Topic: Microphones and Smoking Venues

[svenkid]

what's the word on this? does cigarette smoke hurt the mics? should I be running my windscreens in these venues. Ive ran in venues with smoking before, but have done it onstage, but really I wasnt tuned into this current worry of mine. Once someone lit up a cigar less than 2 feet from my babies. the crowd around us, was mostly disapproving, but it didnt even occur to me that more than my lungs was at stake 

[Brian]

i always run with some sort of windscreen indoors or outside.  smoke particles  can definitely be detrimental over time to the capsules.  when inside i run small screens.  outside...the bigger ones for wind.

edit: and i clean the windscreens once every 2 months or so with soap and water.

[RebelRebel]

For the same reasons that you dont want smoke in your lungs...you dont want them around your mics.
Smoke particles are small enough to get inside the smallest openings in mic grilles and other orifices.., and not only do they get inside there, but smoke particles are so sticky that it is tough to get them out. Acetone(one of the main ingredients in tobacco smoke) is also a corrosive(nail polish remover), and can cause problems that way as well..

  cant stand smoke of any kind, especially around my wife and gear.

[JiB97]

I always run the windscreens in smoky and non smoky venues.  It's also a good little bit of protection in case a wook kicks your stand.  Not much, but better than the capsules slamming straight into the ground.

[F.O.Bean]

i have ran screens inside/outside for years and will continue to do so

a cheap alternative to damaged/serviced mics IMO

[Brian]

I always run the windscreens in smoky and non smoky venues.  It's also a good little bit of protection in case a wook kicks your stand.  Not much, but better than the capsules slamming straight into the ground.

back when i first started taping and was running the oktavas, I had forgot to bring duct tape to tape down my stand one night.  It was a crowded and chatty show(RRatFB, 2003) so i had to have the stand around 10' high.  I put the the bigger DPA screens on just in case the stand was actually knocked over.  Well sure enough some underage drunk girl ran into my stand onher way to her seat and the microphones crashed onto a table 2 tables up from me.  Because i was able to somewhat ease the fall of the stand and i had the bigger screens on, the microphones were unharmed and still sounded fine.  No dents in the caps or anything.  You can hear the whole thing on the recording. I was pretty thankful i thought to put the big screens on in that situation.  

  

[F.O.Bean]

thats another great reason to always have them on

[Teen Age Riot]

All the shows I attend are smokey venues (hey, it's Germany), so I always put the DPA windscreens on my MBHO caps (unless I go stealth). In fact, they're already on when I leave my apartment, because I find they also offer at least some degree of protection for the caps when still in the bag.

[KLowe]

pelican case for the bag.  Best 15 bucks spent.
http://www.pelican-case.com/pelmiccas105.html

[Sparge Master]

I live in CA so the bars I goto have no smoke in them. When I goto a concert at a larger venue I enjoy the smell of the non-tabacco product in the air. If it isnt there it just seems like something is amiss.

[Chuck]

Colorado will be no smoking soon. In smoky bars I use the windscreens.

[jpschust]

you should always use screens no matter what.

[hoyt]

you should always use screens no matter what.

Yup.  And if you're not sure, check out how nasty the water can be when you clean your screens after a few months in smoky bars.  Then think about all that crap that could have been on your caps.  Plus, you never know when you're going to setup your mics and find out you happened to be right under an A/C vent.

--hoyt