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Thread: Calling DJ's living with Tinnitus

  1. #1
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    Calling DJ's living with Tinnitus

    Hi folks,


    My first post, and its an unexciting topic, but a necessary one for me as I'm undecided about whether I should DJ or not due to some hearing loss, and noise-induced Tinnitus (not from DJing). I am a bedroom/small party DJ who would like to get more serious with DJing and play at venues in Melbourne Australia. I play old school soul and funk 45's which isn't really club music, and I'm looking at smallish sound systems in small venues realistically.

    This is a call out specifically to DJ's who are still performing despite living with noise-induced Tinnitus.

    There is a strong belief in some Tinnitus forum communities that any kind of headphones, or earbuds can worsen existing noise-induced Tinnitus, even on low volumes and with musicians ear plugs, and so therefore all headphones and earbuds should be totally avoided.

    My question is:

    Are you confident that you can protect your ears from further damage, and therefore a potentially worsening of your tinnitus and if yes, how do you achieve this?

    Cheers, apologies if this is all a bit grim sounding, but I am at a crossroads with Djing or not Djing, and any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
    Last edited by Sevrin; 03-21-2022 at 07:09 AM.

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    BanHammer™⚒️ Manu's Avatar
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    Hi, excellent first post.

    I'm afraid I would tell you rather not to go ahead, or to proceed with extreme caution. Avoid earbuds (except maybe proper custom in ear monitors), they're the worst as per being the closest intrusive thing near your eardrums. As per playing venues, playing in loud environments for extended periods of time do take a toll on pre-existing ear conditions. If you get to do that, the trick is, stay behind the speakers at all time while they're firing forwards. Every gig I did by myself so far, I did set the speakers in front of me, never ever behind me. Also I would seldom use my headphones and keep the volume as low as I can possibly handle.

    Are you confident that you can protect your ears from further damage, and therefore a potentially worsening of your tinnitus and if yes, how do you achieve this?
    A few years ago, I was doing this bar gig, and the idiot DJ playing after me suddenly cranked the volume up to 11 without notice, as I was standing near one of the speakers. My left ear went ringing for 3 weeks straight, then it took me almost 2 years to recover. When that happened, I did not use any headphones for 6 months straight, and forced myself to stay in quiet environments, while avoiding any sort of loud anything, even lowering the volume in my car to ambient levels. I managed to somehow get my ear back to normal.

    As a side note, when I went back to university to study production and sound engineering, the very first lesson was all about ear safety and how to prevent damage. Avoid anything loud as much as you can, the rest is up to you.

    There's a notorious case of technology being able to help:





    Last edited by Manu; 03-21-2022 at 07:41 AM.

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    Hi Manu,

    Amazing you got your ear back to normal! Do you still DJ today? Love the vids.


    Yeah I'd have a few things on my side if I go ahead with this:

    - Only playing in small venues like bars with low to moderate volumes
    - infrequent playing, not on any regular professional level
    - Avoiding harsh digital frequencies with analog music - 70's funk is pretty mid-range, no subs or harsh highs.
    - if I mark my cue point on vinyl, I may be able to cut down on headphone use

    I still want to beat match my tunes but may get so fast at this, I can further minimise my headphone use. Anyway, these are just some ideas that could contribute to protecting my hearing.
    Last edited by Sevrin; 03-21-2022 at 09:14 AM.

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    Moderator Mark_Spit's Avatar
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    I just took care of that double post for you Sevrin.

    And ya, great first post!
    Ya gotta love corn, it's one of the only foods that says good-bye.

    Rep owed: DTR, Pete, KLH, mitchiemasha,

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    BanHammer™⚒️ Manu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sevrin View Post
    Hi Manu,

    Amazing you got your ear back to normal! Do you still DJ today? Love the vids.
    Hey thanks, I'm amazed myself, because the odds of recovery are usually slim to none. I have to emphasize a lot on having gone through a solid 6+ months of no loud sounds whatsoever, including no headphones. That even included me not playing video games with a headset, and only low TV volume. I still DJ today, but covid has been quite a bit of sand in the cogs. Still do my own bits at home + production

    - Only playing in small venues like bars with low to moderate volumes
    - infrequent playing, not on any regular professional level
    - Avoiding harsh digital frequencies with analog music - 70's funk is pretty mid-range, no subs or harsh highs.
    - if I mark my cue point on vinyl, I may be able to cut down on headphone use
    Yeah that's pretty much it, don't poke the dragon because it's at your forever expense. As per cue points, you can also use your vu meters to detect when a track starts.
    Last edited by Manu; 03-21-2022 at 11:03 AM.

