Ear Fatigue?

[gorath23]

I've been finding that after mixing sessions (say a session of 4-5 hours) I have bad ear fatigue. I don't think its the volume I mix at, normally I try and keep the monitors fairly quiet for the majority of the time. I particularly find high frequencies to be the problem area. For a couple of days after mixing, noises like metal on metal (a pan onto a stove hob for example, or worse cutlery, knives and forks etc) kinda hurt my ears. Anyone else have this, is it normal?

If I'm doing anything wrong, or endangering my hearing I want to remedy it now rather than when it becomes a real issue.

I think that some of the problem may be the HS80's as they are very 'forward' sounding. So I'd be particularly interested in other Yammy owners experiences.

 

[Ben Johnson]

Take a 10 minute break every hour or so. You're shooting yourself in the foot if you try mixing for several hours on end because your hearing does change significantly (although temporarily) after long exposure.

 

[gorath23]

Take a 10 minute break every hour or so. You're shooting yourself in the foot if you try mixing for several hours on end because your hearing does change significantly (although temporarily) after long exposure.

I do try and have regular breaks. Normally helps that I mix before and after lunch.

 

[beyond dead]

same here. ive got the same monitors, but i get fatigued even listening to music in the van for too long. mp3 player with earbuds are the worst! i can barely handle the noise at band practice or concerts anymore (ears are so sensitive), even with earplugs. maybe its because i think about ear fatigue more since becoming a wanna be engineer lol. before i never jammed with earplugs, hated them. so stupid lol

 

[AudioPhile777]

yeah, if you dont break every hour or so with the hs80s, you might as well stab your ear drums...

 

[LSD-Studio]

no problem on the O300

 

[seditz740novaprospect]

take a 10 min break every hour or so......


i find i get ear fatigued a lot faster during tracking sessions ,but i have also found out that probably 95 percent of my metal clients have some kind of hearing damage, and therefor always have to have it loud as shit when tracking that i were earplugs,and review takes at my level after they track the take......

this is also a pain in my ass when i am mixing attended sessions and they want it way up on the monitors the whole time..i am not about to damage my hearing my job depends on it .

 

[Black neon bob]

again.. a 10 minute break every hour indeed.

I often still make the mistake that i keep on mixing for 4-5 hours as well, you lose perspective and the your ears no longer translate the truth... it's no fun after such a session you find out the next day it's nowhere as good as you though it was the night before after that long session without breaks.

 

[ahjteam]

If you can't get yourself a 10 minute break every once in a while, start smoking. Seriously.



I noticed that when I was doing these highly intense 3 day demosessions in the studio for 6 months, we really had to do it so, that first we worked on the pre-recording stuff for like 2-3 hours like tuning drums, positioning mics etc (no major ear fatigue there, except on the second and third day when we listened what we did the days before), then short 10-20 min break, then 1-2 hours of recording, then 1 hour lunchbreak and then 2-3 sessions with 10-20 min breaks. Also when the "musicians" started to suck so badly that they just couldn't record anything decent, we had a break.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

If you can't get yourself a 10 minute break every once in a while, start smoking. Seriously.

Heh, exactly. When I'm mxing, I usually get so carried away that my biological nicotine clock is the only thing that reminds me to take a few minutes off every hour or two

 

[gorath23]

I'm thinking that I might buy a big table clock to sit in front of me on the desk! Otherwise I just find I forget to take breaks sometimes.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I'm thinking that I might buy a big table clock to sit in front of me on the desk! Otherwise I just find I forget to take breaks sometimes.

No no no, you can't settle with a normal clock. You need a STUDIO CLOCK: http://music-gifts.musiciansfriend.com/product/Musicians-Friend-Studio-Clock?sku=992041

 

[Metaltastic]

No no no, you can't settle with a normal clock. You need a STUDIO CLOCK: http://music-gifts.musiciansfriend.com/product/Musicians-Friend-Studio-Clock?sku=992041

Hahahahahahaha, I love one of the reviews for it:

I recently received this clock with the purchase of another item. This thing is awesome. I strapped a chain on it and played a show the other night with it hangin round my neck. It not only looked cool, it was also great because everyone knew what time it was. Last call was not an issue at the bar and nobody complained after the encore. Couldn't have been better! Flava Flave!

 

[ryanojohn]

Ahh the lost beauty of rewind time...

I have HS80s also, and they're a pleasure to mix on.

Current DAWs certainly lend to ear fatigue only 'cause there is no seek time whatsoever, you can just loop till infinity, and your ears never get a break.

I don't loop, and I leave 'rewind time' before doing passes, and I haven't had any issues of fatigue.

Certainly take lots of breaks, it'll keep you objective too...

 

[Aaron Smith]

For what it's worth, the audiologist I visited a few months ago told me that every six hours you should be taking a half hour break, but if you have any hearing damage then you should take the half hour break every four hours.

 

[gorath23]

Thanks for all the replies guys, its certainly been better recently. I imagine its better for the eyes also to take regular breaks from the screen.

 

[joeymusicguy]

i also recommend going to differently listening environments.

after mixing for a few hours, go outside. the simple abscence of walls around you will change your hearing perspective.

i also a/b other cd's just to clear my sense of eq. i'll play like, something really straight forward like foxy shazam in between messing with a death metal band. the insanely different production clears the ear "sensors".

i'll take a break, and watch tv (really different production sound), or take a walk, or go for a ride in the car (classical music radio station, or silence).

 

[-Noodles-]

I try and take breaks (usually tea) every 1h 30..

Then, I try and get outside with my tea.. (I would smoke if i could!) .. drink a lot of water while I'm mixing too.

Just really simple stuff,.. nothing too mad that's not been mentioned!

 

[Ermz]

I usually use the food breaks as my breaks away from listening. Usually when I'm at a session, we'll break for lunch and go out with the band after setting up. That way you get back and see whether you did anything wrong in the morning, fix it, move on and start tracking.

Our ears are far from perfect, so you have to do what works to change perspective and give yourself some breaks. What I tend to do when mixing is just solo the drum room mics and have a complete change of what's being fed in. Rather than all those hard comped direct mic sounds pounding at me, I just hear a dull, low-passed, roomy sound which puts me back in perspective. After that when I kick back into the full mix, I can almost always tell if I've gone overboard in a particular frequency range, or the amount of 'pop'.