Stressed ears

B

bwest

Well-known member
Hi guys,
I am entering the slow period at my day job, and can spend more time practicing and experimenting with all my latest toys and spend enormous time perusing this forum and watching Ebay. My practice focuses on my audio equipment, setting up my different mics, and trying to capture audio as ‘hot’ as possible without clipping. I think, that’s supposed to be how it’s done? I try to understand as much as possible from this forum, cause you guys give me a sense of confidence that’s hard to duplicate. I just finished a session tonight experimenting with the Octavas and my Emw hardwired mics. My equipment meets forum approval for experimentation…2 Octavas, 2 Emw’s, 1 4073a, and now a Sennheiser md-421 dynamic for loud spl’s. I’ve spend maybe 10 minutes or so apiece blasting* my voice to a Tascam dap1 and listen thru my 7506’s via a Sound Devices MP-2. The dap1 gives me a mic level reading [great learning tool for cheap…Ebay] as well as the little lights on the Mp-2. I think I’m getting better at creating a hot signal without the clip, which I think is acceptable? My question is: at the end of my little sessions-2hrs-my ears are ringing? I just record my own voice at normal dialogue levels, but try to record hot! Is this to be expected, or am I discovering another amateur mistake?
 
Ummm.... in general, headphone level can be adjusted separately from recording volume level. You shouldn't be listening at levels that cause ear problems! Stop it now! Or you'll damage your ears.
 
A lot can be said about ear fatigue and psychoacoustics, especially with headphones. First off, you shouldn't "expect" your ears to be ringing, or you won't be doing audio work for very long! Second, try turning your phones down, and don't keep turning them up as you go. Your ears adjust to high sound levels over time, so loud sounds don't sound as loud, even though they're still taking toll on your ears. Headphones also deceptively (dangerously?) seem quieter, because there's no natural reverb when you turn them up that you get from loudspeakers.

There's also the lesser elements of monitoring your own voice. The human voice has the widest dynamic range of any musical instrument. (If you don't believe me, go stand in a small room with an opera singer.) And there's no one closer to your own voice than you! Even if your headphones completely isolated external noise, you would still hear your own voice through your skull. So when you're monitoring yourself, you have to turn it up louder than if you were monitoring someone else in order to hear you over you.

First, turn your headphones up only as loud as you need to hear tone and keep them there. Second, if possible find someone else to do the talking. Third, if you have to record yourself, don't shout. You'll get the principle of mixing "hot as possible" at any level.
 
yea, that all makes sense, I'll lower the phone levels, maybe even wear them around my neck at times. I am just practising at normal speaking voice levels or slightly higher fluctuations, to catch the clip level and they're short sessions...ten minutes then relisten...but i think I wear the headphones constantly!
 
bwest said:
maybe even wear them around my neck at times.
Click to expand...
Watch out for this one, since headphones can leak into the mic and cause feedback. If you're not wearing the phones, you should probably unplug them altogether.

Try setting your headphone level so that a -20dB tone is as loud as a pleasant conversation. If you find that you're having troubles hearing the headphones over sounds leaking through them, you'll want to get a pair of closed-back `phones with a tighter seal. The Sony MDR-7506's are an excellent investment.

And yes, excessive headphone levels will wreck your ears. After 14 hours of headphone monitoring, your ears will get tired (neural fatigue), but they should neve ever start ringing. If you have to crank your headphones that loud, you should be popping in a good set of earplugs first.
 
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