How to make your 001 sound clearer and crisper for $5.00!!

[Jayman#9]

Your only as good as your weakest link. Right? Right! So natuarally, you start with the best mic you can afford, then the cables, the Preamp, converters into the Digi001. Hmmmm still a little muffled? Somethings off and you can't put your finger on it? Well, try getting your ears cleaned!

I noticed that my left ear was duller sounding than the right. It wasn't so obvious until I was mixing a project and everything was off. I panniced because I though I had permanent ear damage in one ear (after recording so many metal and rock bands that demanded everything to be cranked to 11 all the time). I went to the doctor to get my ears checked and, as I'm sure many people know, found out that wax build up was blocking my ear passage. I was told to buy a ear drop kit ($5.00) and so I did (you can also get the docter to do it for you).

After 5 days, I won't get into the details, BOOM my ear opened up! I can't believe how impaired my hearing was. Now I realised that my right ear (suppossed to be the good ear) was dull now to the left! So I treated the other one.

Now I'm back to mixing and things are sounding better than ever. The difference is better than any converter or preamp. Start with clean ears! I recomend that everyone get thier ears checked to see if it's clean. And BTW, Q-tips, according to my docter, are the worst thing you can do to your ears. Q-tips acctually pack the wax deeper in your ear (makes sence).

[Paul Curtiz]

As a sidenote, the wax buildup in your ears (and mine... [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ) also acts as a natural protection against high noise levels. If you are exposed to high levels of volume, your ears will apparently produce more wax, so too much is no good, but none is not very good either.
I also got the same advice from a doctor regarding Q-tips.
...and if you ever get caught with dirty ears, you can always say "it's 'cause I'm a musician, and the doctor told me not to use Q-tips..." [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

Cheers

[Lalaman]

Yes, as far as I know it is best to leave the ears alone. But Jayman, you made me curious, what is a drop kit?

Lalaman

[silence_of_stone]

some people's ears just produce more wax than other peoples ears. I am one of these unlucky souls who has to go to the doctor every couple of years to have mine cleaned.
1st noticed I couldnt hear when I was in Cancun once. I was swimming in the ocean a lot, and came out of the water just about completely deaf in one ear and muffled in the other. I was freaking out and needless to say it ruined the rest of my vacation. The water had caused the wax to expand, and cut off the rest of my ear canal.
I went to the Dr (ENT - Ear, Nose, Throat)and he came out with this thing that squirted warm water into my ears. Gross as it sounds, huge chuncks of that crap came out and suddenly it the world sounded like I was working in a cymbal-smith shop.
I walked out into a parking deck and the sudden surround-sound was freaky and almost made me dizzy and giddy. God only knows how long I had been walking around with only about 20 - 40% of my hearing.
I almost got rid of a perfect set of monitors because I kept thinking there was something wrong with the right one.
My mixes improved IMMEDIATLY. I also found that I could mix at lower levels and thereby get a better sound.
You speak the truth. Our ears are very very important to us as musicians and engineers. We need to take great care of them.
- don't use q-tips or cotton swabs. They push that crap farther down in the ear and it gets compacted, can cause trouble with the ear-drum.
- when taking a shower, let the water squirt into your ear gently...not enough to go all the way in, but just to flush out any ickiness in there.
- some doctors recommend putting a drop of mineral oil in the ear every so often to help the stuff come out. I personally don;t like to do this, but I hear it helps.
The $5 ear cleaners that come with the little bulb and the peroxide solution work ok, but if you are noticing hearing loss, and muffled sounds they may not work so well. If you have insurance, or access to a doctor, I recommend going to see a professional specialist. They have the tools to safely remove all of the buildup, and in removing it all, can prevent it from happening again on a large scale.
Sorry to ramble, but this was a really big deal with me a few years ago and even now.
Take care of your ears!
Dr Kev [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[froyo]

www.hearnet.com
www.hei.org
www.hear-it.org
www.osha.gov

[silence_of_stone]

very good links!!! All of us should take a moment to think about this stuff.

[Mark Staples]

Ear Cones!

King Cones

Work great and very natural.

[ostrich99]

All,

Anyone know of any good Musician Earplugs? All of the cheap ones I've tried just really, really bug me in that although they reduce the sound level, they seem to really affect the quality of the sound like it was put through a eq with settings all over the place.

I've often thought this can't be the only option can it? There has got to be a way to get custom earplugs made for musicians.

Any ideas? I've spent too much of my highschool/college days and now my post college days without using much ear protection, and would like to protect myself from future damage.

Ostrich99

[rfreeman]

I've had similar experiences with the impacted wax thing. About sticking Q-tips in your ears: A doctor once said "Don't stick anything in your ear that is smaller than your elbow." [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[froyo]

ostrich99

Anyone know of any good Musician Earplugs?

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