Is it ok to use compressed air to clean out dust on condenser microphone?

[Edswald]

I have a MXL 990 condenser microphone that i have owned for a little over 6 years ago now. I just recently order a foam microphone cover for the mic and though I might clean it before I put it on but was a little scared that I might tear or break something if I used compressed air to blow off the dust. Do you think I should be fine to use it or should I not even bother and leave it as is? 

[aramini]

I think as long as you keep it 6 or more inches away and keep the can upright so you don't get frost, it should be ok. Use short blasts in a side to side sweeping motion to move the dust but not directly blast at the mic. Avoid long, continuous, and direct blasts at the mic.

[aramini]

If you were just talking about cleaning the foam cover, you can rinse it off in water, squeeze all the excess water out, then let it thoroughly air dry.

[Edswald]

5 minutes ago, aramini said:

If you were just talking about cleaning the foam cover, you can rinse it off in water, squeeze all the excess water out, then let it thoroughly air dry.

No i was talking about the mic its self and thanks for the information! 

[Vishera]

It depends if it's a real compressed air can or something that pretends to be a compressed air can...

I have seen cans with "compressed air" written on them,

But when i look at the ingredients i see stuff that are highly flammable,toxic and a cold burn hazard like Liquid Petroleum,Aerosol,etc.

[The Flying Sloth]

NOOOO, DON'T, DON'T EVER PUT COMPRESSED GAS ON THE DIAPHRAGM OF A CONDENSER MIC, ESPECIASLLY NOT OUT OF A CAN, NOOOOOOO, NEVER

[aramini]

If you are holding the can far enough away (not right up on the mic) the pressure is going to dissipate before it can damage the diaphragm. If you are careful and know what you are doing, there is no problem, I do it all the time and my mic works fine. If you are far enough away, the dust will blow off but there won't be enough pressure to damage the mic. 6 to 8 inches away is fine.

[Derkoli]

9 hours ago, Edswald said:

I have a MXL 990 condenser microphone that i have owned for a little over 6 years ago now. I just recently order a foam microphone cover for the mic and though I might clean it before I put it on but was a little scared that I might tear or break something if I used compressed air to blow off the dust. Do you think I should be fine to use it or should I not even bother and leave it as is? 

If you just need to clean the microphone (not the diaphragm, the body!) just use a dry microfiber cloth.

7 hours ago, aramini said:

If you are holding the can far enough away (not right up on the mic) the pressure is going to dissipate before it can damage the diaphragm. If you are careful and know what you are doing, there is no problem, I do it all the time and my mic works fine. If you are far enough away, the dust will blow off but there won't be enough pressure to damage the mic. 6 to 8 inches away is fine.

Microphone diaphragms can be incredibly fragile. A microphone designed for high SPL might be happy up to 150-160dB SPL, which is only 0.09-0.29 PSI!

8 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

NOOOO, DON'T, DON'T EVER PUT COMPRESSED GAS ON THE DIAPHRAGM OF A CONDENSER MIC, ESPECIASLLY NOT OUT OF A CAN, NOOOOOOO, NEVER

Better than blasting a ribbon microphone with canned air!

[aramini]

Quote

Microphone diaphragms can be incredibly fragile. A microphone designed for high SPL might be happy up to 150-160dB SPL, which is only 0.09-0.29 PSI!

SPL (Sound Pressure Level) is a measurement that has to do with the max sound pressure level a mic can take without distorting. Has nothing to do with breaking the diaphragm. One would expect a highly sensitive mic to start distorting at a relatively low level, otherwise it wouldn't be considered very sensitive.

 

Most damage to microphones is from banging it around or dropping it or damage to the wires via strain.

 

Diaphragms are designed (at least in better quality mics) with materials that can withstand high tension and vibration, as that is how they convert sound waves into an electrical signal.

 

To determine what would break a diaphragm one would have to take into consideration the material it is made of, the tensile strength of that material, and how is it physically attached to the mic, and what is the strength of the attachment mechanism.

 

I find your math or application thereof a little bit suspect. A human breath could easily exceed 0.09 PSI. So when comedians make loud noises into a mic for comedic effect to help out their bit, I guess the mic should break, but it doesn't, typically the sound is just distorted.

 

Also, PSI is typically not used in sound wave calculations. Thats what a decibel unit is for, a unit of sound pressure level.

 

Pressure is increased or decreased by distance from the source, which is why I told them to keep the air 6 inches or more away. Same idea for sound. Why do sounds seem louder when you are closer to the source and quiter when you are further away? Google "Inverse Square Law for Sound in a Gas" to find out. While things can get more complicated, this stuff is taught (or was in my day) in basic high school physics.

