I love having cool neighbors

Quadcam · #1 06-12-2009, 04:10 PM

We hold band practice in what was supposed to be my garage. It's a 12x24 prefab that I bought a few months ago with full intentions of turning into a garage/man cave. Then I got back into playing drums and it's ended up being a rehearsal studio instead of a garage.

anyway, right after I got it someone bought the house next door that had been foreclosed on and vacant for at least a year, I figured, great so much for band practice, we're pretty loud and this garage is just a wooden shell covered with aluminum siding and even though we live in a rural area on an acre with no sound ordinance it'll probably piss someone off.
(working on getting it insulated but money is really tight right now)

The new neighbors, an old guy probably in his 70's and his wife in her 50's plus their 4 grandchildren ages 9-3 move in and the chick says "oh you have a band? cool, free entertainment! " she even gives us song requests and gets bummed out when we dont have practice.

They were having a little family gathering and invited us over so I stopped by and she says "are you guys gonna play today?" I said nah not today, we practiced the past 2 nights she says "but I want you to play and turn it up loud"

The rest of my neighbors are all pretty cool about it, they all like the stuff we play.................. except one, no idea who but the very first practice, 6:30 pm the cops show up. We had only been playing maybe 30 mins. The cop didnt say anything really, he was pretty pissed that he even had to come out for something so stupid , especially at 6:30pm. They havent been back since so I guess we got better LOL

anyway, you just cant put a value on good neighbors

TheVoiceless · #2 06-12-2009, 04:17 PM

Yeah man, a bad practice space can doom a band and destroy creativity. You got it good.

Jim Campbell · #3 06-12-2009, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quadcam

We hold band practice in what was supposed to be my garage. It's a 12x24 prefab that I bought a few months ago with full intentions of turning into a garage/man cave. Then I got back into playing drums and it's ended up being a rehearsal studio instead of a garage.

anyway, right after I got it someone bought the house next door that had been foreclosed on and vacant for at least a year, I figured, great so much for band practice, we're pretty loud and this garage is just a wooden shell covered with aluminum siding and even though we live in a rural area on an acre with no sound ordinance it'll probably piss someone off.
(working on getting it insulated but money is really tight right now)

The new neighbors, an old guy probably in his 70's and his wife in her 50's plus their 4 grandchildren ages 9-3 move in and the chick says "oh you have a band? cool, free entertainment! " she even gives us song requests and gets bummed out when we dont have practice.

They were having a little family gathering and invited us over so I stopped by and she says "are you guys gonna play today?" I said nah not today, we practiced the past 2 nights she says "but I want you to play and turn it up loud"

The rest of my neighbors are all pretty cool about it, they all like the stuff we play.................. except one, no idea who but the very first practice, 6:30 pm the cops show up. We had only been playing maybe 30 mins. The cop didnt say anything really, he was pretty pissed that he even had to come out for something so stupid , especially at 6:30pm. They havent been back since so I guess we got better LOL

anyway, you just cant put a value on good neighbors

if you find a bunch of old carpet and line the walls,and especially the windows the noise level goes way down..... you can find this stuff cheap or free from commercial installers

mellowgerman · #4 06-12-2009, 04:37 PM

I'm jealous.
I live in a duplex house. I'm on the first floor and have the basement; my neighbors live upstairs and have the attic. I've never had any problems and they're really nice people but just the other day I was jamming with a buddy in the basement (bass and guitar) and my neighbor was pissed. He said stuff was falling off his walls... so much for electric jams in the basement

Rick Auricchio · #5 06-12-2009, 05:16 PM

Carpeted walls do little to contain sound. Some of the high end will be absorbed, but nothing in the bass or drum range (except cymbals perhaps).

Covering windows helps somewhat.

Soundproofing requires lots of mass. Extra thick layers of drywall and plywood are the usual solutions. Generally not worthwhile unless you're building a studio from the ground up.

Montsegour · #6 06-12-2009, 05:34 PM

Haha, nothing as cool as cool nextdoor grandma :P

Jim Campbell · #7 06-12-2009, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

Carpeted walls do little to contain sound. Some of the high end will be absorbed, but nothing in the bass or drum range (except cymbals perhaps).

Covering windows helps somewhat.

