Topic: wide stereo bar for omnis?

[jnorman34]

the wide stereo bars (3 feet wide or so) i have seen for spaced omnis, like the one from AES, are quite expensive.  does anyone know of an affordable bar around 3 ft or 1 meter wide, or an inexpensive way to build a decent looking bar of this size?  thanks.

[Chuck]

I went to the local harware store and bought (1) 3.5' foot length of aluminum about 1" wide and with enough thickness to hold the weight. I cut it into three equal lengths. Drilled holes small enough for some bolts with wing nuts to make "wings". Drilled (2) 1/2" holes on the end pieces for mounting shock mounts. Drilled one 1/2" hole in the middle piece to mount on my stand. It works great.

[Tim]

how about putting one mic on the mount and using a clamp and extension bar for the other?

[jnorman34]

danke chuck - can you post a photo or two?

[Chuck]

danke chuck - can you post a photo or two?

I'm at work now.
I can post a few pics on Saturday. I'm taping tonight...

[silentmark]

A hockey stick works wonders ...

[Todd R]

Very cheap, easy, and pretty high quality solution (or at least not ghetto):

Get an Atlas TB-58X extension tube ($9 at markertek.com), an Atlas AD-5B  5/8" female to female coupler ($4.50), and a clamp if you don't have it, like the TecNec clamp MPC-10 ($16 from markertek).  Less than $30 in parts.

Set up your stand, use the AD-5B coupler to attach the clamp to your stand, 5/8" stud of the stand to the 5/8" stud of the clamp (the AD-5B holds them together).  You've now got a stand with a clamp on top, but unlike the usual way of clamping, you now have the clamping "mouth" available.  Put the TB-58X extension tube into the clamp (set-up in the middle of the tube) and tighten the clamp down.  You've now effectively got a very large t-bar on top of your stand, and there are 5/8" threadings on both sides to accept mics.  The extension bar is only 31", but once you add mic clips or shockmounts, you'll get a 3' spread.

[wbrisette]

Wes Dooley charges an arm and a leg for his 1 metre bar, but it does have some nice features. Just not enough features to justify the cost.

I made my own using a 1 x 2 piece of oak. I would not recommend using pine or any other softwood since it will get beat around and you'll be replacing it every few shows if you're not careful.

I cut a half-circle into one side. This fits around the mic stand. I also put a dado cut into a small piece of wood that slides over the 1x2. This is used along with a c-clamp to attach the bar to my mic stand. I painted the wood black and attached two mic adapters, one on each side. I also stapled some velcro straps on it to tie up the cables. I've been using the same setup for about 2 years now and haven't had a lick of problems with it.

Wayne

[Nick's Picks]

I've got the $47 Sabra quad mic T bar.  Kicks ass.  Its 30cm long, I think.  w/my shock mounts sticking out to the sides, it creates a nearly 2.5' space, which i'm finding produces a very nice soundstage when I run omnis.

[Chuck]

This is the bar I made.