Apr 05, 2007 02:13 pm I rarely used anything when I was gigging actively.
What are you using for hearing protection?
Posted on Apr 05, 2007 02:03 pm
BeerHunter
www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member Since: Feb 07, 2005
I bought some musician earplugs from Etymotic Research. These earplugs reduce the overall sound by about 25db. I love these things. You can here perfectly well only no ringing in my ears afterwards.
Anyways, just curious to what the rest of you use.... please tell me that you use SOMETHING.
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Apr 05, 2007 02:13 pm I rarely used anything when I was gigging actively.
Apr 05, 2007 02:17 pm last week i was stuck in a tiny noisy practise room with a band i've been doing some work with and i was a bit dismayed to see everyone putting in earplugs and stuff before they started playing - including the girlfriends/hangers on. i didnt have any (i didnt know they were gonna be so loud that you could see the windows shake) so i put my hat on, which didnt really work
moral : dont just buy a wooley hat to protect your ears. except from the cold
Apr 05, 2007 02:29 pm Quote:
I rarely used anything when I was gigging actively.
I've read quite a bit about this subject in the recent weeks. Apparently some people are affected more than others.
Recently the sound levels have really been bothering me. My workstation (guitar rig) is really close to the snare drum. My ears are probably only about 3 feet away. It was getting to a point where I could hardly handle it anymore. Maybe it is age but regardless it is so much more comfortable for me using hearing protection.
My last hearing test showed "early warning" which is another reason for my concern now.
Apr 05, 2007 02:39 pm I always wore protection when I was working security at very large shows, standing right in front of thousands of watts, but practice space and my little gigs I never did...should have at First Avenue though...jeezuz that place is f-in loud.
Apr 05, 2007 02:58 pm when i go to larg loud shows i wear the tripple fange (sp) that i get issued from working on the flightline. while i was gigging i rarly wore any. I don't use any now because all i do is studio work and don't listen to music that loud. i'm so rock n roll.
Apr 05, 2007 04:57 pm i keep earplugs on my keychain and i use 'em quite often basically anytime i'm around loud ****, i also keep a fresh spare pair in my car (always a lady impresser when gooin' out to see shows), i just use disposable ones, but i get 'em free, my best friend has those custom fit ones that don't muddy up the highs, he says they're f'n awsome.
Apr 05, 2007 05:09 pm beerhunter, are yours the kind that look (to me) like plastic instead of foam? i have only seen these in passing. they looked uncomfortable. but foam ones block too much sound. how do yours work as opposed to foam?
what is triple fange?
WYD: can you explain your keychain setup? i am going to have to do that myself. i got permanent tinnitus at a ministry concert a few years back as some here might remember (girl screaming, not the band--thankfully it is mild enough that i no longer notice it). but i am going to need to do the keychain thing. here is why i need the keychain setup:
last october i was at a club/bar wearing toilet paper earplugs. to keep the story short: someone asks a question. i reinsert plug. something wrong. ear canal, too deep. failed attempt in men's room to remove plug with borrowed knife/tweezers (laughter all around). run up the hill to emergency room, wait for two hours. extracted.
yes, i'd like to avoid the TP in the future!
Apr 05, 2007 05:10 pm OH hey, who makes your friends custom ones? the 'highs' thing is the hardest thing about plugs, and is an argument for using TP actually, i think. i'd buy the customs.
Apr 05, 2007 05:14 pm Ask Pete Townshend about it. He'll say, "What? Huh? What?"
Seriously, I wish I'd thought more about protection when I was actively gigging/teching. I'd be so much better off now. I use those little "roll 'em up, and twist 'em in" type these days.
Apr 05, 2007 05:50 pm I got myself these ones with clear stems www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx
They are very soft and comfortable. No problems there. It was a bit strange at first. They sort of sound like you are wearing headphones. Your own voice is still heard in your head like the foam ones but you can hear clearly... kind of strange. They reduce all frequencies by around 20-25 db. Another strange thing is that you can talk normally with loud noises going on. It is kind of hard to explain. All I know is that after you wear them for an hour or so and take them off you really notice how much the noise had been reduced. I feel that these are the next best thing to form fitted in-ear monitors. Right now I'm trying to source some through work. Hopefully I can get a better deal. It ended up costing me $25/pr to get them to me in Canada. You fella's in the US can pick them up for 1/2 that.
