I have Tinitus ( not completly caused by drumming). I would not wish it on anyone. Do yourself a big favour and use some form of ear protection even if its just foam plugs. Drum sound is also amplified by the surroundings you are in. Its no fun having constant ringing in your ears!

FYI the head band has to be foamed or not touching you head or you loose that isolation a bit as well as the wires coming out. What I did was take the muffs off and put headphones inside them and ran the wire out through there seals around the cup. I also made a foam sleeve for the headband.

Talk about synchronicity, just last night I asked my husband for his shooting ear muffs and I could wear my ear buds inside. I remember going to shooting range and how well they muted the loud gun sounds. Then today this video pops up! I plan to get some Vic Firths in a couple of weeks. Have you seen the Bluetooth version? I was wondering what you thought about those.

I agree with everything said in this video. I have those same Vic Firth headphones and they serve me well. I use in ear monitors live, because they look a lot less ridiculous/more professional, but practicing by myself I have found that my drums sound better through the headphones than the in ears (Shure SE215s, to be clear).

Well done and well said. I am working through your creating assembly lines and zoning. I enjoy your teaching method. Lots of left hand work to go. Thanks for being passionate about drumming and teaching.

I feel so lucky . I was having a lot of questions on picking up what type of product to protect my ears. Thanks for making this video.

> Makes a video about sound > Speech mike gain off the charts, noisy drums backing track > Thanks I guess

I'm using the Etymotic Research ER4XR Extended Response Earphones that reduce a lot. I also add the vic birth Blue tooth headphones like shown for even more protection. The have a more even frequency reduction than gun ear muffs. I play extremely soft a lot and don't need anything. But when I'm playing at moderate to loud sound levels I will add lots of protection.

Great advice buddy! I go to a shooting range a few times a month and I use electronic ear protection. You can talk to someone and hear perfectly, as soon as you start shooting, they cut out and protect your ears. I use these for drumming too. You can get these at WallyWorld for under $20.00!

WOW, great idea, but was shocked how much the AlClair earbuds are. Both together would clearly not be under $20. I do understand for drummers live would spare no expense, let alone anyone who would not protect their hearing at any cost. For my studio I use the DirectSound for sessions for about a year and a half now, and everyone loves the isolation, since I record bands live. I also have the Senns280's if the players want more definition. Thanks for sharing your idea.

Considering how many of your videos I've watched I can't believe I missed this one until now! I've been using ear plugs (Ear Peace HD) for my drumming practice which have 26dB of protection. This was fine but meant I was using over-the-ear headphones to listen to the click or music to play along with. Yesterday I ordered some ear defenders from Amazon (MPOW HP044A) with an SNR of 36dB. They arrived this morning and wow! Things have gotten a whole lot quieter! Best of all I can wear them over my normal Apple headphones to listen to click or music, which is now crystal clear but importantly turned down quietly. And like you said, the ear muffs provide a level of natural compression. Attenuation isn't linear (19dB at 125Hz up to 40dB at 8,000Hz) but this is great because it kills all the cymbal wash which is what gave me tinnitus 30 years ago!

I've been doing the exact thing for a while. I returned the Vic Firth ones, and went back to the same thing you're doing in this vid

Great info 👍 Thanks Stephen!

Turn the mic gain down, and turn those background drums OFF! This is important information for all musicians (but especially drummers), we need to hear you speak clearly. It's ironic that this particular video on sound isolation is so noisy! :P

Thank you very much for the great and helpful videos was having a very hard time hearing the music I was trying to learn over my drums helped a ton

The trouble for me is, I don't play loudly, so I often have to use open back headphones so I can hear my dry ride cymbal and barely-there ghost notes etc. The closed headphones cut out all the high frequencies of the kit so then I play too hard and ruin the dynamics of the piece. I am somewhere between needing over the ear isolation phones and open foam phones. Right in-between. And yet I want to avoid having to set up practice with mics, mixer and tons of cables. So I use isolation headphones but leave a gap near one ear! Not elegant.

Yeh,, i already thought of doing that. Looking to get away from earbuds though. Good info about hearing protection though! Might have to look at those vics or equivalent.

