Our friends at Royer Labs have a bulletin on their website indicating that, if you use one of those ozone-generating machines in your studio to clean the air, you may actually be endangering some of your audio gear, including microphones. The problem is that ozone attacks natural and synthetic rubber – and rubber is used in mic capsules, in shockmounts, in the drive mechanisms for CD players and changers, tape recorders, and video recorders, and in the casings of many cables.

The phenomenon is known as “ozone cracking,” and results from a reaction known as “ozonolysis,” where the ozone molecule breaks the double bond in the rubber polymer, resulting in a weakening of the material.