 Welcome to another Art of Composing daily vlog. This is episode 9 and I am John Brantingham. So today I thought I would talk about something that I don't hear talked about very often, which is your hearing. I just got back from actually today having a hearing test and I think it's important that as composers we need to talk about this. So your hearing is very delicate and it's it's pretty easy to damage if you're listening to your music too loud and I Think it's just it's it's not something that is really difficult to get your head wrapped around I mean basically if you're listening with headphones you turn it up really loud or you're playing really loud instruments Including acoustic instruments things like piclows trumpets even a violin if you're in a closed room like this can be quite loud So what you really need to be doing is just thinking about what situations you're in as a composer And just as a person in your daily life and think about if you need to be using any kind of hearing protection Or if you need to get yourself in an environment where you don't have to turn your music up really loud See part of the problem is we listen to music all over the place I listen when I'm you know driving in the car or going on a run or here at home And obviously I've got headphones when I compose and I've got good speakers and in all those environments The background noise may be different So you'll probably end up turning it up in particular the car. I find I probably turn up my music the loudest there I Would highly recommend for every composer that One you just take a kind of a lay of the land of any situations that you're going to be in a normal situation or a normal Kind of normal life that you could be potentially damaging your hearing. So mowing the lawn, you know using any kind of power tools Obviously listening to to your own music in theaters. Sometimes it's it's super loud And then if you need to and I would highly recommend for everybody to do this go out and buy yourself some different kinds of hearing protection So there's a couple different earplugs and hearing protection I have around I probably should have grabbed them for the video I wasn't really thinking about that But one you should have some good earmuffs and they're not very expensive I mean you can pick them up at Harbor Frade or any you know Home Depot any hardware supply store And I use earmuffs for things like mowing the lawn or using power tools or Really anything that it's not like critical listening Environment, you don't have to hear much just put those on and that's kind of a basic way to protect your hearing The other ones are the little foamy earplugs. Those ones are pretty good Although you have to replace them frequently. So don't think that you can use the same ones over and over again They also make the kind that are like the the little kind of harder rubber plugs that can be reused Just really any kind of earplugs and kind of hearing protection And then I think probably the critical thing is if you are composing using headphones That you keep it at a very reasonable level that you don't end up damaging your hearing What I've been told and the way I understand it is that when you're exposed to really loud noise It it can actually hurt like if you are exposed to a really loud You know bang like a gunshot or explosion or a speaker that you didn't realize was turned all the way up and You know you press play like you know blaring in your ears your eardrum or your ear canal actually compress a little bit and Try to prevent all that noise from getting there, but if you maintain yourself in that environment Let's say you're at a concert or something. I believe it relaxes and over time You'll have the damage in those kind of environment So usually it's not the one-off shocking sound that that ends up hurting you in the long run It's the you know sustained listening environment. That's really loud So just sit back and think about where it is that you are Hearing things at too high a volume on a regular basis and figure out a way that you can cut that down because Hearing is critical for a composer. I I do realize that Beethoven like deaf in his later years I'm sure if we asked Beethoven He probably didn't want to be deaf now You know, we all want to work on our ability to Audiate and understand music in our head and be able to to read music and basically hear the piece But it's hard to get around that we need our ears as composers and especially as modern digital composers Where we have to usually have the final product all delivered by ourselves. That means we're composing We're performing and we're mixing and sometimes mastering and delivering that to whoever needs that music That means you got to be able to do all those things and for mixing and master mastering in particular Being able to hear the nuances the difference between a little bit of bump at 7k or you know taking out a little bit here and there That's absolutely critical for every composer. So take away from today Just find the places where you're hearing things that are too loud on a regular basis figure out a way to cut that out It's an ear musk. It's an ear plugs You know and turn your speakers down turn your car Speakers down turn your headphones down. You don't need to be listening to really loud music and and the more loud things You listen to the more you're gonna have to end up cranking it up because you're ruining your hearing So hopefully you enjoyed today's blog or vlog I guess if you are interested in learning to compose head on over to artofcomposing.com. I've got articles I've got courses. I've got you know The podcast you can listen to I've got resources a reading list for composers And then obviously you can hear my music and answer questions. So I will talk to you