Reading through the thread slowly, I was actually going to suggest checking to see if you had turned the music down to 0, but I was a bit sad to see that you figured it out already on your own. I missed my chance to be a hero...
Low insight is actually better than high insight. I don't know if KP made a typo or was just providing incorrect info, but I figured I would mention it. Low Insight gives higher Frenzy resistance, which will make certain areas of the game MUCH less frustrating. Low insight also gives higher Beasthood, which will increase the damage from your Beastblood Pellet buff, and make the meter longer, so that it doesn't run out as quickly. High insight.... gives you nothing in particular. It makes more enemies and more dangerous enemies appear in a very, very small number of areas.
Get some Blood Gems from the Chalice Dungeons and put them into your weapon as soon as you upgrade it. Also, prioritize upgrading your weapon. The best source of damage is going to be blood gems and weapon upgrades. You don't need to spend ridiculous hours grinding for the best blood gems. Just +15% damage or even as little as +11% damage gems will make a HUGE difference. Without those gems, it will start to feel like it takes forever to kill enemies, which makes everything in the mid-to-late game feel much harder.
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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png