Astrognomix Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I was reading Ormion's topic on the 'kick' in psy and boom boom and what not, and started thinking about the volume of psy for whatever reason, and came up with this idea for another topic... When listening to reaaalllllly good psy, up or downtempo, I, as well as many of you I am sure, cannot help but crank the volume up so I can hear the music better and better. It almost seems it could never be too loud and doesn't really bother/hurt my ears at the time. However, when I get to this high of volume and I'm loving it, and I need to go to the bathroom or something like that, so I take the headphones off for a few minutes and come back. When I put my headphones on and press play again I'm like "OMG GET THEM OFF OWW!" because the volume is WAY too high to just start blasting like that. Yet, 10 minutes of listening to by, and I end up listening to Back to Earth by Filteria or something, and the volume goes right back up... So, overall, I'm wondering if there are any long term listeners or audiologists out there who can tell me if I need to tone it down a bit or if loudness can be safer when it comes to psy, particularly downtempo is what I do this with most, where there aren't going to be sudden or unexpected points of loudness above the rest of the track. That's about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veracohr Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 So, overall, I'm wondering if there are any long term listeners or audiologists out there who can tell me if I need to tone it down a bit or if loudness can be safer when it comes to psy You need to tone it down. Listening on headphones is bad for your ears, to one degree or another depending on the type. And if you are listening loud enough to question whether it's too loud, it is too loud. Psy is not any better or worse than any other type of music as far as loudness is concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abasio Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I have absolutely fucked up hearing as I used to be the guy right by the speakers at any club or festival If you can purchase a good pair of headphones for yourself then you can really enjoy your music without cranking up the volume so much. I found with shitty headphones the louder the better but with a decent pair you can enjoy the fine details with the volume on a decent non-ear bleeding level! try this thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrognomix Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 I've got Bose Triports, which are somewhat suitable, but I am looking at an upgrade next year... Something completely over the ear and probably in the $250-$400 range as opposed to these, which are slightly more on a budget, and still have decent quality. I appreciate the advice, and will probably be a bit more careful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veracohr Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Is it not feasible for you to listen on open speakers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visine Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I was reading Ormion's topic on the 'kick' in psy and boom boom and what not, and started thinking about the volume of psy for whatever reason, and came up with this idea for another topic... When listening to reaaalllllly good psy, up or downtempo, I, as well as many of you I am sure, cannot help but crank the volume up so I can hear the music better and better. It almost seems it could never be too loud and doesn't really bother/hurt my ears at the time. However, when I get to this high of volume and I'm loving it, and I need to go to the bathroom or something like that, so I take the headphones off for a few minutes and come back. When I put my headphones on and press play again I'm like "OMG GET THEM OFF OWW!" because the volume is WAY too high to just start blasting like that. Yet, 10 minutes of listening to by, and I end up listening to Back to Earth by Filteria or something, and the volume goes right back up... So, overall, I'm wondering if there are any long term listeners or audiologists out there who can tell me if I need to tone it down a bit or if loudness can be safer when it comes to psy, particularly downtempo is what I do this with most, where there aren't going to be sudden or unexpected points of loudness above the rest of the track. That's about it... Here's some tips on how to listen and let your ears tell you when is enough. Start listening at an extremely low level when you can barely hear the music and listen to it like that for 10 - 15 minutes. Your ears will adjust and the music will sound louder after a while. Then SLOWLY turn the volume up if you need to. If you do it this way your ears will be better adjusted and you likely will not have to crank it super loud to hear it well if you start at a very low volume. Avoid SUDDEN increase in volume, if you need to turn it up, do so slowly by a small increment and allow ears to adjust for a few minutes before considering to turn it up again. Avoid STARTING your listening sessions with loud volume (this goes for speakers too). Consider investing in an open concept headphones that not only create a nice cloud of sound around your head but also don't pump all the sound in your ears and allows them to "breathe". One example of such headphone I'm using is AKG - 701 If your ear starts ringing or your head is starting to hurt, stop the listening session and take a break. Ideally most of the time you want to be able to hear outside sounds while listening to the headphones (like when someone is talking to you). As mentioned earlier, if you think you're listening to it loud, you probably are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrognomix Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 Wow.... I am getting a much more elaborate response on this than I expected, and I love it. Visine, I am going to try that method as it sounds incredibly wise (starting at lower volume than I prefer), and I hope this topic helps others too. As with everything, safety first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yard Hippie Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I started worrying about this a while back when I found out that a few of the hippies running the psy nights up near us have varying degrees of tinitus. In fact a lil while back I went to one party where I decided to do an entirely sober run, and this was great right up until the main act went on stage and they cranked up the volume. My ears felt like they were going to burst, so painful, and I looked around at all the happy smiling people around me and realised that I've probably been those same people in many other nights and just been so intoxicated I didn't notice... Scary really. Apologies for deviating a bit, I know your topic was more about home listening, but like I said, those same questions have been plagueing me for quite some time. Have to say I'm just as guilty for really turning the volume up (on my closed headphones) when I begin to get into a beat Need to get my speakers working again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTP Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I have very sensitive ears (seriously sensitive ... I believe I can even hear bats (I actually do not hear them, but I do percieve the ultrasonic vibrations with the ears in some way, because always when I feel this special vibration stuff and look close around I can see bats flying around ... we've got some on the canals near my house)) and things easily get too loud for me. For example I don't even wanna walk by jackhammers on a construction site... On parties and also open air concerts I practically always have something in the ears. Not real earplugs (they dampen too much), but rather just handkerchieves ... the cheap version for volume-adjustable earplugs (just stuff in more if it's still too loud and stuff in less if the volume's lower ) ... I wonder how people can take the volume with their bare ears; in the past, years ago, I used to have a kind of dull hearing each time after a party because it was too loud for my ears ... and since I began stuffing the ears, I practically never had problems again... At home on the headphones I put up the volume until it suits me, which is mostly actually quite moderate; every time I lent my headphones to people when I let them listen to tunes they used to turn up the volume because it's too low for them ... and every time they lend me theirs I have to beg them to turn the volume down. Even though it happens that I turn it up some levels when I get carried away by the music, I'm still convinced the levels are not too high. It's a different thing when I'm outdoors. Not while running, it's rather calm in the park and I have recorded my minidiscs only in a moderate volume so that I can't even crank it up. But it's something different when I go out with my mp3 player. Near busy streets, railways and other noisy places I turn it up beyond levels I normally listen in, frankly because otherwise the sound gets overpowered by outside noise. But then I say to myself: that outside noise was never too loud for me so the volume level on the headphones can't be so bad for my hearing either... Visines methods are quite good. It's a great method to let the ears get used to a lower volume level first and then even minor increases will make it sound definitively louder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 After 15 years of listening to psytrance loud and partying my ears are fucked. I can hear...that I hear less things than my gf for example. I passed some tests years ago. Treebles were definitely fucked, and overall heaing was just above average. It must be worse now. General advice: place yourself quite far from the loudspeakers in a party, and in a blanaced place, to optimize your listening experience. Also use some plugs. Not like the shitty yellow plugs, I mean scientificly molded to your ears plugs, with adjustable inflow. At home, use the hifi more than the headphones. And if you choose headphones, take big ones instead of intra auriculars. Take good quality headphones like AKG. And of course, keep the volume at an acceptable level. That said, that's right it's tempting to listen ot something you really like at high volume. And refraining from doing so is hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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