Resting your ears

[semborg]

Today I really couldn't get a well sound out from my amp.
I rested my ears for 2 hours.

With exacly same settings (almost), it sounded good again.

I just wanna give you all bassplayers (and musicians) a tip to let your ears rest sometimes. If you are not happy with your sound and tweak your amp like a rotten lamppost, and only getting more mad and angry. Just rest for awhile. Then your ears got new energy.

Just wanted to share this little tip which helped me alot.

 

[GetLow]

that is good advice. i'll have to try it out. for some reason, i didn't like my sound today... but i didn't touch the eq. i just gave up for the day. maybe tomorrow i'll like it more

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

erm . . . ok

this is more a psychological thing than anything else

unless you've played to the extent that you've damaged your hearing through excessive volumes, even at that, a few hours wont fix

psychological im betting . . . or some new evolution . . .

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

that is good advice. i'll have to try it out. for some reason, i didn't like my sound today... but i didn't touch the eq. i just gave up for the day. maybe tomorrow i'll like it more

ive had this, and again, i think its purely psychological, kinda like when you get your off playing days (god knows i get enough of them)

 

[jow83]

erm . . . ok

this is more a psychological thing than anything else

unless you've played to the extent that you've damaged your hearing through excessive volumes, even at that, a few hours wont fix

psychological im betting . . . or some new evolution . . .

this is not purely psychological, ask any trained engineer, its part of the OH&S training that they have to undertake to be accredited (at least here on Oz). Ear fatigue really does happen, and just having a break can make things sound better, or worse... a lot of things are involved such as the length of time you have been 'listening' to your amp, or mix or what have you, and what level the sound at (the higher the level the more quickly you ears get tired).

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Ok, ill give you that, but it is still psychological, its to do with the brain dulling off similar sounds, and at louder volumes they need a rest because you are practically ripping out the hairs

 

[Theexploitbass]

Its true tis more than phsycological. Your ears adjust to sounds very quickly, like when mixing a track (im an engineer) i will listen to it and concentrate on the mix, if i hear something i dont like i will pick it and and fix it. Then for the next 10 or so minutes my ears are tuned to that particular frequency or part of track so i kinda ignore the rest. So then i take a break come back and find i hear it completely differently, or i find something else that i feel is not right. It may be partly in ya head but i do believe that like any other organ or muscle it becomes tired!!

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Its true tis more than phsycological. Your ears adjust to sounds very quickly, like when mixing a track (im an engineer) i will listen to it and concentrate on the mix, if i hear something i dont like i will pick it and and fix it. Then for the next 10 or so minutes my ears are tuned to that particular frequency or part of track so i kinda ignore the rest. So then i take a break come back and find i hear it completely differently, or i find something else that i feel is not right. It may be partly in ya head but i do believe that like any other organ or muscle it becomes tired!!

not all muscles and organs become tired, look at the heart for instance, thank **** that doesnt get tired

Its just like if you listen to a personal MD player (well i do, enter CD/tape/mp3, whatever you want) , specific frequencies act basically the same as specific volumes, you can turn it on full blast, and then your ears become accustomed to that level, or if you turned it on at half the volume, your ears become accustomed to it, but considering both independantly, you wouldnt notice the difference, because the brain basically buffers them so they appear as the same sound level (when ears are accustomed to them)

*that was a bit of a rant eh*

 

[Matt Call]

Interesting.

 

[43apples]

Err... your heart does get tired, just try running around the house for an hour

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Err... your heart does get tired, just try running around the house for an hour

erm . . . do i need to dignify this with an answer?

 

[dood]

I was under the impression that any sort of hearing fatigue is a form of hearing damage.
I don't mean that of 'becoming accustomed to' a particular mix or sounds but 'fatigue' as in 'my ears cant take much more of that'.
Hearing damage is cumulative... more fatigue is more damaging?

 

[dood]

ah! just to take it a step further, the company my Audiologist works for has released this document.

I thought it'd be good to share, please, I'm not using this as part of the discussion though, just that I found it very interesting and possibly helpful for us in a musical environment.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Its a word doc inside a zip file. virus checked and safe.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

pretty interesting read, not as detailed as my text books go into but definatly more user friendly!

i know my ears are getting pretty bad, i cant remember the test, but we had to do this thing that was essentially a hearing test (tested what db level certain frequencies had to be at to be detected), i didnt do too well in that :s