I’m sure it was damaging, honestly. I have to think most professional sound mixers have lost part of their hearing, because the standards for “good audio” are f

I’m sure it was damaging, honestly. I have to think most professional sound mixers have lost part of their hearing, because the standards for “good audio” are far too loud. For example, IMAX, which is supposed to have technically well calibrated sound in the theatre, clocks around 95db in the especially loud parts, and over 80db for large portions. This is after watching Dune in two different IMAX theaters and checking my watch’s audio level sensor :) But Tenet is probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in a theatre. It had to be more than 90db for large parts of it. And then I attended a wedding reception with a DJ recently, and it was over 90db for the whole two hours in a small-ish hall. Imo, that’s unacceptable. In both of these experiences, my ears hurt bad. I can only think that the people making the decision to go this loud have already had their hearing damaged enough that they don’t think it’s loud enough. Well, why don’t we fix the problem by not busting people’s ears in the first place! Maybe we should start suing folks who try to damage our hearing? Or get some legislation to set a cap on the average and max db allowed at various events? I’m not really sure how this problem will get solved. And don’t get me wrong, I love immersive audio! I really enjoyed a lot of Dune’s soundtrack and mixing. I’m just shocked that immersive audio today basically means “turn it up to 90db to kill their ears” and not “let’s have a really meticulously mixed and nicely balanced experience.” But that enjoyment ends when my ears hurt.