Read if you value your ears!!!

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Read if you value your ears!!!

THIS IS A MESSAGE I AM PASSING ON FROM ANOTHER BOARD

I hate health and safety freaks, people who seem to assume that everyone is about to walk in front of a bus, stick a knife in a toaster etc, so I hope I don’t come across like one of those.

WHERE EAR PLUGS WHEN YOU GO OUT!!!

KEEP THE VOLUME DOWN AS LOW AS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU ARE PRODUCING!!!

TAKE BREAKS AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE!!!

TREAT YOUR EARS LIKE THE MOST EXPENSIVE, IRREPLACEABLE PEACE OF EQUIPMENT YOU HAVE, COS ONCE THEY ARE GONE IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GOOD YOUR MONITORS ARE ETC IF YOU CAN’T HEAR THEM!!!

AVOID HEADPHONES WHERE POSSIBLE!!!

I developed tinnitus about 4 months ago, as a musician this was/is terrifying.

Looking back I would of noticed it developing and would of been able to prevent it if I had known the warning signs, so I am going to list them.

  1. Music started to sound different, like the highs had been turned down, quieter or muffled. It sounded as if my monitors/tweeters needed replacing, which is what I thought was the problem. (So while I waited for new monitors I just turned up the volume.)

  2. Started to get sensitive to loud sounds.

  3. Then one day, when it was to late I had a weird horrible full feeling in my ears, which lasted a while, this led on to ringing, which I currently have, constantly, as well as hyper caucus (sensitivity to loud noise). The full feeling returns occasionally.

I have taken it upon myself to post as often as possible, probably every week on all the forums I am a part of to help prevent tinnitus/hearing problems as people don’t seem to be aware of the risks/problems that go hand in hand with noise exposure. Sorry if this seems preachy or what ever but I really wish that someone had warned me+if my friends had known more when I was asking their advice on my monitors they could of just told me that I was experiencing early warning signs of T/hearing loss.

WHERE EAR PLUGS WHEN YOU GO OUT!!! - There are a few different ones out there. The highest noise reduction ear plugs (unless I am mistaken) are currently EARsoft FX, with an SNR of 39. I use these when going out to nights/gigs. They muffle the sound slightly but you can still hear most things well and they don’t stop you feeling the bass.
Also I would recommend these if you are not to fussed about the artist/band you are going to see.
There are custom moulded ear plugs out there that filter the sound evenly so you can hear clearly (It’s just like someone has turned the volume down) . I believe the ER series have the highest noise reduction at SNR 25 (they are not cheap but if you want to hear clearly whilst protecting your hearing they’re worth it.)

KEEP THE VOLUME DOWN AS LOW AS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU ARE PRODUCING!!! - It’s tempting to turn it up but when producing/mixing try and keep it low, and save the noise for playing out and mixing mastering those bits you need to hear a bit louder.

TAKE BREAKS AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE!!! - Whenever you can, every 15/20/30 minutes take a five minute break, some theories say it is not purely noise but long durations of exposure to noise which causes damage.

TREAT YOUR EARS LIKE THE MOST EXPENSIVE, IRREPLACEABLE PEACE OF EQUIPMENT YOU HAVE, COS ONCE THEY ARE GONE IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GOOD YOUR MONITORS ARE ETC IF YOU CAN’T HEAR THEM!!! - I read this on some forum somewhere and it’s true, your ears should be treated like your best, favourite peace of kit.

AVOID HEADPHONES WHERE POSSIBLE!!! - It’s really hard to judge volume on headphones and it’s so easy to turn it up to block outside sounds.

If you could pass this on/ re post wherever necessary that would be great + if you hear any of your friends saying they think their monitors are going etc point them this way also.

Here are some useful links (though they are not hard to find, just type ear plugs or custom moulded ear plugs into a search engine to find a local supplier)

http://www.etymotic.com/default.aspx

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/erme.aspx

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx

http://www.enhancedlistening.co.uk/

http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net…FeZr4wodzVYzJw

2

Yeah… this message is a bit alarmist but it’s true.

Ear damage is irreversible.

Let me say it again.

Ear damage is irreversible.

