Sharing Microphones

maltingsaudio

Best advice at this time is to buy and use your own, however just stocked up on this stuff for when we can gig again.
https://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/shop/sales/audio/microphone-stands-clips-and-accessories/clips-mounts-and-accessories/product.aspx?code=365-8844

ESBlonde

When I did small festivals (many off the back of a curtainside trailer and suchlike), we had a bottle of Listerine mouthwash and a roll of kitchen paper. After every artist the stage crew first wiped every vocal mic to leave them clean(ish) before attending to repositioning everything for the next act. many a singist thanked us afterwards. Far from perfect, but better than nothing. I was concerned for the internal foam, but never noticed it disintegrate faster than normal.It's a lot cheaper than £10 a bottle.

John_P

maltingsaudio said:

Best advice at this time is to buy and use your own, however just stocked up on this stuff for when we can gig again.
https://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/shop/sales/audio/microphone-stands-clips-and-accessories/clips-mounts-and-accessories/product.aspx?code=365-8844

Thanks for that.   

For most gigs I have enough mics to give people a clean mic at the start of the gig and swap for another but it's rare I have more than 3 bands in one go.   All day sessions and mini festivals will need a little more thought but a combination of swapping mics over and cleaning should be fine.   
I'm dreading the number of people that insist on using their own but rush out and buy some cheap garbage but hopefully they will be few and far between.     

vasselmeyer

I never ever used anyone else's mic even prior to Covid-19, in the same way I'd never use someone else's toothbrush. I have an SM58 beta so any sound engineer on earth will know what to expect  from it.

ArchtopDave

maltingsaudio said:

Best advice at this time is to buy and use your own, however just stocked up on this stuff for when we can gig again.
https://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/shop/sales/audio/microphone-stands-clips-and-accessories/clips-mounts-and-accessories/product.aspx?code=365-8844

What does this spray actually contain - there’s nothing listed in your link, apart from the fact that it does not contain alcohol, which makes my medical alarm bells jingle. Alcohol and bleach based products are often the basis of disinfecting agents, and I would be surprised if it is bleach based (unless it’s made by Trump Inc).

maltingsaudio

@ArchtopDave  website here http://microphome.com/  Ingredients are:
Alkyld Methybenzyl  Ammonium Chloride (quarternary) Purified water, Glycerin, Turgitol (surfactant) Fragrance Cherry Vanilla

welcome your opinion 

ArchtopDave

As John Lennon once said "It won't stand up in court, Officer". I assume that you have listed the ingredients off the bottle that you have, as there's nothing on the microhome website. The video on the website about the product is a joke - He may see odours as having individual wave forms (essence of cherry having a square wave form, which apparently is ideal for masking all other odours), but I've never heard of this before.

 Alkyld Methylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride in it's quarternary form is a widely used as preservative for drugs and a disinfectant (also used as a spermicide in Russia and China), which has been subject to increasing concern and scrutiny in recent years, due to it's side effects, which include causing asthma (not really something a vocalist might wish to acquire).

There is nothing on the microhome website in regard to this product having been subject to scientific study to assess it's antimicrobial effectiveness, or it's effectiveness against viruses. I suspect that, in reality, it's a deodouriser/ cleaning agent, which may, or may not, have some disinfectant ability of unknown value. It's usage on microphones potentially creates a risk to performers, and others, of being subject to side effects of the Alkyld Methylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride (these also include eye problems and irritation, so you'll need to be careful when using it).

maltingsaudio

@ArchtopDave  thank you for your opinions do you have any objection to me forwarding your comments onto the company to get their reply and more information? I would point out I am not in anyway connected to them I’m just a punter trying to do my best for myself and anyone who may use my mics in the future? 

Danny1969

I have a tub of bare very fine copper wire, sink the mic into that and within 4 hours the irons on the copper will destroy the microbes and sanitise the mic. Only doing the one mic at the mo as only using one in the social distancing vocal booth in my large garden but in the future I can see copper microphone tops being made. 

In our hospitals we use stainless steel and a small amount of silver because people think it's a more hygienic material but in actual fact copper is by far the best material to resist the spread of microbes. Silver isn't bad but needs to be wet, copper performs brilliantly bone dry and just as well when it's tarnished. 

maltingsaudio

My grills go in an ultrasonic bath after every gig where time allows, the microphome is for use between acts on a multi bill gig

ArchtopDave

I wrote the above purely for this forum. If you want to contact microhome, then I suggest that you to ask them if they have subjected the product to independent scientific study to assess it's antibacterial and antiviral effectiveness. If they have done so, then request copies of any such studies. You could also ask them whether they have concerns about the known side effects of exposure to Alkyld Methylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride (are there any warnings on the bottle?). I certainly would not want you to send my comments about the video and the wave forms of odours - these are my personal views, and I leave it up to anyone else viewing the video to make up their own mind.

