Tuning into the sound of semi-hollow body...that fire alarm was LOUD!

[DustyCat]

The fire alarm went off yesterday while we were playing (brass choir) in church (while we were playing in the retirement/senior center).

At first it was no big deal and even administration said we did not have to evacuate so we just kept playing/pastor continued her sermon...meanwhile Ang!..Ang!..Ang!..Ang!...etc. but it wasn't SO loud, just annoying... :icon_scratch:

So we finally the program/sermon/hymns etc. we pack up our horns and make our way out of the assembly hall.

We all are carrying a horn in one hand  :dontknow: and music stand in the other so we don't plug our ears, but we only have 30-40 feet or so to walk out of the building so no big deal

well...Turn a corner and the alarm gets louder (ANG!!!..ANG!!!..ANG!!!) walk down the hall and it gets EVEN LOUDER! 

At this point...  ITS SO LOUD, we the brass choir almost break out into a jog, definitely a fast walk.

Well, wouldn't you know it...like 10 feet from the exit to fresh air.

IT GETS SO G*******D LOUD! I STOPPED JOGGING AS I WAS HIT WITH SOUND PRESSURE THAT MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK! I EVEN STOPPED WALKING AS I COULDNT EVEN REMEMBER WHAT I WAS DOING, I COULDNT EVEN THINK! IM TELLING YOU I HAD A HALLUCINATION IN MY BRAIN FOR ABOUT 2 SECONDS, THAT FIRE ALARM WAS SO LOUD I COULD ALMOST SEE THE BUZZERS IN MY HEAD AND IN FACT IT WAS ALMOST ALL I COULD SEE  :tard:

LIKE G*******D BEES IN MY HEAD!  :sad1: A PRESSURE CLOUD OF BEES! OR BUZZERS OR THOSE CAN OPENER CIRCULAR CUTTERS I COULDNT EVEN flipping THINK, I JUST STOPPED MOVING

IT WAS SO LOUD!!!
IT WAS SO LOUD!!!
IT WAS SO LOUD!!!

luckily...there were a bunch of us and someone either bumped into me or said something that kept me moving.
I'm telling you, that fire alarm/buzzer was SO LOUD, SO flipping LOUD, that it was actually repulsive. The sound pressure was practically repelling us from the exit.

I almost didn't even make it out the door. My ear drums were vibrating so violently that I was hearing distortion from my own human mortal ears.

Im telling you, Ive never ever experienced anything that loud. Not even the loudest concert, Ozzfest 99? Page and Plant? Slash?

I couldn't even think, I couldn't even tell my body to keep moving it was so loud...
im tell ing you it was loud

 

[fdesalvo]

In 2010 I was across the country visiting my then GF in NYC.  She took me to a "we were promised jet packs" concert in brooklyn one evening.  They were that loud.  For the next 3 days every sound was accompanied by a rattle in my right ear.  It was terrifying.  I thought I was going to lose hearing in that ear.

As an aside, my bassist is one of those guys that can instantly fall asleep without issue.  Literally, they guy can finish a sentence, then start snoring.  We were back home in New Orleans at the HoB watching a band play late one evening.  After 3/4 of the way through, I went to the bar to grab a few drinks and returned to the pit area to find him leaning against the stage left PA tower sleeping on his feet.  This is the same guy that years later slept through a very bad storm over the north pole that almost took the plane out of the sky.  While everyone was screaming in horror, I looked over and through my tears saw him reclined in his seat snoring with his little, puffy eye mask on..head pitching all over the place.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

KISS / Motley Crue
Easter, 1983, San Francisco Civic Auditorium.
Among my first few concerts, and without ear plugs.
Took me nearly a week to get my hearing back to normal.

Ear Plugs ever since.

 

[DustyCat]

<<!!!IT WAS LOUD!!!>>

Ear Plugs ever since.

YES! And I have no problem wearing them, goofy looking and all. Actually they look like angels wings, only in ears.

