KT Tunstall hearing loss

[diskwave]

Talks about her hearing loss on BBC today......not sure if she mentions this but is this the result of in ear monitors...squirting noise directly into the ear? She does appear to use them.

[jrixn1]

Unlikely.  In-ears are acoustically isolated, so generally you would have the volume a lot lower than the equivalent backline.  

 

You could crank it though, I suppose; but you'd be doing it wrong.

Edited August 1, 2021 by jrixn1

[4000]

1 hour ago, jrixn1 said:

Unlikely.  In-ears are acoustically isolated, so generally you would have the volume a lot lower than the equivalent backline.  

 

You could crank it though, I suppose; but you'd be doing it wrong.

She said it’s a result of bad stage monitors earlier in her career, plus a lot of clubbing. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-57996035

I love KT, she’s an absolute diamond. 

[stingrayPete1977]

One of my favourite things about in ears is the drive home without the ringing ears from a typical gig with a typical back line.

[paul_5]

58 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

One of my favourite things about in ears is the drive home without the ringing ears from a typical gig with a typical back line.

Yeppers - this.

[itu]

 

[Hobbayne]

Apparently, Hearing aids wont help her because there has to be some hearing left to boost.

I'm 57 and have to wear hearing aids because I was young and stupid and took risks with my hearing with loud gigs and headphones.

[Elfrasho]

I started wearing war protectors pretty any where where the loud noise.. Even at gigs I'm there to watch! Might not be cool but it's not worth the risk! Plus, things just sound better when the sound is controlled a bit! 

[Linus27]

One of the bands I was in recorded our album with an amazing producer called Mark Wallace (It Bites, U2, Travis, The Primitives etc.) and we spent a couple of weeks in pre-production playing through the songs. The first thing he did was make us set all the levels of each instrument, starting with the drums. So we would play through a song starting with just the drums, then the bass would be added and he would set the volume accordingly. Then add the rhythm guitar and adjust accordingly and tweak the bass if necessary. Then the same for the lead guitar and then vocals and backing vocals. We literally slashed the volume we used to play at by half and not only was the overall sound so much clearer and dynamic, at the end of rehearsals we were so less fatigued. 

It's something I have gone on to do in every band I have played in. It makes such a difference.

[borntohang]

The risk with in-ears is usually either cranking them to cover up crap isolation, or taking one out to 'hear the room' and then pushing the other one to compensate.

 

I didn't realise KT had already totally lost one ear. Nightmare scenario and absolutely can't blame her if she's in the position to scale back shows. Wouldn't blame her if she decided to hang up the hat entirely to be honest, but I guess it's a hard monkey to get off your back.

[gjones]

My Niece, who has her own band, sufferers from severe tinnitus caused standing near by an incredibly loud onstage monitor, while the drums were soundchecking.

 

She now uses IEM which helps considerably.

 

The drummer, who's soundcheck caused the damage, now plays in KT Tunstall's band. 

[4000]

Cymbals are the worst for me, they cause me physical pain. We’re an acoustic band and the “drummer” plays a cajon, which is lovely. However a couple of years ago he decided he’d add a cymbal and hi-hat for a bit of colour. We’ve just started rehearsing again and I’m going to have to get earplugs, because it’s painful every time he hits one of them. If only he’d stuck with just the bloody cajon. I told him last week and he said whilst he’s deaf as a post (he is) he’d never heard of hearing damage causing physical pain. 🙄 

[4000]

1 hour ago, Linus27 said:

One of the bands I was in recorded our album with an amazing producer called Mark Wallace (It Bites, U2, Travis, The Primitives etc.) and we spent a couple of weeks in pre-production playing through the songs. The first thing he did was make us set all the levels of each instrument, starting with the drums. So we would play through a song starting with just the drums, then the bass would be added and he would set the volume accordingly. Then add the rhythm guitar and adjust accordingly and tweak the bass if necessary. Then the same for the lead guitar and then vocals and backing vocals. We literally slashed the volume we used to play at by half and not only was the overall sound so much clearer and dynamic, at the end of rehearsals we were so less fatigued. 

It's something I have gone on to do in every band I have played in. It makes such a difference.

This is something I’ve always tried to do. But then people start turning up gradually throughout the evening. 🤦‍♂️

[phil.c60]

15 hours ago, 4000 said:

This is something I’ve always tried to do. But then people start turning up gradually throughout the evening. 🤦‍♂️

Lucky you - I find that when we play, people start leaving gradually throughout the evening.......I'll get my coat.

Edited August 4, 2021 by phil.c60

[Supernaut]

Very, very lucky with my hearing. I never wore defenders in my teens or 20s but my hearing is still pretty good. I can hear frequencies I should have lost 5 years ago!