Mic Sensitivity to Temperature

S

stupidfatnugly

New member
well I do my tracking in a storage unit in Utah and it get's down to about as low as 0 degrees F though rarely. And it get's up to 100 degrees in the Summer.

Anyways, it'd be nice to just leave my sm7b on the stand all hooked up and ready to go but I worry about these temperatures ruining it.

what do ya say?
 
Greetings O' intelligent, slim n handsome one! :D

Long time, no see.

It may not mess with your mic but it only takes a minute or two to set it back up so why take the chance.

I keep my mics on my drums set up but my room stays around 60 degrees F.

just a thought man. ;)
 
It depends. I live in the country and the temperature swing seems to make cheap pressure board shelves warp and even get moldy. The dew point also seems to make all of the metal tools rust in said shed. If your mics are made of high quality materials and are stored properly it shouldn't affect them. But it's always best to store sensitive electronics in a temperature controled environment. Even if that's the closet of your bedroom.
 
Getting one cold and then warming it up will cause the moisture in the air to gather on the capsule and moisture kills condensers so yes they are temperature sensitive.
 
darrin_h2000 said:
Getting one cold and then warming it up will cause the moisture in the air to gather on the capsule and moisture kills condensers so yes they are temperature sensitive.
Click to expand...

Generally speaking, it's the crap that comes along with the moisture that kills them (e.g. the salt in sweat), not the moisture itself. Clean water shouldn't react in any way with mylar or with the gold sputtering. That said, they don't work correctly until they dry out because the moisture creates lots of tiny little short circuits, resulting in electrical arcing between the diaphragm and the charged backplate.... Pop, pop, sizzle, sizzle.

Either way, I wouldn't equate being sensitive to drastic temperature swings to being sensitive to temperature. My camcorder is sensitive to drastic temperature swings, too, because of condensation on the record heads. Lots of electronics don't work correctly after a sudden temperature shift.... We don't usually think of them as being particularly temperature sensitive, though. You just learn to take care of your gear and get it acclimated to the environment before you use it.

When I think of things being sensitive to temperature, I think of the old PVC diaphragms that would literally become brittle and crack if they stayed too warm for too long. Modern condensers are not particularly heat sensitive by comparison. :)
 
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