Tutorial: How to Clean An Audio Mixer
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- čas přidán 17. 05. 2018
- HOW TO CLEAN A SOUND MIXER REALLY, REALLY WELL
Step-by-step cleaning the outside of a dusty, dirty sound desk.
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This video doesn’t cover cleaning inside faders or pots - purely a cosmetic clean, albeit a very thorough one!
I already tested the connections on this desk - no noise, and cracked open the case to find it fairly pristine inside. It was previously an inside installation, so not toured around any or used outdoors which probably contributed to the stellar condition.
The Goo Remover is a product called 'Orange Power' (awareenvironmental.com.au/prod...) in which the key ingredient is Orange Oil. The link above includes a Material Safety Data Sheet, which may help you find an equivalent in your country. This stuff is THE BUSINESS! Cleans sticky residue, grime, and dirt off pretty much anything. I once used to process dry-hired sound gear after return and I would soak a cloth in this stuff (different brand) and run every cable through it to clean off the pub-floor-residue. Just need to follow up with a quick wipe of methylated spirits/denatured alcohol to remove the orange oil. Test it though, because it can strip paint and perish the insulation on really old or cracked leads.
Technical Audio Group (www.tag.com.au/) in Australia are the distributors for Allen & Heath, so that’s where I got my spare fader caps. Simply Google ‘[BRAND NAME] Distributor’ and that will usually help you get the details for genuine parts. Otherwise eBay also has a load of generic and non-genuine bits that may get you where you need to go.
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Unbelievable amount of work compressed into less than 6 minutes. Very well done.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent. Much needed during this COVID-19 crisis.
Thank you!
i did the same with the very same mixer, i used baby grade wet wipes after taking the dust away, good job mate :)
great video, thanks mate. I now have sore fingers .. and mine was just a 4 channel dj mixer! haha.. thanks for the tips, really good details used a few microfibres and no makeup things as I didn't have any handy.. :) mine took about an hour of gentle scrubs plus a few hours soak and dry.
Glad I could help!
What would be the best way to go about checking the insides to make sure they are clean? Great video, definitely is gonna help me when I finally get my analog mixer for my studio.
I always imagined it would take a while to clean a mixer, but I never thought it would be THAT tedious! How long did it take for you to clean everything properly? 8 hours?
About 3-4 hours, all up.
getting ready to purchase a "new to me" used mixer that will be huge upgrade from the one i currently use, and this video explains very well what you did and how you did it. did you have any issues with the windex pulling any of the silkscreen off anywhere? i'm very nervous to use anything other than a bit of water on this mixer as i don't want to mess it up or make it look worse than if i didn't do anything to it.
No, windex wasn’t on for too long. Again, you might want to check an inconspicuous spot that doesn’t matter, like the back of the case or something where the markings aren’t critical. Also, don’t want to use anything too abrasive, hence my choice of cotton makeup pads and ear cleaners.
I recently purchased a used desk that seems to have a lot of dust on/in it and is quite noisy as a result. Any suggestions on how to remove dust from 1/4" and XLR inputs/outputs?
Possible a really strong vacuum and use some kind of tool/pick to loosen the dust? Isopropyl alcohol may help. Be careful of using compressed air as that may actually force the crud further into the unit.
It may actually be worth it to open the case up and ensure there’s no dust inside too.
Please, using the vacuum cleaner, do we suck or blow??
hey sir I have an Allen and Heath GL 2000 Dual Function Console that is used in our church. we are experiencing some issue. Our monitors are working well but getting sound to come out of the house monitor is a hit and miss. someone can be singing in the mic and all of a sudden the voice and music goes out from the house but remains in the monitors. Yet, if you bump the console it will come back on or if you pop the mic it will some times come back on the house. But you know you cant gamble on having a singer performing and then having to pop and bump the console in order to get the sound to come out of the house. I do not know a whole lot about these things but I was wondering if with a proper cleaning like in your video along with crc 2-26 to lubricate the sliders etc. would help our issues. What your suggestions Sir, finances are very low so I am trying to do anything I can to minimize cost. We are in dire need of some help. Barry
Leslie Warren Sounds like could be a number of things - could be the fader, the solder joints on the board, possibly some outboard gear that you have inserted on the channel, like a noise gate with the threshold set too low.
If it’s happening across the whole output, it could be the master fader however I don’t think it sounds like that as you’re talking about completely losing the sound from everything coming through those faders. Think you might need to have someone open up your desk and have a bit of a test and look.
would you star out doing like you did cleaning open it up and clean under the hood so to speak? using the crc 2-26 and then lubricate all the areas that other videos say to do? I wouldn't be hurting it by doing this would I? the message you sent me was rather greek to me. do you by chance have a video on what you were recommending?Barry ps Thank you for at least responding Sir I really liked your video
This was a great passion of Homer Simpsons.
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How could you possibly make any difference to scratchy pots? The dust got INSIDE the pot and it's firmly stuck between the conductive surfaces. I have NEVER, not even once had any degree of success with brushes or vacuum cleaner. I always had to take it apart and use a thin straw to spray in 99% Isopropyl Alcohol. Then you turn the potentiometer vigorously full on to full off20-30 times. Then repeat the procedure once more. Allow the alcohol to evaporate naturally then try the pot after connecting to power. Note that it has to be 99% Isopropyl Alcohol. Alcohols are typically dielectric (meaning they don't conduct electricity), but 99% Isopropyl will not leave any kind of residue behind. After that you may want to use a special lubricating compound (forgot the name) on the pot. Yes, it's even more work but it will pay off.
Luckily no scratchy pots.
This is why you should *always* cover your audio equipment (or any tech) when it's not in use!! Shameful!!
Given that this was salvaged from a dumpster when a school was throwing it out, it could’ve been much worse.
@@hirogarimusic why would they ever just 'throw it out'!? *That's* shameful lol
@@freshproduce2170 They upgraded to digital.
@@hirogarimusic okay.. and? You don't throw away quality audio gear man.. you *sell* it or give it away to a promising engineer who will take good care of it