Karaoke Forums

, disagree all you want! I think you'd be in the minority here!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

...I'm giving up a "Trade-Secret" here but (my contribution):

I use this and I buy it by the case from the cheapest place I found:

http://www.bettymills.com/shop/product/view/Hospeco/HSC52480.html?referer=search

Dries on contact
Kills everything including AIDS Virus
Takes 45 seconds to work completely.

I spray after every singer.
I spray the head of the Mic and down the Mic Shaft.
One case lasts about 9 months.
I retire a can when it gets down to 1/4 full...you can try to milk it to the end.
I've been using this over four years.

I would strongly suggest to spray in a direction down and away from the Singer and you...the KJ. Then, move the Mic back and forth in a brisk manner to dissipate the chemical spray before handing the Mic to the Singer.

DO NOT INHALE THE SPRAY if at all possible!!

My wife is asthmatic and she doesn't like it too well if I hand the Mic to her right away after spraying. But, about 5-10 seconds is plenty for her not to have a negative reaction.

Back to the foam 'spit collectors'... .Those are wind screens. If there's no wind, don't use them.
Gross, gross, gross! I wouldn't sing at your show if you didn't allow me to take it off. And I wouldn't come back.

It's common sense.

You use them for what reason? Protecting your mic? Having a wet sponge on your mic for 4-6 hours every night is NOT good for the mic! and again EWWWW!

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

gotta agree with the majority here. spit sponges are the worst! Nothing more disgusting than getting up to sing a song and accidentally brush your lips across a saliva drenched wind screen. I'm getting sick to my stomach thinking about it. I have wireless shure's and senns and wouldn't consider wind screens for either. They are nothing more than spitoons!

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

I do, and I don't believe I am. Who wants to ruin a couple of hundred bucks worth of mic at a show? Show of hands?

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Actually, I think you have been proven to be the minority just in this thread, alone. I have been to MANY karaoke shows over the last 18 years, and only ONE of them used spit absorbers, or Karaoke Kondoms, as we used to call them.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I use something similar to http://www.gompels.co.uk/proform-pocket ... -x-70.html

They are only slightly damp, and allow me to quickly clean the head of the mircophone and handle. I use them as and when, depending on the night, and subtly, because I suspect the UK audience would see it as either a brilliant idea or as "health and saftey gone mad" - I doubt their would be little middle ground in their attitudes towards it.

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'A genius is one who can do anything except make a living'. Joey Adams.

OK, I'll do a show of hands -- how many of you having expensive mics have had them ruined by spit?

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I have expensive mics, but never one ruined by spit because I've never used a 'spittoon' on my mics.

Way back when I took vocal lessons.. Jimmy, (my boss now:) ) had those things on the mic... even not being an experienced singer, I took it off. I bought Jimmy a can of Lysol and told him to use it. He has students from ages 6 and up... kids carry every kind of germ imaginable!! He no longer uses them for lessons.

I've always thought those things were gross! I know my customers would pull them off instantly. The only time they are ever used by me is on a lavalier mic ... Which never gets close to ones mouth.

I don't understand why some would use them at a karaoke show.. what is the 'plus'?

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Well in this thread alone you would me in the minority.
If I add them all up I have all probably over $700 worth of mics being used. My SM58's are $100 each, the wireless SM58 ran $400 by itself. So heres my hand. Never once had one ruined by spit - ran the same SM58's for 7 nights a week for 18 years, they continue to work just like day one - go figure.
Sorry Joe, this is just one of those beliefs you hold in your head to be true and even if you had documented facts in front of you, you will still believe otherwise.

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Not one plus - well unless you are playing in the WIND!!!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Wow.. I sure see a lot of arguing over who's wrong or right! The show of hands for who's had an expensive mic ruined from using a wind screen at a karaoke show isn't a fair question. Since some of us don't use a wind screen indoors, there's no way then for us to say we've had a mic ruined.

It's just logical.. indoors=no wind=no wind screen. Outdoors=wind=wind screen.

The spit aspect is also logical. Sponges soak up moisture. Singing into a sponge will make the sponge damp.. if not wet considering how many songs are sung in one night.

No one yet has answered WHY DO YOU USE A WIND SCREEN FOR KARAOKE SHOWS?

I have my own 'cons' for using one... but I have yet to hear any 'pros' for using one.

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I agree with you... I would like to see the ones who use them to give me a good reason why...

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

*light bulb flashing* Just re-read the posts..

So Joe thinks that using the sponge protects his mics from spit... Um, I see his logic but to me his logic doesn't work. There is some moisture that would get inside a mic (under the grille), but I don't think that moisture would be significant and would dry pretty quickly. Putting a sponge on top of the grille would hold that moisture for much longer and would build up singer after singer. Eventually that moisture would soak through the grille into the mic.. and be held there by that sponge.

Wiping the mics seems to me, to be the best solution. And I stand by my belief that wind screens should be used for wind! (Yes, some singers are just wind bags...but that's a different topic!! )

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It's not even the protection factor (which it really doesn't give alot if dropped which is where I think he's thinking - if a mic is going to break from a drop, it's doesn't matter if there is a wind sock on it or not), again it's all the spit absorbsion - it's just friggin gross - even if the things get washed after each show, THAT show is still going to be gross.

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Nausea alert--don't read if you just got up and are having breakfast: We were cleaning our mics once and found chewed up peanuts on the foam INSIDE the grill. But even that didn't ruin the mic.

This is sort of off the subject but last night I had a singer bring in her own wireless mic and ask if she could use it. I asked her if it didn't need a transmitter to work and she said, "Oh yeah, I have that part but it's at home." I could see someone bringing in a wired mic if they wanted to use their own sanitary mic as I could switch that out in seconds but a wireless without a transmistter was a bit of a problem for me.

Ya THINK????!!! :LOL: I'm blonde so I can ask this.... was she blonde??
Even a wireless with the transmitter would be a problem for me... I'm not willing to spend even the few minutes to hook it up.. I'm too busy. You're correct... a wired mic would be no problem and have many people do it. Though, it's funny.. they do it when they first come to my show but after a few visits they stop... because my mics sound so much better usually!

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I had a guy bring a mic that had a "chipmunk" effect built into it during Christmas, and that is the only thing any body has ever asked to plug into my rig. The chipmunk effect was a really big hit with the audience and I am thinking about buying an effect unit that can do this.

Last night (St Pat's Day) I had soooo many people at my show that had never been there before, and they praised and thanked me for wiping the mic down between singers. When you wipe it down after every singer no one takes it personal.

I think this is the way to go! Foam rubber on the mic is only going to add to the germs.. I can just imagine them duplicating and mutating by the second!! That foam isn't going to protect from dropping... that's what the grille is for.. maybe Shures grilles are so soft in order to add to the protection. Much in the same way today's cars are built to absorb impact.
I use clorox wipes and everyone appreciates my effort to keep them safe.

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!