That $80 mic arm I bought last week was a total waste

I kept seeing everyone use those big boom arms for their mics and figured I needed one too. Dropped $80 on a name brand one from Amazon. Set it up, got it positioned, and within three days the spring tension gave out. The arm sagged so bad my mic was pointing at my chest instead of my mouth. Had to rig it with zip ties just to finish a recording session. Went back to my old cheap desk stand that cost like $15 and it works perfect. I think those arms are more about looking professional than actually being useful. Anyone else dump money into gear that looked good but failed fast?

3 comments

3 Comments

laura_schmidt8228d ago

Oh man, I have a friend who went through the exact same thing! @spencer_coleman he tried tightening everything on that arm for like an hour before it just snapped on him. He ended up using a broken floor lamp stand to hold his mic up instead, and it actually worked better than the expensive arm.

spencer_coleman28d ago

Hey did you actually try tightening the set screw on the tension spring before it gave out completely? I used to think those arms were the best thing since sliced bread, but after mine sagged on me mid-stream I went back to my $12 desk mount too.

elizabethmason28d ago

Honestly I used to think the same way @spencer_coleman, like those arms were just the best and worth every penny. But then I actually had one that started sagging really bad and I spent a whole weekend trying to get the set screw tight enough. It never really held and I ended up just letting it droop for a few weeks before I gave up on it completely. Now I'm back to a basic $15 desk mount that's been solid for over a year. Kind of funny how we convince ourselves expensive stuff is better until it just doesn't work.