RaySachs
New Member
I haven't played with a band in years, but frankly back in the day I think I did far more damage to my ears going to shows listening to other bands than anything that happened with the guys I played with. We never played that loud - just loud enough to hear over the drummer and I guess I never played with an obnoxiously loud drummer. But I went to a LOT of concerts in those years too and a few of them were really horribly painfully loud. I remember waking up the morning after an awful lot of them with my ears ringing and not feeling back to normal for a day or more. The very worst was a Grateful Dead show with Santana opening in 1988 - the Dead usually had about the best sound in the business but this was in the Tacoma Dome and the sound was beyond horrible. I was in so much pain I walked out during the set break, came back in when they started playing again in the second set, and walked right back out. It's the only time I ever left a Dead show early. There were a lot of other bad ones, but that was the worst, and if you look at the various taper / review sites, the terrible sound is what pretty much every review of that show talks about.
And, yeah, at 59, my hearing isn't good. I have to turn the TV up louder than my wife would like. I can converse with another person without a problem but when I'm in a group of people, I often have trouble following the conversation. I'm sure I'm heading for hearing aids but I'm trying to hold off as long as I can. I doubt anything I'm doing today is doing me more harm, but the harm's been done...
-Ray
And, yeah, at 59, my hearing isn't good. I have to turn the TV up louder than my wife would like. I can converse with another person without a problem but when I'm in a group of people, I often have trouble following the conversation. I'm sure I'm heading for hearing aids but I'm trying to hold off as long as I can. I doubt anything I'm doing today is doing me more harm, but the harm's been done...
-Ray