Thanks for the follow-up,
@drox!
Yes, I'm a professional musician, and recording studio owner/producer for 24 years now.
So far, I've managed my T's quite finely in conjunction with my work... I suppose that when I work, I focus so much on the music that I forgot my T. Quite frankly, I feel much better after a gig, or after a day at the studio. I know many people reported the other way around (more T after music exposition), but not for me.
Of course, I always take good care of my ears. I never really liked loud music anyway... I used to go to max 95-100 db in the studio but for short periods only... Now I'm never louder than 90-92 db, and most of the time cruising at 75-80 db. If clients want to listen louder, I have many headphones available for them, or I just leave the control room when they blast their ears with my big Tannoy mains. I never work more than 7 hours in a row, with at least a 30-60 mins break in the middle.
During live performances, I always use in-ear monitors, and I try to keep these as low as possible, with a very tight seal. I also always manage to get a very relaxed mix. I play bass, so I focus on bass drum, and my own instrument, then rest goes 15 db lower... 50% of the time, I don't take any electric guitar, to avoid those harsh frequencies and some heavy volume changes introduced by the player himself during his solos, etc. I don't take any cymbals neither, or overhead/room mics of any sort. I focus on the transients, and keep it as low as possible. Sometimes after the show backstage, I remove my in-ears and feel that the people are talking LOUD while they're just talking normally, just to tell you how soft I set my own mix... When I work with floor monitors, I always use molded plugs with -25 db filters. I also always carry 33 db pharmacy type plugs everywhere with me (in my car, my cloth bag, my partition bag, etc.) just to be on the very safe side, and if I use those, I put them VERY deep in my ear (they even touch the eardrum; not sure if it's good or not) but for sure, they keep the level down.
What's interesting is that the more I like the music I play/record, the less the T are in the way. There's really something psychological about T, there's no doubt about it.
Usually, I don't have T for a few hours after a live gig or studio work. And the next day, they come back slowly...
I agree that my job might be a big part of my T problem, especially in the eyes of the doctors, but to ME, it's 90% stress/anxiety related, or a virus in 2010 (that might still be there), or the Lyrica. Or a blend of all that soup.....
I never really totally recovered from that stressful period in 2010. I feel it inside of me. Something changed. I keep thinking that if I finally could get rid of this anxiety, the T might go away as well... Still hoping.
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