• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Apartment practice

LedReign

LedReign

Feb 17, 2014
169
100
Seattle, WA
#1
Since covid-19 has caused the uni I attend to completely close, I now must practice in my apartment. This is new to me and I’m worried about being too loud for my neighbors and roommates. I have been using a practice mute and foam between the body and tailpiece. I’m looking for suggestions from others that play in their apartments regularly. Do you ever upset your neighbors? Is there anything I can do to mute my endpin (a steel pin with a rubber foot that threads on)? Is there anything else I could do that I’m not considering?
 
#2
If it's a wooden structure and you're upstairs, you're going to really need to mute well -- our bass notes just resound through wooden structures (that's after all, what a bass is). An effective bridge mute and a thick pad under your end pin (crutch tip and carpet, etc) are probably the minimum, even if yours isn't a wooden structure and you aren't upstairs. Practicing arco is going to be especially difficult to quiet down. You may also want something under the tailpiece, like a towel or stiff foam, and possibly all the way up to the bridge. If you can practice in a room that isn't adjacent to a neighbor's room, you'll be best off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LedReign
#3
Ideally a sand bag, but otherwise something with a bit of mass to decouple from the floor:

20200326_140750.jpg
20200326_140807.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: bassfran, equill, longfinger and 1 other person
#4
If you can talk to your neighbors and room mate. Try different thing and ask them what makes a difference. Ask them about time of the day that is better and so on.

But in the end if you have an a-hole... Anything you'll do won't be good enough...
Been there, I had three layers of kids protective mats, a big pillow that was used as an end pin. I had a mute on and would put a pillow under the tail piece. I had a matress on the wall plus heavy curtain. I'd play very softly and there was nothing to do...

Well it's all about different point of view, my girlfriend would falll asleep during my practicing and would get woken up by the bang on the wall the neighbors would do... And I was practicing only between 10 am and 5 pm.
 
  • Like
Reactions: equill, GlenParks, longfinger and 3 others
#5
LedReign said:
Since covid-19 has caused the uni I attend to completely close, I now must practice in my apartment. This is new to me and I’m worried about being too loud for my neighbors and roommates. I have been using a practice mute and foam between the body and tailpiece. I’m looking for suggestions from others that play in their apartments regularly. Do you ever upset your neighbors? Is there anything I can do to mute my endpin (a steel pin with a rubber foot that threads on)? Is there anything else I could do that I’m not considering?
Click to expand...
A basic rubber practice mute should get you as quiet as a tv or stereo & far below screaming kids, if someone doesn't like that level of noise they need to get their life together and get themselves into a house! A basic noise level is part of apt. living.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eli Brockway, Elmarito, 210superair and 2 others
#7
Don Hergert said:
If it's a wooden structure and you're upstairs, you're going to really need to mute well -- our bass notes just resound through wooden structures (that's after all, what a bass is). An effective bridge mute and a thick pad under your end pin (crutch tip and carpet, etc) are probably the minimum, even if yours isn't a wooden structure and you aren't upstairs. Practicing arco is going to be especially difficult to quiet down. You may also want something under the tailpiece, like a towel or stiff foam, and possibly all the way up to the bridge. If you can practice in a room that isn't adjacent to a neighbor's room, you'll be best off.
Click to expand...
Luckily I have the elevator on one side, so I’ll stay over there. Thanks for the help
 
#9
Silevesq said:
If you can talk to your neighbors and room mate. Try different thing and ask them what makes a difference. Ask them about time of the day that is better and so on.

But in the end if you have an a-hole... Anything you'll do won't be good enough...
Been there, I had three layers of kids protective mats, a big pillow that was used as an end pin. I had a mute on and would put a pillow under the tail piece. I had a matress on the wall plus heavy curtain. I'd play very softly and there was nothing to do...

Well it's all about different point of view, my girlfriend would falll asleep during my practicing and would get woken up by the bang on the wall the neighbors would do... And I was practicing only between 10 am and 5 pm.
Click to expand...
I didn’t think of the walls, thank you.
 
