Double Bass DB Apartment Hunting Questions

[Conner Nagel]

I've just moved to Asheville, NC from Cincinnati. I am temporarily staying with my brother until I find an apartment, but the goal is to be out by early June (3-4 weeks from now) when his girlfriend moves in. I have really been hoping for a first floor unit bc I know how loud a DB can be from above. That being said I've found one that fits all of my other criteria and I've been approved for, but there are only second and third floor units available. It is a 100 year old building with original hardwood floors, three stories with six units. I have rented my entire adult life but this will be the first time since picking up the DB.

1. Has this been an issue for any of you in the past? Should I be concerned?

2. Just in terms of noise alone, is there any advantage to the top floor over the second floor? The second floor unit is available now while the third is available early June which would be less convenient logistically, but still manageable.

Thanks for your feedback

 

[AGCurry]

2. Just in terms of noise alone, is there any advantage to the top floor over the second floor?

The advantage to the top floor is that you would only be irritating the people below you. A middle-floor apartment doubles the number of victims.

Either way, possible tactics are to a) decouple the bass from the floor, and b) use a mute.

 

[BarfanyShart]

The main issue with DB in an apartment is the vibration through the floor, so I have never gotten complaints when in a ground floor apartment. Otherwise, rugs are your friend, you can build a little platform with two or more decent rugs to reduce transfer of vibrations through the floor. You can also buy a mute, I find the rubber ones don't help that much, but a good ebony mute does cut out a lot of the more problematic lower frequencies very effectively. Mainly, like any other noise issue with apartment neighbors, if you can limit your practice to as close to business hours as possible, this will do more than anything else to reduce complaints.

 

[BarfanyShart]

The main issue with DB in an apartment is the vibration through the floor, so I have never gotten complaints when in a ground floor apartment. Otherwise, rugs are your friend, you can build a little platform with two or more decent rugs to reduce transfer of vibrations through the floor. You can also buy a mute, I find the rubber ones don't help that much, but a good ebony mute does cut out a lot of the more problematic lower frequencies very effectively. Mainly, like any other noise issue with apartment neighbors, if you can limit your practice to as close to business hours as possible, this will do more than anything else to reduce complaints.

And don't get an apartment in a building with a bunch of retirement-aged people. They got nothing to do other than complain about things.

 

[Ed S]

Another aspect is the floor plan, and when you plan on playing.

You don't want to be playing on bare hardwood floors directly above someone's bedroom.
But, If you practice at the far end of the living room - away from the bedrooms, on carpet and/or w/ a mute, and between the hours of - say - 8-9 a.m. and 8-9 p.m., well, your neighbors pretty much just have to put up with some noise living in an apartment.

One other possibility would be in a larger, newer building, which might have common areas that could be reserved.

Good luck!

 

[Alexis Duntov]

I’ve been playing on a yoga mat for over a year now. I fold the front third of the mat over on itself so that it’s double thickness. Then I put the endpin on that and stand on the remainder. It definitely damps the vibrations going directly downward and standing on the mat (barefoot) definitely helps lessen back fatigue. Sometimes if I’m practicing in the kitchen and with the bow, I’ll use a rubber mute too.

 

[Keyser Soze]

There are lots of musicians in Asheville, including some Talkbass members. Perhaps music store, health food store bulletin boards or Craigslist musician listing queries for "musician housing leads" might bear fruit?

 

[oldNewbie]

Practicing your new neighbors - Actionable ? No . Objectionable ? Depends on
a number of things.

At the beginning of COVID I enlisted daughter to help
make some measurements of sound levels in our old house while I was
practicing, with the bass in a few different rooms, Both wife and
daughter had disavowed any irritation , indeed even claiming to not
notice practice time, but with us stuck in the house together almost
24/7 I wanted to do my bit for domestic tranquility, figure out how
to cause the least disturbance.


The bass was located either in the basement , without a ceiling - just
floor joists, the front hallway open to rest of the 4 bedroom house,
or in a bedroom-office in one corner of the building with considerable
absorption - remember TubeTraps ? and a generally dead room, including
more bass absorption than typical. The walls in the 1915 foursquare
are mostly heavy plaster. Floor are area rugs. The receiving
measurements were in one other bedroom or various rooms on the first
floor. At the music stand, The best FF I could produce evenly was 97 dB c weighted , 88dB with a hard rubber
practice mute, 86dB with mute + bass standing on a 1/2” plywood
square , in turn on a 2” foam pad. For the measurements, I held
these levels constant.


Quick Summary - Without a mute, levels in the other rooms werw 50 -
72 dB , with the mute roughly 6dB lower than that, with the pad 2dB
better yet but not consistent. As yo’d expect the largest reduction
came with two stories in between, and sound was reported as “just
barely audible”. I think the mute results - that reduction in levels
through barriers not as large as measured nearby - were due to the
mute damping high frequencies more than bass , and the transmission
loss of walls, doors etc reduced at bass frequencies.
Obviously dynamics matter , though in other sloppy and inconsistent tests the difference between FF and p is not even -20dB .

So usual practice- aiming for F and a relatively big sound, in any other room in the house is at least audible , and
in bad cases - basement without ceiling to room directly overhead -
well above speaking levels.


In the end, I adjust practice time as possible to suit their
schedules and often use a mute , they both have noise-cancelling
earbuds.
[edit] A weighted measurements were taken simultaneously, almost none were above 50dB and most were below residential street noise levels. I believe most ordinances use A weighing not C , so maybe not actionable but I’m certainly no lawyer!

 

[Sam Reese]

Conner, are you playing with a bow or pizzicato? I'm inclined to think if you're playing pizzicato, you'll be fine.

 

[Anne Millington]

Do they make a steel mute for bass? I have one for my cello, and you can almost make yourself inaudible depending on how much you crank it down on the bridge. It is specifically for practice, not for musical effect.

 

[oldNewbie]

Do they make a steel mute for bass? I have one for my cello, and you can almost make yourself inaudible depending on how much you crank it down on the bridge.

Yep a fine thing , only if ...
In the dim and distant past I used two or three smaller c-clamps which worked very well but because bass bridges are not at all parallel , even with the floating pad , took a fair clamping force to stay put and chewed up the bridge , plus fell off occasionally, etc . A decently designed mute would be useful though!