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HELP!!!! stage Volume.

#21
So Anyway, regards and best wishes to the OP. The band may be important, but not at the expense of your hearing or health. Might be time to find some players more sympathetic to stage volume.
I gave up playing with loud musicians/bands years ago and my musical journey has been much better for it.

I worked with a guitarist who wore hearing aids. He before he left the band, he was always complaining of things 'not sounding right'. He would sometimes solo a half-note off and would really struggle with his playing. He might have had the same condition.
 
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#22
I’ve played on a a few loud stages and next to ground stacked subs that are fun to stand on for about 5sec until you start wondering if you’re destroying your knees from the vibrations. So difficult to play good bass guitar when every note and kick/snare is going right through you - impossible to play with any sensitivity or even a know if you’re playing the right key or a semi-tone out. Don’t enjoy.

‘Fortunately’ the vast majority of stages I perform on are quite small!
 
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#23
I had same issue like you when I started using IEM about 4 years ago. I quickly recognised it's related to ear fatigue, as it shows up late in the gig. Solution was simple, I ensured my IEM are tight fit for max isolation from stage noise, and just reduced IEM preamp volume to what is nice and enjoyable. As low as I can go and still hear everything. That solved my problem completely, no "double vision" in my hearing, no ears ringing.
Now it doesn't matter how loud stage is. Sometimes during the song I will wiggle one IEM out (the one opposed to drummer, of course) and often get a shock at how loud it's outside. Then I quickly shove that earpiece back in and injoy my isolated monitoring.
Honestly, I could never go back to playing on a loud stage, ever.
 
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#24
mcnach said:
Yeah, I don't get the no IEM, given that the sound onstage is likely to be louder and not under your control. If I understood correctly the main issue is loudness.

I would probably look into closed headphones with good isolation, and feed a monitor mix to them. If the isolation is good, you can get a relatively quiet experience. There are some designed for drummers that at least on paper should provide a great deal of attenuation.
Click to expand...

I got a set of these for my son who plays drums:
Vic Firth Headphones

He finds them a bit uncomfortable as they're very tight, but the noise reduction is impressive. I've got custom mould IEM's and used ER20's for years before that. The cut is significantly more than anything else I've ever tried.

I'd agree that the first priority is to block out as much external sound as possible, and the introduce back as little as possiblele. I run my IEMs nice and quiet. However the singer I work with has blown the drivers on multiple IEM's - I think he's trying recreate the feel of stage volume in his ears! If used properly IEM's should be protecting you.
 
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#25
RattleSnack said:
I had same issue like you when I started using IEM about 4 years ago. I quickly recognised it's related to ear fatigue, as it shows up late in the gig. Solution was simple, I ensured my IEM are tight fit for max isolation from stage noise, and just reduced IEM preamp volume to what is nice and enjoyable. As low as I can go and still hear everything. That solved my problem completely, no "double vision" in my hearing, no ears ringing.
Now it doesn't matter how loud stage is. Sometimes during the song I will wiggle one IEM out (the one opposed to drummer, of course) and often get a shock at how loud it's outside. Then I quickly shove that earpiece back in and injoy my isolated monitoring.
Honestly, I could never go back to playing on a loud stage, ever.
Click to expand...
Exactly what you say. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I hate not being "Isolated" with IEM. IT IS TOO LOUD ON STAGE without it.
 
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#27
Did Pat Travers several years back.. Drum monitor was a very powerful powered 18 and a line array cab. All those years of Pat's stacks ... he was pretty much deaf. Honestly, that is not a playing environment I would last in... If the guy leading doesn't care about the health challenge he is presenting to his band mates. i don't care how good the band is. It isn't worth my hearing.
 
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#29
sean_on_bass said:
i mean, can everyone just try to manage their stage volume? it's a team effort to get a good stage sound. a drummer needing both a sub and a regular monitor is literally ridiculous.
Click to expand...
100% !! It can be really infuriating for sure.. Regardless which band I'm playing in, the best live shows are the ones where we let the sound guy do his job out front while we handle things at a moderate volume on stage. Hands down those are always the best shows.

Recently, the 7-piece I play in did a show in a larger room, but on a smaller stage. So much so that 2 of our guys were on the floor in front. Some of us are 100% EIMs, some one-ear-in-one-out (like me), and there's still one guy (guitarist) who doesn't use them at all. On this date the drummer couldn't hear, and frankly I think he has a hearing issue when there's no music happening at all anyway. So what does he do to compensate his lack of being able to hear?.. Well here comes some genius Drummer Logic for you: "Gee, if I can't hear the band, let alone myself within the band, than in order to fix this I should.... play louder! Yeah, that's it!!" Needless to say, the rest of the band struggled all night, thanks in great part to him.

I swear, drummers are the bane of my existence. On rare occassion when I get to play with a really good one, I just want to cry and propose marriage..
 
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#31
One of the worst shows I ever mixed as a sound tech was doing a one nighter for a well know NW garage/psych band with 3 guitar players and 4 vocal mics across the front of the stage. Each guitar player had a twin, AC30, halfstack, DIMED. They sang quietly and, of course, wanted huge monitor volume. Basically the guitars were louder at the mics than the singers. They would go to their mics pretty randomly so you couldn't mute unused mics safely....

