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Re: [microsound] beware the decibel...

wow.

thank you for sharing this with us (and me).

no one wants to lose their hearing.

i'm not sure i can write anything that can do justice to what you're trying to say. i really enjoy good loud music and i am aware of the double edged sword.

on a visit to rotterdam i went to a techno concert headlined by richie hawtin and chris liebing. in retrospect i consumed too many vodkas and tonic and decided it would a good idea to position myself as close as humanly possible to the wall of speakers. when we got back to amsterdam the next day, i couldn't hear anything. it was as if i had my hands clasped over my ears. it was disorientating, as we discern so much of our three dimensional surroundings, particularly what we can't see, through hearing (it's an obvious reference, but the film 'it's all gone, pete tong' articulates this horror a little too well). this, combined with the fact that i exhibit hypochondriac tendencies in the best of situations, led to one of the most frightful and unpleasant experiences in my life. within 24 hours or so, my hearing gradually returned to a point in which i felt comfortable again. i was lucky. but it left a lasting impression in more ways than one.

prior to this, in my first forays into techno music making, i had the fortune of being able to use a full club sound system as my monitors. i spent every night for about a year in front of a 4000 watt (2000 mono watts going to the subwoofer and 1000 each to the two full range tops speakers) sound system, which taught me a lot about the aesthetics of techno music, but not without its toll on my hearing.

i know i listen to music too loud. but like a drug addict, i'm addicted. i've read all the literature about listening levels and proper mixing, and still i have difficulties resisting the temptation to crank the volume. i love it too much. i bought the expensive custom moulded ear plugs. but, admittedly, i rarely use them.

the only thing i can offer here is pure speculation. one day we will be able to bypass our ears and pipe sounds directly into our brains. only at this point, will we be able to indulge in the sonic possibilities offered by technology without damaging what is essentially a fairly fragile membrane, unsuited to the demands of our modern soundscape.

the other point, i want to raise here is physical hearing versus, what i might call, 'intellectual hearing.' maybe a better way to put it is 'hearing' versus 'listening.' i know people with great hearing, because they are not music lovers or musicians, whose frequency response is perfect, yet they couldn't tell you the difference between a bass guitar and an electric guitar. at the other end of the spectrum are people who can't hear anything, but are able to improvise and cope, and create the illusion they hear everything, based on years of practice.

i think one of the real dangers of prolonged loud music exposure, as skilled musicians, is that our brains overcompensate for our deteriorating hearing to such an extent that we can still hear detail in music regardless of our objective hearing ability. we become better at listening, while we become worse at hearing.

i'm sorry if my previous post seemed a tad trite, but it was purely reactionary. in no means do i mean disrespect to those who have incurred hearing damage as a result of loud music.

still, there's a part of me, perhaps informed my the happenstance and privilege of my relatively okay hearing, that thinks of extreme musics in terms of a marie currie analogy, of radium and cancer, and the importance of pushing forward despite the casualties incurred.

i'm still not sure i've actually said anything here (as always) but regardless, i want to thank you for sharing with us.

all the best,

graham




On 12-Jul-06, at 7:06 PM, Randal Davis wrote:

Before this goes on any longer, I feel a very serious need to inject some
realism, or at least a very personal experience.

I am a 51 year-old intermittent composer and most definitely former
performer, who has lost approximately 80% of my once very, very good
hearing. I have lived with this now for more than ten years, and will live
with it the rest of my life.

I say "intermittent" because the frustration of trying to work within the
constraints of this disability is, well, let's just call it frustrating.
And I say "former" because direct exposure to even the sound levels of an
acoustic chamber ensemble on stage could cause still further damage.

The aesthetic points in this thread are all well-taken - Graham Miller, and
others, are doubtless correct that sheer amplitude may be a vital component
of an aesthetic position. It is, after all, as foolish to imagine a Glenn
Branca symphony at polite levels as a Morton Feldman composition at other
than approaching the threshold of audibility.

So far, so good - this is, truly, the prerogative of the artist. But let us
not lose the deep thread here. An artist may change their intention at any
time. Hearing loss, on the other hand, is irrevocable.

The result, for me, is that now, with some $5K worth of hearing aids (US
readers take note - they are not covered by health insurance), I can
function more or less normally, at least socially. But this thing, music,
that I loved more than life itself, whether it was Satie, Stockhausen, Miles
Davis, or Autechre, is now hardly more than a memory.

The damage caused by exposure to loud sounds is cumulative - in other words,
the problem is not just that one, really, really loud performance, but the
many (only just) loud gigs.

Please, my friends, if you are reading this, take care. There have been a
number of interesting threads on the aesthetics of laptop performance - does
it really work, as performance, to watch someone poring over a keyboard?
Good question - but imagine what it would be like if that was all you had,
and there was no sound.

My point here is, finally, fairly simple. We don't need debate, though it
is an important question, the aesthetics of amplitude, or its socio- cultural
matrix in modernity and postmodernity. Take whatever position you like on
the aesthetic debate - but I suspect you would still like your voice, so to
speak, to be heard.

Thought experiment: take an ice pick to your eyes, then decide to be a
painter, and let me know how it works out.

RD


----- Original Message -----
From: "Andras Hargitai" <andras.hargitai@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "microsound" <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <info@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 4:21 PM
Subject: Re: [microsound] beware the decibel...


I don't agree. Feeling the sound doesn't necessarily come with volume.
Of course to a certain extent yes, e.g. in the case of bad speakers
when you can hardly hear anything or situations like that.

2006/7/12, Xdugef <info@xxxxxxxxxx>:
Yea earplugs are a must because if you want to feel the sound you need
volume.

So again: I ask why?  If you play your music at physically damaging
volumes, why?  What do you hope to get out of it?  And what are you
expecting of your audience?

I'll also say that I'm 26, I hate being this curmudgeonly, but I want

to be able to hear in the future.


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