how bad is cigarette smoke for microphones??

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i don't know whats wrong with me but i never even thought about it before
today.. i have a small 15x20 practice room with my buddies, we have a bunch
of mics up for recording demos, we got the place about a month ago and
there have probably been 30 cigarettes smoked in there since then, the
room has no ventilation other than the front door which we do open half
way for a few minutes to cool off every now or when the cigarette smoke
starts to bother me. upon clueing in to the fact that smoke is bad
for mics i've now instated a no smoking policy in the room.. should i be
concerned that 'damage is already done', etc? i need peace of mind!
i have some sm57's, a beta 52, some mxl603's and a 421. thanks

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"gil" <gregory.c.gilmore@citigroup.com> wrote in message
news:1110820631.653585.138940@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> I'd be more worried about your lungs.
>

Well the lungs at least are absorbing a lot of the tar and other nasty
fluids and vapours, preventing them from ending up in the mics.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

john hill wrote:
> i don't know whats wrong with me but i never even thought about it before
> today.. i have a small 15x20 practice room with my buddies, we have a bunch
> of mics up for recording demos, we got the place about a month ago and
> there have probably been 30 cigarettes smoked in there since then, the
> room has no ventilation other than the front door which we do open half
> way for a few minutes to cool off every now or when the cigarette smoke
> starts to bother me. upon clueing in to the fact that smoke is bad
> for mics i've now instated a no smoking policy in the room.. should i be
> concerned that 'damage is already done', etc? i need peace of mind!
> i have some sm57's, a beta 52, some mxl603's and a 421. thanks

Cigarette smoke improves the sound of microphones. Pot smoke is even
better, giving a mellow sound.

Seriously, though, plenty of great recordings were made in smoky studios
with more sensitive mics than you have. Nat King Cole smoked around some
lovely ribbon mics, and *he* sure sounded fine!

The Beatles had a constant cloud of smoke surrounding some great
sounding Neumanns at EMI Studios. The list is endless.

Now someone will surely chime in and state that nicotine accumulation
has a measureable effect on microphones, and it may be so, but I think
the ads that claim a smoke free environment when selling used equipment
are a tad on the finicky side.

I certainly wouldn't worry about your sm5-s. YMMV.

I know I'll get my ass kicked for this heresy....

-Naren (ex-smoker)

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"john hill" <jgh@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:X_iZd.15417$Jd2.295066@news20.bellglobal.com...
> i don't know whats wrong with me but i never even thought about it before
> today.. i have a small 15x20 practice room with my buddies, we have a bunch
> of mics up for recording demos, we got the place about a month ago and
> there have probably been 30 cigarettes smoked in there since then, the
> room has no ventilation other than the front door which we do open half
> way for a few minutes to cool off every now or when the cigarette smoke
> starts to bother me. upon clueing in to the fact that smoke is bad
> for mics i've now instated a no smoking policy in the room.. should i be
> concerned that 'damage is already done', etc? i need peace of mind!
> i have some sm57's, a beta 52, some mxl603's and a 421. thanks


For what you have, I don't think you will be doing any real "damage" (to the
microphones) even if you were to keep up this pattern for a year or so.
For a number of reasons, ventilation wouldn't hurt anything if it's do-able.

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s DOT com
Morgan Audio Media Service
Dallas, Texas (214) 662-9901
_______________________________________
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Another no-smoking state:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pb [...] -1/OPINION

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Smoke bad. For people and equipment. How long do you want to live?

I don't worry about smoke. I smoke. I have to maintain my equipment. I do
both at the same time. Life goes on until it doesn't. If you negate the
smoking in the practice space are you saving your mics and jeapordizing your
music? Who knows?

Go with the flow. If you are concerned about equipment your concerns are in
the wrong place. Put in some highly efficient filtration systems. You can
do so for a few hundred dollars, and then your mics will last longer and so
will you. AND your band mates can do as they please (until they start
slamming your equipment on the floor)! <g>
--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio
http://blogs.salon.com/0004478/

