Capsules and relative humidity

[klem]

@soliloqueen

In some parts of the US48, wintertime RH gets as low as 20 or 25%. Do you have any input on both 1) the ideal RH range for your capsule to operate in, and 2) any thoughts about using your capsules in very low or high RH environments?
Any rough rules of thumb like
at X-Y% RH, should operate fine
at A-B% RH, low likelihood of a performance issue
at >C or <D% RH, strong likelihood of issue happening

And thank you for the early Christmas present I received yesterday!

 

[soliloqueen]

I have never felt comfortable with the amount of detritus that comes out of desiccant packets. Shake one over paper (or whatever) and then shine a UV light. Yikes.

Most mics are designed to function fine at typical environmental humidities, and many can even work fine at extremes. It is the breath humidity, spit, and dust. Spit sticking to the capsule, dust sticking to the spit, then more humidity from breath making the dust moist and creating a short.

I really like open ended polypropylene sleeves + mic box or an extra mic bag for long term storage. Hefty bags and such are fine too. The Hefty storage bags are great for putting over mics on the stand.

As long as the mic is at ambient temperature when a bag is placed around it, there won’t be condensation inside.

That's why with electronics you use heat sealed pure Tyvek and not regular paper-based desiccants imo

 

[Mr. Moscode]

To clarify, I would have used one of the capsules that this has already happened to. I kept one of them that it happened to to document the damage haha. I wouldn't just a nuke a random perfectly working capsule, not that it affects performance much. Also, of course can be related to diaphragm conditioning, but why do you think they condition the diaphragm the way they do in the first place? "this couldn't happen to Neumann capsules because of how they precondition their diaphragms"/ have higher tension is a bit like saying "how could anyone ever die of polio? There's a polio vaccine!" Yes. A polio vaccine designed to prevent polio. Before which, polio was prevalent. Which is what prompted them to develop a polio vaccine. You know? I'm not saying this problem is common in current Neumann capsules. It happens to a couple vintage Neumann capsules capsules and also a couple of my capsules, because they are clones of vintage capsules. They are exact clones and that includes having all of the problems that the vintage capsules had, something that I am not denying. Heck, my lower tension units that are more prone to this problem come with a literal disclaimer card:
View attachment 142009

I have to vaccinate all my capsules before they're in tiny wheelchairs. Like FDR.

 

[Philbo King]

It's kind of a balancing act for me. Wintertime air, after being heated to house temp, has extremely low humidity. Since I also have about 17 guitars, I'd rather keep the house humidity rather high (40-50%) than to deal with repairing cracks on my instruments.

But I also have about 12 condenser mics, so I put desicant packs in with them (though not directly near the capsule) every time I put them away.

BTW, I keep both the guitars and mics in their cases when not in use. Although having a dozen guitars hanging on the wall looks nice, it exposing them to RH variations that can significantly shorten their usable life.

One thing that has helped me out in our midwest weather is a 4 foot tall waterfall fountain. It is enough to humidify the whole house, and evaporates about a gallon every 2 days. We run it nonstop all winter. The pump in it uses only 20 Watts.

 

[GeorgeToledo]

I want to touch on something that came up in conversation with Ari, which seems like it should be mentioned in the thread since it bolsters Ari’s position.

Ari was describing the cause as related to electret phenomena; she may wish to go into that further, since there are some distinctions between a couple different issues.

It rang a bell with me about a comment in a R/E/P article that had long stuck with me concerning a problem Neumann was having with their capsules developing an electret type charge. Screenshot attached, original article : https://www.worldradiohistory.com/A...-Recording-Engineer/80s/Recording-1980-02.pdf

 

[soliloqueen]

I want to touch on something that came up in conversation with Ari, which seems like it should be mentioned in the thread since it bolsters Ari’s position.

Ari was describing the cause as related to electret phenomena; she may wish to go into that further, since there are some distinctions between a couple different issues.

It rang a bell with me about a comment in a R/E/P article that had long stuck with me concerning a problem Neumann was having with their capsules developing an electret type charge. Screenshot attached, original article : https://www.worldradiohistory.com/A...-Recording-Engineer/80s/Recording-1980-02.pdf

Wow! Thanks for posting this george.