"Sam Williams" wrote
I'd guess ear fatigue before anything else. You considered playing with
good
earplugs?
--scott

It looks like I may have to. I really hate playing with plugs, but
I'm sure I've f****d up my hearing a bit. Probably time to start
plugging before I"m totally screwed. I really hate them, though. When
the sound is muffled, I have less to reacte to. Therefore, it seems
like my energy is contrived and harder to work for than usual.

The best thing to do is set the stage up better. If your amps and monitors
are set up so that they are pointing at your ears, then you can turn down a
bit and everyone can hear better and clearer. Combos can be put on stands
which raise and angle. Marshall cabs can be mounted on top of a dummy cab
to raise to ear level.

Don't put any guitar or bass through the monitors, thats what your amps are
for.

--
Anthony Gosnell

to reply remove nospam.

Go to an audiologist and get some custom plugs made. They have a flat
frequency response, and come with a selection of inserts that with
different amounts of attenuation. Mine give me a nice, clear,
unmuffled 15 dB of extra headroom.

(Sam Williams) wrote in message . com...

I'd guess ear fatigue before anything else. You considered playing with good
earplugs?
--scott

It looks like I may have to. I really hate playing with plugs, but
I'm sure I've f****d up my hearing a bit. Probably time to start
plugging before I"m totally screwed. I really hate them, though. When
the sound is muffled, I have less to reacte to. Therefore, it seems
like my energy is contrived and harder to work for than usual.
Although I can usually hear my vocals and stay on pitch a little
better.

As far as the strings, I actually use 11's now. And I change them
every 3 shows/days. I have oily fingers.

this is a great point. I sometimes accompany a brazilian singer who
had some inner ear damage in her youth and as a result suffers from an
extremely exaggerated version of this very problem. If the
band/accompaniment is at acoustic level her pitch is flawless. If
things get amplified even a little bit, she can be as much as a 1/4
tone sharp...hmmm


Long answer:

High SPL can push the tympanic membrane out of shape and make sounds seem
off pitch when they are really not.

You have entered the world of too many frequencies at too high a level. The
brain has great difficulty making sense out of tones in an environment of
IMD (Intermodulational Distortion) because the tones themselves create new
sum and difference frequencies as they intermodulate.

Short answer:

Turn it down and use fewer notes per chord. AC/DC's "Back In Black" CD is a
wonderful example of 2 note chords that have a lot of IMD. If they had
played full chords, the sound would have been for crap.

Addendum: some gear crates more sum and difference frequencies than others,
even at lower levels. Choose more wisely.

Regards,

Ty Ford





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