Can anyone recommend a good mic stand with boom arm for my Rode NT-2 and Shure SM57. I'd like to get something light and that can collapse easily for under $100. This would be used mostly for interviews.

If you have a light stand go get a fishing rod holder and a cheap mic stand. Take the base off the mic stand and put the mic stand in the fishing rod holder attached to the top of your light stand with a grip head. You may have some or most of these parts in your kit now. It will be MUCH more heavy duty than the boom stands you can buy for your price range.

Save some $$ and multitask. You can check out the links for reference.

Pearstone Boom Pole Holder 8121290 B&H Photo Video

Impact Grip Head - 2.5" (Chrome) KCP-200 B&H Photo Video

Ultimate Support PRO-ST Weighted Base Mic Stand 17200 B&H Photo

If you google RPS Studio 7 Med Weight Boom you will find a stand that looks like the attached picture, It's not the greatest quality but then you'll only be hanging a mic which is light enough that it can easily support it. Make sure that it has a threaded end on the end which should be a 1/4" x 20. Get this adapter from B&H:

General Brand Microphone Reducer Bushing - 5/8" to B&H

If you already have a shock mount you're in business. If not you can one like this:

Que Audio QSM2 SHOCKMOUNT FOR LOCATION KIT QSM2 B&H Photo Video

which is about as cheap as they come works fine. Since you won't be holding the mic the isolation capabilities aren't as important. You just need something to hold a variety of mics with.

Get a couple of sand bags, one large one for holding the stand down and one small one to use as the counter balance and you're good. I use a setup similar to this when I do sit down interviews and it works great.

-Garrett

I'll second the Lumiere boom-stand. Garrett suggested it when I asked the very same question. The stand has done everything I've asked it to do and more. As Garrett mentioned, it's not a heavy-weight stand, but for microphones and even a small light source it will work fine. I used mine on location with a Hyper-Cardioid when capturing the 'Intro' to a documentary. I currently have my Grace Bar attached to the stand vertically (using my Shure A27), in-order to mount my AKG C414s in a Blumlein Array for stereo capture. Works like a champ! Definitely get the thread adapters to convert the 1/4-20 to 3/8". It makes things much easier.

Best regards,

J.

When I do interviews, I usually will go with small K&M (aka AKG, Beyer, etc...) tripod boom stands and put the mic under the frame "looking" up at the mouth. There are a large variety of stands, most of them available in black, that you can easily hide in a given situation.

--Ben

hey everyone thanks for the advise. I'll try out Garrett's suggestion see how that works. thanks again:-)

Impact Multiboom Light Stand and Reflector Holder - 13' (4m)

Light, good, $100 and compact all kinda are at war with each other. With precise framing and positioning of subject, I was able to use a K&M tripod base microphone boom stand for an interview recently but I didn't care for it.

I have the Impact Multiboom and it's a nicely designed light stand that is a workhorse. It's big enough to get your mic over to the subject and off screen at the top. It's especially good in how it ingeniously stores the boom. However, all that results in a somewhat narrow diameter boom that worries me sometimes with a couple pounds of counter balance weight on it. Also, it doesn't get as compact lengthwise as all my other light stands. This hits you when you go to pack it in a case with all the others and it's too long.