3:30, the music stopped at 1:45, and my ears still humm. it sounds like music and its driving me nuts. anyone have these similar effects? i cannot sleep because it its too loud. how do you deal with it... anyone?

You actually should get that checked out. Could be a issue for your audiologist. Have you ever heard the term TINNITUS?
Check the link.
Sincerely,

You are blasting your ears too much. Look into ear plugs for sure, they can drop sound by quite a bit and have different dB ratings. How long are you running shows for? The longer you go, the worse it is. Taking breaks is a really good idea because it gives your ears time to come down off that high dB level.

The problem is, once you get up high, turning down becomes hard because your ears are registering everything at a higher dB rating. It is kind of like how your pupils open and close based on light levels, your ears/mind do the same thing to try and save your hearing.

I've got Tinnitus, caused by too many late nights clubbing and of course DJ'ing over the years.

If you've not actually damaged your ears then hearing a whistling noise is quite common after a loud gig but over time it actually damages the ear.

I've read heaps of stuff and been to the doctors and nothing seems to work so I've got to accept the fact that my ears are shot so can highly recommend ear plugs like the above person says.

There is a link to the amount of fat in your diet can make things worse for someone who has tinnitus already but at the end of the day it's the high volume levels that does the damage.

Ah, yes, tinnitus is what it is.

See a doctor right away. Chances are not in your favor of this being good.

Two things:
Buy a decibel meter. USE IT AT ALL YOUR SHOWS.

Use hearing protection. I prefer re-usable rubber types. I can't stand the foam ones. Of course, chances are custom molds are not affordable. I have 3 sets of earplugs: 6db, 15db and 29db. I use as needed. I also use my UtrasOne Pro650's as hearing protection as well. If I'm mixing, they are easy to take on and off. Really, any closed-back cans can work good. These are not as effective as the gun-muff types, but I also still have to hear what I amd doing.

I also use wireless in-ear monitors as hearing proteciton as well. I leave them off a fair amount of the time, letting the earbuds do their job of sound isolation.

Some of my rules:
The general rule is a 1:1: For every 1 hour of LOUD, you want an hour of quiet. I prefer for every hour of LOUD, I want 2 hours of quiet. Well, I just flat out prefer quiet despite being a live sound engineer.

When in a loud environment, use hearing protection. I wear earplugs when I do yard work, mow the lawn, argue with my wife. Trust me, these are multi-functional devices. If you're traveling through loud environments, invest in some earplugs as well. Even the short term stuff can still be painful, so take chances.

I got these pair of North's a while back, years ago. What I love about them is the louder it gets, the harder they work(up to a certain point of course). Comfortable, washable, re-usable and for the money, rather transparent. You can get earplugs at your hardware store or if you want more of a musician grade pair, get to a pro music store or mail order. Prices can range from super cheap to obscenely expensive. A good set of re-usables should run you around $20 or so and they often have a carry case or pouch that you can keep clipped to you.

DO NOT mess with your hearing. And yes, I can mix using earplugs and do quite well. I don't like doing it, but I do when I have to.

thank you guys for the advice. earplugs it is. the last thing i want is to destroy my hearing ability!