So take care. When mixing or producing for long periods of time work at 80 descibels spl. Take breaks every hour. It’s ok from time to time to put the volume up to see how it sounds loud, but not as your day to day working volume.

At the disco wear ear plugs. These days it’s amazing the level of sound pressure you find when going out in big places/concerts. And you can still see those drunk people banging their heads in front of the mega speakers…

3

I just purchased M-Audio’s ie-30 in ear monitors. Gotta now get used to djing with them. My ears are definitely getting sensitive to long durations of loud music.. even when its not too loud in the dj booth, some frequencies are causing sensitivity.

4

Pardon ?

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Yeah I’ve had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, it’s like having a constant test tone around 17khz that I can’t turn off.

Some sounds also physically hurt my ears, like noisy car breaks, people being noisy while doing the dishes, loud pitched screams and some unfortunate frequencies that mostly appear while using LP filters with high resonance. It actually hurts and I have to take a break.

I have to say though that I’m not too sad about it - there are people in the world who can’t hear ANYTHING so I have to be glad for what I’ve got. I can still produce and listen to music, although I can imagine going from normal hearing to what I’ve got pretty depressing…

I am extra cautious nowadays, sucks I broke my hearing before age 10 though.

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7

Excuse me ?

8

what was that?

9

Huh?

well jokes aside your hearing is important as well as others…

I cant believe the people who stand in front of my pa stacks, I know they are hitting close to 145 Db at 3 feet from them.

If they only knew…

  • Near total silence - 0 dB
  • A whisper - 15 dB
  • Normal conversation - 60 dB
  • A lawnmower - 90 dB
  • A car horn - 110 dB
  • A rock concert or a jet engine - 130 dB
  • A gunshot or firecracker - 150 dB
10

Yes please, with a Large Coke and fries, thanks.

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good advice! btw, which board did you pick this up from?

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Whatever the board is, they need to invest in a spell check script lol.

13

Just finished my last gig with the earplugs on all the way through.

Takes a bit getting used to but felt alot less tired the next day…

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I always wear earplugs when I go out clubbing or when I’m doing live sound. They only come out for an hour or two whilst the headline act is on - everything sounds crisper for that small amount of time and when I get home my ears are still fresh!

Earplugs are a seriously good investment :slight_smile: One of the last things I thought about but every bit as essential as that midi controller or any other bit of musical kit! :sunglasses:

15

I know! I was at Lucid in Oxford, UK a couple wks ago and some students were sticking their heads into the speakers of a Funktion One sound system… NOT clever…

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I bet they were paying for it the very next day… just looked at the Funkitons sweet cabs… hellatious efficiencies with all the horn loading… looks like some of the horn bass cabs i built a while ago…

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Say what?

18

I once sat (partially) in a Funktion One bass bin.
Went to see Jacques Lu Cont and i sat down and i was on the lip of the bin, im pretty small and i could slip inside it.

Stupid.

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This message came from the IDM forum.

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I work as a ships engineer, and this article helped me to realize something. Most of my time is really spent in the engine control room, However I will still spend an hour or two a day in the engine room itself, As you can imagine this is a noisy environment. I use my ear protectors every time Im down there, however when in the control room I don’t as its sound proofed to an extent were it reduces the DB level to a safe level.

Now, in a normal day, every hour or so I might make my way up to the mess and make a cuppa or something to eat, but during the last week I have been Beatmapping my tracks, so I might sit in the control room for 4 hours straight. Now, just in the last few days I have noticed that when I’m talking on the phone to the missus that I have to keep asking her to talk softer as her voice is hurting my ears (not in the usual manner that one comes to expect from the wife) My ears felt sensitive and they hurt. So i pondered what was it that was making my ears sensitive. I new it wasn’t my use of Traktor cause I always have the volume as low as possible when mapping. Then it occurred to me, someone had mentioned how the higher frequencies can do real damage. We have 2 main engines here, and both have turbo charges that are running at 26,0000 rpm, thus resulting in high frequency’s. By sitting in the Control room, Yes I was protected against the Db levels but I believe the Higher frequencies from the Turbo charges were what was making my ears hurt. The past two days i have been using ear plugs even when in the control room and taking breaks every hour and I have felt a defiant improvement.