 

Most people use canned air like Dust-Off incorrectly. It even says in the directions to hold the can upright (to prevent moisture/frost), hold it at least 6 inches away from the object being cleaned, and use short blasts of 1-2 seconds in a sweeping motion. Don't hold the trigger down and continuously blast directly.

 

When cleaning electronics the issue for concern is less often the pressure or force of the air, and more often moisture and static electricity, which is why vacuuming is a bad idea as it can create static electricity which can kill electrical components.

[aramini]

If you kept the old foam cover (windscreen) on the mic while waiting for the new one, I don't see why the mic itself would be dusty anyways. The windscreen kinda also acts as a dust cover.

 

Unless the windscreen is so porous as to let dust through, then I'd question its effectiveness as a windscreen.

 

Clean it however you feel comfortable, I am not proposing that you necessarily should use compressed air, just saying that if you chose to do so, and did it according to how I described in my original reply, it'd probably be fine and do no harm.

 

The MXL 990 condenser mic is going for around $75 on Amazon. Yeah it would suck if it broke, but it's not like it is a $400 Shure mic or high-end, professional, studio quality mic that would be expensive to replace.

 

You also might want to order a few spare windscreens, they are cheap enough, and good to have extras on hand. I ordered a pack of 10 for my mics.

[aramini]

On 9/1/2021 at 11:10 PM, Vishera said:

It depends if it's a real compressed air can or something that pretends to be a compressed air can...

I have seen cans with "compressed air" written on them,

But when i look at the ingredients i see stuff that are highly flammable,toxic and a cold burn hazard like Liquid 

"Despite the names "canned air" or "compressed air", the cans do not actually contain air (i.e. do not contain O₂ or N₂ gases) but rather contain other gases that are compressible into liquids. True liquid air is not practical, as it cannot be stored in metal spray cans due to extreme pressure and temperature requirements."

 

source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_duster

 

[aramini]

Quote

Better than blasting a ribbon microphone with canned air

 

The ribbons in a ribbon microphone are typically made of aluminum. Which, as you probably know, is a strong, durable metal even when relatively thin.

 

https://mynewmicrophone.com/what-are-microphone-diaphragms-made-of-all-diaphragm-types/

[tikker]

8 hours ago, aramini said:

The ribbons in a ribbon microphone are typically made of aluminum. Which, as you probably know, is a strong, durable metal even when relatively thin.

Aluminium foil crinkles and tear super easily. That's around 16 micrometers thick. Now imagine a microphone with a ribbon 4 to 10 times thinner. I wouldn't even point canned air at my condensor mic, let alone. I'm not an audio expert or egineer, but the one thing I've always been told is to never blow directly into a microphone, especially not an expensive sensitive one. Sound waves are pressure waves and microphones for sure aren't built to deal with dozens of PSI from a can of air.

10 hours ago, aramini said:

Most people use canned air like Dust-Off incorrectly. It even says in the directions to hold the can upright (to prevent moisture/frost), hold it at least 6 inches away from the object being cleaned, and use short blasts of 1-2 seconds in a sweeping motion. Don't hold the trigger down and continuously blast directly.

Yeah but as with anything humans suck at judging time, distance (this one maybe less in current times) and following instructions. Be safe and don't bazooka your microphone

10 hours ago, aramini said:

The MXL 990 condenser mic is going for around $75 on Amazon. Yeah it would suck if it broke, but it's not like it is a $400 Shure mic or high-end, professional, studio quality mic that would be expensive to replace.

Still sucks if you'd break it by essentially nuking it. No matter if it's a $100 mic or a $1000 mic. Just treat your equipment with care.

[aramini]

It's your mic, do as you wish with it. I was never advocating blowing compressed air directly into the mic at point blank range. The point I was trying to get across is that compressed air at a distance 6inches or 15ft or 5,000 kilometers or whatever with a sweeping motion, in short blasts, is not likely to damage the diaphragm in the mic. If it was THAT delicate, then I would not even touch my mic, or even turn it on. I'd just leave it in the box and never use it, that way it could never break... unless there was a fire, hurricane/tornado, or the building collapsed.

And also, how do they record fart sound effects without damaging the mic diaphragm?

 

[H713]

Listen to the people telling you to avoid this. YOU CAN DO DAMAGE WITH COMPRESSED AIR. I've seen it happen many times, damaging things a whole lot less fragile than a microphone diaphragm.

 

I'd suggest that you don't try to clean the inside of the microphone yourself.

