Double Bass Horrible gigs where you can't hear a thing.

[Bruce Calin]

There's "can't hear myself" and there's "too damn loud, hearing damage incoming". I don't tolerate the latter. If I get stuck with Bashy McBash the drummer, or Twiddles McNoodle the delusions-of-grandeur lead guitar player, or Wall O'Sound the rock and roll sound man who isn't able to understand that you do different things for a stadium audience of 10,000 versus 100 people 80+ years old at the local Senior Center (and the second one is this gig) - I no longer tolerate it, I no longer grit my teeth and continue. First, out come the brightly colored ear plugs. If that's not enough, out come the brightly colored shooting muffs. I don't care if it looks weird. One gig versus the rest of my life with more of the little hair cells broken off? Easy choice.

I had a scary ear infection several years ago that made me very aware of volume levels and the judicious use of ear protection. Playing with people who seem to need what I consider excessive volume to be comfortable hearing themselves can bring on the need for countermeasures of various types. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. That's when the earplugs make their obvious appearance. We bassists find ourselves in so many different playing circumstances and volume levels that we need to be ready for anything.

 

[MuseChaser]

An anecdote...

I was at a rehearsal yesterday with a latin/afro-cuban band that I've played with for several years. A great group, currently consisting of myself on piano, a fabulous electric bassist who is extremely tasteful volume-wise (the only thing we've ever had to ask him is to turn UP just a bit), a set drummer who is equally tasteful, a percussionist, and a sax/flute player. As primarily a jazz pianist working duos to quintet gigs, it's one of the louder bands I play with, but still primarily acoustic loudness and never loud for the sake of loud. The excitement comes from the players, the tightness, and the charts.

Well, for this concert (tomorrow night), the leader invited a guitarist to join us and he played at the rehearsal. Before I go further (and in case he's reading), I had never met him before, but he was an excellent player..great time, ideas, played our charts great, had done his homework...no complaints about any of that at all. BUT...he played louder than our entire band, and there was absolutely NO need for it. I left rehearsal to go out to my car and retrieve my earplugs (which I hate using...I simply can't play as well or as sensitively with them in) and used them for the rest of the rehearsal.

In addition to basic "too loud," there's something especially excruciating to me about amplified and distortion "too loud" bass and guitar. I just hate it. It's painful, ugly, and unnecessary. I've played in professional orchestras all of my adult life, and there's some serious volume there, too, but it ain't the same visceral assault on well-being for some reason. Perhaps because humans can only achieve acoustic extreme volume through sheer physical effort, so we tend to conserve that ability. When it's just a matter of twisting a knob...well....then it's assault in my view.

 

[Peter Wood]

Quick update... the whole band have agreed that the gig was a disaster and the venue's last chance. We'll be avoiding the venue in future. I guess it's just one of those situations where you do everything to try and recover a bad situation and fail. That's the hit and miss nature of gigs and we're open minded coz getting gigs is a struggle for the band ATM. Lots of duo work, but not much band work.

In other news, I tried out and am buying a PJB Earbox. I used it at rehearsal the other day and was blown away by helpful it was (after I turned my treble up from 0 to 5. Lol. I know, right?). So that's a good solution for hearing better at future gigs.

Seems like Ron has taken it to the next level...