Ear Plugs

ChrisMusic

All it took was two days at the GB Guitar Show on theFB stand and several loosely associated live sessions.  That started the tinnitus in my left ear, and that's despite asking for advice on the need for earplugs.  I suppose at least it balances that in my right ear now, which is a token of appreciation from my past life.  Given what I was exposed to and working with back then, I am amazed I have any hearing at all.  I guess my old safety net of some chewed up paper stuffed in my ears wasn't as effective as I had thought.  It's is not bad tinnitus, thankfully, but it is bloody annoying, and a constant companion I could do without.

I thought I would post Boots web pages on these, to show how easily you can protect one of your most valuable assets as a musician.  I wish I had known sooner.  (that's becoming a bit of a mantra)

https://www.bootshearingcareshop.com/CATEGORY/NOISE_PROTECTION

https://www.bootshearingcareshop.com/PRODUCT/ACS_PACATO_UNIVERSAL_EAR_PLUG_PAIR

stickyfiddle

Bogwhoppit said:

Roland said:

If £120 for custom moulds sounds expensive compared with £10 for ER20s then divide the price by your remaining life expectancy (which is how long you want to maintain your hearing). You'll probably end up with less than a penny per day, which a pint of beer per year.

I'd be more than happy to pay £1000 for a set of custom moulds. In fact if I could turn the clock back prior to my hearing damage, I'd pay 90% of my budget on ear protection, and the rest on guitar, amp and FX.

In my case it took one gig out of 1000's to take out the hearing in my left ear and replace it with severe tinnitus.

Massive wisdom for this. 

I have a smidge of tinitus in both ears, and can pinpoint the exact weekend it went from barely there to "annoying when trying to sleep somewhere super-quiet". It was a 4 day stint where I had a 4 hour rehearsal and gigs on Friday and Saturday nights. Getting to sleep after the second gig was a nightmare. The following day I started looking at ACS stuff. 

£120 feels like a lot, but compare with how much you'd spend to get your hearing back if it got properly fucked... £120 is a bargain.

capo4th

Good call I keep mine next to my amp

Catthan

Second gig tonight with a pair of acs pacato after I started using plugs again and man does it sound weird.

It takes some getting used to. At the start I couldn't  hear my upper mids and that bugged but as the gig went on I settled to the sound. Took some bass off the amp which I hope was a good idea and I didn't fuck the crowd's ears. The bass was dialled in slightly higher for a reason initially as the room was super toppy.

Our bassman loves them as they filter out the highs and he hears himself better which helps him with his playing and he was able to change his touch so much that it was noticeable to me in the way he played. 

For me, other than clearing out the mix a bit, strictly gtr tone-wise I need to get used to them. don't know if the expensive moulds will be better in that area.

I don't know if I should dial in the high mids without them and hear a bit worst on stage wearing them or set the amp with them on and let the soundman work around the extra highs for the FOH..

although I usually don't need micing up. 

how do you guys do it? Set the tone with them on or off? 

yesterday we played in one of the NE's best sounding venues in the Gates Sagehead; a room that's acoustically designed for live music, and it was better but I won't be playing there or in places like this very often..

PermanentWaves

You know what I find preplexing is that here we all are talking about earplug to protect our hearing and yet the audience turn up with no protection. It feels wrong that we play at volumes that damage ear and we take precautions but let the audience suffer. Is it me?
 

stickyfiddle

PermanentWaves said:

You know what I find preplexing is that here we all are talking about earplug to protect our hearing and yet the audience turn up with no protection. It feels wrong that we play at volumes that damage ear and we take precautions but let the audience suffer. Is it me?
 

To an extent, but a) whenever I'm in the audience I bring my plugs in case it's too loud and b) the audience aren't usually standing 3 feet from a crash cymbal and 5 feet from a cooking valve amp!

John_P

stickyfiddle said:

PermanentWaves said:

You know what I find preplexing is that here we all are talking about earplug to protect our hearing and yet the audience turn up with no protection. It feels wrong that we play at volumes that damage ear and we take precautions but let the audience suffer. Is it me?
 

To an extent, but a) whenever I'm in the audience I bring my plugs in case it's too loud and b) the audience aren't usually standing 3 feet from a crash cymbal and 5 feet from a cooking valve amp!

Indeed - one of my bands isn't loud at all but the cymbals and snare really hurt if I don't wear plugs.   
I take plugs with me to gigs and at least two venues local to me have freebie foam earplugs for the audience.

Danny1969

And the audience propbably isn't going to 12 gigs a month or more