should a soundman ever wear earplugs?

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all night tonight he had earplugs in and the sound was shit.

― jergins (jergins), Friday, 22 September 2006 09:05 (twenty years ago)

yes, but they should get specially made ones

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Friday, 22 September 2006 09:07 (twenty years ago)

these were the standard neon orange

― jergins (jergins), Friday, 22 September 2006 09:08 (twenty years ago)

no they shouldn't wear those ones

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Friday, 22 September 2006 09:25 (twenty years ago)

Well, you're going to get pranksters smashing the snare/cymbal while you're three inches away adjusting the mic, you're going to subject your ears to more volume than most people night in night out, and having good hearing is your livelihood.

BUT, from the punter's point of view, if you're going to do that please can you take them out at some point to check what people without earplugs are experiencing isn't too painful? I mean, pain might be great at the front for the main band, but if you're at the back of a near-empty room during the support band and the soundguy has set everything as loud with earplugs as he'd expect if he weren't wearing them and if he were soundchecking for a room which is about to have 600 people absorbing the sound...

― Rebecca (reb), Friday, 22 September 2006 10:07 (twenty years ago)

I wore them (orange foam ones) a couple of times, when the band's backline was ridiculously ott and loud and it was an emergency, but otherwise, the specially made ones only.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 22 September 2006 10:11 (twenty years ago)

Yes, unless they really want to lose their hearing listening to crap music they despise.

But not those fucking foam things. Lord no.

― John Justen,a ninja slapboxing fajitas out of J. Casablancas dental dam. (johnju, Friday, 22 September 2006 17:14 (twenty years ago)

unfortunately the specialty ones dont really protect your hearing if you're in a loud club every night; a cut of 25 db doesnt do too much to a monitor running 140+ db in a small concrete room; as a drummer i found this out the hard way

― millenarian (millenarian), Sunday, 24 September 2006 03:03 (twenty years ago)

140+ dB is like the threshold of death.

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Sunday, 24 September 2006 15:01 (twenty years ago)

If you are a soundperson and run at 140+ Db, you deserve whatever hearing loss you get.

― John Justen,a ninja slapboxing fajitas out of J. Casablancas dental dam. (johnju, Sunday, 24 September 2006 19:53 (twenty years ago)

And a beatdown.

― John Justen,a ninja slapboxing fajitas out of J. Casablancas dental dam. (johnju, Monday, 25 September 2006 00:19 (twenty years ago)

Did the soundman FORCE you to be that loud?????
140DBs is INSTANDTAINIOUS hearing loss!

How many people were willing to stay in that place??
I hope the answer is "None, but they payed before we started"

― The GZeus (The GZeus), Monday, 25 September 2006 13:37 (twenty years ago)

hahaha no no i wasnt clear enough. maybe i am just being taken for a ride by mr earplug man, but he told me that it was not unusual for clubs to have 130+ coming out of the speakers. so that's only if youre hanging out in front i suppose. and i just have gotten 'the feeling' in my ears after particularly loud shows (hella, who weren't even good) that my fancy etymotic earplugs weren't doing the trick

― millenarian (millenarian), Monday, 25 September 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

Huh?

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 01:55 (twenty years ago)

maybe the soundman put the earplugs on because your sound was shit.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 09:48 (twenty years ago)

A couple times when I've run sound I plugged some iPod-esque earbuds into the mixing board, they doubled as earplugs AND in-ear monitors. This only worked while I was there at the mixer though, obv.

― a naked Kraken annoying Times Square tourists with an acoustic guitar (nickalici, Tuesday, 26 September 2006 13:54 (twenty years ago)

stage volume?

― The GZeus (The GZeus), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:36 (twenty years ago)

I always wear eraplugs at shows - its too loud anyways

― Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Thursday, 5 October 2006 04:11 (twenty years ago)

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