Desk boom mic stands - any good?

roundthebend

I just bought a Rode NT1-A for a bit of home recording, nothing too serious. I've got a decent Hercules mic stand for live use, but thought a desk mounted one with full movement would be much more handy.
Are they any good? I'm thinking of the sorry you see on people's YouTube channels when they're talking in their studios etc.

Musicwolf

Years ago I had one like this

I got rid as it took up too much space and I was always catching stuff behind it.

ESBlonde

Depending if you are using a shock mount for the mic might dictate not using a desk mounted stand, every bang or rustle of paper gets picked up. So the versatility of floor stands might work to your advantage. Whatever you do, get a decent one that can stay where you put it and last years, it's cheaper in the long run than 3 or 4 budget examples.

octatonic

A good quality one costs but are worth the money- OC White are very good.

The cheaper ones are usually not worth buying- it gives podcasters the appearance of looking like a broadcaster rather than the advantages of boom arm, which is to get the mic in the proper position whilst isolating the microphone from the desk so that when you shift paper about you don't hear the sympathetic resonances from the desk.

IMHO the cheaper boom arms don't work well enough at the former and are actually work worse than a qualitydesktop mic stand for the latter.

Also articulating arms get in the way so unless you are doing a hell of a lot of podcasting I'd say avoid.
I am currently favouring a small desktop/kick drum mic stand called aTriad Orbit Triad TM but it is probably a price beyond what you'd want to pay.
K&M do some similar things but this is an area where you really do get what you pay for.

roundthebend

Thanks @Musicwolf ;
@ESBlonde ;
@octatonic ;

I thought that would be the gist of it. The NT1-A came with a proper shock mount, but my budget won't stretch to a decent boom stand, nor will I use one enough to warrant the expense. So, I'll stick with my Hercules stand and maybe get a shorter desktop style one to give some options. Best I try with what I've got and take it from there.

Musicwolf

If your room is anything like mine, i.e. not complient with International Cat Swinging standards, then a short boom arm can be a godsend.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/km_21160.htm 

They're also useful for live in the sort of venues that I should have been playing in tomorrow night - but now won't

hassleham

I've got a basic kick drum mic stand with a heavy base going spare. It might give you more of an idea of what you actually want, or you could even probably mount the base to your wall and then screw the boom into it when you want to use it. Anyway, I'm moving house soon and need to have a clear out so I'm happy to send it to you if you cover the postage cost, probably a fiver with Hermes or something. 
Send me a pm with your email address if you want me to send a photo.