I grew up in LOUD mode too and have some degree of hearing damage myself, probably about the same degree most of us here have . I guess there should be a lesson in that..........I wonder what it might be
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When I do an acoustic or electric acoustic night and keep things at a much more reasonable volume, my vocal control and technique is greatly improved , as is my endurance .
Electric nights are a whole different story. I'm always on the edge (or over the edge) of blowing out my throat and I have to be careful to keep songs in the proper order of soft vs. scream so I still have some pipes left later in the evening. The worst thing is when you push too hard early in the evening. Once I cross that threshold I'm pretty much shot for the night. The ability of the PA isn't really the issue either, it's more a matter of someones' instrument continually inching its' way up bit by bit through the night and then me playing catch up by pushing just a little bit more to compensate. I know what the problem is but it still happens way too often
When you can keep the volume just a bit lighter you can still get the hard hitting vocals done with a little technique (other than screaming technique), and still have the juice to get the soft stuff done regardless of the order of the songs.
Rick