[Harp-L] Earplugs & monitors / stage sound levels vs. house sound



When our stage volume began to rise a few years ago (it has since subsided...),
I had an audiologist fit me with custom ear plugs...and you can choose the amount of decibel cut
to best suit your needs.


Mine block 10 dbs, but allow a fairly full spectrum of sound to come through at moderate volume.
I can usually hear my self play and sing (we share singing leads and all sing harmony...) w/o a problem.


These were not cheap, but I consider it a 'sound' investment (and a tax deduction from band income).
Earplugs, even of this type do alter the way you hear yourself, especially when singing. It's accentuates the
natural gap between how you hear yourself talk and how others hear your speaking/singing voice.


Stage volume is a serious problem, folks. I know far too many musicians with significant hearing loss.
Monitors can help you calm the stage sound situation, but too often they are just another source for
loud sound blaring at performers. There have been a number of shows where we've told the sound crew
to just cut the monitors entirely, and we work off what he hear from the house sound...


Stage set up can be very influential here, too. On smaller stages when I used to have to set up
right in front of the drummer (and often his ride cymbal would be just inches from the back of my head),
I could barely hear anything in the mid or high range, because the drums were washing everything out.
I could have turned up my monitors, or gotten ear bud monitors, but it still doesn't address the root
of the problem. Sometimes you can shift your set up and, voila! Sometimes, it's just not possible.
(And believe me, by the end of the night I had thought up many creative ideas for where the drummer
could put his ride cymbal....)


Good monitors and a proper monitor mix are important, from a speaker or a earbud system.
In 20 years of performing, I've run into far too many players who project their own stage anxiety
onto the monitors....the guitar player with an amp screaming at top volume who tells the monitor
mix tech that he can't hear his vocals and needs to be turned way up...when the guitar and his vocals
are the only thing that anyone else CAN hear.... In other words, you need to have the band discussion
about stage volume as a 'cooperative' project that's about 'enabling' you to 'perform'
without crippling your hearing.


wjj





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