| Throughout the first 10 years of my career I did a lot of Funk, Rock and Salsa gigs, and as a direct result of the volume being so high and the sound engineers being so rubbish I forgot a lot of the fundamentals of brass playing and kind of ruined my chops a little. I am back on form now and have been for a while but the problem was overblowing to try and hear myself. I now use a perspex screen for these type of gigs and a pair of rubber earplugs designed for swimming which completely seal the ears off. Not only does this prevent me from overblowing because I can hear myself in my head it also protects my hearing which is after all, part of my instrument.
I recently did a session for a tv theme tune where one of the other trumpet players who plays very loudly and does a lot of salsa gigs had set the foldback volume for himself and it was so loud that when I put the cans on I actually felt physically ill! And the engineer wouldn't give me a separate mix!!!!
__________________ Eclipse Artist
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Bach Strad Flugel Model 183 -
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The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - www.snjo.co.uk |