Booth Basics: Those Pesky Thready Bits

About every month or so – and definitely in almost every VO recording class I’ve taught – someone reports that their new microphone stand doesn’t fit the mount of their microphone. The end with the threads on their mic stand are wider than the threads on their shock mount.

Worse yet, the dude or dudette at the music store – or the wacky voice actor who is the teacher in their Intro to Recording Class – didn’t mention a thing about there being different sizing options on the microphone stand!

It is a moment of deep and supreme frustration. One which has been acted out in booths and studios throughout the land.

The most common occurrence takes place when voice actors get rid of that reasonably useless table-top tripod supplied with a lot of microphones. They’ve gone to El Centro de Guitarras or a similar resource, or perhaps waited as few days to open a box of new goodies from their favorite online supplier.

And this don’t fit that!

Almost any microphone stand you are likely to buy in the US has a 5/8″ threaded male end. That should fit into any standard mic mount (which then suspends your microphone in a shock-isolating basket or holds it in some type of clip). But that female thread you are looking at is clearly not the same size.  In fact, it’s 3/8″! (Hey! I never said there would be no math.)

Here’s the thing: there’s likely to be a bushing.  An adapter. A thready-bit that is 5/8″ on one side and 3/8″ on the other. A mechanical translator of connective goodness.

And it’s likely in the wrong way.

You see, back in Microphone Valley, where the gifted elven folk create these magic devices which capture our voice, the council of elders realized that there were Two Houses of Threadish.  While those in the States United had opted for a 5/8″ thread to connect stands to mics, denizens of the Euro Lands often used a perfectly serviceable 3/8″solution.

So as they put the final touches upon their devices, they inserted a simple threaded bushing between the table-top stand and the mic holder. It was so elegant as to be unnoticed by most.

In the photos above, I’ve left this fancy device attached to the table-top stand.  But they often migrate – ending up in the mic holder rather than on the stand.

This is likely why your fancy new mic stand wouldn’t fit your microphone. No big deal – you can use a coin or larger screwdriver to back it out. Then just attach your new gear and get back to being brilliant in the booth.

However, there’s a potential problem. The adapters have a slot machined into one end. Only one end.

Which means that if you (or someone else) ever remove it and accidentally flip it over before reinserting it, that nifty slot is going to be hidden from the world.

And that means it’s going to be damnably difficult to take it out again. It’s doable – sometimes wedging an eraser into it, or even rethreading it back onto the stand and carefully unthreading it. Resist the urge to grab Vise-Grips or pliers – it’s pretty easy to mung the threads by overzealously clamping down on this piece (which is usually made of brass and therefore fairly soft, from a metals perspective.) Sometimes you can use a fine set of needle-nose pliers and after wrapping a bit of material around them to protect the threads – opening them from inside to apply pressure against the bushing.

So if things aren’t fitting – get some decent lighting and take a look at things. You’ll likely find one of those bushings in the wrong place, and possibly in the wrong way. Take it out and all will be right in the kingdom once again.

and… if you mangle the bushing or simply lose it, you can always get another one. This one is even slotted on both ends.

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