I am going on my first tour this summer with the Sacramento Mandarins, and during the auditions we went inside the schools band rooml (8 snares, 4 tenors, 5 basses) we just switched people in and out. and it was amazinnnggg loud. i auditioned last year, but we never went inside. so i want to purchase ear plugs for this up coming tour and want to determine which would be best. my instructor told me too get some called air filters or something. Any better ones out there?

To be honest man, you don't need to get crazy with the ear plugs. Low price, working product, and quantity is what you want.

I go for the beige ones or the light green ones you find at any pharmacy or retail music store for like 5-6 bucks, maybe less. for that, you get like 30 or 32 earplugs. I use the 32db and that's more than enough for me. I prefer the 29db so i can better hear the techs when they talk.

plus, you'll easily lose a pair of those within a day or two. so it's better to go cheap, IMO. they all do the same job just as well.

Font's right. They do make those really expensive ones where it filters out the sound but still lets you hear all the music "more clearly." I haven't tried them myself, but with the standard ones you get at the pharmacy or music store are fine. As long as they're rated at at least 29db, then you shouldn't have to worry. Plus when you get outside (which for you guys, your inside days will probably end very soon) it's a whole different story, and the risk of hearing damage is lessened (but not obliterated, so you still need to be able to afford enough earplugs to last you throughout tour). So cheap is the way to go.

I looked in to expensive earplugs but never got them. However, if you're a younger player and you know you're going to be doing it for a long time it's probably worth it. You get a mold of your ear made, and they custom make a hard outer shell that exactly fits your ear. Then you get these inserts that do the actual sound filtering. The benefit to this method is that the sound gets filtered evenly for all frequencies, with the cheap ear plugs everything will sound low and muffled. Many players don't like the way this sounds so they just go without earplugs at all... bad call. So like I said, if you plan on being involved with the activity for a long time, expensive earplugs may be a good investment. Cheap earplugs will provide the same level of protection.

Of all the inexpensive earplugs I've tried, my favorite by far are the Etymotic ER-20 "High Fidelity" earplugs, which you can find for $10-12 per pair.

Some cheap earplugs block certain frequencies more than others, so once you take the plugs out, things sound very different and you might find that you've been playing out of balance. The Etymotic plugs' response is pretty flat throughout the audible range, so things sound close to the the same when you're wearing them -- just quieter.

I used to go the gun shops to get ear plugs, but some of their clients were a bit scary. The last time I found a bottle of 40 pair at the drug store. They looked like a bottle of vitamins. Most importantly they did the job and were cheap.
If you do use the foam plugs make sure you use them properly. Roll the plug between your thumb and first finger into a thin tube. Using your opposite hand, pull up on your ear to straighten out the ear canal. Use your forefinger to hold the plug in as it expands. Once you have both in, check to see that they are effectively blocking the sound. Cover both ears with the palm of your hands. You should hear no difference between when you have your hands over your ears and when you don't.
What ever you do, protect your ears. Tinnitus is no fun, and is a subject worthy of its own forum.

Yeah. I have Tinnitus. It happens at least once every day, and is incredibly annoying. Not to mention, scares the balls out of me because I know this is from damage caused by watching drumlines, playing cymbals, playing set without ear plugs, going to extreme metal shows without ear plugs, and listening to music at a high volume in the car.

I'm a fool. And now I wear protection once I read up on why my ears kept ringing.

Check out the reviews on this site.

http://www.drumlines.org/reviews/showproduct.php/product/171/sort/7/cat/49/page/1

These North Sonic plugs work great for me. They have holes in them with some kind of sound filter device. You can hear people talking and snare shots don't hurt. At first they weren't comfortable because they went in too deep for me. I just bit off the tips down to the second ring one day at band camp and they are perfect now. They are about $10 at Cabela's website and well worth it.

to be honest i've never used earplugs. i use skullcandy isolation earbuds, the kind you use to listen to an mp3 player. they work just like earplugs and they let you plug in to a metronome or w/e else or like me, you can just have the exercises recorded on ur mp3 player and play along with them. and its cool because they're isolation so you can listen to comfortably quiet music and still hear it just fine.

you guys are using those styrophome ear plugs but i don't really like those, ok they last a few weeks then you have to go buy more. I bought plastic ear plugs for that price and they're completely reusable. they're hunting earplugs too, so I should be just fine.

I have a little set of silicon pulgs with a diaphram insert, it reduces the amount of sound going into the ear while keeping the timbre change to a minimum. its like turing the volume down on youre TV. only thing is, I dont remember what they are called, as aI bought them nearly 8 years ago.