 I can well appreciate your desire to maximise the safety of anyone using your equipment, but I fear that a product of unproven value even for killing bacteria, let alone viruses, may risk landing you in "hot water" in a worst case scenario. I suspect that the guy behind the company is relying on the fact that the Alkyld Methylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride is a known disinfect to claim that his product is an effective disinfectant without any proof that the concentration and mode of delivery of his product, plus the time on microphone, results in disinfecting the microphone. If he has had independent assessment carried out, then I would have expected this information to be on the microhome website.

John_P

I’ve seen a few mentions of using UV to sterilise equipment.   Has anyone come across practical products using UV that might help?   I’m probably thinking between gigs and just having clean mics ready but open to suggestions for cleaning products as well. 

maltingsaudio

@ArchtopDave i agree with your comments about the squarewave thing  and I will do some more digging for my own peace of mind on the efficiency of it. I think that as the product has been around for a long time,launched at  2010 is supplied by well respected suppliers in the U.K. Stage Electrics and Studiospares and has endorsements from the crews behind big names that Any adverse health issues would have arisen by now. 

ArchtopDave

Some further thoughts. First of all, what have you normally done previously to clean microphones, and would you normally do some sort of cleaning between acts at a gig? Secondly, do you belong to, or do you know someone in the Musicians Union? What advice do they have currently about microphone cleaning?  I did look at the second microhome video referencing Fleetwood Mac - this concerned itself with ease of getting Stevie Nicks lipstick off the microphone, and whether she noticed any smell, or not.

If I was say using a microphone, and using this stuff, for some sort of medical study, I would need to check, given the close contact between user and mic, whether the person had any known allergies, or eye or breathing problems, and would have to warn of the risk, albeit low, of the known commoner side effects.

I was involved on several hospital committees when Swine Flu hit this country. It’s worth remembering that the preventive pills the government ordered and handed out, caused considerably more problems, than the disease itself. I know Covid can cause serious problems and fatalities, but using something of unknown value, and with the possibility of causing problems, needs to be assessed with care, and you would be well advised to inform performers that you are using it, and accept that some may prefer to use a mic that hasn’t been treated with this agent.

maltingsaudio

At the moment, there is a deafening silence from any major industry body about microphone cleansing. My routine was a wipe with either cloth with Lysterine  or a baby wet wipe, Covid has put a different swing on things from my point of view so trying to up the game. As I pointed out befor I have got and use an ultrasonic bath which the grills go in after a gig however in the summer when it’s busy they can go a couple of weeks without Bath night . From my experience my regime is fairly standard practice within the industry up until now how it goes forward will be interesting to see, whether it slips back to any mic will do or singers will actually invest in their own mic for shows. 

Whilst I accept your comment to inform performers I’m using it that is a good point, if a performer decides to use a mic which has been used by someone befor without it being treated then where do I stand from a duty of care point of view?

Danny1969

maltingsaudio said:

My grills go in an ultrasonic bath after every gig where time allows, the microphome is for use between acts on a multi bill gig

On an actual copper surface like a copper mic grill there would be no microbes left after 8 minutes  ..... watch this video done at Southampton Uni .... this demo is a bacterial microbe but the effects on a viral microbe are the same 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJB16x0t3pE

ArchtopDave

maltingsaudio said:

At the moment, there is a deafening silence from any major industry body about microphone cleansing. My routine was a wipe with either cloth with Lysterine  or a baby wet wipe, Covid has put a different swing on things from my point of view so trying to up the game. As I pointed out befor I have got and use an ultrasonic bath which the grills go in after a gig however in the summer when it’s busy they can go a couple of weeks without Bath night . From my experience my regime is fairly standard practice within the industry up until now how it goes forward will be interesting to see, whether it slips back to any mic will do or singers will actually invest in their own mic for shows. 

Whilst I accept your comment to inform performers I’m using it that is a good point, if a performer decides to use a mic which has been used by someone befor without it being treated then where do I stand from a duty of care point of view?

Regarding your final paragraph above, the answer basically is record keeping - akin to medical records; you’d need to record the discussion that you had had with date and time, and additionally having a document, like a consent form, which the singers sign and date - for completeness sake, have sections stating that they are aware that you’ve used the product and are going ahead with using the mic, and a second section stating the singer wants to use the mic without treatment and accepts that there is a risk of bacterial or viral contamination which, if transmitted, may result in serious illness or death. Then you cross out and initial the section which does not apply. Obviously extra work for you, and extra records to keep filed.

firepaulmusic

vasselmeyer said:

I never ever used anyone else's mic even prior to Covid-19, in the same way I'd never use someone else's toothbrush. I have an SM58 beta so any sound engineer on earth will know what to expect  from it.

Yeah, me too. Festival mics, now way.....

Grunfeld

Alice Cooper, [internationally respected microbiologist and epidemiologist] was clear about microphones:

"your lips are venomous poison"

Someone gobbing their cruddy lungs into a mic makes it an efficient vector of transmission.  (In many ways its like a drummer.)

Don't suck on anything someone else has been spluttering their bodily fluids over; don't lend nothing to anyone. 

Harsh but fair.