hearing loss

[Trevoire520]

custom molded earplugs were the best purchase I've ever made as a live sound engineer... you gotta protect what enables you to do the job in the first place

This.

Got some for £160. Great sound quality. Use them for any gig I go to whether it's playing, watching or mixing.

 

[Mago]

I used earplugs for 95% of my band's rehearsals until now I think...at least since we have real drums and halfstacks
But I don't put them in when playing gigs, mostly because we don't play that often (maybe 6 times a year) and I want to hear what's going on while playing.
Would put them in If we gigged more often though.

I Tty to visit concerts with plugs everytime now...but about half of the times I forget them at home^^
Also dont put them in on festivals...but usually I'm never close to the stage/speakers at festivals (drunk somewhere int he back)

What pisses me of is that I track 100% of the times with headphones (6h+ sessions) and I also mix a lot with them (cant turn ont he monitors all the time)...some days I turn them on quite loud, that's the only thing that concerns me...never really hear a "ring" or noise, but my ears just feel coated...bleah.
But thankfully at least most of my mp3 players were fucked after a short time, so I never listen that much or loud to them

 

[Harry Hughes]

I played drums for like a year and a half without any protection, but since then I've been quite careful about my hearing. I don't wear earplugs at concerts (mainly cos I can't find any that fit well enough, for cheap), but I don't go to them often at all.

I used to jam in band situations without ear plugs too for a few months, definitely could not have been healthy.

Get custom molded ear plugs dude.
You may not go to gigs often, but every gig you DO go to is damaging your hearing. 200 or so bucks for custom molded ear plugs might seem expensive initially, but let's say, you go to only 2-3 gigs a year, for the next 20 years
That's A LOT of hearing damage you're doing to yourself, and it's not worth it.
Get some ear plugs for the gigs.

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

But I don't put them in when playing gigs, mostly because we don't play that often ... and I want to hear what's going on while playing.

I hear stuff like this all the time, and it's such a ridiculous statement. With decent earplugs you take the power out of the subs and really high stuff, so all you lose is the rumble and woof from the bass/guitars and the painful parts of the cymbal sizzle - both of which make things much clearer. Plus if you spend 2 minutes actually looking around, most earplugs meant for musicians are designed to reduce volume and don't make a huge difference to the sound.

Instead, everyone buys things meant for like people on night-shift trying to sleep during the day, or who work in noisy environments etc. that just block out everything in a completely non-discriminate way - which is totally inappropriate in this case.

I also find it really stupid when people say they can't find anything good cheap. You spend money on a guitar to get one that sounds good - same goes with amps, recording gear, your stereo, etc. - but you're not willing to spend the money protecting the one thing you actually need for all that gear to sound like anything. Despite all the bad-ass stuff medicine can do now, it still can't fix tinnitus and it's still pretty poor at repairing hearing damage. Hearing deteriorates as you get older anyway; if you really love music, you should start protecting your ears now so you can still enjoy it when you're older.

Steve

 

[iHate]

Yep, my ears are fucked.

But my eyes are also fucked. My back is also fucked. My knees are fucked. My skin is fucked. At the ripe age of 20, feel like im about to die.

I cannot stand it guys, its always there, I can hardly watch TV at night without waking people up. Then again, I can't watch tv without glasses so fuck it.

I think producing has actually done me in, I do all my shit on headphones and I always end up getting too loud before I can notice 3 hours later when my ears fucking hurt. Also the subs in my car ruin me.

I will be deaf, blind, and crippled by the time im 30 if I keep it up.

 

[Mago]

I hear stuff like this all the time, and it's such a ridiculous statement. With decent earplugs you take the power out of the subs and really high stuff, so all you lose is the rumble and woof from the bass/guitars and the painful parts of the cymbal sizzle - both of which make things much clearer. Plus if you spend 2 minutes actually looking around, most earplugs meant for musicians are designed to reduce volume and don't make a huge difference to the sound.

Instead, everyone buys things meant for like people on night-shift trying to sleep during the day, or who work in noisy environments etc. that just block out everything in a completely non-discriminate way - which is totally inappropriate in this case.

I also find it really stupid when people say they can't find anything good cheap. You spend money on a guitar to get one that sounds good - same goes with amps, recording gear, your stereo, etc. - but you're not willing to spend the money protecting the one thing you actually need for all that gear to sound like anything. Despite all the bad-ass stuff medicine can do now, it still can't fix tinnitus and it's still pretty poor at repairing hearing damage. Hearing deteriorates as you get older anyway; if you really love music, you should start protecting your ears now so you can still enjoy it when you're older.

Steve

I know that dude, and I agree 100% with what you say.
When I said I want to hear what's going on while playing (I guess that's the ridiculous statement you ment) I ment the following:
I have yet to come across ear protection that reduces the volume BUT isn't anoying when doing vocals (I also do those), you know what I mean?

