Just a little something I thought I would share with you as I prepare to go on air for today’s Vocal Booth live.
Over the last few weeks we have been having issues with one of the air conditioning units in the house, for some reason it sporadically started beeping in the early hours of the morning.  I thought I had disconnected the power supply to it and was going to get around to calling out an engineer to look at it, but totally forgot. This continued happening occasionally and my wife would mention it to me, although more often than not I agreed to fix it and always forgot.  It turned out that I just couldn’t hear the thing beeping constantly… everybody else in the house could but not me.  In the end I successfully disconnected the supply but it brought home to me a very important fact.
Although my hearing is generally ok, I love my music so much that when I play in clubs I like to have the monitor speakers cranked up way loud to give me the same vibe as the floor, not for necessity but for sheer pleasure.  Same as when I do my radio show or mixes, the headphones are set to the master and I have them way up there.  So what do I do, enjoy my music without changing or make steps to halt any long term damage ?
This whole episode with the air conditioning unit has made me realise that I really do need to invest in some ear protectors.  Over the last 5 years or so I have come across several people on my travels who have all told me how they have had to take the plunge, I even had the opportunity to get custom ones fitted for free one year at Miami WMC.  Now is the time.
I just thought that I would like to share the info with you, and if it means that just one other person starts to take precautions, then it’s been worth it.  Better late than never !!
I will keep you updated on how I get on.  (Actually, by putting this down on record there is no way I will back down now or leave it till another time).
I have been given the details of these and in the next few weeks I will be getting “fitted up” for a pair.