How to destroy your ears

Bob Doran · Post by **Bob Doran** » 13 Feb 2005 6:06 am

Don't think there is any hope for this old codger.
30 years manning a chain saw at the farm without ear plugs (now i use them)
20 years shooting skeet
30 years playing bass in a rock band without plugs
Bob

Doyle Mitchell · Post by **Doyle Mitchell** » 13 Feb 2005 7:53 am

Wow!!! arent you the same guy who was talking about how loud that blue grass band was? If you are that hard of hearing and that band was splitting your ears they must have been REALLY LOUD. I worked sound for a blue grass festival here last year and all the instruments were acoustic, not one was amplified except through the P.A.. It becomes the sole responsibility of the sound man to balance and control their sound. Maybe their soundman had been running a chain saw on the farm also and was trying to overcome the buzz in his head. Although, some think LOUDER is just plain better! The band you heard was probably a good band but because of a bad soundman you may never know, maybe you will get a chance to hear them again a little quiter.

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 13 Feb 2005 9:32 am

Hey Bob, you might use that chainsaw to cut the snake to the sound board. If that doesn't work, pull out the skeet gun.

jim milewski · Post by **jim milewski** » 13 Feb 2005 6:27 pm

my buddy was bragging to me about his new $10,000 hearing aid, said it's the best in the world, I asked him "what kind is it"? he said "around nine oclock"

Nate LaPointe · Post by **Nate LaPointe** » 14 Feb 2005 12:47 am

Last night I stood in front of Jimmy Herring's Fender Twin for 4 hours, Ouch!

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www.natelapointe.net

Per Berner · Post by **Per Berner** » 14 Feb 2005 1:58 am

In 1980, I saw Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band at a big arena event. Sitting near the left PA speakers, I was both deaf and sick afterwards, and to this day I can't remember anything from that concert except my frantic search for something to stuff in my poor ears. Fourteen years later, I saw her with the Nash Ramblers at the Gothenburg Concert Hall - what a difference! Just the right volume, and totally enjoyable - the best concert ever.

I can't understand the joy of getting kicked in the stomach with every beat on the bass drum, and hearing 100% distorted mids & trebles. Are all soundmen deaf, or just sadistic?

A couple of years ago, some colleagues and I took part in a local "battle of the bands" amateur contest. The first band on stage played some very hard rock at vomit-inducing levels. Half the audience stepped outside while they were playing, the rest covered their ears in pain.
Then we went on, turned the volume way down and played some Creedence, some Chuck Berry and some of our own material. Do I have to add that we won?

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 14 Feb 2005 7:25 am

a few years back we saw Calpton with a very FULL band..make that a very LOUD band and sound system.

Eric was not totally blistering loud thru the system but the KEYBOARDS were 10 notches up beyond the pain level..

it was not fun.

The show was in Charlotte NC ..I should have gotten a seat in Atlanta for the Charlotte show...

On the gigs it's two amps now..not for volume though..one is for stage presence ( N400) and the other (HR Deville) is more of a personal monitor if you will..yes it is loud and clean but not to the point of killing anyone..

I set up full stage left, the N400 is tad to my right and the Deville is basically behind me..

ah' tell U what...

t

Bob Doran · Post by **Bob Doran** » 14 Feb 2005 2:33 pm

Speaking of unbearable noise, I once attended a Rolling Stones concert at Iowa State stadium.
The bass was physically painful.
Each beat felt like a blow to the sternum.
It didn't hurt the ears. Too low for that.
I think it may have been a special sound an octave below human hearing.
Bob