Setting Up a Gooseneck Table Top Microphone Mount

Ever week I do a new episode of the Freedom Feens podcast with my friend Neema Vedadi. We live in different states, so we record as a double-ender podcast to keep the audio quality extraordinarily high. That is, we talk over the phone, but don’t record the phone call. Neema records his end with a microphone in front of his mouth, and I record my end with a Zoom H2 “Studio on a stick” in front of my mouth, then he sends me his files and I sew them together and edit them before uploading.

Since we’re doing this weekly and plan to be doing it forever, or until one of us gets droned, I was looking for an alternative mic stand. I used to record by setting up a stand every week, like this:

but the stand was clunky, got in my way if I got up to take a break, and moreover, I tended to stub my toe on it during the week when not podcasting. It’s clunky and my choice was to either take it down to the basement when not using it, or put it in the corner for more convenience. I chose the later.

I solved this problem with an inexpensive gooseneck table top microphone mount.

I bought the 19″ gooseneck on Amazon HERE (price, $4.39),

and bought the small screw-in table mount on Amazon, HERE (price $3.95).

I used a power drill to drill three tiny guide holes into the table next to my main work table, then used the power drill with a screwdriver bit to permanently affix the mount to the table.

I screwed the gooseneck into the table mount, then screwed a microphone shock mount at the top. I stuffed some egg create packing foam inside it so the Zoom H2 handle fits snugly. (This mount will also work fine with a microphone, but I use the all-in-one Zoom H2 myself.)

The end result is a permanently mounted gooseneck microphone stand in your work area.

(I have this second table to my left so I can keep all my clutter on it and keep the table with my monitor and keyboard clear. You could mount the gooseneck stand to your main table, but I recommend against it. Having a second table to attach the mic to is good, because even with the shock mount, a sensitive mic will pick up noise if you bump the table, and in my experience, you’re more likely to bump the table in front of you than a table to your side. But since the mic will pick up some table noise, try not to bump the table that the gooseneck is attached to while recording.)

When you’re not using it, you can bend it out of your way:

And then bend it back into place when you’re ready to rant to the world.

–Michael W. Dean