Ear protection

[jrmy]

Absolutely encourage everyone to use earplugs.

Cannot stress this one enough - whatever you use, use SOMETHING.

I have some out of production jobbies from Howard Leight - along the lines of Hearos, but they're made completely out of soft plastic, so I feel like they mold to my ears better. I might be making that up, but there you go.

[frigid midget]

Absolutely encourage everyone to use earplugs.

Cannot stress this one enough - whatever you use, use SOMETHING.

I have some out of production jobbies from Howard Leight - along the lines of Hearos, but they're made completely out of soft plastic, so I feel like they mold to my ears better. I might be making that up, but there you go.

+1

I'm not proud to say I actually used to laugh with people who used ear plugs at shows or rehearsehels
I felt like a real macho alpha male for being able to handle extreme volumes for a long time
I actually really enjoyed the sensation too, and I still would. Something about agressive music that only really hits you when your ear drums start to tickle...

Since ten years or so ago though, first thing I hear when waking up...bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Never went away. It's still quiet enough to be tuned out by whatever background noise, I only hear it when I focus on it, but it's not at the level where it can't be ignored and drives me nuts. I immediately started taking care of my ears so it wouldn't get worse. I still listen to music through headphones and earbuds a lot, and it's still loud, but it's now considerably less loud than it used to be, and I limit it to 15 minutes or so. At really loud venues I stay in the back, as far as possible from wherever the speakers are. And I invested in decent ear plugs.

My 2 cents: Go for good ear plugs right away. Spend a little extra, don't be stinchy when it comes to an extremely important piece of your body that could easily get damaged permanently and literally drive you fucking insane to the point where you could make the consious decision to kill yourself.
Wearing cheap lousy ear plugs is really annoying to make music with, lots of people will just ditch em after one try and think all ear plugs are that shitty.

[K2000]

+1 to everything

I used to be all "It's not too loud for me! hahaha" but hearing damage adds up over time. I have Etymotics and Hearos. Even using those, sometimes shows are still too loud.

[John Matrix]

I will add that wearing earplugs does not make you 100% safe. The cheap foam kind don't always make a perfect seal and will vibrate in your ear canal with super loud bass frequencies. We played with some "tons of amps on 10" band and even with earplugs in the bass created some crazy pressure problem in my ear that still bugs me occasionally years later.

[JonnyAngle]

Absolutely encourage everyone to use earplugs.

If you want to live in luxury, get custom molded. They will cost about $200 after fitting and last you multiple years. The standard for the filter is universal, so you can often get one mold (the expensive part) and multiple filters for different levels of sound blockage.

I personally use Westone TRU Universal TRU16. $50 bucks, comfy and unnoticeable.

There are also decent cheaper options out there.

Do they sound like you have gauze in our ears? Can you sing with them in?

[DRodriguez]

I can't sing with them out.

They are fairly comfy, but not as nice as customs.

All earplugs will mess with your singing because they mess with the way you hear your voice.

[GuitarSlim101]

I got some custom ones a few years ago when I was still on my parents' super awesome, cover everything health insurance. Haven't played with any groups loud enough to need them on stage, but I bring them with to every big show I go to. I forget which filters I have in them right now, but they cut just enough to keep everything nice and comfortable without sounding like mud.

[Bartimaeus]

Etymotics!!!!! I cannot recommend these enough. The best part is that you can pull them out a little to get more of the highs, unlike regular ear-plugs where it's basically all-or-nothing. I'll keep them just barely in even for low-volume practices, just to protect myself from any loud stuff at ~15-20kHz that seems to be what really fucks up the ears.

[DRodriguez]

The best part is that you can pull them out a little to get more of the highs, unlike regular ear-plugs where it's basically all-or-nothing.

Also if you adjust to let some noise through you are more than likely damaging your ear just as much as not having them in at all, as you are creating standing waves of very high frequencies inside your ear.

[baremountain]

I'm glad this thread exists. I've lately been thinking more and more about hearing protection, but never enjoyed cheapo foam plugs and didn't know where to start beyond that. I read this thread yesterday and almost bought some Etymotics. I decided to hold off since I don't have gigs for a while, but when I got home and started playing with my Pretty Years I realized there's a certain volume on my amp below which things sound lifeless, and above which my ears were starting to hurt so I just placed an order. Thanks for your recommendations, hopefully I like 'em more than the high-blocking foamies.

[CyaNitrate]

I still haven't pulled the trigger on nice ones, still using foam, but I'm getting there. I love everyone's feedback.

[Meriphew]

I've been using DUBS. They are $25 shipped if you order off their site. They work well and are comfortable. I've tried quite a few of the top earplugs, and these are the first that I actually like.