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Everyone earplugged at practice: how ******** is that?

#41
megadan said:
We want to know exactly how we will sound at a show, so we practice at or near stage volume levels. You can practice quiet all day, then when you show up to a show, and suddenly you have ringing feedback during the quiet parts, or the bass is overwhelming the keyboard, or the drums are too loud... oops. Could have been avoided with a good practice.
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Uh, no....it could have been prevented all right, but with a few seconds of loud testing during practice - not an ENTIRE practice at high volume.

I get it. I enjoy playing loud; it's a kick in the butt. But it is NOT needed during your entire practice. And bands who play loud need to learn to practice at lower volumes. ;)
 
#42
Whether or not my band wears ear plugs during rehearsal really depends if the drummer is there or not. As does our amplifier volume.

If the drummer is not there, there's no reason to be loud at all and we turn down so that we can even talk normally without raising our voices at all.
 
#44
I use earplugs. Generally speaking, with an acoustic drum set, playing soft enough to not damage hearing gives an entirely different sound, and some things, such as crashing a crash cymbal, have no volume control.
 
#45
smeet said:
I won't go near a drum set without plugs any more. I have custom molded plugs that leave the high end intact. I would rather play without them, but it just takes one good cymbal crash to really hurt my ears and leave them ringing. My hearing is too important to me.
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Agreed 100%:bassist:

We play mostly small bars/clubs so we practice at around the same volume for our gigs, for us it is a best practice, and I ALWAYS wear plugs, I've met plenty of people who have damaged their hearing from not wearing them and I DO NOT want to end up like that.
 
#46
Kink Rimson said:
I wear earplugs at rehearsal because our studio is on the small side, and we can't turn the drums down.

I must admit I'm struggling a little with this - In what way is it '********' to wear ear protection during rehearsal? Occassionally I forget to to take my earplugs, and I suffer for the next day or two...
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I'm thinking that he meant that it was stupid to turn everything up at practice, only to put in earplugs so that you don't hear too much of what YOU turned up.
 
#48
Drums provide a baseline- everybody else has to be at least loud enough to be heard along with (not over) the drums. By itself, a drum kit played in rock/pop style (i.e., not cocktail jazz) is more SPL than you want to be around for any length of time, so earplugs are a must for any live music if you're around it a lot.

Hearing damage is cumulative- going to a bar once every week or two to see a band won't do much damage, but for musicians who are around it every day the exposure racks up fast. It's not stupid to wear 'plugs at practice, it's smart. What's stupid is everybody wearing earplugs, but turning up loud enough that it feels the same as not wearing them, defeating the entire purpose.

I've been an earplug believer for 20+ years. After spending that time playing music, running sound and shooting guns (usually not at the same time), my last hearing test was perfect.
 
#49
We all wear earplugs at my band's practices. It makes sense if you think about it: The drummer needs to be able to play as hard as he does in a live environment for the sake of consistancy, and there are certain things on guitar that are really hard to emulate without having a raging tube amp behind you.

Get a decent pair of ear plugs and you should be fine. I use a $15 pair of Hearos "Hi-Fi" ear plugs that I've had for maybe four years, and they work great. They cut pretty evenly across the board, with maybe a little bit of extra muffling in the extreme highs, which are always the ones that seem to hurt the worst.
 
#50
Cabazon said:
I use earplugs. Generally speaking, with an acoustic drum set, playing soft enough to not damage hearing gives an entirely different sound, and some things, such as crashing a crash cymbal, have no volume control.
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Ashdharma said:
Agreed 100%:bassist:

We play mostly small bars/clubs so we practice at around the same volume for our gigs, for us it is a best practice, and I ALWAYS wear plugs, I've met plenty of people who have damaged their hearing from not wearing them and I DO NOT want to end up like that.
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Beyer160 said:
Drums provide a baseline- everybody else has to be at least loud enough to be heard along with (not over) the drums. By itself, a drum kit played in rock/pop style (i.e., not cocktail jazz) is more SPL than you want to be around for any length of time, so earplugs are a must for any live music if you're around it a lot.
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bassman1185 said:
We all wear earplugs at my band's practices. It makes sense if you think about it: The drummer needs to be able to play as hard as he does in a live environment for the sake of consistancy, and there are certain things on guitar that are really hard to emulate without having a raging tube amp behind you.
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Thank you.

I think it is not stupid to wear earplugs at practice. Sorry.
 
#51
If you really want to fine-tune your playing, my advice is to have an occasional acoustic practice. Leave the drummer out, and play acoustic guitars and bass. You will find that you are able to be much more musically accurate and can hear nuances of the music when you're not playing through amplifiers. I have an acoustic/electric bass for practice and for this purpose.

You can always add the amps back in later.
 
#53
Aside from when we play acoustically, I always wear ear plugs. It's good practice, just like safe sex.

It's a fact of life that drummers often hit their kit loudly and with all the fuzz and distortion that's going around, i would see it as stupid NOT to wear protection.

Having said that, and not be a hypocrite, I very rarely wear them live. I like to be able to hear EVERYTHING during my bands set, although they're straight back in my ears for the other bands.
 
#56
Sartori said:
Whether or not my band wears ear plugs during rehearsal really depends if the drummer is there or not. As does our amplifier volume.

If the drummer is not there, there's no reason to be loud at all and we turn down so that we can even talk normally without raising our voices at all.
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Same. I have musicians plugs and I only need 'em when the drummer is there. We have a fairly large acoustically treated space, but the drums are still loud, regardless of how lightly he plays them. It's enough to where we have to turn up to be heard with them. Factor in the relatively loud horns, and it's enough to get your ears ringing even after a "light" session. Myself, the drummer, and the horn player all wear earplugs. The guitarist is half deaf so he doesn't.

Some bands play loud, big effing deal. Calling them "********" because they have the wherewithal to protect their hearing while they're bashing the crap out of their instruments is ignorant and short sighted.
 
#60
BigOldHarry said:
some folks just cling to the notion that turning down is somehow bad... Particularly drummers. If a drummer can't play quietly, he's not much of a drummer.
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While it's true that a drummer should have a good degree of dynamic control, drums do sound entirely different when played softer, not just volume-wise. It doesn't work for a lot of music. I used to try playing some black metal drumming with my brother, years ago, and he had a rather tiny amp. I had to play soft, and it sounded miserably weak. I recently let him borrow a better guitar amp that somehow landed in my care, I can play louder, and it sounds wonderful (as far as guitar+drum black metal goes)
 

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