Dust!

[Michael Jones]

What do/can you do to keep dust down in your studio?
It seems I am ALWAYS dusting in my studio. I have a big grand piano in my studio, which is of course a big dust magnet! lol Not to mention all the other gear. My studio is well planned, well organized, and well thought out for a home recording studio. I keep it clean and un-cluttered, but the dust is driving me nuts!
Does anyone use, or recommend using some sort of heppa filtering system?

[MISTERQCUE]

Dust like cockroaches, will always be a part of this earth! I too have this same problem and find the most cheapest and easiest way to keep dust off my gear is to simply keep them well covered!

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Jones:

I just replaced my old Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner with a smaller, more powerful cleaner; but, the addition of the heppa filter, will help keep dust going in one end of the vacuum and out of the other, as per most older less sophisticated cleaners.

I've also thought about getting an air cleansing machine for my studio.

But, since most dust comes from skin, it will always be around.

I do suspect I'll buy an air cleaner of some sort AFTER Christmas is over.

Green Hornet

[Track Rat]

This is no help on keeping dust out of the studio but I use a 2" paint brush with very soft bristles to wipe dust off my mixer and other equipment. You can run it between the nobs and it won't turn them. I just picked up an electrostatic hepa filter thing but haven't had it long enough to figure out if it's very effective.

[Michael Jones]

Thanks guys. I'll probably go the way of the electrstatic filter after the holidays.

[Buck62]

Mikey Jones...

Always remember to cover your equipment when not in use!

Bed-sheets work just fine, but remove them slowly from the equipment and shake them out periodically (outside, of course).
Everything in my studio has some sort of covering on it.
It saves me alot of aggravation.

Buck

[Emeric]

Not way of keeping dust off, but I find those cans of compressed air for cleaning computers/electronics pretty handy for dust removal.

[drstawl]

Keeping a Mixer Covered (and O-ring sealed, in a rack mount case) really keeps the dust off of the knobs and sliders.
Just a pain in the ass yanking all of the wires out and putting the cover back on.

[Gidge]

I think one might be more creative with a little "dust" in the studio....

anyway, just keep stuff covered......

[dobro]

Leave Texas, doober. It's the dustiest state in the union...

[Michael Jones]

LOL. Well I live in the garden-esque region of the Texas Hill Country! Lakes, Hills, Streams... not much dust blowing around here. But what dust there is, ends up in my studio!

[Garak]

Air filters on a good ventlation system is the key to keeping the dust down. My house is really bad for dust, we only have electric baseboard heaters so their is once the dust gets in the house it has no where to go.

I've been looking for a good cheep air filter for my house. Something small that can be moved around and dosn't need any air ducts because we have afinsihed basement and there is no where to run the ducts.

[dobro]

Texas is dry, right?

Question: would a humidifier cut down on dust? Some of them are kinda noisy, but it could be shut off during recording.

[Michael Jones]

dobro, you're obviously not from Texas. It sits on the gulf coast.
In Central Texas, we don't need humidifiers, we need De-humidifiers. I have both temperture and humidity gagues in my studio, and my tunners tell me that the humidity for my grand piano is just about perfect.
I think you're thinking of West Texas. It can be pretty dry there, desert like almost.
Maybe a better filter for my central A/C would help. Plus, I think I'm going to try a portable electro-static, either that or just keep dusting!

[dobro]

You're right - all my impressions of Texas come from cowboy movies I saw when I was kid - bleached cattle bones baking under a cruel sun etc. I should read National Geographic more.

[langleyt]

I lived in Abilene Texas for a short while, and they used some sort of evaporative cooler unit for air conditioning and filtering. It seems it was supposed to more efficiently move the air around for the climate and keep down dust. It may be only good for the summer months though and not good for year-round usage.

t

[c7sus]

I buy the 3M electrostatic filters for my furnace. About 35 bucks for the three that I need. I try to change them every three months or so. They make a huge difference over the cheap filters for getting dust out of your atmoshpere. Be sure and put a filter over your return air intake in the house as well as in the furnace blower.

[John Sayers]

One technique I've seen in a studio is to bring your aircon ducts in through the back of your equipment racks. It creates a positive air pressure in the rack so dust can't get in. Keeps the gear cool too.

cheers
john

[cerealchamp2000]

Do the little things too. I spend 20-30 minutes each saturday vacuuming and dusting my entire studio. I have all the crevice tools and really try to work it. This will cut down on MOST of the dust in the room and give you a huge advantage. As a result, I reaaly don't see much dust gather on the mixer which gets cleaned maybe once a month.