I'm sensitive to sound so the best option I've found is foam earplugs with earphones over. Sometimes it takes that much.

Nice one Steve! Glad you mentioned it, I've been doing that for years, mate. A few years back, I bought mics and a mixer, so one channel has the music I play to, and the other channels are my drums through the mics. Which is even better because then I can hear what the audience hears, AND turn my drum volume way down to suit my playing without sacrificing the volume of the music.

I came up w/ the exact same thing when I was 15. Although at the time I had those big round fuzzy Walkman™ headphones. I put those on and then some marksman shooting muffs. Effective but the ears got a bit warm. Great video brother. Always informative and motivational. 🥁 🎶🙏🏽

Well said! It really sounds amazing with those earmuffs

Thank you very much for the information. When I started playing I adopted this hack because it is indeed the best cost effective solution. One thing I'd like to ask though: is there a way to get less sound distortion from cheap ear muffles? As some of the folks from the comments also reported, the high end frequencies tend to get muffled more than the low frequencies. I guess it depends on the headphone, but mine certainly has this effect.

Thank you! I was trying to track drums today and couldn’t get it done because I didn’t have the right headphones. I kept cranking the click track up to the point it was too loud for my ears and still the drums would be too loud for me to focus on the click. I’ll try this tomorrow and give it another go.

I picked one up at Walmart for only 10 bucks. They work great, wouldn’t have known this without your video. Thanks bro 🙏

I did this when I was 10. My dad gave his old yellow earmuff because he uses a chainsaw alot for work and got extra ones.

As always, great info - thanks brother.

As a veteran, protect your ears. Tinnitus sucks so much. Been dealing with it since 21

I use my Sony 20€ headphones but I took the standards muffles off and put in muffles from EAR 20€ earplugs on the headphones. It works - sort of - because you still have to have the music on quite loud (if your playing to a song). I tried this but the big earmuffs are so uncomfortable for like 30min+ playing time

I do exactly this! Works like a charm.

I hope Stephen sees this because I need answer. I noticed the headphones you used seem ( I might be wrong) to have a microphone. And that's is my main problem with this hack and why I have been online 4 weeks to find a solution to my problem. Usually when I'm practicing alone to my bands music (or any other band i might play along for fun) I use a pair of headphones connected to my iPhone. The problem I encountered when mics started to be the trendy thing in headphones is that, when I'm playing drums along with music, the microphone embedded in the headphone line, picks up the drum sound and it mutes or pauses the music I am listening to. This as we all know is a problem if you are playing along to music.. this does not happen with headphones that do not have a mic. now you will say, that's weird because the physical iPhone has 2 mics. well, not my problem and I am not an engineer :) Taping layers of tape around the mic did not solve my issue. I have tried several brands of headphones with a mic and the problem happens with all of them, the ones with No inline mic, no problem. So my issue is that i upgraded to new IPhone X with no headphone jack, and all the blue tooth headphones now have a mic( i haven't tested any yet so I am not sure if the same issue happens with blue tooth headphones). I can't even find my beloved skull candy cheap $10 headphones without a mic. So that said.. how are you able to use the headphones in your video without this happening? what brand are they? Any ideas?

Thanks Stephen. I like to use cheap earplugs from walgreens to protect my hearing. I can get a whole bunch if them for five dollars and they sound amazing. Thanks for the videos!!!

Your kick sounds killer in the background

I just had this conversation with a friend while jamming in guitar center yesterday. He told me he likes to "hear every mistake" and so he doesn't use ear protection when practicing. This seems to be a common thought. I told him that I developed very, very mild tinnitus as I went the cheap earbud route for about a year in my youth, and that ear protection was the best investment I ever made. I also told him that the drums end up sounding better, which they do, and that I highly recommend in-ear monitors for all-purpose use. I'm not a huge fan of these over-ears, but they do work wonders and I'm grateful for them.

Great video...you can't undo hearing damage!

I use -35 db shooting headphones with ear buds underneath and I still can’t hear my click. Any tips?

question: Just to make sure, you can listen to music with these and practice playing along without your own drums drowning the music in your headset?