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    As per cue points, you can also use your vu meters to detect when a track starts.
    Ah yes! Never thought of that. I record the BPM of all my tunes which helps a lot (BPM is all over the place in 70's funk), but I wonder if its possible to beat-match vinyl without headphones? I can't actually see how this could work right now as I'm a newbie, but maybe folks have achieved this? Digital systems would obviously be a lot easier.

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    Moderator pete's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sevrin View Post
    I wonder if its possible to beat-match vinyl without headphones?
    Mr Tape "Hold my beer, headphones ... and record players".



    So yeah. its possible to do Dj sets without the "necessary" equipment. When I started practicing, it was with the balance control on an amp with a tape deck and a record player. i couldn't afford equipment, and back then you'd need to be well financed to even think about a mixer and technics. I've even continued to play when the amps have been cut off and all I have is a pair of headphones turned up to keep a small room going (don't ask).

    Getting a great DJ set with poor equipment takes practice and deep knowledge of tracks, but nothing is impossible.

    The situation is different in modern times than the old days. DVS systems take a hot of the heavy lifting out of it: with cue points, waveform displays and automatic sync.
    You could even pre-prepare the tempos of tracks or mix parts of your set in software to make the live performance easy.
    I'm pretty sure Girl Talk doesn't bother with headphones because of pre-prepared elements in his performance.




    Just see what is out there, what works for you and above all take care of yourself, you only got one life and one pair of ears!
    bored, curious, deaf or just bad taste in music?
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    and what's this, another shoddy mix...another dull mix

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    Getting a great DJ set with poor equipment takes practice and deep knowledge of tracks, but nothing is impossible.

    The situation is different in modern times than the old days. DVS systems take a hot of the heavy lifting out of it: with cue points, waveform displays and automatic sync.
    You could even pre-prepare the tempos of tracks or mix parts of your set in software to make the live performance easy.
    Gotta love me some Mr Tape! I've seen that vid quite a few times but never realized he doesn't use headphones!

    Yep, thankfully I've got some 1210's and a basic mixer that do the trick nicely. An advantage of waiting weeks for a 45 to arrive in the mail is by the time I receive it, I've listened to the tune a hundred times on youtube and know it inside out.

    Pre-preparing tunes on software sounds good, I'll give that a try.

    It just occurred to me I could actually avoid using headphones completely in the bedroom, while I'm learning my cues, drops, and cuts etc, and once I'm really adept at beat matching my tunes, I could probably get away with using headphones to some degree when playing live. At least that way I'd be seriously reducing my headphone use, and keeping the volume low, and therefore really saving my ears.

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    Any other DJ's out there who live with noise-induced Tinnitus, who are confident they can protect their ears from becoming worse? And if so, how is this achieved? Would love to hear from yas!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sevrin View Post
    Hi Manu,


    Yeah I'd have a few things on my side if I go ahead with this:

    - Only playing in small venues like bars with low to moderate volumes
    Venue size really doesn't have much to do with it, and often the smaller ones are worse. I remember one small club I worked years ago with surfaces so live that if someone dropped anything on the floor it sounded like a gun going off. It was awful. I've done three nights this year in a 7000 square foot venue where I felt my ears were perfectly safe - a well damped interior with the sound system in front of me.

    Last summer I was very fortunate to have landed a steady weekend gig in an outdoor venue - the best solution of all.

    I no longer use booth monitors, and headphones infrequently. But I mix from a master clock, and all my tracks are prepped with hot cues, in and out cues, etc. So a different situation from yours.

    I really don't have any further advice other than what you already know - if you want to protect your ears, pick your rooms carefully and watch your levels.

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