Just moved to new premises, so we have a bit of space to store things for a change.

One thing I fancy improving is how we store our mic stands. In the old place they were effectively in heaps on some cheap Ikea shelving. I'm curious what everyone else is doing.

We're not yet at the stage of sending big stand trunks out on trucks. Mic stands tend to get picked out on a gig-by-gig basis, as we tend to hand them out in twos and threes for dry hires and small shows.

So I'd love to hear what folks are doing - and bonus points if you can post any photos.

I have always stored ours in a large bin (clean obviously!). It’s a round grey plastic thing we got from Wilkinson for only a couple of quid. True we only have about 10 stands, but more stands would mean buying more bins. I have also attached black Velcro straps to the legs so when folded down I can keep the legs together so I can fit more in. I was also told that it good practice that if you leave the microphone clips on the boom stands, to fold the boom arm down into the stand rather that leave the clip at the top, as they don’t get damaged as easily.

It also turns out that we use bins for loads of other storage, ie, Lighting Gel Rolls, 15amp extension cables etc. !!

HTH

In many cases though it is not sensible to leave the clip on the stand - instead, clip stays with mic as the mic and stand may not go out together the next time, but the mic and clip will and there is less chance of the clip being damages since you take more care of your mics than your stands.

I had the same problem, but now we use a standing case on wheels that takes 6 speaker stands, and 4 mic stands. It's about the same size as a case with 16 mic stands, with a flip-down section on the front, so it's easier to remove the stands from the case. The speaker stand slots are built so that they can take 2 mic stands, in case we need many mic stands on a show. This way, all our stands take up only 1 case, and we've got enough flexibility for the variety of shows we do.

Cut 9 (say, depending on how many stands you have) 4ft lengths of 4" or 5" drain pipe (soil pipe) from B&Q or a plumbers merchants. Tape them together into a 3 x 3 square matrix and make a plywood sleeve to go round them, and fit a square plywood bottom.

The whole assembly can either go on a shelf or stand on the floor. The pipes prevent the stands from bashing the paint/plating off each other and you can instantly see when they've all "come home safely" after a show or hire.

Pete.

I used to use a beer bottle crate, must have been for large bottle mind, which the legs sat in a treat. The crate was then placed in the corner of the store area so the stands didn't fall anywhere.

I like the sound of the pipe idea.

Did use bins in the past and the stands just seemed to fall everywhere and stick out at odd angles. Perhaps there were issues with the size etc.? We just used common or garden dustbins out of B&Q...

We normally keep the clips on the stands - my thinking is that we'll smash less clips in transit that way than the clips (and thread adaptors) that would get lost taking them on and off.

We've got maybe forty stands in total, if that helps.

Cheers!

Stuart,

its not necessarily the damage to the clip or thread adaptors is the clip type!

On a larger show I may have 4 or 5 different mic clip types on various stands. the next show I may have the same clips but on different stands. Ie a full round clip for some of my smaller condensors may go on a large boom stand one night, and a small boom stand the next night.
This isn't so bad if all your stands go out every night. but the last thing you want to do is send out a pair of different sized mics which slip out of normal clips with a pair of stands..with normal clips.

The sight and sound of an over head mic on a drum kit hitting the ride cymbal is NOT one you should look forward to!

We do normally pick the stands to match the mics being used, and there is always a few spare clips in the mic box. So not usually a problem for us.

At the risk of veering further off-topic, I did see a pretty cool thing (manufactured by Proel) which fixed between stand and clip. Basically it lets you take the clips on and off with a similar mechanism to a BNC coupling. Very neat, but they cost a tenner or so each...

Still waiting on some nice photos of cool stand storage solutions...

we just lean our's up against the wall in the corner, sandwiched between a filing cabinet.

I'd agree with Pete Alcock, most of the cases I've seen (which can obviously be adapted and simplified if just for a warehouse) are just honeycombs of drain pipes in a case. You can also adapt the idea with smaller tubes for storing gel.

PN

ive used golf club bags before,you can often pick them up cheep in charity shops

Another vote for Pete and his drainpipes. Very popular with rental houses.

Furry

I just use mic stand bags. Mine came free when buying the stands. They're ok, but they do get holey after a while in the ends. Handy though.

Yep, we go for the drainpipe idea, although when we re-made them earlier this year we had to use that brown soil pipe rather than drain pipe.

I agree with keeping clips with the mics, if you only do wet hire then thats fine, however when you do dry hire, if it can go wrong it will.
Sometimes, the stands are used on their own, then they may have a radio mic then a shure SM81, 2 completly different size clips.
Just my 2p worth

Sounds like drainpipes it is, unless anyone can come up with some last minute brilliant suggestions.

I'll post some photos of our finished design.

Drain Pipe seems to be the way forward, we too have just moved premises this summer and I was musing the same stand storage problem, will be a trip to B&Q in the morning, and will have constructed a MLRS by lunch time.

P.