#11
LedReign said:
Is there anything else I could do that I’m not considering?
Click to expand...

For this part of your question, what you practice can make a difference. Neighbours might enjoy hearing you play music, but get annoyed at hearing you repeatedly practice exercises that you can't quite play yet.

We all get it, we practice things we can't play so we can play them. Once we can play them well, we move on to something else we can't play and practice that. Listeners though, just hear us not being able to play something, continually. Certain exercises, repeated, become annoying fast. (i.e.. for most folks, thumb position arco practice will annoy faster than walking bass exercises with songs.)

Do things in small sessions, take breaks, rotate the exercises. Play more songs, and perform more for your neighbours who might be listening through the walls/floors.

(Also put a blanket at the bottom of your practice room door, so the sound from your room leaks less into your apartment)
 
  • Like
Reactions: N. Kentucky Bass and Keith Rawlings
#13
I've had good luck with more mass than just a practice mute : 2X 3-4 " c-clamps on the bridge. Had to cut the loose leverage-extension pins from the screw . It takes a bit of practice to set the jaws so they don't rattle off. Not so effective clamping on the practice mute instead of the bridge, but maybe it just needs more clamping force. I'll do some more tests and report back.

And as for your neighbors, people's sensitivity to music is extremely personal and brain hardware dependent. The degree to which outside sounds are annoying to anyone is highly dependent on whether any sound is interpretable to the person, plus of course all the external things they might be experiencing at that time.

When the auditory nerve leaves the ear, the signal goes to many places, including the brain stem , which decides among other things whether a sound is speech , music or other. "music" is its own category , and in recent experiments, those with early musical training have eeg traces that light right up when notes-pitches are heard. (Skoe lab U Connecticut ). For people who hear musical notes and have that training , pitches and notes climb right up the priority ladder of getting a brain's attention , then.

In our household, I can saw away for hours with wife in the next room (no door) watching TV. Buzzing-bee vibrato exercise ? ~badly~ hacking up a cello suite gigue? Long tones ? Don't make her no mind, it doesn't go into her consciousness. I keep a practice mute (and working with the clamps) on for the teenagers upstairs though , and we agree on times.

Also transmission loss through walls and floors is strongly dependent on materials, and frequency. And the weak link - a thin door, nearly adjacent windows - can be the dominant means of transmission even if you live in a concrete building.

Thanks for considering your neighbors
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: longfinger and Don Hergert
#14
oldNewbie said:
Thanks for considering your neighbors
Click to expand...
Agreed, even though my last post seemed otherwise. I've lived in apts. my whole adult life. If your neighbors are quiet and courteous, by all means go the extra mile beyond a rubber mute. If not, as has always been the case in my experience, just do what you need to do!
The apt. I live in now is unconnected to other units, I still use a rubber mute just to hear the TV, podcast or video art I watch for part of my practice - the repetitive bow and pizz stuff.
It is true that any apt. dweller expecting a low noise floor is not living in reality!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jason Hollar
#15
When I lived at a university apt, I took my guitar to a separate building that was part of the apt complex but used for gatherings. I don't remember what it was called, a commons building or something. It was often vacant at around 9pm or so and I would play there until someone came to use the building. I had an acoustic bass so was easier to move around than an electric+amp. But might look around and see if you have access to something like that.

Edit: just realized this is DB forum, but the suggestion is still applicable.
 
#16
Any additional mass you add to the bridge helps to make the sound smaller without changing anything important of the rest. I've had the experience that it is an interesting mode for practicing sound quality because this kind of setup rises the awareness about how to get at the core of the notes better. You have to get the fingertips really into the board to make it sound full legato.
 
#20
Jim Dombrowski said:
Find out what kind of music the neighbors like, and practice that. One of our primary goals should be to please the audience.
Click to expand...
I would disagree entirely. The goal should be to provide what your audience needs when this is over. Also, that would just be performing, not practicing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Admiral Akbar, PBandJazzBass and B String

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back