It is no secret that prolonged exposure to loud sound is highly damaging to our hearing. Listening to loud music is one of the common factors leading to degraded hearing ability and tinnitus, and is deeply unhealthy.
At the same time, such level of noise negatively impacts the quality of sound perception, which degrades the musical side of the musical performance.
In what seems to be the echoes of the so-called “loudness war”, bands still stick to the idea that “the louder you blast it - the better”. But it’s not true. There are many other ways to energize the crowd without causing them sound damage, and I’d love to see more of those, instead of them trying to be the loudest ever.
On the alternate I’ve been to concerts where you just couldn’t hear the band playing unless you pressed into everyone at the front. Was a terrible experience and felt like I wasted my money. I’m a big fan of putting in ear plugs, eating an edible and then riding out the vibrations. I agree there must be a good middle ground but I would rather it too loud with ear pro than too quiet.
I see! At some point powerful vibes can be gone as well - which is something I do not normally consider since I’m not necessarily into hardcore metal or something.
Doesn’t need to be metal to have a bass or drum line that shakes your ass.
I wear musicians earplugs pretty much any time I’m in a crowded place because the people are the loudest and noisiest things. A quieter music act would be quickly drowned out. But, the earplugs help me hear everything better (the music, the people next to me trying to talk to me, general situational awareness) because they only block the damaging parts to the sound without muffling everything.
If you have ever felt the relief of silence after being in a noisy environment, musicians earplugs on a keychain with you always will change the way you interact with the loud world we live in. They have saved me from unnecessary stress, anxiety, and further hearing loss at work, on a night out with friends, crowded bars, clubs, outdoor events, conferences, malls. I appreciate well engineered sound design, like FEELING the sound wash over and through me. But bad acoustics, noisy people, and tinnitus stress me the fuck out.
TLDR: I wear musicians earplugs mostly because of people and they help me hear everything better and feel better even if they’re not needed to avoid injury.
Can you recommend a brand?
EARasures are the ones I’ve been using. No idea if they’re the best. A good fit for your ear is critical for whatever brand you choose.
Tag me too, please!
Same issue I mentioned in my comment! There’s a constant battle happening between the audio engineers and the noise floor of the the venue. It surprisingly doesn’t take too much more db to be heard above the crowd, like in a perfect world, if the crowd is sitting at 90db then 95db would be ideal. But unfortunately a crowd’s loudness ebs and flows and that can easily get drowned out so most just default to 100db and embrace the inevitable tinnitus. I recommend everyone invest in Earasers or something of that quality so y’all can appreciate music safely without losing all of the dynamics.