Good mix with bad ear?

Played in rock bands in high school, loud concerts, loud stereo etc like many people. One summer I ran a rock drill. Scab job so they didn't make me wear the ear protectors. Controls on the left side for right handed operator so my right ear was next to the air hammer. Also had otitus media in left ear that wrecked it for a while, guess it's ok now.

Didn't think I needed a hearing test to know the left ear was better than the right, but a visit to audiology.net showed I didn't know much about my own hearing. Right side needs about a third more volume to hear bass from 125 to 500Hz. At 1kHz left and right are about the same and at 2kHz right is slightly better. Right need 1/5 more volume to hear 4kHz. Left side hears a little 10KHz and plenty 8kHz but right side needs to be almost twice as loud as left to get 8kHz. So right side worse everywhere except 1-2kHz.

So worse than I thought. The brain evens out the perception so you don't notice. For everyday stuff I hear ok, setting mix only problem. Trying to figure out some tactics to get mix to sound like I want. Just home studio, learning stuff and working out songs for now so it doesn't need to be perfect. Recording stuff with plenty top end overtones, mbira and acoustic guitar. Just realized the high hats I put on right side in mpc 2500 are probably too loud.

Use your ears to get as far as you can, and get feedback from folks who have better hearing. It will help you defermine if you can hear what they hear, just differently so you can correct for it... or if you cannot hear it at all and need an external reference.

There's some things I can try. For setting up a drum program in mpc I can pan a hi hat etc I want on the right side over to the left side to set the level, then pan it back to the right. Maybe listening in mono will help. Could also try flipping the headphones around.

Go to an Audiologist and have them test you, then get setup with hearing aids. If you can't find one, go to https://www.audiology.org/ and search there.

CharlesRandolph wrote:Go to an Audiologist and have them test you, then get setup with hearing aids. If you can't find one, go to https://www.audiology.org/ and search there.

Yeah, that's the real way. I read about recording engineers with hearing problems doing that. I was looking into a hearing aid for my mom but it cost about 10 times as much as I thought it would.

I just thought of it this second but the little mixer will let me bring in stereo from MPC or H6 on the two mono line inputs. Then I have separate 3 band EQ, pan and level for left and right so I can boost the level and the highs and lower the mids on the right side, and hear the mix compensated for my defects. More or less. It might be good enough, depending on how well the settings I make relate to the test results from the audiology site. I always want my stuff to sound professional but who am I kidding.

Taking care of hearing is #1. Audiologist and sale off gear to buy a hearing aid. I do everything I can to protect my hearing. Also one reason I say go get it checked, is because I had a friend who was having hearing issues and it turned out, he had a build up of wax. So if you haven't go get it check out.

+1 Really good point.

Charles is right. Invest in QTips. I clean my ears every other day. And l pop my ears before l wirk, a big yarn should do it.

I seen a producer on Youtube that had so much wax in his ears it was oozing out while he made a beat. Comment section was going in on him for that. They didn't care about the beat. Though the beat was dope.

Danoc wrote:Charles is right. Invest in QTips. I clean my ears every other day. And l pop my ears before l wirk, a big yarn should do it.

I seen a producer on Youtube that had so much wax in his ears it was oozing out while he made a beat. Comment section was going in on him for that. They didn't care about the beat. Though the beat was dope.

Stay away from Q-Tips and go to the otolaryngologist once a year.

I do that too.

CharlesRandolph wrote:

Danoc wrote:Charles is right. Invest in QTips. I clean my ears every other day. And l pop my ears before l wirk, a big yarn should do it.

I seen a producer on Youtube that had so much wax in his ears it was oozing out while he made a beat. Comment section was going in on him for that. They didn't care about the beat. Though the beat was dope.

Stay away from Q-Tips and go to the otolaryngologist once a year.

Maybe I shouldn't concentrate on mixing. I'm just a guitar player. Glad I can hear anything.

6/8 Stanley wrote:Maybe I shouldn't concentrate on mixing. I'm just a guitar player. Glad I can hear anything.

Perhaps, but I still would go to the doctor to check it out.

Thanks, I want to do that. Just for the print-outs, not the hearing aid. I expect an audiologist would give me a much more accurate exam than my self-administered online test. Might be very useful. Will talk to my GP and see if insurance will cover it.

I learned something from it though. Won't be cranking the tambourines etc so high in the final mix again. Like them loud in the practice beats though. Keeps me on the beat.

similar situation bro. been working construction for 15+ years. Now things are legit with osha but i spent years running concrete saws, walk behind blowers, etc with no protection. Ive tested my worksite and its always over 100 DB with nothing going on. not into the science of it but im sure i srewed my hearing just even driving all over the country with no protection, much less high DB gear literally right against my ear. trying to get my mixing right but it seems hard as all the tracks i make are way off compared to others. I honestly think i can adapt just by keeping a good idaea of whats going on vs what I do.