how did musicians play live without hearing protection??

[bobyoung53]

They blew their ears out. Alex Van Halen is nearly deaf. I remember a lot of concerts in the 70's that were physically painful.to be at, the band was so loud. Im sure I have at least some hearing damage. The worst one I remember was Carlos Santana, mind-bendingly loud. Half the audience walked out. It was like somebody poking your eardrum with an icepick. Inexcusable.

I remember concerts like that and that godawful obnoxiously loud kick drum which hurt which I've always hated even though I love kick drum and play with it, but that's the sound person's fault not the band. I went to a Neighborhoods concert in Worc MA years ago and the sound guy put the kick drum so loud he blew either some of the subs or the sub amp, it was obnoxious.

 

[bobyoung53]

Stay out of "firing range" of Marshall stacks and drummers with a love of smashing their China Boy and Sizzler cymbals.......bad for the sensitive ears of the humble bass player .

My motto too although I love Marshalls, just don't point them at me.

 

[bobyoung53]

I don't know about anyone else here but when I play with a loud band I play better, it's exciting, makes you energetic and keeps you sharp, no Lawrence Welk volume for me.

 

[CryingBass]

There is nothing more dangerous than a bored child.

Other than a deaf FOH soundman...

 

[Engineer_Josh]

I don’t think this is limited to electric music, I remember a grade school trombone teacher who mentioned his hearing wasn’t great and he attributed it to all the time spent rehearsing in concert bands

 

[Jeff Scott]

you don’t hear every musician from the 60s and 70s saying they have significant hearing loss...

They're lying.

 

[coyote1]

these days, you always hear the advice “wear hearing protection onstage if you don’t want to go deaf” in the situation of live shows. but… what in the hell were they doing back then??? you don’t hear every musician from the 60s and 70s saying they have significant hearing loss, apart from the odd pete townshend. but even so, they were loooooud back then, and they had to be. amplification was less reliant on venue speakers, and the power was in the amps and how loud the drummer was… which is suuuper loud. these days, playing drums without hearing protection (i don’t do it regularly, if at all) for me literally brings pain to my ears, and i don’t understand how musicians played live with such loud playing environments and loud instruments without being in constant pain. think beatles shows, cream shows, any rock show being onstage with a drummer.

I’m approaching 60. I still don’t use hearing protection. Yeah I have typical 4K notch and a bit of tinnitus, but not nearly as bad as I would have guessed when I first started doing this…. and I’ve played plenty loud for decades, and been in the audience for plenty more. I still loooove it loud.

Oh, and the reason you don’t hear every musician from the 60s and 70s is because you, too, have hearing loss

 

[Rojd]

All of those thrash metal shows I saw in the 80's and time spent in mosh pits. Jeez. Occasionally I get a little minor tinnitus, but at every physical my hearing tests great. I got lucky.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

I don’t think this is limited to electric music, I remember a grade school trombone teacher who mentioned his hearing wasn’t great and he attributed it to all the time spent rehearsing in concert bands

Have you ever sat in front of a brass or percussion section?

 

[bobyoung53]

They're lying.

I cannot tell a lie.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I have a slight midrange deficit right about where my wife’s speaking voice is (not joking here but from what I understand this is quite common)....

Most of my hearing loss is in the midrange, not coincidentally, the same range as that of the Ilford 2240RC processor I spent almost 22 years next to in the darkroom. Now, anything in that frequency range (road noise when driving, restaurant chatter, running water, etc.) causes excessive ringing and other hypersensitivity issues.

Hearing loss is progressive, usually not all or nothing. Usually one loses the upper frequencies first. Apparently this is because we have thousands of filaments in our cochlea, each of which is sensitive to a particular frequency.

Cilia. IIRC, as they die you lose that particular frequency, hence hearing loss. Too bad they don't regenerate, like skin does, for one example.

Also, there are genetic and other factors...

My mother, both of her parents, and my brother all have/had hearing loss.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I can totally relate to this. Especially in situations like a noisy restaurant where I can't hear her (sitting right in front of me) yet I can hear diners at the next table just fine. I jokingly told her if she was a bass I wouldn't buy it because it doesn't cut through the mix!

Hilarious!. Well, in my case my wife compounds the issue in a restaurant by lowering the volume level of he voice so the others can’t hear what she is saying. Now, if she used her normal tone of voice, like when she is miffed at me for something, I’d be able to hear her fine. Unfortunately, everybody else would hear it loud and clear as well, the ones still in their cars with their stereo at destruction level. ….

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

these days, you always hear the advice “wear hearing protection onstage if you don’t want to go deaf” in the situation of live shows. but… what in the hell were they doing back then??? you don’t hear every musician from the 60s and 70s saying they have significant hearing loss, apart from the odd pete townshend. but even so, they were loooooud back then, and they had to be. amplification was less reliant on venue speakers, and the power was in the amps and how loud the drummer was… which is suuuper loud. these days, playing drums without hearing protection (i don’t do it regularly, if at all) for me literally brings pain to my ears, and i don’t understand how musicians played live with such loud playing environments and loud instruments without being in constant pain. think beatles shows, cream shows, any rock show being onstage with a drummer.

They don't have to say it, they're deaf. You know it, I know it, they know it.

 

[Acoop]

"you don’t hear every musician from the 60s and 70s saying they have significant hearing loss" ...
How many musicians, from that period have you talked to and do you think this is something they want to talk or brag about?

Remember hearing protection didn't really get invented for musicians till the 90's. ... Before that it was toilet paper stuffed in your ear. ...

If you are lucky enough to still be alive after playing through that period and don't have tinnitus today then you weren't a full time playing musician playing through that period. ...

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

Some of the dudes I've jammed with from back then do in fact have hearing loss. They are used to it, and sometimes I can tell when I am talking that they can't really hear me, so I have to almost shout. They still play well, and sing even, but I've asked about it and they kinda say, "Well the years haven't really been good to my ears..."

 

[HardNHeavy]

slight tinnitus in left ear, constant hissing noise, but i can disregard it most times...damn Marshall stacks...often times i'd have to turn my head the second guitarist started feeding back, sometimes i buried my left ear into my shoulder it was so bad.

 

[dave hope]

My hearing has really lost some highs. Protection in my teens was a cigarette but in each ear. Lol

 

[GreyBeard]

Back in the 70's I was touring with a Chicago/BS&T cover band beside a guy with a Marshall full stack, I was using a Traynor YBA-3 with 8x10 cab that kept blowing tubes trying to keep up. The drummer had double 26" bass drum setup, a 3 pc horn section, PA was 4 Altec A-7's and NO MONITORS (plug up one ear when singing) I'm lucky I didn't loose my hearing.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

"you don’t hear every musician from the 60s and 70s saying they have significant hearing loss" ...
How many musicians, from that period have you talked to and do you think this is something they want to talk or brag about?

Remember hearing protection didn't really get invented for musicians till the 90's. ... Before that it was toilet paper stuffed in your ear. ...

If you are lucky enough to still be alive after playing through that period and don't have tinnitus today then you weren't a full time playing musician playing through that period. ...

Re: Ear Stuffing

Or cotton, but that was only if your ears were still ringing from the night before.

Amen on being lucky to be alive. Thank heavens for modern medical technology or I would be looking at the underside of a lawn…..

 

[marchone]

Long time shooters will sometimes use wetted and wadded tissue. It’s effective.