I'm willed to spend more money on decent ear protection, but I havent found something that avoinds the strange effect you get when you sing and have something in your ear.
In ears seems to be the best solution, but isn't worth the trouble for most venues we play.
So if there's some protection designed for musicians that prevent such effects, I'd be glad if you recommend me some
Edit: nevermind, seems I've found something that I haven seen be for that I have to try out

 

[Harry Hughes]

I know that dude, and I agree 100% with what you say.
When I said I want to hear what's going on while playing (I guess that's the ridiculous statement you ment) I ment the following:
I have yet to come across ear protection that reduces the volume BUT isn't anoying when doing vocals (I also do those), you know what I mean?

I'm willed to spend more money on decent ear protection, but I havent found something that avoinds the strange effect you get when you sing and have something in your ear.
In ears seems to be the best solution, but isn't worth the trouble for most venues we play.
So if there's some protection designed for musicians that prevent such effects, I'd be glad if you recommend me some

To be honest, that odd effect you feel when you sing and have something in your ear...............well I think that (ear plugs in your ear) is a WAY better option than not having that weird feeling but going deaf while doing so.
Even though I don't sing at all, ear plugs feel a bit weird in my ears, but fuck it, I'd rather feel weird in the ears for 1-2 hours than have hearing damage that's permanent.

 

[Mago]

To be honest, that odd effect you feel when you sing and have something in your ear...............well I think that (ear plugs in your ear) is a WAY better option than not having that weird feeling but going deaf while doing so.
Even though I don't sing at all, ear plugs feel a bit weird in my ears, but fuck it, I'd rather feel weird in the ears for 1-2 hours than have hearing damage that's permanent.

I can live with the feeling of something beeing in my ear, but a muffled voice inside the head covering everything else up can be quite annoying at times

I also have the dumb though that since I always have them in during rehearsals, at least for the gigs I go without (kinda the same as smoking, you know it harms you but you do it anyway...at least I did )

But yeah, solving this problem and getting decent protection is on my to do list a long time now. For the next gigs I planned to bite the bullet and use the same protection I use for rehearsals. mostly because I don't want to be inable to mix for a few days after the gig.

 

[Madhu]

Guys, what do you think about these? I might get a pair of those.

http://www.radians.com/main/p-282-radians-custom-molded-earplugs.aspx

 

[Seth Munson]

I played two shows at two different venues yesterday. would not have been able to hear the second show without plugs in at the first.

I never go anywhere without my plugs, never know when its going to get loud and tbh ever since I starting recording bands loud music just hurts my head. (and the plugs takes out that annoying high end that most FOH dont take out of the mix, I enjoy actually hearing what the band is playing)

 

[brianhood]

luckily my mom always bugged me about wearing ear plugs ever since i started playing shows in high school, so by the time i was touring full time, i wore earplugs anytime i practiced drums, attended a show, played a show, or even sat at the merch table(if it was in the same room as the stage).

Ever since then, it seems my ears are really sensitive to loud stuff, so i never listen to loud music in my car.

 

[DeclanWhite]

^

well.. ive used shitty free earplugs for as long as i can remember whilst playing drums.. mainly cos it sounds compressed and eq'd to me haha WIN

 

[DeclanWhite]

also, i can't listen to music loud at all.. i have extremely sensitive ears.. some peoples laughing hurts

 

[muckypup1]

Yep, my ears are fucked.

But my eyes are also fucked. My back is also fucked. My knees are fucked. My skin is fucked. At the ripe age of 20, feel like im about to die.

I cannot stand it guys, its always there, I can hardly watch TV at night without waking people up. Then again, I can't watch tv without glasses so fuck it.

I think producing has actually done me in, I do all my shit on headphones and I always end up getting too loud before I can notice 3 hours later when my ears fucking hurt. Also the subs in my car ruin me.

I will be deaf, blind, and crippled by the time im 30 if I keep it up.

All that and your only 20?!?! Man that must suck, I've only got fucked ears and knees haha

 

[Full_Tilt]

I can live with the feeling of something beeing in my ear, but a muffled voice inside the head covering everything else up can be quite annoying at times

I also have the dumb though that since I always have them in during rehearsals, at least for the gigs I go without (kinda the same as smoking, you know it harms you but you do it anyway...at least I did )

But yeah, solving this problem and getting decent protection is on my to do list a long time now. For the next gigs I planned to bite the bullet and use the same protection I use for rehearsals. mostly because I don't want to be inable to mix for a few days after the gig.

In ear monitoring cuts out most of the backline but obviously you need a good monitor guy who understands this whole concept on a pro level or you'll end up blasting fuck out of your ears in any case . TBH most of the damage is done in rehearsal rooms and not on stage . Most of the gigs ive done the stage is actually a pretty quiet place compared to out front. Or at least should be depending on how good the on stage monitoring is set up.