AUdIoCoUrSeS
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 2014
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| Damage to hearing |
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Concepts
• sound pressure level
• duration of exposure
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It's all in the ears. - Learn the concepts not the software.
Audio Courses is a way into the music business for you
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Tue Sep 14, 2004 6:34 am |
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MIKE_NOSTRADAMUS
Joined: 08 Jan 2003
Posts: 163
Location: Northfork Recording Studios |
| Loudness |
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I read this one on the first page I thought I'd put it in here!I found it interesting
1) Mixing at high volumes for long periods of time can cause permanent ear damage. Yes, it's true...long term exposure to high levels can ruin your ears. If your ears are your assets, best treat them right.
2) High mixing volumes for long periods cause your ears to over-compensate for both high end frequencies and low end frequencies. If you only mix at high levels, your ears will run out of gas within a couple hours as opposed to mixing at softer levels which allow you to hear accurately for longer periods of time.
3) Mixing loud may sound great in the beginning, but re-listening to the same mix a day later at soft levels will reveal a myriad of imbalances. However, the opposite is not true! Achieving proper balances at soft levels tends to maintain the same achieved balances when heard later at loud levels.
Are we saying to mix only at soft levels? No, of course not. In fact, it's necessary to mix loud for a minute or two to ensure proper balance on the low end spectrum of your mix. Also, in order to ensure effects and EQ's aren't saturated, it's necessary to mix for periods of time at moderate levels. But overall...the best balances are achieved at lower mixing levels. |
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Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:59 pm |
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conquistadore
Forum Moderator
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 514
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| what happens inside our ear |
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Maybe I'll expand a bit on what happens biologically in our ears when we listen to loud SPLs.
Our inner ear has hair like structures called stereocilia which are sensitive to sound vibrations. When a sound wave hits our ears these hair like structures move and trigger nerve impulses that reaches our brain. Our middle ear does act like a compressor at times and reduces the level of the vibrations going to the sterocilia when the sound we are listening to gets higher than around 65-75dBSPL. But it works effectively for sounds that are less than 1KHz and it doesn't respond too well to fast transients.
So every time we listen to loud sounds our stereocilia gets bent and its threshold of hearing increases. So to listen we need to make the sound louder so our bent sterocilia can trigger impulses. Again the sterocilia gets bent more and we need to increase the levels again - an upward spiral.
These effects can be short term but if you continously listen to loud music (say above 95dbSPL) you could damage your ears for ever.
While mixing its best to stay around 85dBSPL. But as posted above you do need to mix at louder and softer levels but not for too long. |
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Tue Oct 04, 2005 3:27 am |
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