Smoking around Mics

[trevorownage]

I let my friend borrow one of my mics for a week or so and he and all his other friends are heavy smokers. I asumed he was smart enough to cover it up when smoking but turns out he hasn't at all and it's been left out the whole time.

Basically just wanting to know how long it'd take to damage the microphone and should I be asking him to replace it?

[John Willett]

If it's a condenser mic. then smoke is attracted to the diaphragm by electrostatic action.

If it's something like a Neumann, then it may be possible to clean it - if not it would need a new capsule.

If it's an inexpensive mic., then I would suggest he keeps it and buys you a new one.

[trevorownage]

It's an NT1a so nothing expensive but still a chunk of money for him to cough up. It stinks of cig smoke now so is it likely to be messed up?

[hollowsun]

I wouldn't have thought "a week or so" would damage a mic much or even at all. Practically anyway - technically perhaps and perhaps if they were blowing smoke directly onto it while recording vocals or something but just lying around ... for a week or so?

I bow to better knowledge and experience than mine of course but I am wondering if this isn't perhaps just a little of the paranoia surrounding 'second hand smoke' and the evils of the weed.

Plus I grew up in an era when smoking in studios was pretty much compulsory by everybody with no ill effects that I recall (well... apart from fag ash in the faders, not to the gear anyway). Or maybe we weren't so particular about such things back then.

[Dynamic Mike]

Plus I grew up in an era when smoking in studios was pretty much compulsory

Perhaps the irreversible damage caused by cigarette smoke is the reason that vintage mics now change hands for so little money.

[trevorownage]

Thanks for your input. So your basically saying that I should be asking for a replacement? He is a good friend of mine but often chuffs up stuff I own.

[hollowsun]

I am not convinced that the mic is damaged in any real way from just a week of being around fug. I have stuff that's been around my fug for YEARS and is fine.

If you're concerned about the whiff, it can be cleaned with THIS ... assuming the thing can be dismantled - don't go spraying that on the capsule! Unscrew the mesh head from the barrel (assuming you can) and spray 'em both (away from the internal gubbins). Leave a while to 'cut through' any gunk (such as it is) and then wipe it off, maybe rinsing it in warm water. Leave to dry thoroughly (on a radiator) and re-assemble.

Yeah - a pain in the arse for you but maybe a lesson learnt regarding lending stuff to your mate.

But it's up to you - it's your mic, your friend, your relationship with the guy, you know if he can afford it or not.

Your call.

But *I* don't think that mic is damaged in any way ... or rather, I'd be surprised if it is.

[matt keen]

The mic will be fine

All the cigarette smoke damage I remember happened over years

[Jeraldo]

He is a good friend of mine but often chuffs up stuff I own.

OK, I've got to ask: So why did you lend him the mic?

The effects of the smoke are cumulative. Do the "Neumann breath test": Breathe on the mic as if you were fogging a mirror and see if it starts to make noise. If it does, it's damaged. If he was oblivious enough to leave the mic out in those conditions what else might have happened? I've actually seen someone spray Windex (glass cleaner) on a table to clean it (the table) while there was a LD condenser lying right there in the middle of things. Makes you wonder.

You might want to revisit your policy of loaning him gear......

Sorry it happened. It's frustrating.

BTW, not all condenser microphones' diaphragms are at potential other than neutral. I don't know about the Rode.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I'll also add my weight to say that I'd be very surprised if the mic was damaged in any noticeable way (other than the aropma, which will fade anyway) by this relatively short term exposure to cigarette smoke.

Back in the day when I were sitting at the master's elbow, I couldn't even see the talent through the glass window for the fog of blue smoke throughout the studio, but the mics still worked acceptably well! At least some H&S policies have been beneficial

But as others have said, if you don;'t trust this guy to treat your equipment with the same respect and care that you do, why lend it to him. I'd use this as the excuse you seen to need to stop lending!

Hugh

[John Willett]

Back in the day when I were sitting at the master's elbow, I couldn't even see the talent through the glass window for the fog of blue smoke throughout the studio, but the mics still worked acceptably well! At least some H&S policies have been beneficial

So that's why people like the old classic mics. - smoke contamination.

[Jeraldo]

Hmm, I still haven't lost my paranoia of candle and incense/charcoal smoke......

[Shostakovich]

Never mind the Mics..........it's the humans you've got to worry about.

To me, it would be a matter of courtesy not to return a borrowed item stinking of fags. I couldn't believe how a new handbuilt PC made by smokey joe that I had a while back stank for days.

