Front of House Audio Engineer Reviews EarPeace

“I love concerts. I love music. I’m an audio engineer with a background in everything from front of house audio, monitors, post-production, studio recording and everything in between. I’ve worked on shows from Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Rammstein, Static X, Ministry, The Eagles, and so many more.

In my current position I work at least 2 live shows a week in varying size and scale. It could be national DJ’s, local cover bands, or any number of other events held at our venue. I’ve walked away from shows with that pesky ringing in my ears that lasted 3 days afterward. I earned my degree in Audio engineering and understand the importance of maintaining my hearing as my livelihood. Tinnitus is our worst enemy. Something I learned in school is that tinnitus ringing in your ears after you went to that epic concert is actually the high frequencies you hear in your inner ear dying. Those are frequencies you’ll never get back so it’s extremely important that you protect your hearing while maximizing your show going experience.

EARPEACE provides a way to do that. Sure, there are other options. You can get some custom molded ear plugs if you’ve got around $700. Another option is going to Walgreens and getting some airplane plugs that will deafen everything to the point where it’s just Charlie Brown’s teacher on stage (Waa-waaa-wha-waaa)

EARPEACE is an extremely affordable alternative for people who want to get the most out of the show you’re going to. I found myself doing the Light Direction on a show last night and decided to put the EARPEACE music earplugs to the test. I popped the red -14dB filters into the piece with ease and put them in my ears. The first thing I noticed right off the bat was how comfortable they were. One of my major gripes about previous ear plugs is that you always have to sacrifice comfort for protection. That isn’t the case with these! They were so soft it was like having 2 breasts nestled against my ears. There wasn’t any point in time through my night where I felt I had any ear fatigue or even noticed that they were in. Something I do to test ear plugs is I chew gum or I yawn…this will often cause different pressure levels and force the earplugs to either reset themselves or move out of the place you want them to be. The shape of the EARPEACE seamlessly and comfortably “grips” the inner ear and these suckers don’t budge once you set them in properly.

That. Is. Awesome. 

The second thing I noticed was the clarity in sound. I’m not even joking…I could easily separate what I was hearing from the band, I could easily make out all the crowd walla and I could carry on a conversation with someone and hear what they were saying while I was wearing them. Very impressive. It was really crisp sound and the way they’re designed is to still allow frequencies through, not block them. The objective is not to mute what you’re hearing but to attenuate it to comfortable levels while still giving you what you paid for in the first place…enjoyment. They succeed in a big way.

I’ve had the opportunity to use my EarPeace’s for 6 shows over the past couple weeks and I absolutely love them. I’m able to use the high fidelity filters -14dB when I’m LD for a show or I drop in the -11dB after I get levels set and am mixing. Yeah…you heard me. The clarity is really good enough that you’re able to MIX in these bad boys.

All in all, I am fanatically impressed with practically every aspect of EARPEACE. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys live shows and values their hearing or to anyone who’s got a job that puts their hearing at risk in above moderate noise atmospheres.

These earplugs are affordable, they’re comfortable and they do exactly what they say they’re going to do. They don’t dampen or hinder the experience on any level. You can easily work in them and still notice critical cues and changes in SPL while still being able to separate and distinguish important frequencies and even hear the person next to you talking without having to be a lip reader.

The only bad experience I had with them is that they’re so small and so soft that I did have a problem taking out my right piece during a break. They have a very small silicone “tab” which you’re able to pull on but it’s quite stretchy and I was unable to get a grip on it to remove it. It did require a bit of digging to get it loose but I was able to do so and nothing was damaged in the process. Still, it’s a small price to pay for practically invisible ear protection. Just make sure you don’t CRAM them in your ears, they’re not like foam earplugs that expand back out. Just set ‘em and forget ‘em.

Thank you EARPEACE for making my job that much easier!!”

Spencer W.
FOH Audio Engineer
Pinnacle Entertainment