The ear plugs question

Recently, I have been wearing ear plugs while playing drums. But I can't hear the metronome when I'm wearing them.

What should I do?

Also, do you guys always wear ear plugs while? Do you wear them while covering songs or at gigs? Can you hear the music then?

I usually use some of those kind of sound removal headphones (there are some w/o cables for the mere purpose of getting rid of noise...but If you are going to be practicing with a metronome, I use a metronome that has a guitar plug in, where it can be hooked up to an amp just like a guitar would be. If you don't have an amp, use the kind of sound-removing headphones hooked up to a metronome....if none of this works for you, try playing down a dynamic level or 2 XD

Hi, BrutalKid

I would never play a gig at this point without wearing earplugs, especially not a rock gig.

Check out these earplugs:

http://www.westone.com/index.php?load=content&page=index&page_id=190

These will protect your hearing while allowing the music to sound pretty natural. I recommend getting 2 pairs of filters: 15DB and 25DB
The filters snap in and out of the earplugs very easily. You can choose which filters to use on a case by case basis.

For practicing with a metronome, or practicing with an ipod, I recommend these headphones:

http://www.gk-music.com/ultraphones.htm

They are pretty expensive, but they're some of the best out there. They will protect your hearing and allow you to put the click or the music at a pretty low volume.

I hope these suggestions help. Your hearing is too valuable to jeopardize.

Best of luck to you!

MattRitter said:

Hi, BrutalKid

For practicing with a metronome, or practicing with an ipod, I recommend these headphones:

http://www.gk-music.com/ultraphones.htm

They are pretty expensive, but they're some of the best out there. They will protect your hearing and allow you to put the click or the music at a pretty low volume.

Click to expand...

There's a headphone similar to the GK that isn't quite as expensive.
http://www.steveweissmusic.com/product/29673/metronome-tuner

Also, if you don't have $50 you can get a cheap pair of noise-reduction headphones from a hunting/camping store ($5-15). Make sure they're rated to at least 20db. Then you just use small earbud phones to hear your met and put the noise-cancel phones over top. I did this years ago as a student. Worked okay for me.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0059518223358a

I had a professional set of ear plus made years ago, after a Deep Purple concert. They are great because they don't muffle the sound. I use them for rehearsels, gigs and concerts that are too loud. But my days of going to see loud rock concerts are over. Sorry Ian, Steve and the guys.

I have been using foam plugs for years while playing, but I just get a set of Vic Firth isolation headphones and I love them. They are perfect for lessons because I can take them on and off easily. I found myself taking the ear plugs in and out. Last week I put one back in; it got stuck and it hurt. So that was the end of the foam. Now I have the isolation headphones for teaching and day to day practice. They were only 25 bucks. Well worth the investment in your hearing because neglect will catch up with you sooner or later. Guys joke about it, "How's your hearing?" " Huh, come again." But it is no laughing matter for a musician.

As far as the metronome goes, I use my computer. I have a small headset for the computer or an electronic metronome and then put the isolation headphones over it.

i wear those cheap sound reducing headphones that you find in the garden section of wal-mart... lol

they work great, I then put in eat buds so i can play along to cds... it works really well for me, the combination of the ear buds + the sound reducing effect of the lawn care headphones allows me to hear a perfect combination of my drums and music.

Everybody shoud wear some kind of earplugs--the most valuable drums you own are those in your head. You can get a hearing aid for age related hearing loss, but no hearing aid will help if you get noise damage hearing loss. All our band use them for practice but I am the only one that wears them for gigs.

These surfing ones are great, the vented ones are good enough and comfortable to wear. Our drum shop recommends them as the best they sell. http://www.earplugs-direct.co.uk/earplugs-benefits-for-swimmers.htm. They cut out most of the dangerous decibels but you can still hear whats going on.

I use custom made in ear plugs with noise reducing cans over them for the click and cd's. Occasionally though I play with one of the cans folded back so that I can hear myself play. My teacher pointed out that my dynamics between the different parts of the kit were getting very poor because I had stopped thinking about how i sounded. I am not micked up so I cant use a monitor.

Definitely get noise-cancelling headphones or earbuds.

I have a fairly cheap mic (It's the kick drum mic that came with an Audix 4 drum mic set) that is under my snare, pointed at the kick drum. This is the best position that I've been able to find on my drum set to give me a good balance between kick, snare, and the rest of the kit.

I run that into a little personal amplifier/monitor box (Art MyMonitor).

I wear noise-cancelling headphones.

Not only does this reduce the noise from my drums and the band I play with so I don't damage my ears as much, but I can hear my drums and the band SO MUCH better with this one mic monitor set up than without any ear protection/monitor or with ear protection and no monitor. It's made a world of difference in my playing. I can actually hear my kick drum... I can actually hear the ghost notes I'm playing on the snare. I struggled to hear those before with all of the noise. I play in a pretty loud band, but even when practicing by myself I used to struggle to hear my kick drum.

And anyways, the box I have has a line input. So you can plug in a metronome (or an mp3 player or a computer or anything else).