"john hill" <jgh@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:X_iZd.15417$Jd2.295066@news20.bellglobal.com...
> i don't know whats wrong with me but i never even thought about it before
> today.. i have a small 15x20 practice room with my buddies, we have a
bunch
> of mics up for recording demos, we got the place about a month ago and
> there have probably been 30 cigarettes smoked in there since then, the
> room has no ventilation other than the front door which we do open half
> way for a few minutes to cool off every now or when the cigarette smoke
> starts to bother me. upon clueing in to the fact that smoke is bad
> for mics i've now instated a no smoking policy in the room.. should i be
> concerned that 'damage is already done', etc? i need peace of mind!
> i have some sm57's, a beta 52, some mxl603's and a 421. thanks
>
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"john hill" <jgh@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:X_iZd.15417$Jd2.295066@news20.bellglobal.com...
>i don't know whats wrong with me but i never even thought about it before
> today.. i have a small 15x20 practice room with my buddies, we have a
> bunch
> of mics up for recording demos, we got the place about a month ago and
> there have probably been 30 cigarettes smoked in there since then, the
> room has no ventilation other than the front door which we do open half
> way for a few minutes to cool off every now or when the cigarette smoke
> starts to bother me. upon clueing in to the fact that smoke is bad
> for mics i've now instated a no smoking policy in the room.. should i be
> concerned that 'damage is already done', etc? i need peace of mind!
> i have some sm57's, a beta 52, some mxl603's and a 421. thanks


You concerned about your mics or your lungs ?

geoff

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

If you've been in a smoker's car you'll see a thin film on the
windshield. If you wash the window you'd see that it is actually tar.
That is what you risk doing to you're mic diaphragm. While this is
probably not an issue for an SM 58 (they LOVE smoke...) you wouldn't
want to do this to a U87. If you smoke, light up and enjoy. Just don't
do it directly into your mics.

Other side of the coin: It's hard enough to find bandmates that are
willing to commit to rehearsing regularly. Instituting certain rules
in order to solve one problem can create other problems. Besides, you
don't want your drummer or bass player going outside every ten minutes
to have a smoke.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Lorin David Schultz wrote:

> "Paul Stamler" <pstamlerhell@pobox.com> wrote:
>
>>Until, of course, he died from lung cancer. Then he didn't sound good
>>at all.
>
>
> Whatever. He sounded pretty good *until* then. If smoking didn't kill
> him, something else would have.
>
> Live well, eat right, die anyway.
>

Smoker, eh?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I have seen mikes that have been in smoky bars for a long time that had
their mesh grilles totally clogged with tar, etc.

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"Bill" <bcrowell@excite.com> wrote in message news:1110932822.167894.280540@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> I have seen mikes that have been in smoky bars for a long time that had
> their mesh grilles totally clogged with tar, etc.
>


That's lipstick...

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Jay Kadis" <jay@ccrma.stanford.edu> wrote in message news:jay-

>
> Lipstick is nasty. It removed the paint from my wife's C-535! At least we
> >know which one is hers.

Why - her's a different colour ;-)

> Then there's the nail polish chips inside the synth keyboard...

Yours or hers ?


geoff

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"David Morgan (MAMS)" <mams@NOSPAm-a-m-s.com> wrote in

> One of the girls at church leaves a pretty thick deposit every Sunday
> morning and I don't clean it super thoroughly every week...

I assume you mean 'on the microphone' ?

geoff

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

David Morgan (MAMS) wrote:
> "Bill" <bcrowell@excite.com> wrote in message
> news:1110932822.167894.280540@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>> I have seen mikes that have been in smoky bars for a long time that
>> had their mesh grilles totally clogged with tar, etc.
>>
>
>
> That's lipstick...

Worse yet are the vocalists who live on throat lozenges. The stuff
dissolves in their mouths and gets spit all over the windscreen where it
re-congeals into a rock hard coating something like polyuerethane.

jak

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

ClickRecording wrote:
> If you've been in a smoker's car you'll see a thin film on the
> windshield. If you wash the window you'd see that it is actually tar.
> That is what you risk doing to you're mic diaphragm. While this is
> probably not an issue for an SM 58 (they LOVE smoke...) you wouldn't
> want to do this to a U87. If you smoke, light up and enjoy. Just don't
> do it directly into your mics.
>

I'm actually all in favour of people smoking (and spitting) heavily into
expensive mics;
It's how I got my U87 for 50 Euros (including shockmount); the capsule
was covered in this tarry substance making for dropouts if you breathed
into it.
The seller most likely didn't know the mics brand and/or reputation
Careful cleaning as per Josephsons recipe (kids, don't try this at home
unless you can afford to lose it - well , at 50 bucks, I could) got it
working perfectly.

Hans


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