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Audio stuff ∞

Standard Imperial-measurement threading are, in order of sizes:

• 1/4″ (smallest)
• 3/8″ (medium)

• 5/8″ (largest)

Things to know:

• The " (double quotes) means “inches”
• There are “thread adapters” which can let you screw together things of different sizes.

• “Male” and “Female” are used to indicate tabs and slots.

  • The male end is the straight part with the threads you can easily see.
  • The female end is the socket that you have to look into to see the threads.

• You are generally interested in male-to-female adapters. For example:

  • 5/8″ Male to 3/8″ Female (largest to medium).

• Female-to-male adapters look liked shafts. Here are the common ones:

  • Combination-adapters. For example, there is a combination (either 5/8″ female or 3/8″ female) to 1/4″ male adapter.
  • 3/8″ female to 1/4″ male (larger to smallest)
  • 5/8″ female to 3/8″ male (largest to medium)
  • 5/8″ female to 3/8″ male (largest to medium)
  • 5/8″ female to 1/4″ male (largest to smallest)

Lighting equipment ∞

You may find yourself with a lighting boom. It is like a microphone stand but also has an arm that balances on top of it. They often have weighted bags on one end so they can balance something heavy.

The tip of these is usually a 5/8″ (16mm) stud that’s pretty plain [ 1 ]. You can get adapters which fit over such a stud, and which use a side-screw to press it into place.

It’s also possible to attach a clamp to the pole itself. While this can work fine, you will have a branch poking away from your pole, and so if your branch is heavy and your pole is not secure enough then it will rotate until your branch points down to the floor.

The idea of a boom is to have a gentle balance to allow the held object to be mobile. It is not the intended purpose to clamp it down, make it a rigid structure and affix objects to it.

Footnotes

1. The industry nicknames the nub on the end of a boom pole “baby”. [ ↩ ]