They basically bitched the whole set. I've worked a lot of weak singers in loud bands and have trix to make that work, but this was a real no-win from the start.

I was popular with rock bands because I really never asked people to turn down. If they said "Am I too loud, should I turn down?" If they thought to ask they probably were at least trying to sound good. I'd say something like "Since you are asking it will probably be fine - just do what works for you in rehearsal" (our stage was pretty soft-sided, room was acoustically good).
 
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#32
In you video, it plays an example of a person hearing different pitches in each ear for the same sound source. Is this what you have? One ear hears at correct pitch, the other hears at a transposed pitch? Is one ear correct? Or are both ears transposed?
Do you hear ok when at home playing quietly by yourself? This is more foundational issue than simple stage volume.

On the other subject of stage volume, the band mates simple need to turn the volume knobs down. Ego is preventing that.
 
#34
Pep said:
You need polycarbonate walls around the drummer, no exception. Elevate your cab so you can hear it clearly. That way your volume will drop considerably.
Click to expand...

This. I get your problem...when I'm exposed to loud music, I start to hear many different musical notes that are not coming from the band. My ears/brain just start misfiring, and it sounds like someone else is playing random notes in mid-to-high frequencies along with the music. Freaked me out at first.

I've only very rarely worn in-ears, as I do not like the (perceived) isolation when using them. I believe that my problem is mostly from cymbal crashes, as I'm usually fairly close to the drummer. I've been able to put a foam hearing protector in the ear facing the drum kit, and that has helped attenuate the drums/cymbals and still allow me to hear the sound on the stage with the other ear. It helps with hearing my vocals better, too.
 
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#36
Yay, I'm all sorts of paranoid about hearing damage, after reading this thread.

I have my first live gig coming up, and I'm not entirely sure what is the best way to protect my hearing.

I wear Hearos Rock'n'Roll (triple-flanged silicone, 27 dB NRR) for rehearsals of our trio (me, guitarist/vocalist, drummer). According to calibrated mic + smartphone app, we usually sit around 80-85 dB when playing, with occasional spikes to as much as 90 dB. The plugs stay in until we're done playing.

I can't hear what I and the rest "really" sound like, but it's good enough. Better than foam earplugs, which make everything muffled.

I don't wear hearing protection when practicing at home. Rather I keep the combined volume (my bass + backing track if any) down around 60 dB. For me that's plenty.

We have our first live show coming up in few weeks. Are the silicone plugs going to be enough? Time for the foamies?

I bought one of these:

www.ohrlabs.com

Ohr-1 Decibel Meter

Ohr-1: The decibel Meter built for musicians. Precision engineering and high-accuracy monitoring in the palm of your hand. Designed for everyday, continuous use wherever may you take it. The Ohr-1 continuously monitors the sound level in a space, and uses a multi-colour display to alert you when...
www.ohrlabs.com www.ohrlabs.com

to monitor our volume level.

If the gig volume level is dangerously high, and no one wants to turn it down, I'll walk faster than you can say "This one goes to 11."

I'm fine with being "isolated" by either passive earplugs, or IEMs in both ears. Beats losing more hearing, getting more tinnitus, or other hearing wackiness.

What else can I do to protect myself?

Do I need to figure out IEMs ASAP?
 
#37
Deleted member 409896 said:
Yay, I'm all sorts of paranoid about hearing damage, after reading this thread.

I have my first live gig coming up, and I'm not entirely sure what is the best way to protect my hearing.

I wear Hearos Rock'n'Roll (triple-flanged silicone, 27 dB NRR) for rehearsals of our trio (me, guitarist/vocalist, drummer). According to calibrated mic + smartphone app, we usually sit around 80-85 dB when playing, with occasional spikes to as much as 90 dB. The plugs stay in until we're done playing.

I can't hear what I and the rest "really" sound like, but it's good enough. Better than foam earplugs, which make everything muffled.

I don't wear hearing protection when practicing at home. Rather I keep the combined volume (my bass + backing track if any) down around 60 dB. For me that's plenty.

We have our first live show coming up in few weeks. Are the silicone plugs going to be enough? Time for the foamies?

I bought one of these:

www.ohrlabs.com

Ohr-1 Decibel Meter

Ohr-1: The decibel Meter built for musicians. Precision engineering and high-accuracy monitoring in the palm of your hand. Designed for everyday, continuous use wherever may you take it. The Ohr-1 continuously monitors the sound level in a space, and uses a multi-colour display to alert you when...
www.ohrlabs.com www.ohrlabs.com

to monitor our volume level.

If the gig volume level is dangerously high, and no one wants to turn it down, I'll walk faster than you can say "This one goes to 11."

I'm fine with being "isolated" by either passive earplugs, or IEMs in both ears. Beats losing more hearing, getting more tinnitus, or other hearing wackiness.

What else can I do to protect myself?

Do I need to figure out IEMs ASAP?
Click to expand...
Continue wearing what you have and you should be good.
 
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