saving my ears
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Thread: saving my ears

  1. #1

    Default saving my ears

    so ive been looking into some ways to protect my hearing while im out and im wondering if i keep the booth levels super low and my headphone levels off and only turn them up just enough when im mixing out of a track is this good enough? or do headphones not isolate enough sound?

  2. #2
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    You absolutely SHOULD use ANY kind of ear protection.

    Any is better than none.
    DJ'ing: 2x1200MK2, DJM 850, Dicers, F1, Zomo MC-1000, Sony MDR-v700, i7 Win 10 HP Envy
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  3. #3

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    well im just wondering if thats good enough to protect my ears or should i wear earplugs under my headphones or something

  4. #4
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    There are really good earplugs you can get that still let you listen to music, it pretty much just turns down the volume. However i'm not familiar with them & don't know what they're called.

    I also lower the booth volume a lot, I can't understand how some guys have it so insanely loud.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by JZed View Post
    There are really good earplugs you can get that still let you listen to music, it pretty much just turns down the volume. However i'm not familiar with them & don't know what they're called.

    I also lower the booth volume a lot, I can't understand how some guys have it so insanely loud.
    i played with another dj and didnt pay attention to the headphone volume and i had to turn it down right away when i cued the next song. absolutely crazy that people can play likke that or dont care.

  6. #6
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    Yeah it's absolutely nuts. I always keep mine way down unless I'm having a bit of difficulty mixing a track as some are a bit tricky. Some guys don't care, but if you're in for the long haul then it's best to start keeping your ears safe from the beginning.

  7. #7
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    If you have the money, go to any hearing clinic and get custom molds made for Musicians Plugs. Mine are -25dB. But evenly reduced frequency spectrum. So everything sounds normal, just quieter, and I can hear a conversation in a loud club from 3 feet away without the house system drowning out their speech.

    DJ's who run with their headphones or booth monitors cranked are shooting themselves in the foot. You will NOT be able to continue being a good DJ for long when you begin to get tinnitus & hearing loss. It will happen. It's inevitable.

    Whenever I DJ I make sure to turn the booth monitors completely off when the next DJ is about to enter the booth for a changeover. It's very important that you let them set a level on their own. If they walk in to the booth and it's already very loud, your ears will naturally get accustomed to that level of volume and you will naturally want to only turn it louder. It's why in a proper nightclub the volume of the speakers will start out probably 30-40dB quieter at the start of the night and why the in house sound engineer should slowly bring the volume up throughout the night (also important why you don't control the volume of master out, just send a clear steady not varying in volume signal out master. In a proper club with an in house engineer that is). The reason you do this is because let's say a fire alarm goes off in a room you're in. It's insanely loud, ear piercing. You can't hear anything but the siren. But if you wait a few minutes hearing that alarm go off without leaving, eventually you will be able to have a conversation with someone beside you no problem. So in a club, if you start out at max volume, by the time peak hour comes around it will seem "quiet". Even tho it's probably 110dB or more.

    I think one of the things every DJ absolutely needs to learn is the science of the Ear and how your brain perceives sounds at varying levels of intensity & frequency. It's not as simple as you think

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