How good is your hearing ? And how do you know ?

Damn Wolf, Mattacks is a GREAT drummer, one of my favorites. He has also worked with Richard Thompson, who was of course in Fairport Convention. He not only plays real well (musical, tasteful, ensemble-style), he also knows how make his drums sound good for recording. Not everyone does. He plays like a studio drummer, not a Rock Band member. I view him sort of as the British Kenny Buttrey (Nashville studios; Dylan, Neil Young’s Harvest album, thousands of other recordings). He plays the way songwriters like drummers to play---complimentary.

My sister was in the Navy, and in the late-70’s/early 80’s was stationed in Hawaii. For my birthday in 1980 she paid my air fare to fly over for a week and stay with her in her off-base apartment. One night I went to a nightclub to drink and see/hear some live music, and there was a singer backed by a 3-piece band. They played current hits plus Classic Rock, and were okay. On a break the guitarist came over and asked me my name. I told him, and he said "I thought that was you!". I had no idea who he was.

Turns out he was this kid who lived near the house the band I was in in 1971 practiced, a kid who would come over and watch and listen to us work on our all-original material. Small world! He told me playing his band’s material, and with that singer (singers are often not musicians, and are a different kind of guy. They are not singers for no reason ;-) was a grind, but that he was making 3 grand a week. In 1980. I was pissed! He said getting musicians to come to the islands was so difficult that clubs were willing to pay that much to get them to.

Speaking of the Musicians Union, I have a story:

In the early 70’s, Bill Graham used Monday nights to audition local (Bay Area) bands. The ones who passed were given slots on regular nights, opening for national acts. The Fillmore was a Union building, so to be able to perform there bands were required, if they didn’t already belong, to join the union. Most semi-pro bands, playing bars, clubs, weddings, corporate gigs, etc., never have to.

I knew some guys in a San Jose band who did the audition night at The Fillmore, joining the Union just to be able to do so. Induction fee, plus monthlies (whether you work that month or not). They played their set, and went home to hear back from the Graham organization. They instead heard from the Musicians Union, who fined them for playing below scale! Graham paid bands peanuts, auditioning bands actually willing to play for free to get on the Fillmore stage. Graham KNEW he was playing below scale, and that the bands would therefore get fined, and couldn’t care less. Ah, the life of an aspiring musician ;-) .

Speaking of pay.....for those who think being a professional musician in a big name band pays well: Denny Seiwell, the L.A. studio drummer McCartney plucked out of that environment for his early 70’s band Wings, gave an interview in which he disclosed that Paul was paying him $150 a week. He eventually quit, being unable to afford to work for Paul.

@prof, the hearing test and my learning of the loss of frequencies above 15k was back in my late 30’s, when I had my "Musician’s Ear Plugs" made. A wax mold is made of one’s ear canal, a soft rubber reproduction of it manufactured, which when inserted into one’s ear canal comes out just to the canal entrance. On that end of the plug is a small hole, into which the little plastic tab on the back of provided "attenuators" is inserted. The attenuators are flat discs about 1/2" in diameter and 1/8" thick, available in different values of dB attenuation---5dB, 10, 15, etc.

I’ve used the plugs ever since, and they are great. The attenuation is even across the frequencies, so the resulting sound heard has the same quality as non-ear plug, with only the SPL reduced. The only problem they have caused me is in regard to dynamics---it’s hard to gauge how hard to strike my drums and cymbals to achieve proper balance with the other instruments and vocals. I haven’t had my ears tested since, but my tinnitus has progressed as I’ve gotten older. When I lay down at night, the hissing in my ears (like white or pink noise) is quite noticeable. I put on a CD, and the hissing gets masked.