Ear plugs for gigs

[Diapason]

I am on record as saying that most metal gigs these days are not loud enough, and I had assumed that health and safety rules had ended the days of ridiculous levels forever. Well I went to see Rammstein in Helsinki on Sunday night and the sound in the stadium was... very loud indeed. Like, physically affecting loud. I could genuinely feel my eardrums flapping and my innards rearranging themselves. Amazingly this was from a point about as far away from the speakers as you could realistically get, up in the stands rather than on the pitch. It was quite something!

My friend had given me some standard issue foam earplugs (afternoon me was adamant I wouldn't use them), so I tried to use them. However, they changed the tonal balance far too much, and the music lost all the treble and most of the impact. I ended up with a half-in-half-out approach that broadly maintained the tone and impact, but still left me with ringing ears 2 days later;

Can anyone recommend earplugs that just reduce volume across the board without the massive shift in tone? Does such a thing exist?

[Cyndale]

I went to see Whitesnake playing at the SFX Hall in 1984, my mate and I left after 15/20 minutes or so. It was SO loud! Our ears were ringing for a couple of hours afterwards but the few drinks helped.

[Sloop John B]

Probably overkill but seeing as I now need hearing aids I cannot risk any more damage due to gigs so my audiologist takes a mould and supplies me with Dreve ear plugs.

I got my son to go and get a pair too (paid for by me) as he’s big into music and I’m pretty sure I can blame my loss on Thin Lizzy, Wedding Present and Animal Collective which were the worst culprits to my mind. In the €200 bracket but I can still enjoy gigs as they don’t seem to kill any frequencies just put an effective block on going above a certain dB level.

.sjb

[Fran]

I remember seeing ads recently for ones that had an adjustable opening - but can't remember for the life of me what they were called.

[Diapason]

Thanks everyone. 200 euro is definitely a bit rich for my blood, but it definitely sounds like the kind of thing I'm looking for. Maybe there's an Aldi middle aisle version. It's no biggie, but I'd like to have options next time I'm at a stupidly loud gig.

This all feels very middle-aged...

[Brutus1968]

I was looking for something similar and I found this page:

https://www.loudersound.com/features/be ... live-music

Best

[Diapason]

Thank you, I found that myself and I've had that page open on my phone for a week now while I dither! I'm quite tempted to get a pair of Earasers, which get mentioned in one of the reviews on that site as having a very flat attenuation across frequencies. I'll let you know how I get on if I do.

[Brutus1968]

Also Music Maker, in Dublin, has similar items in their catalogue:

https://www.musicmaker.ie/strings-acces ... protection

Best

P.S. I have just made my decision and bought the Loop Experience high fidelity earplugs.

[Diapason]

Let me know how you get on, as they're there other ones I was considering

[Brutus1968]

OK, they should arrive next week. A good live test could be the Peter Gabriel concert on the 25th of June.

Best