Apr 05, 2007 06:12 pm i'll have to ask my bud about where he got him, he had to go get a mold of his ear and everything for them, they're pretty expensive...
as for the keychain, i got it at the Florida Music Fesstival (FMF) in downtown orlando, my band was playin' there and they were handin' out these 'earplug cases' that had the little keychain 'chain' type thing (think of a good-luck rabits foot) gosh, these things are hard to explain...they got little balls, then at the end there's a 'socket'...damn i donno, i think you know what i mean...anyway yeah they were free, and i just get new (disposable) earplugs whenever i need 'em. i re-use them several times before throwin' them away (usually when they get real funky)....any kind of 'case' that you can attach to your keychain will work...it's kinda bulky but i've never regreted havin' it. infact i love it.
Apr 05, 2007 06:16 pm wyd, the ones I got have a key chain. Check out the link, is that the sort of thing you are talking about. I just leave mine in the jam room but actually I should cart them around everywhere. Especially to NAMM next year.
Apr 05, 2007 06:57 pm yeah i know the cases. actually i have one somewhere; forgot about that. ISIS was giving them out at their shows. i think for free. lol. gotta dig that case up.
but these 12 dollar plugs look great. IF a 20 db reduction is enough. hard to gauge if that's enough...
Apr 05, 2007 07:29 pm Well according to the literature and such. We are around 100 db loud when we play. I have confirmed this with a meter. A 20 db reduction ends up being 80 db which with protection you can be safely exposed for about 2 hours (uninterupted)without causing damage. We always take a break after every hour.
We are quite loud and play in a smaller type room. My ears were always ringing afterwards. Not any more.
Apr 06, 2007 09:31 pm I bought some of those earplugs that reduce the volume not the frequencies and they do work but they stick out and made me look like tinkie winkie from the tele tubbies.The band was very loud, when I saw people suffering and discreetly covering their ears, the rest of the band found it funny,so I left.Now it's great playing at good levels without scratching cochlea volumes.
Apr 07, 2007 07:07 am I wear none, and as a result have pretty bad tinnitus and hearing loss. Doesn't help that hearing loss seems to run in my family (my mom is deaf and my brother is close to it). But I already know sign language so I guess it's okey. haha. When i go to extremely loud shows I will sometimes put a wad of toilet paper or something of the like in my ears. I have walked out of shows deafened in one ear though, which I don't think is good. It always comes back, but now I have a constant ringing. Actually I've had it since I was a kid.
Apr 13, 2007 09:21 pm I have custom ones made by Starky Labs. They do the same thing with the highs as well. Very full sound and now sooshing effect like you get with some of them. I never wore any hearing protection either, but then again I started playing before many of you were born. And even in my later live years no one wore them at all except for maybe the rigging guys who were exposed to full on blasts at close range. As well PEM's were just starting to become used when I gave up the live gigs.
Apr 14, 2007 04:06 pm I've got tinnitus, and I'm almost positive its from loud music (specifically rock shows in the '70's -- Ted Nugent, Foghat, etc.). I
strongly advise hearing protection for any activity where noise is a problem--there are plenty of near-deaf carpenters and painters. When
I was young and my ears actually buzzed from very
loud music, I just figured the deafness and ringing the next day were temporary--and they were, but after a certain time they became permanent, and its something that sneaks up on you. Get ear plugs, and use them, whether your
cutting wood or listening to music.
Apr 14, 2007 05:07 pm Man, I played in really LOUD bands for years, and I still have amazing hearing. Always used ear protection. For a short time I used cigarette filters in my ears, until I looked in the mirror and realized how retarded I looked with them sticking outa there. Wore headphones for a few years; that was the best, and I always kept the volume reasonable. Cymbals are the worst.
Apr 14, 2007 10:42 pm I use some cheap yellow AO Safety reusable plugs from the hardware store that look like the ones BeerHunter linked to, but without the fancy stems. Actually, they had pretty long stems (yellow rubber like the rest of the plug) on them initially, and I just cut them off so they wouldn't look stupid. It didn't change the sound. They're nice because you can pull them out a bit and kind of adjust how much you're reducing the volume. Initially I would wear plugs off and on while playing. I'm mainly a drummer and nowadays I wear them all the time. I have a pretty low volume-pain threshold, and I think I'd probably be deaf if I didn't. I'm 20 now, so it's probably good that I've started wearing hearing protection as early as I have, especially wanting to be a mixing engineer and all.
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