mics soaked

[mrface2112]

my band had an outdoor gig last night and a surprise monsoon exploded around us and QUICKLY had us in 4-6 inches of standing water. the good news is that our soundman pulled the power off immediately and we got the mics pulled off the stands in into the bag very quickly.

the bad news is that somehow the bag ended up floating in the water and it took some water in. i pulled the mics out of it asap, and when i got home last night i pulled the windscreens off to see how wet they were.

i've got a sm58 and a senn e835 that seemed to get the worst of it--the paper underneath the windscreen on the 835 and the foam on the 58 were pretty soaked. i held them near a warm bulb for a while and i've left them all to air-dry today. in fact, i've left everything out to air-dry....the mics, my cymbals, mic stands, cables, etc.

the other mic that got pretty wet was an mxl603. i did the same with it as i did for the dynamics. some of the foam in my ev re38's case was also wet, but it didn't appear to have gotten to the mic (thank god).

i'm pretty sure i did just about everything i should in terms of drying them out--i'm posting b/c i thought maybe y'all might have some pointers (or to assuage my fears that i "did the right thing"). the other question is, "should i be shopping for replacements? or do i not need to worry about these things working from here on out?". obviously replacing a few hundred dollars worth of mics would suck.

(and yes, i realise that now it's time to invest in a "real" mic case instead of the stick bag i've been using)


thanks,
wade

PS--one more question--the mic cables spent some time under water too. they were the last concern, honestly, since they cost less than anything else. as long as they dry out thoroughly and i rub a little contact cleaner on em, do y'all think i would have problems out of em?

 

[malcolm123]

When you think there dry enough, place them in a enclosed tight place and put in some Silica Gel packs.

I also read were Desinex pads work as well.

Malcolm

 

[billisa]

I'm not sure if this is good, but I wonder if grain alcohol can help -- on the equipment. My thought would be soaking the parts already touched by the water in the alcohol, then drying it out with a light bulb.

 

[sae]

The thing I would be worried about the most is rust.

 

[mrface2112]

thanks y'all......the silica gel idea was one i hadn't thought of, and i should've gotten some on the way home from work. i'll pick some up tomorrow--might be too late to help here (at least as an immediate overnight remedy), but i figure it'd be good to have some on hand anyway.

i too am most concerned about the rust than anything. i made sure to wipe them down as well as possible as soon as possible, and then again when i got home. i figure short of taking the things apart (which i may go ahead and do for the halibut), making sure the contacts were properly cleaned would be at least a decent step in the right direction (and a good habit to get into anyway).

they spent the day in the basement which is a pretty decent location for them, and the elements all look to be good so far. nothing's showing any visible sign of ick, and i'm going to give them the rest of the night before i give em all a test tomorrow afternoon.

to be honest, i'm expecting everything to be fine. i got pretty good prices on all of these mics so i won't be devastated if one did die (well, maybe not the re38, which didn't really appear to take any water at all), and they're all readily replacable if need be. tis the hassles of playing outdoors. and kids, this is a prime example of why we leave the good mics at home.


it'll be hard not using the mxl603's, though......the RNC i ordered was waiting on the porch for me when i got home. guess i'll have to give the B1 a whirl with it first, then, b/c it's dry.


thanks again y'all,
wade

 

[Jblount]

3 pieces of advice.

1- go to walmart, walk down the shoe isle. Take 30 bags of the silica packs from different boxes of shoes. Put on in each bag you store mics in, they are good even if the mics dont get soaked. And I always keep some handy for the guitar, bass, acoustic drum cases.
2- if you have an acoustic drum set, take every piece of metal that touches wood off the kit. Every screw, every lug, every tension rod. Put the metal parts on a towel and spray them with wd-40. Leave them for a couple of hours, then throughly dry them off. Take each shell, and clean them well. If they are wrapped shells, use some car wax. If they are painted shells, use some amonia free wood cleaner. Let them sit for a couple of hours, then reassemble all of the kit.
3- go back to walmart and invest in a picnic tent for the next gig.

All of this from experience because outdoor gigs SUCK. Good luck.