[tikker]

15 hours ago, aramini said:

The point I was trying to get across is that compressed air at a distance 6inches or 15ft or 5,000 kilometers or whatever with a sweeping motion, in short blasts, is not likely to damage the diaphragm in the mic.

Might as well just blow at that point, bar extra moisture in your breath, the pressure at ~2 m away from the can is probably similar to you blowing (from a lesser distance).

15 hours ago, aramini said:

If it was THAT delicate, then I would not even touch my mic, or even turn it on. I'd just leave it in the box and never use it, that way it could never break... unless there was a fire, hurricane/tornado, or the building collapsed.

It's all about context. If one would go storm chasing in hazardous circumstance with strong winds, lightning etc. you wouldn't bringt a $5000 microphone. In a studio environment where it's just stuck in a room you'd not be worried about it. Similarly just be safe and don't take high pressure equipment to stuff that's designed for low pressures.

15 hours ago, aramini said:

And also, how do they record fart sound effects without damaging the mic diaphragm?

Not by sticking the microphone up your rear end I'd guess. Farts aren't exactly quiet.

[aramini]

7 hours ago, H713 said:

 

I'd suggest that you don't try to clean the inside of the microphone yourself.

Why would there be dust inside their mic if for the most part they had the windscreen on it?

 

I don't think they were trying to clean the inside of the mic, just the surface. The metal mesh part that encloses the internal parts (dunno the technical term for that).

 

1 hour ago, tikker said:

It's all about context. If one would go storm chasing in hazardous circumstance with strong winds, lightning etc. you wouldn't bringt a $5000 microphone.

Clearly I was being sarcastic.

 

1 hour ago, tikker said:

Farts aren't exactly quiet

You've never heard of SBD? (Silent But(t) Deadly).

[aramini]

Ok guys so I decided to test it out on my own piece of junk Tonor $17 Condenser XLR mic (came in a "podcaster kit" for $50).

 

I blasted it with 3 full cans of dust-off at a distance of zero. Then I dowsed it in rubbing alcohol and set it on fire (to kill the germs of course...covid breath and what not). Then I dumped it in a bucket of ice water (being careful, with bbq tongs of course) to kill the flames.

 

All this while it was turned on and plugged into the cheap $10 USB 48v Phantom power box it came with.

 

So now it doesn't work anymore. So I concede.

 

NEVER USE COMPRESSED AIR TO CLEAN A MICROWAVE  MICROPHONE!!!

 

(I still think it's safe to set it on fire though and will not concede on that point!... but now I need a new mic...and a new house...Allstate dropped my homeowner's insurance, something about negligence...so now I'm not in good hands)

[The Flying Sloth]

21 minutes ago, aramini said:

Ok guys so I decided to test it out on my own piece of junk Tonor $17 Condenser XLR mic (came in a "podcaster kit" for $50).

 

I blasted it with 3 full cans of dust-off at a distance of zero. Then I dowsed it in rubbing alcohol and set it on fire (to kill the germs of course...covid breath and what not). Then I dumped it in a bucket of ice water (being careful, with bbq tongs of course) to kill the flames.

 

All this while it was turned on and plugged into the cheap $10 USB 48v Phantom power box it came with.

 

So now it doesn't work anymore. So I concede.

 

NEVER USE COMPRESSED AIR TO CLEAN A MICROWAVE  MICROPHONE!!!

 

(I still think it's safe to set it on fire though and will not concede on that point!... but now I need a new mic...and a new house...Allstate dropped my homeowner's insurance, something about negligence...so now I'm not in good hands)

Those mics are electrets too so will be more resilient than the true SDC capsule in a 990

[aramini]

2 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Those mics are electrets too so will be more resilient than the true SDC capsule in a 990

Interesting, maybe the resilience is why it took several tries to ignite it on fire. Or maybe I wasn't using quality 90% isopropyl alcohol.

[H713]

Keep in mind that even if it does still "work", that doesn't mean you haven't damaged it. 

 

In an externally polarized condenser microphone, the diaphragm is usually some sort of metalized mylar film, and is quite thin. It is also *very* close to the the other electrode. Suffice it to say, the diaphragm itself (and the electrical attachment points) are quite fragile.

 

Blasting it with compressed air, be it from a compressor or a can, could potentially be sufficient to tear the diaphragm, or even just enough to permanently deform it. You may not stop the microphone from working, but it could alter the sensitivity, frequency response, linearity or maximum SPL. Not ideal.

 

Generally speaking, microphones are a relatively sensitive instrument and should be treated as such. Would you spray compressed air onto a $3,000 precision pressure sensor that was just calibrated? Didn't think so. Granted, this isn't a particularly expensive microphone the OP has, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to abuse it.