Threaded mic adapters

Jul 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Chriss Scherer, editor

Tech Tips, Jul 2009

Adapt and thrive

The last time you bought a microphone you may have found a threaded adapter inside the mic clip. Did you wonder what it was for? I was once told it was for European mic stands, although I never saw a mic stand in Europe with that smaller thread. What do you do with those threaded adapters? You probably tossed them in a box like I did, thinking they might come in handy sometime.

What is that adapter for anyway? Let’s review some thread sizes. Standard mic mounts use a 5/8″-27 thread. The little adapters you have are 3/8″-16 inside. I thought this was an odd size until I recently learned something about camera mounts.

A typical still or consumer video camera has a threaded inset. These are commonly 1/4″-20 threads, but there is another common camera thread size: 3/8″-16.

This all came together for me when I was looking to devise a clamp to attach a portable recorder to a tall mic stand (the bottom section of this stand is about 2″ across). I located a clamp for a lighting truss that would work well. I also noted that 3/8″-16 is also commonly used with lighting equipment.

The bolt on the lighting clamp was perfect for the mic thread insert. With another adapter, I can mount the recorder on the bracket, too.

Perhaps now you can find some uses for those 5/8″-27 male to 3/8″-16 female inserts.

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