Playing Upright in an Apartment

[johnvic]

I haven't played my upright for years but I'm thinking of picking it up again. I'm also moving into a new apartment and don't want to annoy my new neighbors especially since it is a coop.

Does anyone have any advise on how to keep the sound level from reaching my neighbors? The walls are thick but I would imagine that a bowed bass' sound will travel quite well. I'm mostly concerned about my downstairs neighbors. I suppose I could build an iso booth but that will eat up a lot of space and cost a bit of money.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[tww001]

Hi John,
You can get a practice mute. It's much, much larger than an orchestra mute. Mine cuts the volume of my bass in half. It changes the response of the strings quite a bit though.

Rubber Practice Mute for Double Bass-Lemur Music - double bass, string bass, upright bass, standup bass, and bass accessories

More importantly, meet your neighbors if you haven't done so already. Ask them what their schedules are like, explain what you're trying to do, and give them your phone number so they call you with a noise complaint, rather than the landlord or super!

The other thing you could do is go to a local church and ask them if there is time during the week that you could practice in a Sunday school class room or closet or some place. A drummer friend of mine found a church that let him do this for a few years, and he never once went to a service or joined the church.

Best of luck,
Tim

[iiipopes]

The problem isn't the overall volume. The problem is (without going into a long physics explanation) that bass frequencies tend to "couple" to the surrounding structure and are transmitted by conduction (meaning making the floor and walls vibrate sympathetically) as well as radiation (what you hear through the air). So you might think you're playing softly, and the next door neighbor can't hear it, but if the structural beam is in just the right place under the floor, everybody on the next floor down is getting irritated, especially if the heating duct is attached in the same area, serving as a megaphone.

[Plookie]

If you are fulltime musician, then you have some time during the early afternoon's. (if you play most of your gigs during the evenings)

I tend to plug in my electric gear and play at a reasonable volume, not loud at all. In over the past 5 apartments I have lived in, not one complaint did I have. I practice between 1:00pm to 4 or 5:00pm. And respected my neighbors as they never disrespected us with loud music or parties.

[Herbie 80's]

I live in apartment with two roommates, an elderly man downstairs, and two girls upstairs. Often, I just make sure that I'm not playing triple forte, stop by 11PM, and make sure my roommates aren't sleeping. Never had grief.

[johnvic]

Thanks to all. I'm going to try an practice mute before I move into the new place. I think a rubber pad under the endpin may reduce coupling.

[AClark]

A practice mute helps tons.., but try to be thoughtful and not play after 9 pm (it's a pain, I know) thankfully the people around me are super supportive and *sometimes * enjoy it. They have a whole new appriciation for bass now! Spread the music. :-)

[MysterMunky]

While living in my last apartment, even when I used the giant rubber practice mute, my neighbors complained. It does cut the volume overall but I felt like it brought out the lower bass frequencies and that was the issue.