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Musical Meltdown seeking solution

Tuffsy

Tuffsy

Musician, composer and pensioner from downunder
I'm hoping that other musicians might be able to offer some advice or experience.
Yesterday while performing my 2nd gig with my new music partner, all was going well until some kids of about 7 years old starting banging huge jenga blocks, maybe as percussion, it was so loud that I had a meltdown, stopped playing and yelled at them. Amazingly I kept going with the song but felt terrible afterwards.

My sensitivity to other noise while playing has made me think I should get some in-ear monitors to block out everything else. Can other musos tell me if this would work? It would be a big expense to make if it doesn't work.
Here's a link to a song that I wrote from our 1st gig. TIA

Stand Up and Dance
 
If your amp (or mixing board if you use one) has bluetooth would a cheap pair of noise cancelling earbuds do the job?
 
Tuffsy said:
Thanks, a good suggestion, but my amp is a bit old for bluetooth.
Click to expand...
Just looking for cheaper options for you as we don't know that that will solve your issue. Worth a shot though.

You can also add bluetooth to your existing amp provided that it has a spare line in connection. Then you'd be able to connect any bluetooth headphones or ear buds. I'm having trouble finding Aussie outlets for them though, I found them in New Zealand for NZ$65.

tone-link-front.webp


Tone:Link - Blackstar
 
I don't have any ideas except for the very spendy custom-made musician's earplugs that filter certain frequencies and limit decibel level -- an audiologist who told me
I had one of the worst cases of developmental hyperacusis he had ever seen said I should have them for basically all the time...but since they cost too much (more than $300CAD over ten years ago...don't want to think about what they cost now) I've never tried them, can't even tell you if they would work for me or not.

I can tell you that the only pair of noise-cancelling headphones I've ever tried were an instant-sensory-overload-inducing nightmare -- they played constant jarring background tones, made everythign worse, worst was the very high-pitched tone and always painful...not sure if this was just a quality or calibration issue (ie they were a bit old -- the technology may be better now; or maybe if they were not working right -- could be the noise generated to cancel-out ambient-incoming sound was actually not matched precisely enough to the incoming frequency and I could hear the difference...no way to know, since they were given to me as an act of compassionate kindness by someone who had just acquired new ones [and he didnt believe what I told him about how they made it worse and created at least as much extra noise as they filtered -- they had apparently always worked fine for him] and I couldn't just go out and buy myself a new pair to try...

That said, my psychologist said I was not the only autistic person she knew who had the problem I did with active noise-cancelling headphones. Just a heads up: Apparently noise cancelling headphones have widely varying quality that can dramatically affect their usefulness and/or do not work for everyone -- so if you buy some, I recommend you do lots of research first)
 
In ears would be perfect.

I used expensive musicians ear plugs, couldn't stand the noise without them in a full band. I could only play without plugs if it was acoustic.
 
My favourite open mic was where only the mic was plugged in, everything else natural. Loudness is so overrated!
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I feel that good in ear plugs would be worth it. I've always been of the opinion that you get what you pay for, and so all of my equipment is top of the range. I don't mind paying, as a few gigs would cover the cost, I was just unsure if they would do the trick or be a waste of money, so thanks for making me more certain. 🎸🎸
 
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