Clean Your Microphone!

1. Clean Your Microphone! • The mouth is an opening for the body to consume food and beverages. It is the breathing inlet and outlet passage. As well as, it is used for communication and singing. The mouth is exposed to many toxins in the air and from surfaces, especially during ingestion. The amount of bad bacteria, in other words germs, on these surfaces and floating freely in the air, are unknown to you but most likely alive and dirty microorganisms. • Professional male and female singerswork daily with a microphone during rehearsal and live performances to help project their voice without straining it. It is a mouthpiece that amplifies all sound from the vocal. When singing softer notes the microphone is placed closer to the lips, frequently touching it. For louder sounds the microphone is pulled further away from the lips, but still in a close enough proximity for the microphone to amplify the vocal. • A female singer(and sometimes male) that places her lips on the surface of the microphone constantly transfers lipstick and make-up. This eventually hardens and stains the microphone tip. If you study a vocalist when they are singing, you frequently see projectile saliva too – it is not a pretty picture, but it is normal. Between the words, emotions and notes that come out of a performer’s mouth, you can expect to see teeth, tongue and saliva. The spit then sits on and inside the microphone collecting more and more growing bacteria. Eventually this starts to create a stench, worse than bad breath. • Majority of singers are provided with a microphone at the venue. Just think about how long that microphone has not been cleaned or in fact if ever. Then think about how many people have used. Then consider all those people’s lips, saliva, possible mouth sores (which includes herpes or thrush) plus the fact it’s been lying in some box with a whole lot of other microphones all contaminated. Let alone the transfer of dirt from hands and sweat pouring off you when working under the bright spotlights. Not so nice! • Having a clean microphone is all about personal hygiene. If you don’t brush your teeth at least once daily, a furry layer starts to cover your teeth and your breath begins to smell awful. Imagine what germs and dust bugs are accumulated, kept and still actively growing whilst you leave it lying on a microphone that sits on a dirty soundboard or stuffed in your bag. • It’s a really simple and takes no time at all to do. Most microphone heads screw off and the sponge inside is extractable. Place the remainder of the microphone in a safe and dry area. Remember that microphones, especially studio condensormics, are ultra sensitive – any damage to the gold plates and you might as well throw it in the bin. So once you have the headpiece and sponge, place these in boiling hot water soaked in a hypoallergenic disinfectant liquid soap (like Dettol products). The boiling water will remove lipstick, mainly oil based, faster. The disinfectant will clear all germs and not harm the metal of the microphone. If the dirt is very old and stubborn, use a soft scrubbing brush. Allow the sponge to soak for at least 15 minutes, whilst you clean the headpiece. Once soaked, thoroughly wash the sponge under a running tap of warm water until the water runs clear from the sponge. Dry the headpiece with a clean towel. Then place both headpiece and the sponge on a clean towel and allow them to sit drying in the sun. The drying process in the sun is best, as the sun will evaporate dampness out of the sponge and the sun is a natural drying method, killing all germs with it’s heat. If it’s windy, place a clear film over these, to avoid lose debris from the air filtering onto the pieces. • If you have not already run out the room to clean your microphone – shame on you. The Doctor’s TV programme would have a field day analyzing the bugs found on your microphone! Would you prefer to be classed with some nasty mouth disease or be teased for OCD? Well, then rather invest in your instrument and just take your own cased and clean microphone. (Remember to repeat the cleaning process after each gig – you have germs too!).