IMHO, if it stinks, it's coated in something 'orrible. Whether this damages the mic as such I dunno.

[Bertyjnr2]

Perhaps the reason old recordings sound warm is nothing to do with valves and tape but because more people smoked back then! You should be paying him for giving your mic some character!

[Peter Morley]

Well I'm a smoker and have been smoking for years around my mics. I can't say I've ever noticed any discernable difference when I've used another (non-smoking) studio's mics compared to my own in terms of sound. However, in terms of stink, that's a different matter.

This guy borrowed your gear and from what you say, seems like he has taken the piss on a bit of a regular basis. I'd tell him to buy his own gear to use and abuse as he sees fit in future. I've lost countless bits of gear by lending in the past and now my stock answer to that question is no. (the same as with my records, CDs, girlfriend etc.....)

[ken long]

However, in terms of stink, that's a different matter.

Absolutely. Both my wife and I smoke. Heavily. Its a cultural thing. Anyway, we share a room: her sewing machines and fabrics lined up on one side and my gear on the other. We have agreed not to smoke in that room. We take fag breaks in the sitting room (for the benefit of our American friends, that's cigarette breaks in the living room). Even so, the smell emanating from our bodies as we work is enough to taint that room.

Don't lend anything unless that person can afford (and is willing) to replace it. In which case you probably should tell them to buy their own!

ken

[. . . Delete This User . . .]

in the case at hand, it's most likely the basket that's "contaminated" and stinking... it's unlikely that the short term exposure has really accumulated enough on the diaphragm to be a problem.... however i would add my voice to john's about long term exposure of such things.

ever looked at the ceiling in a heavy smoker's room??

after a year or two it's noticeably yellowed... this is the tar residue settling from the smoke particulate.

a typical condenser diaphragm is a few microns thick and weighs next to bugger all.... if you layer this crap on it as well , you noticeably change the frequency & transient response. while the deposit is not necessarily huge and weighty, it's relative mass to the diaphragm is sufficient to be relevant.

because it's a gradual process, owners may not consciously notice....

unless they stick 2 otherwise identical mics up.......

then they'll find it obvious.

i have NEVER smoked IN a studio.

nor do i allow those that do, to use my equipment.

yet i occasionally smoke like a chimney....

i do it outside.

[Jimmy T]

The smell is the only thing to be bothered about.
God I've smelt some bad '58's in my time. Sweaty stages in pubs are where the real stinkers are to be found. Your mic should loose the smell mostly in a few weeks.

These days it seems un-thinkable that we all smoked all day long in the studio. I remember emptying countless ashtrays from the fader panels of AMEK's and other consoles. Same in the voice booths.
VT was the first place it got banned due to the 1' reel to reel video tape being rather thin and delicate.

[Jeraldo]

Well I'm a smoker and have been smoking for years around my mics. I can't say I've ever noticed any discernable difference when

Accelerated hearing loss (as expected, HF particularly) is among the various aspects of human physiology affected by smoking.

[Peter Morley]

Well I'm a smoker and have been smoking for years around my mics. I can't say I've ever noticed any discernable difference when

Accelerated hearing loss (as expected, HF particularly) is among the various aspects of human physiology affected by smoking.

Bloody hell. I've heard that I might get heart disease, lung disease (inc cancer), even the possibility of a flacid knob due to poor circulation (not got this yet, I hasten to add) but never that my HF hearing would go. Also, I can't say that I've noticed this, working amongst a multitude of smoking and non smoking engineers, musicians and producers. Can you add a link to some hard medical proof there mate?

[ken long]

So many things can affect hearing loss. High blood pressure, which is a result of smoking is probably more to blame here. But then you can also get high blood pressure from many things including a natural disposition.

ken

[hifistud2]

Bloody hell. I've heard that I might get heart disease, lung disease (inc cancer), even the possibility of a flacid knob due to poor circulation (not got this yet, I hasten to add) but never that my HF hearing would go. Also, I can't say that I've noticed this, working amongst a multitude of smoking and non smoking engineers, musicians and producers. Can you add a link to some hard medical proof there mate?

Did you not know??? Smoking causes broken legs, your telly to blow up, next door's dog to get a dose of the threepennies, and the current malaise in the banking system!

Ask any A&E doctor - go in with a thumb hanging off and you'll be asked whether you smoke in the first two minutes.

FFS, some of the best engineers and producers I know have been 40 a day men all their lives! All this PC nonsense boils my (non-flaccid) p155.