Musicians earplugs

Toasty

Anyone use earplugs in their band? I'm sure most will say, pah, of course not, however, those who've gigged for, ahem, a few years may have a different view.

Our bass player and drummer wear earplugs all the time, but the guitarists, me included, find they cut out too much top end and struggle to hear the guitars. And with me being a vocalist too, I seem to only hear my voice when singing.

However, I want to give this another go, maybe with something a bit more techy like this. Anyone use them or have other suggestions?

Basically, I'm looking for earplugs that are suitable for guitarists and vocalists.

deadtotheworld

Try these... I used them with no problems at all. You can find them in most music shops. Its a good idea to actually get them at a store rather than order online, as they usually try the right fitting, rather than just guess a size.

Doc's Proplugs: The Doctor's Choice for Ear Protection

They are made for surfers etc, but if you go to the site there is a section for musicians to read and its all based on the same principles of letting the sound in, but cutting out the damaging frequencies.

The ones I got where clear rather than a colour, they are comfortable if you get the correct size and they have a little protective case to slip in your gear case or bag.

wombar

I'm not playing in a band at the moment, but I really wouldn't set foot inside a practice room without some kind of hearing protection.

I run a website for drummers, so maybe this link will be a help to you: Earplugs for Drummers

I prefer the ER20's over the Pro Plugs (which I've used) as there are no sizing issues to overcome. They're cheap, they do the job and they are a massive step up from foam ear plugs which just block out everything.

unique

i've used option 3 on that link for gigs and they were pretty great. i could clearly hear everything going on, it didn't sound muddy or like i lost any frequencies, it still sounded loud, but my ears no longer felt like they were being destroyed, and someone standing next to me could speak to me and i could still hear then fine. they were only about £15 delivered and came in a plastic container i could carry in my jeans pocket before and after gigs. these are very different to the foam things you get that just block out any sound (they are more for construction/factory workers wanting to block out equipment)

Kieron

Can I ask where you got these from? Might be ideal for me

Toasty

I've ordered a pair from here. The link is a bit obscure in my original post.

unique

i can't remember, i did a bit of googling and found a place that specialised in earplugs. they were the white ones with about 3 "rings". i got them in 2007 as i was going to about six gigs a week, 2 a night for a couple of months and my ears were starting to get nippy at the start. i think there are a few places doing them. there was a model number like ER2 or something, unless i'm getting confused with sure headphones. i don't think they are hard to find

in a previous workplace i looked for various earplugs for employees to drain out machinery and got all sorts of samples, but they were all of the type to simply block out as much noise as possible, most of which were various foam types, some had a headphone type band for people who had to keep removing them. i even tried big headphone can types like you sometimes see guys with plastic safety hats use when drilling, but the ones i got were the best of all. a bit dearer than the foam ones, but those were all for one use only, but if you look after them and put them back in the case after use, they can last a while. they had a bit of cord attaching them, so if one falls out it doesn't fall on the floor, a bit like ipod earphones

Kieron

Thanks. I really need them to drop the levels whilst DJ'ing - especially when we have live bands - the problem I have though is that I must still be able to hear people talking to me and also hear the clarity of the music. As you say - the foam ones just block out sound.

I'd imagine these could also be useful for barstaff....

Kieron

Fantastic - many thanks, just ordered a pair

unique

you could use them when the bands are playing, but you would probably have a problem trying to dj with them as they stick out a fair bit, so you couldn't get the dj headphones over the top of them easily without pushing the earplug into your ear painfully.  even if you only normally use the one earphone, you probably will remove that at times, and not have it permanently on, thus having one earplug in the left ear to monitor the PA and a headphone on the right ear just isn't going to work well.  keeping the pair of headphones on does tend to stop people talking to you, that's usually what i do when anyone other than hot girls come to the dj booth to annoy the hell out of me

what headphones do you use btw? i use the sony mdv600dj or whatever they are, you can get a nice loud volume and they are comfy.  the last place i played in paris earlier this month, the PA wasn't loud enough, so i kept the headphones on and whacked up the volume so it sounded louder to me than it would to anyone else!  i can't speak a word of french anyways so i wouldn't understand what anyone was saying