Live performance
eh?
Well. Since I started doing paid gigging on a weekly basis at 14 its fair to say I've abused my ears massively in this fashion
If you are performing though, and it is necessary to get an uncolored sound to do EQ work
Hmm. Well, see, for me, its just not, and it never has been. In a band context I really couldnt give a flying fuck what the EQ is doing, thats the engineers job! I suppose in a live psytrance PA I might be a bit more concerned for clarity of monitoring in that regard, but at the end of the day, the average monitor setup in a venue is very, very far from flat or uncoloured anyway!
Besides - if it was an electronic PA I'd be monitoring with headphones via my own mixer. And even if you add a mics for live instruments into the equation, i still say you shouldnt really be eqing them from on stage, thats a FOH job... So.... the more I think about it, the more I have difficulty justifying this as an issue.
Do you just accept that getting permanent ear damage with each gig is part of the job?
Sort of. I dont have tinnitus, but I do have "flashes" of it, where it kicks in randomly and then fades off after an indeterminate length of time. I know everybody gets these , but trust me..... I get them
lots. I've literally watched them grow in regularity over the last decade, its a plainly observable pattern. So in that sense I suppose I accept it as a kind of unavoidable "collateral damage" of the profession, yes.
On the other hand, as it has got to this stage, I dont want to let it get any worse. I'm very careful with my earplugs these days.... I dont think it HAS to be the case you get "permanent damage" with each and every gig. It just was for me because I took 6 or 7 years to wake up to the situation. If you're responsible from the outset I think you could reduce the effects to an insignificant level.
how do you keep from getting ear damage? I know there are expensive earplugs you can get molded to your ear that reduce sound evenly across most frequencies, but I'm skeptical that many people actually have or use these.
Well, I dont. Altho two of my bandmates do (one of whom got them because he has developed full blown permament tinnitus).
I just use the 2 quid foam jobbies from Boots. It takes out the pain and thats enough for me!
These days I dont use em performing. I use em practicising, soundchecking, djing and also
religiously just when going out as a punter. Honestly, once you get used to it, you cannot understand HOW (or why) anybody can ever go to clubs/raves/parties without earplugs. When I take em out momentarily , it seems 90% of sound systems' high end is all overdriven and just a screaming wail of hideous distorted white noise pain. I put em back in with great relief and look around and just think "how on earth are you people bearing THAT?"
I'm particularly interested in people producing music and doing live shows, and how this then effects them when they are back in the studio.
Well, its almost unheard of that I'm back in the studio the next day, because most gigs are sufficiently far from home to be an overnight affair.
Plus, I'm always wrecked up and in no state (mentally) for studio work, so my ears are a moot point.
If I ever do get a chance to fire up the sequencer the day after a gig, I usually find I simply cant trust my ears. If they dont really hurt / havent been ringing too much etc I might keep the volume low and concentrate on structuring or some such task that doesnt need precise critical hearing. Most times I just think "whoah, this isnt happening" and write it off.
Day after that is usually fine tho