(Save this, you WILL need this information someday whether you think so or not)
As a lot of you know, I've been a club DJ since before most of you were even in your mommy's tummy, I was "Playing that Funky Music White Boy" and "Shaking My Booty" on 7" 45's in the club when they were current hits. I was playing records in the clubs when this weird new form of music delivery was introduced, called the 12" single in about 1975.... We all thought it was a waste of vinyl, how ridiculous to waste all that plastic on one song, boy were we wrong!!! (Please Spare me the "old man" jokes!!)
Here is something I have learned the hard way that I feel obligated to pass on to everyone of you:
PROTECT YOUR HEARING!!
Over the past few years, I have noticed a gradual change (for the worse) in my perception of music and sounds, finally last year June 2003 I had an extensive doctor's evaluation and my diagnosis is that I have permanent hearing damage as a direct result of my exposure to high decibel music. My hearing damage curve is what is commonly called a "musician's curve". My hearing loss from constant exposure to extremely loud music is permanent, now that it is gone, I can not get it back. Years ago I would have laughed at anyone who told me to not play my music loud because it was destroying my hearing.
This is especially depressing for me because I will never be able to fully enjoy the thousands of records I have collected during my career. I have no other source of income other than my DJ career, so this scares the crap out of me. I can still hear but it just is not the same, music sounds distorted and screechy and actually annoys me. I actually prefer silence instead of listening to my favorite records.
You are damaging your hearing if any of the following apply to you:
* You play your monitors very very loud to compensate for the time delay of the speakers over the dance floor.
* You play your headphones loud to match your monitors.
* You leave the club and your ears are "ringing" or (in my case) numb and plugged up like you have a cold.
* You are constantly asking people to repeat themselves because you don't understand what they say (especially the day after you work at the club)
* You are always fiddling with the EQ, boosting the treble because things "just don't sound right". You are experiencing "temporary threshold shift" or "permanent threshold shift" this is very serious. (Leave the EQ flat!!! in most cases it is YOUR perception of bad EQ, not what the room actually sounds like)
* As the night goes on, you find yourself turning the house volume louder and louder and louder. (again, temporary threshold shift).
* People's voices (especially when talking on the phone) sound loud and annoying. Music you used to enjoy sounds distorted even at low volume on headphones with your Walkman. Normal acceptable volume in the club that you used to enjoy is now very painful.
In June last year I invested in custom hearing protection. A set of 2 ear plugs are about $150.00 and are molded to your ear, so it is an exact fit. The good thing about this type of damage to your hearing is that even though it is accumulative, you can essentially stop it in it's tracks if you protect your hearing every minute you are in the club and the music is playing. You may think they look funky on you but after what I have experienced, you will never catch me without them anywhere in any club I am playing.
I need to make something crystal clear to anyone who is considering 25db hearing protection:
Wearing 25db hearing protection as a DJ for the first time is absolutely traumatizing. The first thing you want to do is rip them out of your ears and throw them away and cuss yourself for spending 150$ precious dollars on such a piece of crap. The first thing you will experience is the inability to hear the monitors and the mix the way you are used to hearing it. You will get used to this You may turn up your monitors a bit to compensate but eventually once you get used to it, you should not have to play it any louder than mixing without hearing protection once everything balances out. It took me a couple of weeks, but I personally realize the extreme importance of using them so I had absolutely no choice, either use them or go another couple of years and be completely deaf.
After you get used to it, it's really great to have them, and actually after a month or so, when you take them off during peak hour, you perceive the volume to be so painfully loud in the club that you scramble to put them back on, again this is because your hearing is normal and everyone else in the club is experiencing temporary threshold shift. I am not kidding. and the biggest payoff is that when I leave the club, my ears are not numb and I don't have a headache when I drive home even though I will never regain what I lost, I feel comforted to know that I stand to suffer no more hearing loss than what I already have.
