R/E/P Community

Here is the other side of the capsule.
It’s hard to tell from these pictures if a lot of the gold has faded away from the Mylar or not, I asked him to send more pictures so we will see.
I would imagine if too much gold has faded away after years of cleaning etc it would affect the sound ?

Klaus taught me that you can not judge a capsule simply by looking at it, you have to connect it to see how it actually sounds.
I’ve been looking for a brass u67 capsule for my 1963 microphone for a long time and I finally found one.
The guy who’s selling this capsule does not offer returns.
Can anyone take a look at it and give me there opinion just on looks ?

Doug, I think that purposely blowing into a mic is worse for it than close singing where that might happen more inadvertently or just slightly.

I do the breath test doing a soft stream of air, mouth wide open, similar to when wetting glasses for cleaning.

Blowing a hard stream of air into the mic wouldn‘t even do the job of purposely creating condensing humidity inside the basket.

What considerations should be taken into account when selecting ethics topics for an essay?

Isn't it suggested that a breath test be done with a fully-open mouth, rather than pursing one's lips? Making a "huuuh" sound keeps the velocity down, while keeping the moisture content up. Also, rather than doing this directly towards the capsule, I have always done it at a 90° angle, across the front of the mic.

Doug, I think that purposely blowing into a mic is worse for it than close singing where that might happen more inadvertently or just slightly.

Maybe it’s better to just say, if you want to do the breath test make sure the outside of your mic isn’t dusty.

Agreed, but I see no reason why any mic owner/engineer/artist/producer would ever not use a stocking screen between mouth and mic:

1. Dual-layer stocking screens/black pantyhose minimally to imperceptibly affect the tone of the mic yet preventing almost all spit/saliva mist getting on the diaphragm.

2. Stocking screens are the perfect distancing device, preventing excessive proximity build up by preventing the singer to lean in closer than the engineer prescribes (a common desire - vocalists prefer their voice the way it sound up lose to any mic).

3. The screen as distancing device guarantees punch-ins with predictable response. Changing the distance from say, 4 inches to 2 doubles the low frequency volume of many condenser mics.

Hi Klaus, I typed in my message but I guess the digital world did not get it.
I was just saying that in a typical pop vocal session, the mike will get much more abuse than a correct breath test.
Often people dont use pop filters which reduce the damage, but they dont eliminate it.

In the course of normal use it is often okay, but will sometimes exhibit reduced level, reduced low end, higher than normal noise.

This is the core statement.

Visible contamination is normal for other than brand new capsules.
But if it affects the sound during normal use it’s time for cleaning.

(...)

@Klaus
Feel free to edit my posting.

Did just that.
What Kai suggested, and what I deleted (sorry, Kai), and what you can also find on YouTube amateur tutorials is in my experience counter-productive to restoring capsule health.
I have seen a high number of capsules here, where someone attempted this or similar cleaning methods which will in most cases irreversibly damage functionality.

I have repeatedly warned on several forums in the past about cleaning capsule surfaces with fluids without the ability to prevent capillary suction into the center of the capsule, and without ability to evacuate the contaminated fluids carried into inaccessible backplate parts.
I see no purpose in amplifying and propagating repair procedures I regard as ill-advised on this forum.

As to Neumann suggesting a similar method: that too was ill-advised: a one-off by one employee made public decades ago, which, to my knowledge, was never repeated or officially supported since. KH

Was there supposed to be just the quote or a special message to be added?