I would try to avoid it if possible - it's definitely not goodfor all your sensitive gear. On the other hand, lots of studios are smoking-studios, including the one at our conservatory here in Copenhagen. and it still works quite well. I guess it's hard to tell how smoking affects the gear, but in the long run it probably loses some value. If you insist to smoke around your gear, at least open the windows a few times a day to air out a bit...

Paint the room white and see what color it is six months down the line...

Then, picture that same film on everything - Micrphone diaphragms, faders, pots, mixer guts, tubes... Tweeters...

I'd highy recommend against it. I'm a smoker, so I know how the "groove" can be threatened by needing a ciggy.

Of course, if you are or have access to a competent tech that doesn't mind getting into the nasty stuff to keep everythign clean, it can be a different story.

But not around microphones... That's nasty.

The thing I don't get....
Every studio I've ever been in, there's no "smoking" in the control room, maybe in the live room, but seldom. No smoking EXCEPT weed, and the obligitory Incense burning. Apparently, pot smoke and incense has no effect on electronics. Have you ever seen or cleaned the goo in a pipe/bong?

If you've ever worked in a night club for any length of time, you see it there as well. Horrible, nasty brown/yellowish goo on everything. Windex is a good place to start for the external crap, but it always made me shudder to think what was getting inside the electronics.

Air is always in constant motion, even if it's not perceived as wind or a draft, and since electronics heat up and cool down when turned on and off, you can be sure there's air moving in and out of gear even without a cooling fan. I used to find some amazing stuff from convection alone inside of VCRs (when I fixed them as a tech in another life... :-)

As for pot smoke vs. ciggie smoke; that's always puzzled me too. I think the "buzz per ounce" factor is different....assuming there's no one with a serious habit, ya don't need TOO Much of a good spleef to get the buzz and put it out, whereas cigarette smokers just puff away on the damn things constantly. MUCH more ciggie smoke per cubic foot of air, I would think.

For years I pretty much wouldn't work without a cigarette... and there were more than a few studios that had "non-smoking" control rooms... which led directly to them being financially impacted by my sessions [in other words, I didn't care what they had for gear, acoustics, etc., there was no way in hell I'd work in any of them].

These days my control room is a "non-smoking environment" [not cigarettes, not pot, not cigars, hopefully not the gear], but I still work in joints that have HVAC in the control room [our HVAC is damn near non existant, hence the smoking ban] and my attitude is "smoke 'em if you got 'um" as the vibe and flow of a session is way more important than the equipment every day of the week.

The vibe and flow of a session is [at least in my twisted mind] THE most important part of every session.

Yeah, I know smoke is a bad thing for everything, but sometimes you just need to. I had just quit smoking for 6 months and coincidently, had taken a break from my music. Now that I am back in full-swing? Yep, I'm back to a pack a day! For some reason I just came seem to seperate the two.

As for pot smoke vs. ciggie smoke; that's always puzzled me too. I think the "buzz per ounce" factor is different....assuming there's no one with a serious habit, ya don't need TOO Much of a good spleef to get the buzz and put it out, whereas cigarette smokers just puff away on the damn things constantly. MUCH more ciggie smoke per cubic foot of air, I would think.

The tech that kept my studio up and running said almost the same exact thing. Not to allow tobacco smoking, but that pot was ok ... because, people smoke cigarettes 24/7, but if they smoked pot like that, they would just fall asleep ....

I personally don't like candles or incense because of the mess (I hate candle wax) and because they stink (ever smell a candle when you blow it out?) .... if you need that stuff, put your Berkinstocks back on and go record at the Tofu bar. I'm gonna get a cheeseburger.

im with fletcher for the most part keep every thing cleen and get a good and i mean good air purifier not a hepa filter but a ozone type. luckaly my house band dont smoke anything but insents and strings.

oh yea if you want to know the difrance between tobacco and weed take a puff of cig and blow it strongly through a peace of white cloth then do it after a puff from a pipe or bong the tobacco typicly is worse

disclamer : this will destroy your cloth. (or shirt if your like the persone who showed me this)

frob wrote: oh yea if you want to know the difrance between tobacco and weed take a puff of cig and blow it strongly through a peace of white cloth then do it after a puff from a pipe or bong the tobacco typicly is worse

disclamer : this will destroy your cloth. (or shirt if your like the persone who showed me this)

Toilet tissue will do fine as well!

frob wrote: im with fletcher for the most part keep every thing cleen and get a good and i mean good air purifier not a hepa filter but a ozone type. luckaly my house band dont smoke anything but insents and strings.

I wasn't talking about an "air purifier" I was talking about Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning... which in the case of a studio control room should turn over all the air in the room in about 70-90 seconds without creating a breeze.

This is a fairly specialized system that needs to move great quantities of air very slowly so the ducts don't create noise.

As for candles... I think they're a great "vibe" thing... IMNTLBFHO, way better than "lava lamps" .

Tell me about it...

(Dead Link Removed)

Aw, come on. Don't be dissing on lava lamps dudes. It is impossible for them to become out of style. They are eternally cool, like Burt Reynolds or something.

And hey Massive, is that the lava lamp choice of "pros"? Cause it says Pro on it. So it must be professional. But where's the toob?
:lol:

PS: I don't allow smoke because it fogs up the glass on my lava lamp with scum.

Should I quit smoking ?

:roll:

Naah.... I dont own enough expensive gear. The behringers can take SMOKE !

:D

The R&D staff at Ber.......er found that the MORE smoke they used in constructing their products the more of an authentic classic gear sound they got.....

But then I suppose anything is better than what they were getting....

I used to smoke...still want to now and again....especially right before I throw people off the roof.

so your saying that by smoking around my gear, then my Berhinger stuff might actually start to sound better! lol

Davedog wrote:
I used to smoke...still want to now and again....especially right before I throw people off the roof.

:shock:

you get to do that !!?