a sm58 inside two condoms as a hydrophone?

[dominiquegreffard]

Is this a good idea? All i found was lubricated condoms so i m worried about damaging the mic. I might try to get a birthday balloon as a first layer. It s gonna be recording in a pool. What about distance to subject and how deep can/should i go? I also got a b6 but i believe it is water resistant but not good to work as a hydrophone as it is? Thanks for your advice! Dominique

[MarcPDesaulniers]

Two things I like, condoms and microphones.

There is a store selling unlubricated condoms in your town.

https://www.lacapoterie.net/fra/produits.php?cat=CONDOM%20NON%20LUBRIFI%C9

Have fun.

Marc

[dominiquegreffard]

Unfortunatley i don t have time to run there for now... So lubricated it will be...it seems. Merci marc!

[studiomprd]

" Is this a good idea? "

not really.

condoms are not reliable beyond splash protection.

[Olle Sjostrom]

I've done simple recordings in a bathtub with a lubed condom over an SM58 in my stupid days. It worked fine. Nothing happened to the mic, it's still going strong.

[VASI]

in my stupid days

 

lol

 

[Philip Perkins]

How deep is the mic going?  I got away with condoms and even plastic bags and lots of rubber bands to submerge SM57s and Sonotrims a few inches to a foot under the water in pools or a stream (fresh water).

 

philp

[Jon Gilbert]

It'll work, at minimal depth. I wouldn't say it was worth  the bother, unless you're dead set on recording yourself having a bath.

 

What effect are you after? It may be easier to spoof it later.

[deep owl]

That works out pretty well...especially if it's just the tip

[dominiquegreffard]

Allright so i m just done with my filming day here. I should have not dipped it that deep ( maybe 2 feet ). It started to crackle after a bit and eventually stopped working. The mic got all wet even with two condoms, a couple of rubber bands and electric tape that i thought would seal proper.. So anyway. That was a learning experience... What do you suggest i do to save my sm58 now?

[old school]

I've done it a number of times. It works OK. Here is a commercial I did 2 or so years ago and the water part was recorded with a sm57 in rubbers.

CrewC

 

[studiomprd]

" What do you suggest i do to save my sm58 now? "

dry it out.

[Rick Reineke]

 Let it thoroughly dry out like other gear that gets wet... in a bag of rice..ect. It will likely work again, they are pretty freak'n rugged. Email Shure and ask them. If it was salt water, that's another story. In a worst case scenario Shure repairs their mics no matter what at an affordable fixed rate..  used to be $55 for 57/58s.

[dominiquegreffard]

Ok great, Thanks for the advices guys. I will try the rice technique. Cheers!

[Geoff Tirrell]

had an engineer a few years ago suggest a rubbing or denatured alcohol bath first to clean off the bits from anything that might cause corrosion either way it may still not work.  Had I seen this earlier I would have warned you not to go more than a foot or so deep under that arrangement.  The problem is pressure builds really quick under water and even with bands the internal air volume of the mic will be shrinking (compressed until either water finds its way in or something crushes and fails.

 

Try this if you are curious and use the psi setting for the pressure reading if you can't translate bar or the other readings.

http://www.calctool.org/CALC/other/games/depth_press 

[Richard Thomas]

[studiomprd]

"The mic got all wet "

Bill production for L+D

[TJ Walkup]

I did a search and ended up here on the dark web apparently. lol