Yeah the super expensive or super protection kind really isn't necessary. Just something to plug up your ears with. I've used some fat squishy orange kind and it works fine. Those other types of ear protectors are designed for much louder stuff.
You don't really need ear plugs outside as much as you do inside. Inside, the high frequencies bouncing off the walls leaves no room for the sound to escape making it all go to the ears. Outside, the sound can travel out more like it was designed to. The only exception would be for larger rooms such as WGI places (Basketball gyms.
But anywho.
Yeah, don't worry about the best possible protection, because it isn't needed. The cheep kind protects your ears just fine.

While practicing, I also use cheap earplugs. My dad works at a mill and he brought a bunch of them home for me. I've found that as well as quieting the sound, it also filters out reverb (the sound bouncing off the walls, as stated in the previous post) so I can hear the notes I'm playing more clear, thus allowing me to clean my playing even more.

I have a set of the musician's plugs that you can get at most ENT doctors. I went for a hearing test a couple of years, & I was told that my hearing was that of a 60-something year old construction worker (I was 25). Since the plugs filter out a set decibel rate, they work extremely well in all situations. I have the 15 db set, & it works best because I am a band director so I can hear the soft parts (woodwinds, brass, percussion, etc).

Yeah, true. I just use the cheap earplugs that are avaliable at any pharmacy or retail store or something, and I notice that my snare sounds a lot more articulate, as if I'm playing outdoors.

There are some really good rifle ear plugs which you can buy at walmart. I got mine there, and they work perfect

I was mowing the lawn and i could barely hear the lawn mower itself. They were $1.89 and came with a case. They weren't like the styrophome self forming ones, but they were better.

I'm glad I bought it, and you'd really be surprised how much this will save your hearing in your future. So no matter what brand, wear protection (thats what she said)

Yeah I have a pair of these and they work beautifully

My dad brought home a few pairs of ear plugs when he went with one of his friends to a racetrack. These things were made to block out the sound of the cars, so they work perfectly when we have rehearsals.

I got $10 really nice plugs from Westone. They reduce the noise level with out changing the pitch and getting that muffled sound. I've had mine for 2 years now, got it with a cord to wrap around my neck.

i have a nice pair of...heros i think there called...they came with my sick bag when i got them but they work really nice and i should be able to re-use them forever...

I figure why bother with ear plugs when I'm already deaf in one ear.

I dont think there is a such thing as "proper" ear protection. IMO it is a personal preference of either the instructor of the line, or the individual performer. It does make things easier to hear when you have ear protection in your ears, and therefore easier for most to clean up, but other than that, I actually prefer no ear protection because I hear things better and more clearly without it.

I just use the Walmart brand when I'm with a group of people. When I'm alone, I use the Earmuff-style shooting muffs. It sounds like A really loud practice pad when I play, but I still get the rebound and feel of playing on the drums.

You should pay even CLOSER attention to ear protection... if you're already lacking hearing in one ear, every one else has a 200% advantage over you aurally. Once you start losing the other ear, you're done.

Yup protection is a very good idea. I like to even use them when I play the bells, just because I hate the annoying ring they make sometimes. =)

On the contrary my friend, I won't not done. I've got bionic hearing. Which is about to be bilateral on June 19th. And there's no point to me using earplugs since the electrodes in my cochlea (the sensory organ of the ear) are artificial and can't be damaged by loud noises.

We can rebuild your ears, we have the technology. We can make them better than they were before. Better, stronger, faster...

Your last name isn't Austin by any chance?

Austin, Steve.
Although, I'm not quite worth 6 million dollars.... yet.

I just ordered some earplugs yesterday from EarplugsOnline . They look great as they are reusable and block 34DB of sound. I'll post a reply when they come in about how they are.

34 dB might be a bit much. My plugs are 20 dB, and if they blocked much more, I'd think I might have a hard time hearing subtleties.

i am going to use them for practice inside my house but i have some 22DB to use at band practice.

i have the tan hearos which are 32db. ive been wearing them while i play tenors inside and they work pretty well. they just turn down the volume. if 32 is too much, you can pull them out a little and they still work of course. i just got the 20 something pack so i have enough in case i loose any. i dont know what they are like on the feild though.

http://www.columbuspercussion.com/store/...roducts_id=2927

these work pretty well

just get cheap ear plugs or you can get ear phones from vic firth that are pretty nice