS: Oh lookie: Boom Boy $29.95 http://www.remoteaudio.com/boom_boy.htm

PS2: here's a page about how to use the boompole: http://equipmentemporium.com/Tips on use of boompole.htm

and

http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/microphones/boom.html

last PS3

here's what I use (price went up)
http://www.acehardware.com/product/...53.1259128&parentPage=family&searchId=1259128
 
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I just got a painter's pole and combined it with my blimp using a male 3/8" flare to female 1/2" pipe fitting adaptor. The 3/8" flare end goes into standard microphone fittings, so can be used with anything you would normally put a microphone on. I disassembled a mike holder I had to create my blimp, so this worked really well. The painters pole is 16ft for $15 and the blimp was < $10. Decent Mike and a wireless transmitter makes a really nice location setup with no cables.
 
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I have pix up, but my site is currently down. My ISP is upgrading their line and having vendor issues...grr. I have just added the paint pole and the thread adaptor to the mix, but the head part is the same, I was just using a microphone boom stand from my singing days for a boom pole (painfully heavy and only 8'). The microphone blimp is constructed from:

plastic or metal (metal lets you bend over the sharp edges) gutter screen (for keeping leaves out of gutters - $1.50 home depot - way more than you'll need)

2 equal lengths wired or zip tied together to make a tube

cut little triangles out around the nose end to round it slightly

rubber bands shot through and held on the outside with chopstix ( - | - | alternating directions on the rubber bands to slide the shotgun mike through)

Cover with costume fur sock (some sewing required) for wind diffusion

attach (I used wire) to a mike holder base (they're cheap at radio shack)

3/8" male flare to 1/2" female pipe adaptor ($1.50 Home depot) forced onto

16' extendable boom pole ($15 Home depot) The aluminum is light and can hold my 8 lb cat up off the ground (they loved when I was testing it).

The rest is just electronics, decent shotgun mic and wireless if you choose (or a really long cable strapped to the pole to eliminate cable noise).

I have a 3-way headphone splitter for listening (1-mixer, 1-boom operator, 1-script supervisor, from radio shack)

boom mic held just out of frame pointed at chest of person speaking in a downward direction to eliminate environmental sounds as much as possible.

I have my mic split into stereo and balanced toward one side to get a "safety track". Main side records at full level, but I have the other side lower in case the main peaks (I learned this the hard way).

My microphone is too low so I have to preamp it going into my camera (ATR55 to XL1s).

HTH, I'll work on getting pix to show as soon as possible.
 
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