Soundproofing requires lots of mass. Extra thick layers of drywall and plywood are the usual solutions. Generally not worthwhile unless you're building a studio from the ground up.

actually in my experience it works pretty good,it's cheap,and lets remember that it's an old garage,not a studio.......i doubt if he want's to drywall it.....

mellowgerman · #8 06-12-2009, 06:30 PM

what about egg cartons?

Nagrom · #9 06-12-2009, 06:31 PM

I practice in my garage with 2-3 bands couple/three nights a week.
One neighbour lets us park in his driveway. Another sits out on the deck with his family for better audio. I love my neighbours.

Quadcam · #10 06-12-2009, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

actually in my experience it works pretty good,it's cheap,and lets remember that it's an old garage,not a studio.......i doubt if he want's to drywall it.....

blasphamy!, it's not old, it's brand new, even has hardwood floors. The cardboard is to keep prying eyes out of my windows till i get some blinds or something

actually, my other neighbor works at a flooring place and is gonna hook me up with some remnants and padding to fill in between the studs, if nothing else it will keep the place from vibrating like a ghetto mobile trunk when the bass player his some real low notes. I really do want to drywall it and I'm thinking about turning it into a studio

Jim Campbell · #11 06-12-2009, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quadcam

blasphamy!, it's not old, it's brand new, even has hardwood floors.

actually, my other neighbor works at a flooring place and is gonna hook me up with some remnants and padding to fill in between the studs, if nothing else it will keep the place from vibrating like a ghetto mobile trunk when the bass player his some real low notes

it helps.......a bud used to practice a 7 piece funk outfit that way ......standing outside it was not loud enough to bug the neighbors...

Kipaste · #12 06-12-2009, 07:21 PM

I live in a flat in a multi story building, something americans might call projects, public housing or whatever, I'm not quite sure about the terminology here. But basically it's a rental apartment build by the city. Plenty of drunks and drug addicts around here, but there is a pretty good guitar player one floor down and few apartments apart. Sometimes we play along simply by cranking up amps and playing trough the walls. Not a single complaint over the last six years. I love it here.

geeza · #13 06-12-2009, 07:26 PM

Do you mike or DI the chopper?

Bassamatic · #14 06-12-2009, 07:51 PM

1) You need MASS to stop the low end - drywall, particle board or concrete. There are no shortcuts.

2) Egg cartons do nothing. People used them because they looked like acoustic foam.

3) It is possible that bass can be louder OUTSIDE the practice room as the low frequency wavelengths can more fully develop and resonate when there is enough space.

**Stumbo** · #15 06-12-2009, 10:11 PM

You might want to check out these links:
1 Sound proofing/reduction
2-w/ room pics
3-w/ room pics

Marko5657 · #16 06-12-2009, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gio S

1)
2) Egg cartons do nothing. People used them because they looked like acoustic foam.

Not to mention a major fire hazzard.

My lead singer’s old Bass player owns a road case company. He hooked me up with some (looks to be 4ft x 5ft-ish, about 1” thick) black foam sheets of foam for $20 each.

Nothing for soundproofing, but the room sounds better, and feedback in the mics has been virtually eliminated no matter how loudly we play.

Actually, I’m not sure how fire-resistant they are, though.

Nagrom · #17 06-12-2009, 10:59 PM

Similar to gasoline, but the toxic fumes would get you long before the flames. My buddy used to have that stuff in his home studio. Scary.
As previously posted, mass is required for soundproofing. Couple layers of drywall each side goes a long way. Reflectivity is a different matter.

choo5 · #18 06-13-2009, 12:29 AM

thats awesome, I always refrained from using my drumkit when iv had neibours, but the last neibours in our townhouse were real assholes; they had their pc speakers up so loud that i'd get woken up by the windows login music at night and crappy pop records :@

so noisy... I used to put my full stack facing the wall and play seven nation army til they turned the **** down; they would get the idea and turn it down... lucky I didn't get stabbed tho (dodgy buggers)

Quadcam · #19 06-13-2009, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geeza

Do you mike or DI the chopper?

I wouldnt have to do either, that ironhead is LOUD!

Metal Matt · #20 06-13-2009, 12:28 PM

Our neighbors are cool enough to put up with THIS...

...along with the drums that are louder than all that. And luckily for us, my parents are cool with us using the garage for practice, otherwise we'd have nowhere to play.

We try not to play past 8:30-9, even on weekends. We've had the cops called a few times, but that was when we decided playing on a nice sunny day with the garage door open was a good idea.