I've been thinking about hearing protection and was wondering if you use any at rehearsals and/or gigs? I got some -12db ear plugs and my tone sounds like total shit with them in, fairly useless when your constantly adjusting tone and volume, switching pedals etc.
I've never used them, and the bands I'm playing in these days don't play loud enough to need them.
I'm extremely lucky that I didn't do serious damage to my ears while playing with Tribal Tech. My ears would ring every night after the show, but it always went away the next day and I never developed problems. If you're ears ring, wear earplugs and get used to it - or fire your musicians and play with guys who have some common sense.
Here's something from a review of a gig I did in LA. "The musicians are great, but the show was ruined by the drummer's inability to adjust to the room."
Every drummer and bass player should learn that the more live and boomy the room, the softer they should play. Tribal Tech never learned that lesson, and it's why 75% of our shows sucked - we could've simply turned down and had musical gigs.
A guy in Indonesia reviewed us - the tile of his review was "Not A Jazz". We laughed at his review because he said some funny shit like "the concert started with an overly loud note played by an overly large Scott Kinsey". He called Willis a "bass fartuer". But then he went on to describe how the band had no interplay between the musicians and that basically it was a wankfest. He was absolutely right - at that volume level, interplay and interaction between the musicians didn't exist. Tribal Tech had some musical gigs, but only in small intimate clubs with a lot of acoustic material on the walls to dampen the volume.
In hindsight, we should've all been wearing earplugs, because even with the loss of "good tone", we would've heard each other better and played better music.
That's put me at ease. My bands are not that loud except for maybe one song which can be slightly painful. I'll plug up for that one since I'm only doing straight up rhythm with no tone adjustment. I read something you said about struggling to play when it's too loud the other day and I realised it's exactly same for me, really uncomfortable. Just wish the drummer's felt the same way...
Thanks for answering so many questions and keep the Guitar Wank podcast's coming
In hindsight, we should've all been wearing earplugs, because even with the loss of "good tone", we would've heard each other better and played better music.
That's a fact. The plugs ruin the natural balance of highs, mids, and lows, but wearing them you gain overal -band- overview.
I always refused to wear plugs but can't play without them anymore. I ruined my ears quite a lot and nowadays without wearing plugs i can't even stand in the same room with an acoustic played alto saxophone. I have severe tinnitus and quite some hearing damage. Even being in a bar without music being played, it's too loud for me. I even don't drive my bicycle anymore without wearing my plugs....
Playing loud is not the biggest problem! Giving your ears no rest after playing is a often overlooked problem. Do yourself a big favour: if you don't like playing with plugs, wear the heaviest ones you can find in your car while driving home. Especially shortly after the gig your ears need all the rest they can get!
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