[Dijoux]

For the last couple of years I have lived in Niger, Westafrica, just to the south of the Sahara.
My problems in no particular order:
- Sandstorms (You can close all doors, windows - nothing helps)
- Powercuts (I have two fuse boxes in series to save my PC)
- Heat (Try recording at 42° with no A/C!)

But the worse is the fact that there is no other (western) modern music genre here except rap... I hated rap. Now, I produce it...

What I do against dust?
I cover after each session EVERYTHING with thick sheets. I let someone dust off EVERYTHING once everytwo weeks (handywork is cheap here).
Vaccum-cleaners are unheard of here - So that's not really an option.


Regards,

Hans

[cerealchamp2000]

Dijoux

That's pretty hardcore. What kind of gear do you you have? Are you a project or client-based engineer? Tell us about things over there. I'm totally interested to know how you practice your trade in such a hardcore place.

I know a lot of people in Sierra Leone, a few in Gambia, Senegal & Ivory Coast. Sierra Leonne is a tough place too.

Dave

[Dijoux]

cerealchamp2000,

Sorry to dissapoint you, but I'm not a full-fledged engineer, just a passionate rock-pop music lover which with this expatriate contract was able to buy himself a small project studio. At days as Dr. Jekyll I work for the german development, and at nights I turn into Mr. Hyde and record african artists.
I'd love to be full-time engineer (and I'm not allowed to carry that title, am I?), but there is simply no market here. Niger is according to UN-stats the second poorest country in the world, and it shows in the musician's qualities: Who can bother about seriously learning an instrument when you have to feed yourself. Less pay studio rates.
Sierra Leone is last on those statistics, mainly because of the civil war - is there music production going on there?

The upside of my situation, is that in europe I would have never been able to choose the artists nor dictate my conditions. So at the moment I am recording and producing Niger's most famous rap-group and having the hell of a time doing it. I just asked them for a more or less symbolic (for me, not them) fee.
Another positive aspect is that my recordings run through all radio stations and discotheques here, so my credentials build up, in the hope that one day I can make a living out of it.
My home-studio is one of only two places to record: the other being the state-managed (depressingly run-down) Music-Centre with an old Fostex D-8, and QY-700 for sequencing, plus "engineers" that get payed per day and don't care what the end-product might be. Just imagine how dusty THAT place is...

My Home-Studio in my living room:
PIII 450
SW1000XG Card
Event PS-8
Behringer Mixing console (24ch)
Cubase 5.0
Roland XP-80
Yamaha CS-2X
AKG 3000B and 1000C, SM Beta 58, SM 57 mics
dbx 286 pre-amp
Behringer outboard effects
Diverse electric and acoustic guitars and basses
and your typical assorted african instruments: Djembes, Kalangou, Kora, Gurumi, Algaita...

I have NEVER had a single problem with my gear in these harsh conditions, even though I expected it. I thought that my guitars (at least Ibanez' ultra-thin neck) would bend to the heat, but nope, everything still fine.
For the sandstorms and thunderstorms as well as the power breaks we just turn everything off and wait for them to pass. We sit on the terasse and enjoy nature.
Saving all data has become a second nature for me...
It's the heat that sometimes bothers us: We sit without shirts, sweating profusely, and hope that THAT last one was a good take so we can turn ventilation and A/C back on again.

Another interesting thing I had to get used to, is that some artists, having always sung traditional music, only have an ear for pentatonic scales. Suddenly they want to do a 'modern' song and wonder why they can't follow the melody I suggested. Or "dynamics": What the hell are "dynamics"? I still have to find a girl that can sing western style. Up to now, it is me and a male tenor friend going "shoop-di-doop!" for backing vocals.

Glad you're interested - there aren't lots of people I can talk about recording/mixing around here, so this list is really a treasure to me. God bless internet! :-)

Regards

Hans

[SPINSTERWUN]

Hans.... very interesting.

[langleyt]

Hans, that is absolutley amazing!!! It makes me realize just how much we all have in common on this little third rock from the sun. Music is a wonderful way to bring people together and it is so nice to focus on a positive note for a change. Good luck to you in West Africa!

t

p.s. I guess dust is another thing we have in common, but in the mountains where I live there is also mold to contend with.

[Dijoux]

Yeah! That's the way I see it too. It isn't a big world anymore.
It may sound corny, but I actually sometimes go "Why can't we all get along?..."

But we can't probably get along as long as I insist on playing Steve Vai guitar at full volume and nobody around here understands me?!?!?!

Mold? That would be really too much!

I am only scared of the extreme weather changes between the different seasons
1. very humid and hot around august
2. very dry and fresh (23°C) around january
3. very dry and hot around april and october.

Regards from the desert

Hans