Sound systems and ear plugs at a concert, a personal point of view.

A couple of weeks ago I went to The Prodigy (BTW I started writing this blog on the weekend and yesterday I got the news that Keith Flint died.. Really bloody sorry, he was an awesome performer!) concert in Melbourne, was awesome, brought back some memories… here a quick link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcE7ti-68mk

It really amazes me when I see people at a concert with those cheap foam ear plugs that you can buy at a service station. Those earplugs I think are designed to make the music/noise softer, (I guess that’s the result they want) but also muffled. Leave those for sleeping or for when you have a 2 months old crying baby.

I totally agree that hearing loss is something you want to avoid.

Here is a link to some very helpful notes from the Ear Science Institute of Australia. (I think they know a thing or two about it)

https://www.earscience.org.au/lions-hearing/hearing-loss

Music at a concert can reach above 110 decibels, I know, I’ve been to few in my life, also I’ve been setting up sound systems, Stages and lighting rigs for many years. Soundcheck sometimes can be worse than the actual concert. Some sound engineers, love to turn up the sound system to 11 (yes I’ve watched Spinal Tap once or twice) just to make sure that if the speakers, amplifiers or processors have any issues, it will show before the show….(see what I did there?).   At 110 decibels and over, hearing loss can happen after only a few minutes of exposure.

Here a link to a Decibel scale example

.http://www.industrialnoisecontrol.com/comparative-noise-examples.htm

The more time you are exposed to these kinds of levels the more chance you have to get permanent hearing loss.

So if you like to go to concerts like I do and you want to get the best sound possible but are concerned about hearing loss, invest a couple of bucks in some dissent earplugs.

Here is a cheap but ok Ear Plugs option

And here is a more expensive Ear Plugs option

High-Fidelity Electronic Musicians Earplugs

BTW, last but not least, it would be a shame for the Sound production company to invest so much money in better speakers, Amplifiers, Microphones, Lighting etc and for the sound engineer and the artist to spend so much time to make sure the sound is great if people turn up with foam ear plugs……..