Help! Tons of Static Electricity in the Studio!

[PheelTheMusic]

As the weather has gotten colder and dryer I have been having more and more static electricity issues in my studio. Now things have gotten unbearably bad.

Simply stepping within a foot of a microphone sends a massive static bolt into the signal path. Touching the mic stand, pop screen, or microphone gives a nice little zap. Touching any of my rack gear zaps me as well.

My home studio is carpeted and I have one of those plastic/vinyl office mats in front of the desk so my chair can roll. If I step off of the plastic and onto the carpet I am statically charged. After one or two zaps on the carpet I am discharged.

Grounding and all electrical are fine and the problems are clearly weather related. I'm in the process of taking a humidity reading and the meter already shows 35% relative humidity and falling.

I'm going to stick a humidifier in the studio for now and I was hoping you all might have some other suggestions. Static bracelets? Sprays? Anything? What should be my target humidity? THANKS!

[narcoman]

i have a pair of shoes that do this at the studio!

[matucha]

aeron chair produces quite a lot of static electricity (at least mine)

the solution I found is not to use heating too much and of course more ventilation (ie opening window). But if you're in a studio with no windows...

[poncival]

Humidifier will help but make sure it doesn't go too far in the opposite direction because too much humidity will cause problems of its own, especially with large diaphragm condenser mics etc. I had this problem at my home studio in CT back in the day, every winter it would come back, so I would turn on the humidifier and spray the rugs with Static Guard and the it would go away. I would have to spray every couple weeks. Static guard tends to attract dirt and dust so you may have to vacuum more often and spray more often depending on your situation. Dimming the lights a little helps hide the dirt stike

[mikeg]

There are solutions but they all cost $$.

You can run earth wires and posts near your gear and then always touch them before gear. Not a great solution but doable.

Anti-static mats will also help. There is also anti-static carpeting that can be installed. Originally made for computer rooms.

You can get anti-stat wrist bands, they have to connected to earth though. They drain away the charge.

Google it and you will find a number of products.

We have the same problems here in MN in the winter too.

[Led]

If it's caused by your carpet you can get an anti static spray for it. We recarpet our nig control room with a beautiful expensive carpet. It was great except it caused a lot of static in the beginning. They gave us a spray for it. It works, but is a bit boring to have to do.

[Flymax]

...

[zoink]

Originally Posted by matucha

aeron chair produces quite a lot of static electricity (at least mine)

the solution I found is not to use heating too much and of course more ventilation (ie opening window). But if you're in a studio with no windows...

try that in eastern canada at this time of the year. i just spent the last two days shoveling snow like a crazy mammoth trying to survive the ice age.

[drumkideric]

Once I had got shocked by static electricity when turning up the headphones. After I was shocked the headphone amp didn't work again. That sucked.

[Sigma]

Originally Posted by Led

If it's caused by your carpet you can get an anti static spray for it. We recarpet our nig control room with a beautiful expensive carpet. It was great except it caused a lot of static in the beginning. They gave us a spray for it. It works, but is a bit boring to have to do.

werd..anti stat spray works well..humidifier is dicey if used wrong as stated above

[Eric Greedy]

diluted fabric softener in pump spray bottle works and is fairly cheap

[PheelTheMusic]

So I went out and picked up two cans of Static Guard and sprayed my carpet and studio chair and sure enough it seems like all the static shocks are gone! I have to admit I was a bit skeptical of the spray but you can't argue with results.

The average humidity in my studio is now 35%. Is this dangerously low or just on the lower end of things? All of my instruments are stored in individual hard cases with individual humidifying systems. The mics have no humidity control however. Are high end LDCs ok at 35% humidity? It looks like I might just be able to forgo using a humidifier altogether if they'll be alright...

[poncival]

I don't think low humidity is a problem for LDC's, but above 90 % is probably safe to consider it "bad" for them.

We're out here in the desert and the ambient humidity can often be lower than 20%, at which times our mics work great. One time I had a singer who said it was way too dry and he wanted a humidifier in the vocal booth with him. The mics still worked fine but after a few days there seemed to be a little "ssshhhhhhh" noise creeping in on the M49, which went away a couple days after we removed the humidifier...

Supposedly this is because of salt (or mineral) deposits that build up on the diaphragm over the years and the humidity bridges the gap between the terminals on the diaphragm and causes tiny bits of static..?

[headwerkn]

Sprays seem to work quite well; we had a massive static problem in our old office, my boss nearly nuked his Powerbook just touching it... send in the spray, no probs.

I find those anti static workstation mats cause more static. That and the sound drives me crazy.

[squeegybug]

If you have a forced-air furnace, then an April Air humidifier is absolutely worth considering. These are very small, attach directly to the return on the furnace. Super easy maintenance, just pop out the single filter and replace every 2 years. Don't waste time or money on other brands or types, April Air is the real deal.

Keeps my whole place 40-50% year round, all the instrument necks stay straight and in tune, no static shocks or dry skin. Rooms are warmer, and the heating bill is less too. Installed cost here was $220 a few years back.

Steve

[oceanblue]

I (aside from being in the audio gear manufacturing business) also own an HVAC company Blank (my little site). I have done several studio installs/designs over the years and a central humidifier installed into the furnace is the way to go. You can dial in the humidity on most models now days. Ideal is between 50-60%. Now of course here in central Texas we have the opposite problem...it was 72 and "moist" here today. If you find one you like and feel it is too pricey give me a shout and I can hook you up at my cost and ship it maybe.

Originally Posted by squeegybug

If you have a forced-air furnace, then an April Air humidifier is absolutely worth considering. These are very small, attach directly to the return on the furnace. Super easy maintenance, just pop out the single filter and replace every 2 years. Don't waste time or money on other brands or types, April Air is the real deal.

Keeps my whole place 40-50% year round, all the instrument necks stay straight and in tune, no static shocks or dry skin. Rooms are warmer, and the heating bill is less too. Installed cost here was $220 a few years back.

Steve

[midnightsun]

I know about dry air. Presently, it greater than minus 40 degrees F. Dry dry dry. I agree with the remedies that others have mentioned. A couple of additional tips are:

People wearing synthetic clothing will get the electrons flying. Cotton clothing is best. Guitar finishes and pickguards are also a huge source of electrostatic charges. Soap can be a very quick fix if you have a guitar player who is moving around a lot. Simply take a bar of soap and rub it on the pickguard and guitar. Smear it around a bit but don't buff it. There have also been occasions where my mic cables seem to become electrostatic, expecially when they get dragged across the floor. Wiping the cables down with a an antistatic dryer strip can really help.