smoke

[alex c]

does smoke (from a smoke machine) damage musical instruments? :D

[Andrew C]

Not sure about smoke, but dry ice fog causes moisture in the air to condense and this could indeed affect instruments.

[Jivemaster]

The heat close to an smoker could be unfriendly but you would have to be really cluse

[Freddie]

Pretty sure it varies depending on the instrument.

Water vapour condensing inside may well cause problems, but an incredible amount of spit flows through Brass/Woodwind Instruments anyway, a bit of water wouldn't do much harm (but how much condenses off dry ice??) . (Incidentally the acid in spit degrades wind instruments over time so they should be thoroughly cleaned after use-except the french horn- the dirt and bacteria gives it a warmer sound.)

[the kid]

I think it also depends on the sort of smoke at my old school we always used the presurised canisters of smoke that went in to a le matire (dont know what make). but this always got the floor wet, we then noved to another sort with the liquid feed and got none. So if you have string instrumnets then damp is not good at all it ruins them, Brass I never have any problems only having to empty the spit valve more then often.

[Andrew C]

I think it also depends on the sort of smoke at my old school we always used the presurised canisters of smoke that went in to a le matire (dont know what make). 

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?? Le Maitre make smoke machines!! Oh and BTW, you should only use the correct fluid for the machine. A too high temperature could, in theory, result in unwanted chemical reactions.

[paulears]

haze does affect strings - the oil eventually settles, after all. The effect on strings is to make them sound duller - not a problem for guitarists, as the sweat from their hands is far worse, and they tend to change them regularly. Piano strings suffer too, especially house pianos in venues that use haze and smoke regularly. They just gently get duller, The difference is quite subtle, but pianists notice it. One mentioned that he thought cigarette smoke probably did more harm........

[mattwright15]

To tell the truth, I very much dout that the exposure time of haze, smoke, dry ice or cracked oil is high enough to damage insturments where the effects would be noticable. This to tell the truth is the very first time I have herd anyone ask such a question regarding smoke, ect.

If it is just a mus'o playing up tell them the DFA system internally fitted to the device will filter the fluid and not alow this to happen :blink:

if it is just genrally something u wanted to know, I would say damaging effects would only be noticable after long term exposure.

 

Matt

[the kid]

I think it also depends on the sort of smoke at my old school we always used the presurised canisters of smoke that went in to a le matire (dont know what make). 

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?? Le Maitre make smoke machines!! Oh and BTW, you should only use the correct fluid for the machine. A too high temperature could, in theory, result in unwanted chemical reactions.

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Point taken - it was early in the morn, but there is jem is there not?

[daoops]

Don't know how smoke does anything with the intruments, but I know that example oil-based fluids tends to damage the power supply in light equptments like scanners and movingheads. So I would suppose that it can damage amplifiers and electrical instruments with fans. And condense from regular smoke and dry ice could damage electrical instruments too, but I don't think it could happen during one consert. I would rather think the lifetime of the equiptment has expired before that would happen :blink:

[paulears]

To tell the truth, I very much dout that the exposure time of haze, smoke, dry ice or cracked oil is high enough to damage insturments where the effects would be noticable. This to tell the truth is the very first time I have herd anyone ask such a question regarding smoke, ect.

If it is just a mus'o playing up tell them the DFA system internally fitted to the device will filter the fluid and not alow this to happen  :blink:

if it is just genrally something u wanted to know, I would say damaging effects would only be noticable after long term exposure.

 

Matt

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Maybe you've never had to PAY for a set of piano strings, Matt. You're also going to look damn silly talking techno-crap to a musician who happens to know what he's talking about. How about your mis-aligned smoker actually doing damage to a valuable instrument when you've told them 'no problem' - I've worked with some very knowledgable musicians who won't allow smoke anywhere near their valuable collections - I'll defer to them, thanks.

 

Just to put it into perspective - the fluid bottle empties - where do you think it actually goes?

 

You're quite right when you say exposure time is limited, but how much is bad? I seem to remember a recent death from asbestosis which was attributed to working with it a long time ago. We've not been 'smoking' that long yet. Takes a brave bloke to say "NO RISK, Honest"

 

 

paul

[Chris_R]

...but there is jem is there not?

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Jem is the name of Martin's effects range.

Mach is their sound/speaker range.

www.martin.dk

[nickb12345]

The old martin hazers were called Jem IIRC. They are still around though, got one at collage and the theatre I worked on panto at has 2.

 

Le Maitre used to make oil based smoke machines didnt they?

 

Nick

[Ed_N]

The Le Maitre machines that take canisters do produce much more acrid smoke than the water-based machines. I've got an old OptiMist and it can be quite unpleasant in large quantities (like when I was testing it in my kitchen the other month!).

 

I'm pretty sure this is because they are oil-based, but I'm not really sure why. It could be something to do with the propellant in the canister - because the machine has no pump there has to be another way of forcing the fluid through the heat exchanger. Or maybe it's to stop it rusting on the inside?