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The Best Microphone Boom Arms for Podcasting

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Need more room on your desk? Tired of shock-related noise in your recordings? Aching from holding one position? Fret not. The boom arm is your friend. Let’s take a look at some of the best microphone boom arms on the market.

The trusty boom arm is the most popular way of mounting microphones in podcasting. That’s based on the data from 330 podcasters who took part in our 2019 gear survey. Check out the full results in the link, if interested!

podcast boom arm stats

Why Use a Boom Arm?

It wasn’t surprising to see 42% of respondents using a boom arm. They’re convenient, flexible, and they help keep your podcasting space tidy, too.

Boom arms are usually attached to desks by clamp grips on their bases. You can then swivel the thing round, adjust the height and the direction it’s pointing, and generally play around with it until you find your optimal recording position.

With a boom arm, you don’t need to be stuck in the same position for the duration of a recording session. If your mic is propped onto a built-on or traditional stand, it’s much harder to make adjustments.

Boom arms also help minimise the impact of shock-related noise reaching your microphone. Commonly, this is things like typing on a keyboard, or accidentally hitting your knee off the desk.

Like any other piece of podcasting gear, there are loads of boom arm options out there. They vary depending on price and quality.

We’ve used many different models over the years in our studio. With that in mind, here are a couple of options to consider, if you’re looking at buying your own boom arm.

Neewer NW-35 – The Cheap Option

It’s the same with all types of podcasting kit. Spending big won’t automatically make your content sound great.

If you’re new to the medium, you’re much better to start small too. There’s no use spending a fortune on gear, when there’s plenty of affordable stuff out there at entry level.

The Neewer NW-35 is as much of as a bargain as you’ll find in podcasting. It’s available on Amazon for $24, and Amazon UK for £14.

It’s a metal suspension boom scissor arm stand, which comes with an XLR cable built in to it. It also comes with shock mount to support your mic, and minimise any movement sounds from the desk, or the boom arm itself.

We bought a couple for our studio many years ago, and they’re still going strong!

Rode PSA1 Podcasting Boom Arm

RODE PSA1 – The Premium Option

If you’ve been podcasting long enough to know you’re not going to quit, then you will probably fancy upgrading your kit at some point.

In this scenario, you can start to look into the premium options out there, if you have a bit of budget behind you.

The RODE PSA1 will set you back about $93 on Amazon or £63 on Amazon UK. The swivel mounted boom arm means you can rotate it 360 degrees. Its look, feel, and the smoothness of its movements just add that extra touch of professionalism to your studio.

Here’s our full review of this boom arm, if you’d like to take a deeper dive on its qualities and features.

Other Popular Boom Arms

There’s a few models out there that we haven’t personally used ourselves, but have heard good things about.

Some podcasters swear by the Heil Sound PL-2T, whilst a few others have invested in the K&M 23860. Both of these certainly fall into the “Premium” category!

Mounting a Blue Yeti on a Boom Arm

We’ve mentioned our 2019 gear survey already. It showed that one of the most popular mics on the planet right now is the Blue Yeti.

It’s a USB mic, though; most USB mics are difficult to use with a boom arm. They tend to come with their own stands, and are designed to sit on a desk without additional equipment.

However, you can mount a Blue Yeti microphone on a boom arm. Blue microphones actually sell their own shock mount that will allow just that.

The Radius Shockmount is custom built for the Blue Yeti and the Blue Yeti pro, and will let you put it on any microphone stand or boom arm.

If you’re a Yeti user, you might fancy taking a look at our Blue Yeti Accessory Guide which shows you the many ways you can upgrade your mic. We also have a review of the Blue Yeti if you don’t currently own one, but want to know more.

Need More Help?

If you’re looking for more help choosing your equipment, or with any other aspect of podcasting, then we’d love to work with you.

Check out Podcraft Academy, where we hold regular live Q&A sessions, run a community forum, and offer access to every video course, checklist, and ebook we’ve ever made!

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