Gigging Hearing Protection - Recommendations

Juniper

Juniper

Gold Member
Played a gig the other night and worryingly about 3 songs before the end I had a loud and slightly painful ringing in my right ear which lasted for a few minutes. Fair to say it worried me.

I use hearing protection for rehearsing as a rule but for gigs I do not, simply as the ear moulds I use take a little too much away.

Does anyone use any protection for shows? Not thinking about moulds again, thinking of something that will still give me some clarity on high frequencies whilst offering protection.

Thank you in advance!
 
Earasers are the ones that give me enough protection whilst still letting me hear the rest of the band clearly. Most of the other ‘musos’ earplugs muffle so much that I feel isolated from the band and start making mistakes or misjudging tempos.
 
When I am not running IEMs, I use Vater Safe and Sound ear plugs. They filter out the nasty frequencies, without muddying the sound.

I really like the string between the buds. During my trail/testing phase, I lost a lot of single buds on dark stages, in the laundry, etc.
 
For non-molded, I've used Earasers since 2013. They offer different filter strengths, as well as different sizes. I forget I'm wearing them, they're so comfortable. Highly recommended.
 
I like these -https://www.flareaudio.com/products/isolate
Effective, comfortable and unobtrusive. I don’t take them out until I’m driving home.
 
I simply don't do a show without IEMs anymore. At all. If the venue or sound system is (somehow) not set up to send me a feed for IEMs, I will use a small mixer and patch in guitar amps and bass amps. I will put a mic on the kick to hear myself in the mix, and maybe a mic near the vocal monitor so I can hear vocals. Then I adjust my mix to suit me. This works well to preserve my hearing no matter what.
 
I like Earacers and I've used them for years.

I've moved on to in-ear monitors now for both practice and gigging. The isolation is great for hearing protection and I have a lot more clarity in the mix because it isn't just a speaker blasting at me over the sound of the drums.
 
Juniper said:
simply as the ear moulds I use take a little too much away.
Click to expand...
If you like the fit of your molds, order some custom musicians earplugs. They are molds that attenuate equally across the spectrum. Available in 9db, 15db and 26 (or is it 28?) db. You can swap out the filters if want less or more attenuation (it’s an added expense for each filter though).

I tried a few different off the shelf versions before going custom. They all sounded great, but the fit wasn’t great for me.
 
Thanks all, a few shouts for Earacers so I’ll look into getting a set of them.

Thankfully no issues on last nights gig but you only get one pair of ears after all!
 
ACS ER 20s or any similar "Christmas Tree" plug. I've used them for years, I'm off to see Saxon on Friday and I'll wear them for that too. Keeps the fidelity of the sound but eliminates the next day ringing in your ears.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top