Have I missed it or has nobody got a decent set of ear plugs, or even monitors that they can double up as plugs?


Does this concern anyone else from our youngsters

I got a half decent pair, mainly because at college, we have to comply with the new noise at work regulation things.

And I also use them for DJing as well, might as well protect my hearing.

Got a pair of ER15s
Best piece of kit on the planet, use them all the time

Definately recommend them to anyone else, they really do work and sound clear

Ooh yes...at the moment I have some non custom but superb ones, mainly intended for dj's, but they definitely protect my hearing. They do affect my FOH mixing though so if I think somethings wrong I pop them out for a second and check. Generally though, they're awesome for £15, and have different filters.

Chubbs

Can anyone spot what's missing from these two replies? A piece of information which makes all the difference between a potentially useful post and a pretty pointless one?

No, personally I think it says alot.

Oh jeees, my driving instructor does this, gives me questions I don't know the answer too.

erm, what the earplugs actually are?


I should probably get back to my theory.

I have a pair of custom mould -25dB filtered ones from Here They're called uep83. Yes they are much more pricey than your not fitted pair, but the flat response and custom fit is worth the extra money IMO. I still need to get into a regular habit of using them, but I'm definately much better off at the end of the night with them in, let alone how much longer I'll be able to hear well later in life.

How about:
If it's loud enough that you NEED earplugs, then it's TOO BL00DY LOUD!!!


/old fart

If the missing answer is what they are I don't know. They are just a pair of ear plugs, college got for me, but they work really well. I was just answering the question that was set.... and that was does anyone have earplugs.

Hmmm, I disagree with that. If you work in the live music industry, you hear music (loudly) all the time. Not because its too loud, for a one off (as a punter) its fine, but to hear day in day out its not. It does inevitably do damage, and its becoming a common 'trend' in the live music industry to wear ear plugs.

Round our gaff even the sound engineers wear ear plugs

Very sorry. Mine are alpines... found here

Chubbs

EDIT:



Try turning down the volume at
a) a band gig
or
b) a club night
at a youth venue and see what happens to you...usually involves swearing, and from those more tracksuit/burberry inclined, spit. Once, all over my djm 700 (grrr)

Moderation: This topic was split from the TNG equipment as it is a discussion of one specific area, and belongs in sound. It also seems to have encouraged posting from our more aged members, which makes it more of a non-TNG topic.

QUALITY CONTROL

A huge amount of trivial off-topic posts have also been removed while splitting. There were far too many to add the usual mnote to everyone's pink posts, so if you posted about anything other than earplugs/volume/in-ears it has gone! (and 14 of you did!)

I have used:

Disposable foamy plugs - which made it quieter, duller and less comfortable. They needed re-seating in my left ear every hour or so.

Docs ProPlugs - which were great for drums, but not so good for sound, as they had a far from flat frequency response. I liked the several sizes approach.

ER20s - which were better for sound work, but I found that the plug in my left ear consistently worked itself loose during drumming, requiring refitting every few songs. Also I found the fit less comfortable than the ProPlugs.

And then at LIMS, I splashed out and had some ER15s made. These moulded plugs are so comfortable I don't notice them, and they stay put for longer than any others I've tried. The sound is very clear and transparent, though the effect of hearing one's own bloodstream through the head seems greater. I also feel that they make things sound a little compressed somehow, making a mix a bit lifeless.

I could happily mix with my ER15s in, though I would feel the need to remove them occasionally to check for harshness as they seem to smooth the highmids a little and for volume.

[edit]
I should have mentioned that (as with all plugs) the ER15s make the mix seem sub heavy, as they cannot attenuate what you 'hear' through bone conduction and sternum thumping.

Perhaps wrap some large cell foam around your chest?

I agree with JDP. It's not about the overall level at the given time, its the exposure time.

I've worked (more so over the last 12 months) on quite a few larger events in monitor world including Jazz World at Glastonbury and the danger is, you're there for a number of days with the same levels. The bands there are only there for an hour or so.

A couple of the acts who had their own monitor engineer had extremely loud stage levels (very good sounding but loud). Listen wedges incredibly loud. This is not so bad for them as they're there for an hour, but for the crew and engineers that are there all day for several days, this is a level far too loud for a time far too long.

I agree with Tony. I'd love to be able to turn things down, of course, if you need ear plugs, yes it is too loud in all fairness, but the issues stated above is why we need to do it.

The other issue is the audiences threshold shift. As they are exposed to the music all day, they suffer from threshold shift, so if the FOH engineer keeps the level the same throughout the day there will be complaints that it's not loud enough. It doesn't mean that the levels have to be dnagerously high at the end of the day, just higher than they were to keep people happy.

It's also important to note that for smaller local festivals with local bands playing. Often you'll find that bands that are playing later in the day or evening will be in the audience, they're already suffering this threshold shift so the stage levels go up in the same way. They also need to raise as the front of house levels raise to allow the increased stage noise from foh spill (rumble etc), thus allowing the monitors to cut through.

One of the worst problems with smaller festivals is the FOH guy getting carried away at the end of the night. To allow the monitors to cut through the mass of noise the monitors have to raise by several dB which makes for a very loud stage, this is not good for anything.

So, plugs are a necessity at FOH and often more so in monitor world. People will argue that in monitor world they don't need to be so linear but I still like to heard things clearly, just like the bands do.

Rob

same as mine, and I find the brilliant, I can, and have worn them all day, and I have yet to find a gig to loud tht they cant cope,
the smalest filter is 10Db, middle 20Db, high 35Db attenuation.

I need them on a daily basis, try working in a Music dept of a school that does Btec music.

Bought some ER20s last year and love 'em! Mainly wear them as a punter, as music is not my day job. Bonkers not to go for these at only a tenner a pop!

But wish I was more disciplined about taking them, as I often wish they weren't sitting safely at home. Went to a couple of local festivals over the last few weeks. All (in my view) too loud. One in particular had a too-loud, and overdriven PA which was really painful - and I only turned up for the last 3 hours. *Really* wished I'd had them then!

Only downside is that they do leave you feeling more detatched as a punter. For some gigs, I'll wear them during the support act, and take them out for the headliner, kind of s"aving up" my exposure! Wonder if I'd prefer the Alpines, with the lowest filter...

But nothing overcomes the joy at being able to stand anywhere in a small club gig, and not to be in pain, and not to be suffering the next day.

As mentioned above, it's important to keep an eye on the noise dose (intensity x exposure time). Infrequent exposure may not pose too much of a problem, but 3 day festivals - as Rob points out - can mean serious cumulative doses.

The potential problem with some of the approaches stated above, is that the protection seems to be chosen somewhat on a whim, rather than selecting the protection actually needed for the intensity level of source material and exposure time.

Furthermore, although the "musician's earplugs" are meant to be fairly linear, in practice they won't all be. You should therefore look at the octave band attenuation , and compare that with the octave band spectra of the source material.

Simon

If you can stretch the budget, go and get a mould made of your ear and send the mould off to get a filter fitted. Had mine done last year total cost was £120, tried all sorts these have done the trick for me, I think mine are ERD's will double check.

where can you get this done too? I REALLY want some ultimate ears I usd my mates once and they are perfect.

Boots or Specsavers do the moulds where they have a hearing centre in branch. A visit to the websites will tell you.
Both the above will take ear moulds and can get ER range for you. I think for Ultimate Ears you have to send the ear moulds away to UE yourself.

Chris