LeftyBassist.com

I've always had a good ear for music. I can read tabs and such, but I just don't need them. In a few weeks, I'll turn 59, and I know that at my age, it's normal to lose hearing.

I'm having trouble with hearing bass frequencies. Sometimes, my ear is a half-step off. I know now how it feels for people who don't have an ear for music, and I hate it. With guitar, piano, and most other instruments, I'm spot on. And when I listen to songs by others, I have no trouble hearing the bass and tuning. But when I play, the half step thing is really throwing me off.

Have any of you experienced this?

Not exactly the same thing... I’m 62 and my intonation is still spot on- but I had my hearing clinically tested a couple years ago, and I’d definitely had losses in some frequencies, particularly the high-mids, that tend to effect the clarity of lower frequencies. It can make those lower tones and voices sound a bit muffled. “Huh? Excuse me? and I’m sorry I didn’t catch that?” are becoming a more regular part of my vocabulary.

I chalk a lot of it up to the time I spent in mid to late 70’s hard rock bands standing in front of SVTs and 18in Sunn folded horn cabs back when stage volumes were ridiculous. Some times the damage done may not become apparent until much later.

Yep. In the late 60's early 70s my rig was four Fender Dual Bassman cabs with 2-15 Jensons in each, powered by 2 Sunn 2000s Heads. I remember waking up Saturday and Sunday mornings with my ears still ringing from the night before. The ringing stopped later in the day. Twenty years ago when I started playing out 5 to 6 times a week the ringing started up again, Now it's all the time, and recently there are days it's louder than others. Cautionary tail I suppose!

I use in ear monitors almost exclusively now, which are supposed to save your hearing in theory, but on occasion I've found that certain frequencies will mess with my perception of pitch. I used to encounter this back in the day when stage volumes were too high and sub harmonics would trick me into hearing things in a different pitch a well, but it can happen with IEMs too. I pride myself in having good pitch too, as I'm usually the lead singer too, but I was horrified when I recorded a gig last year on my GoPros and found I was really flat the entire night. I can tell when I'm flat, so the fact that I had no idea scared me. It meant I wasn't hearing properly, and I've ince played with my IEM mix to give me the clarity and key reference I need.

Are you on IEMs? If not, I assume you're using a floor wedge then? Whatever the case, give yourself a monitoring mix that cuts out all those sub harmonic frequencies that muddy up a mix. Bump up the low mids/high mids and cut back bass. Less is more. It might be ugly or thin to listen to, but if you're amp's going DI (or pre/EQ post/EQ) to the mains and a Soundman, it's his job on the outs to give you all the bass you need. There's really no reason in this day and age to be cranking stage volumes up passed 11.