I drummed for about a year and half on and off just started again but never wore headphones

What kind of headset earplugs i need to play drums. Hard to listen music same time beating the drums

I went for the opposite: Hearos earplugs first and then headphones on top. Can't imagine having the headphones at such a loud volume constantly would be good for them though now that I think about it

I've recently started doing this. My problem is that I was playing with some guitarists and I could barely hear what they were playing. This is great for practice but what would you suggest for when I do need to hear what other musicians are playing? Edit: the problems that have arisen for me are that I want to have the ability to play to a click track when with other musicians and also I am only 15 so don't have much money

Is vic firth db22 good and can i use them over my earphone

6:39 me! Without the headphones my drums sound like crap. With the music and the ear muffs they sound like Matt McGuire’s 😂 not really but close haha

My five year old son has started playing drum with his father. It’s too loud. Is ear muff enough for him while playing drum?? I am searching around the Internet. So, is there any better option. Any Suggestions???

Can you please tell me the name of the cheap headphones you bought at Walmart? I've been going crazy trying to find out? Thanks!

I need headphones that don't mute the volume of my drums too much. I've bought expensive head phones and I can hear the music, but I can't hear my drums. Will this work?

Nice one

question i need good protection but i also need to hear the lead singers voice as i do harmonies any suggestions .

Just a quick question, I have also been doing this tip for years with our drummer and even myself as a guitarist. Would you ever wear this whilst playing with a full band? Or do you just do this when you are playing along to something through your earphones? So what I mean is so with a live mix coming through your earphones?

Please TELL ME WHAT HEADPHONES YOU HOLD AT THE BEGINNING- I NEED THEM CUZ OF NOISY REATARDEDD NEIGHBOURS

This is kind of irrelevant to this video but I am in the middle of grade 8 drums and am having trouble...One of my pieces I can play perfectly without the backing track or when I have the backing track played through earphones. (For some reason I always lose timing when playing the backing track aloud)However, in the actual exam I *need* to have the backing track played aloud or I’m not allowed to play the piece. Is there any equipment I can use that allows me to play the music aloud but also have it playing through my earphones at the same time??!!!

Can I use Apple Airpods under Vic Firth DB22 isolation headphones?

where can i find this headphone?

I used to do this before Igot he Vic Firth head phones

been looking for something like this all day cause my stereo headphones died and im skint XD

So important to protect your hearing BUT, I think some will find the Vic Firth phones seriously lacking in audio fidelity & that tends to make you turn up the volume. They also start feeling like a bench vise on your head after a while. At least that's my opinion. I could be wrong. Your cheap solutions are excellent but, the buyer has to read the package & make sure they work well enough. $$$$ What's your hearing worth, people? $$$

Are foam earplugs good too? Plz reply

Dude! That was Awesome!!! 5:54 Genius! I totally agree with this, and I am actually kind of nervous that I have ruined my hearing a bit through drums. So those who think this video is wrong or just plain stupid, take it from Stephen, who has played at a uncountable amount of gigs, or from me, who has played gigs with a speaker monitor blasting at my left ear (when I would not have the luxury of an Aviom). So PLEASE listen to what Stephen has to say!!!

Call me “ahead of my time” 🙄 but I was sticking old Walkman™️ headphone speakers in my pop’s shooting muffs @ 15. Love LOVE the channel brother 👊🏽 #30daystobetterdoubleschangedmyLIFE

you literally took 6:30 minutes to say : "put on some earphones and then some isolating headphones over them"

back ground drums are so distracting and your mic gain is way to high ! Along with an extremely tinny high end ! will cut you in half,, need to roll off that high end !But love the videos !

Damn, get to the point. 7 Minutes of explantion and mathematical equations just to reveal that incredible "Drum Hack", which is just putting a pair of In-Ears below a cheap set of ear muffs. What a clickbait title.

😀😃👌😉🙂😲🐲

Click bait. Wasted 5+ minutes just to find out he put in earbuds?! This is an "isolation headphone ALTERNATIVE", "isolation headphones" for under $20. :-/

omg bro stop the drums track playing in the background. SO ANNOYING!