Dust, dust, dust... It's driving me crazy!

[FMiguelez]

Hello.

How do you guys deal with the damned dust?

No matter what I do, every week I can see a film of dust over my mixers, keyboards, etc., not to mention the furniture where the computers are located.
Cedrick, my furry dog shown in my avatar, who spends all weekdays with me at the studio, also contributes with balls of hair I always find in the corners. Not letting him in the studio with me is totally out of the question, though. He's my gorgeous muse

Even if I keep the door closed, this always happens. I hate cleaning, and when I do it I'm always afraid of ruining something with the vacuum cleaner. It has a "hairy" attachment that I use to suck the dust out of the equipment. I do it carefully from a one centimeter distance, so the vacuum doesn't touch the equipment. But this is not enough!

How do people with huge consoles or Euro synth racks keep everything always so clean and pristine?

When my studio is not in use, which normally is only during weekends, I always cover everything with customized fabrics that fit everything. But even then, there's always dust! I hate playing the keyboard and get the dust sensation on my fingers.

How do you guys and gals deal with it?

[FMiguelez]

I don't know if this is true, but I've read that most of the dust is actually our own dead skin cells...

If that's true, then I'm a reptile who must have almost no skin cells left to lose!

Are my cells too loose? Should I wrap myself up in covers?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Aside from regular cleaning (it’s not all bad, at least in states where weed is legal...) some well heeled folks hire cleaning people. I never have and it does accumulate. Locally, one can hire a topless maid service for $99/hour (assuming one hasn’t blown their wad on weed). I hear those specialty maids don’t clean so well, but you never seem the notice what they missed until they’re long gone.

[cuttime]

Cats. Hairballs in places you'd never expect to find them, dried into a thick mass wrapped around cables in the most inaccessible places. That aside, I keep those microfiber dust cloths on hand all the time, and wash them frequently. For those little crevices around, I use one of those micro vacuum attachments that come in handy.

[HCMarkus]

A soft dry paintbrush does a good job moving dust off the gear to where it can be picked up by the typical devices

[bayswater]

I have a big paintbrush near the desk. While everything is firing up, I use it to swish the dust off stuff I'm using. Most of it settles on the floor where it gets vacuumed now and then. It was a lot worse when we had a cat.

[wylie1]

If you have forced air HVAC change your filters often. I recently had my system upgraded and the dust was dramatically reduced.
And yes eating weedies does help motivate a cleaning frenzy I also ended up cutting the grass 3 times one day.

[Phil O]

I have the same problem, FM. It's an ongoing battle. A paint brush and vacuum cleaner is my go-to combination for things with hard to reach places. Hold the vac close to (but not close enough to cause damage) and use the brush to get the dust up into the vac's area of influence. It's a Zen thing.

Phil

[mikehalloran]

I’m thinking about getting one of these. It looks like a long brush but it’s made of long, thin tubes. It can’t pull up small parts.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB1N9C3/re ... 7082298416

[billf]

It's a constant battle, but you can get control over it without much extra work. There are several things you can try:

• -An old fashioned duster (especially for the covers, those will probably need dusting too)
  -Natural bristle paint brush (note: make sure the bristles are NOT nylon)
  -Small air compressor
  -Vacuum the floor frequently (duration depends on situation)
  -Put filters on air vents if you have forced air heating/cooling in the room
  -Wipe down everything with a microfiber cloth at the end of each day

[Prime Mover]

My pet problem is that my kitty loves to bite wires, and I go through headphones like you wouldn't believe. She can't kill studio-grade cans with thick wires, but I often use consumer headphones for field recording and for added referencing. I just lost another pair of cheapo Senns (HD202) the other day. I LOVE those for field shoots because they're reasonably isolating and have a very long cable. Alas, it's also very thin and looks like a mouse tail... Om Nom!

[FMiguelez]

...some well heeled folks hire cleaning people. I never have and it does accumulate. Locally, one can hire a topless maid service for $99/hour (assuming one hasn’t blown their wad on weed). I hear those specialty maids don’t clean so well, but you never seem the notice what they missed until they’re long gone.

This guy must have an army of (topless?) maids!

Keeping that clean and dust free must NOT be fun... Unless you have an army of the above mentioned workers

It's a Zen thing.
Phil

Ha!
I'll try to see it that way, Phil
Ooooooohhhhmmmmmmmmmm......

-Natural bristle paint brush (note: make sure the bristles are NOT nylon)

Just curious as to why not nylon. Does it create some kind of static?


Great ideas. I hadn't though of the paint brush. That would certainly become handy.

Also, I think I've been using the wrong tool all along... I've been using one of those kitchen rags (trapos) to clean the surfaces. I wet the rag and squeeze the water out, so it's just humid. Then I clean the furniture, but it always leaves debris behind, like little particles that then turn into dust again.

I suppose that's what the suggested microfiber cloth is good for? I shall try this.

But undeniably, MLC's suggestion would be the nicest. I'll send him the bills from the maids.

I actually used to have a maid that was very good with my equipment a few years ago. Now, another girl goes to the studio every 2 or 3 weeks, but she is forbidden to touch the equipment because she is too rough and a bit clumsy. She vacuums and cleans the rest of the space, but I end up having to clean the most annoying stuff myself.

Thanks for the ideas, guys!

[frankf]

After 40 years of doing this I keep it simple: no dogs, cats or maids (except floors & trash) or other pets (lost mini turtles and young children come to mind); vacuum with a soft round brush, 1.5” good quality soft bristle painter’s brush and, if needed, a slightly damp cloth or paper towel.


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[Shooshie]

What everyone else has said, plus two other things: cats and masking tape.

Not that you use them together. Quite the contrary. You see, cats are natural dust mops. A cat will get in every crevice of your studio, behind computers, in between cables, and so forth. It's just the cat's way of having fun. That keeps some of the deeper stuff uprooted. That blows forward with passing foot-traffic, and you pick it up with masking tape. Stuff on your desk that's bothering you, but not enough to go get a vacuum cleaner, is probably pretty small. A short piece of masking tape will pick it up just fine. You only have to be careful not to stick to surfaces that could be damaged by peeling off the tape. And fold the tape over itself when done; you don't want a cat getting into it. You'd just about have to clip the cat's hair to get the tape out.

Just a couple extra tools in the arsenal against dust. Of course, the down side to cats is that they create their OWN environmental havoc. You do have to vacuum up their fur. But masking tape once again helps clean up behind them as they sleep on your desk, walk past your keyboard, and shed little fine hairs. Once a day ought to help a lot.

Shoosh

[frankf]

What everyone else has said, plus two other things: cats and masking tape.

Not that you use them together. Quite the contrary. You see, cats are natural dust mops. A cat will get in every crevice of your studio, behind computers, in between cables, and so forth. It's just the cat's way of having fun. That keeps some of the deeper stuff uprooted. That blows forward with passing foot-traffic, and you pick it up with masking tape. Stuff on your desk that's bothering you, but not enough to go get a vacuum cleaner, is probably pretty small. A short piece of masking tape will pick it up just fine. You only have to be careful not to stick to surfaces that could be damaged by peeling off the tape. And fold the tape over itself when done; you don't want a cat getting into it. You'd just about have to clip the cat's hair to get the tape out.

Just a couple extra tools in the arsenal against dust. Of course, the down side to cats is that they create their OWN environmental havoc. You do have to vacuum up their fur. But masking tape once again helps clean up behind them as they sleep on your desk, walk past your keyboard, and shed little fine hairs. Once a day ought to help a lot.

Shoosh

reading this I’m almost glad I’m allergic to cats Shoosh. There’s enough dust in the studio already! Best to you.


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