Jetpacks! Ha ha! I've wondered how loud jet engines actually are on the runway.
I'm pretty sure this fire alarm is in that ballpark. So loud I started hallucinating orange, yellows, golds and flashing silver. Synesthesia! My ear drums were distorting they were vibrating so violently.

Everyone: EAR PLUGS, ALWAYS! Carry spares for those poor rubes who forgot theirs...unless of course, they are just so badass that they can fall asleep on the way to their own execution (Lightbringer Series, Weeks)....or maybe they are just that stupid.

 

[Axkoa]

I've been to two concerts before and my dad told me before the first one that earplugs make the concert much much better. I went there and half way through the first band I bought a cheap pair of earplugs from the bar. Was not disappointed at all. It made the music so much better and meant that I was able to hear the next day while my brother had ringing in his ears.  :laughing7:

 

[Logrinn]

I can relate to the fire alarm thing. I've had the unfortunate experience to be in a store when an alarm went of and there was something about the sheer volume and frequencies being blasted that it felt physical. And not like any experience at any concert. This was more like I got the feeling that the space around me was being "compact" and I had difficulty in moving. Weird.

But, of course, I've also had my share of concerts that were deafening and as a young tough, stupid kid I naturally didn't wear ear protection. Not at band practice either. And we played loud. Standing next to Anders Johansson's massive drum kit and having his cymbals in my ears each week ... ouch!

So with permanent tinnitus as a result, I can only agree to what everyone is saying here: WEAR EAR PROTECTION.

 

[stratamania]

Logrinn, did you ever get to meet Yngwie, just if you were playing with Anders and so on ?

 

[Logrinn]

Logrinn, did you ever get to meet Yngwie, just if you were playing with Anders and so on ?

I did, several years ago, when he came down to Malmö to record the demo with Anders and Jens for the Steeler gig. They, Anders and Jens, had a party at their house and Yngwie was there. We jammed very briefly in their basement, me on guitar and he on drums :icon_biggrin:
We very both drunk and I know I didn't give a good impression :toothy12:

 

[stratamania]

Thats cool, which is of course long before most of us had heard of Yngwie.

 

[fdesalvo]

Logrinn, did you ever get to meet Yngwie, just if you were playing with Anders and so on ?

I did, several years ago, when he came down to Malmö to record the demo with Anders and Jens for the Steeler gig. They, Anders and Jens, had a party at their house and Yngwie was there. We jammed very briefly in their basement, me on guitar and he on drums :icon_biggrin:
We very both drunk and I know I didn't give a good impression :toothy12:

Well, I was expecting a chest hair showdown. 

 

[Logrinn]

Well, since I've never had more than 42 hairs on my chest I thought I did ok. :toothy12:

 

[fdesalvo]

Well, since I've never had more than 42 hairs on my chest I thought I did ok. :toothy12:

Haha!

 

[DustyCat]

Thats cool, which is of course long before most of us had heard of Yngwie.

Yngvie's amp was tame compared to this alarm.

 

[stratamania]

Yes alarms can have very piercing types of sounds. They are designed that way to get attention and they are not polite.

 

[Cagey]

Jetpacks! Ha ha! I've wondered how loud jet engines actually are on the runway.

Very loud. Painfully so. Dizzying, nauseatingly loud. When you see planes landing on TV and hear the screech accompany the puff of smoke just as the tires hit the runway, that's dubbed in to satisfy expectations. No way you hear those tires hit.

 

[raystankewitz]

Working on fire alarms is a part of my day job. The loudest they can be set for is 105dB above ambient but trust me, they are meant to get your attention and 'suggest' that you leave the building.

My hearing is so gone after working around jet aircraft that they really don't bother me. Much.

It also doesn't help if you're sanding in direct line with a fire horn.

:icon_biggrin:

 

[rgand]

My hearing is so gone after working around jet aircraft that they really don't bother me. Much.

Did you get to work around those T-37 Tweety Birds? I understand they're the most efficient way to convert fuel to noise.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Cagey]

105dB above ambient is painfully loud, when you consider ambient is typically about 50dB in the average home.