It has personal significance, I assure you. As I'm sure your Lennon drawing does to you.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
disturbing the neighbors
- Thread starter Garry Raines
- Start date
It has personal significance, I assure you. As I'm sure your Lennon drawing does to you.
We practice in my basement, and we try to be considerate (not overly loud and normally are done by 8pm). Sometimes we're loud and go a later, but I snow plow their sidewalks and driveways in winter and they haven't complained about the noise yet. When they do decide to complain, I'll stop plowing their sidewalks, as I can only assume that the snow thrower is too loud as well.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
They mean they can hear the bass in your bands music through their walls and nothing else. That’s bass frequency, not only you.
How long have you played in this band? I only ask because maybe you're the new guy and the band or someone in it doesn't like your tone and or volume and are using the neighbors complained as a way to get you to lay back? If so have you asked if they've always had complaints? Have you asked the band exactly which neighbors complained so you could go to them personally, verify the issue and work to resolve it?
I'm sorry but something about this just doesn't sound right. You said "heaven forbid, the keys are too loud". That leads me to believe you feel the keys ARE too loud and maybe they are. Does the KB player use a lot of left hand down low? If so he or she is adding to the problem. That's if the problem really does exist and the band isn't just shining you on. If the KB player IS a "down low lefter" (and many of them are) then that's making the low end worse. The complaints if legit could be about the keys and not necessarily you. You could try dumping some of the deep thump, raising your cab off the floor and going with more mids to cut through. Which is a good idea in general. Speaking of cabs. Is you cab rear ported and against a corner or an outside wall? If so that corner or wall just became part of your cab making it way louder but behind you where you can't really tell.
Let the mids which are your best friends as a bassist get you in the groove and then let the FOH carry the heavy low end. IMO it's better that way but YMMV. Many times over the 50 years I've been playing, I've thought my onstage tone was honky and way too middy. Only to have people I trust tell me it was killing it out front.
I'm sorry but something about this just doesn't sound right. You said "heaven forbid, the keys are too loud". That leads me to believe you feel the keys ARE too loud and maybe they are. Does the KB player use a lot of left hand down low? If so he or she is adding to the problem. That's if the problem really does exist and the band isn't just shining you on. If the KB player IS a "down low lefter" (and many of them are) then that's making the low end worse. The complaints if legit could be about the keys and not necessarily you. You could try dumping some of the deep thump, raising your cab off the floor and going with more mids to cut through. Which is a good idea in general. Speaking of cabs. Is you cab rear ported and against a corner or an outside wall? If so that corner or wall just became part of your cab making it way louder but behind you where you can't really tell.
Let the mids which are your best friends as a bassist get you in the groove and then let the FOH carry the heavy low end. IMO it's better that way but YMMV. Many times over the 50 years I've been playing, I've thought my onstage tone was honky and way too middy. Only to have people I trust tell me it was killing it out front.
I second this view.I have always been nice to my neighbors, as I live on a cul-de-sac. This always served me well when the band practiced here, and has been especially helpful now, as I learn to play drums.
I'd advise knocking on doors to assure and assuage, setting up times to play and to not play, and turning down. For example, my band would always stop at 8pm, regardless of anything else. If we had "a thing" going on, we'd make it into a lower volume thing.
You still have to live there.
I dropped a note in their letterbox explaining I would only play my acoustic drums at reasonable hours (e kit in the evening) and that I had my mobile with me and that if they call and ask me to stop I will. No calls or complaints. Being on good terms and being polite seems to work.
Bass waves travel like forever, man. If you live within say a mile from any venue, what do you hear? The bass.
I play loud and never have this issue. Point your amp at the wall with the most substance between you and the neighbors like and inside wall. Put wall pads up to suck in some sound and cover the windows. Turn your mids up so you can be heard. Be done before 9 P.M. and get a HPF... I play in loud bands but when they get to loud we remind ourselves to turn down because we are responsible adults and are more concerned about bothering the neighbors. Also if you can make yourself sound good without being loud usually it means your good and tight. I know plenty of bands who play loud because they think it makes them sound better...
When I was younger I had the cops called on me a few times. Around here if you’re inside city limits they are pretty strict. When I practice at home these days I use decent over the ear headphones. Luckily my Mesa D-800 has an Aux in so I can connect my phone to the aux in and it’s a pretty simple way to jam along to songs without my neighbors knowing. I often practice at home while my kids are sleeping which is an added bonus is using headphones.
When my band practiced last summer at my joint, the neighbors literally grabbed lawn chairs and a cooler and all came and sat in the yard.... Lol. I told um I was going to have to start charging if they had too much fun.
I'm lucky, I have the best neighbors in the world. And it's lake living, so in the summer it's a pretty loose mentality.
I'm lucky, I have the best neighbors in the world. And it's lake living, so in the summer it's a pretty loose mentality.
Way back in the mid 90's my former band got a 5 night a week gig at a bar that always had live music. We were the first band in the area to use subs. Most of the places that we played in at the time were on the outskirts of the city in industrial or rural areas and the patrons loved the punch from the subs. This bar was right in the middle of a busy retail area in front of a neighborhood of small single family homes.
Inside the bar our levels were very well controlled and well balanced. I used a full time RTA to set a nice flat EQ curve. I was using a 4x10 bass cab with a 100 watt amp boosted in the low mids sitting on a table right behind my ears, and the stage volume was not out of control. (Well maybe except for the drummer...) We would occasionally get a visit from the police because of complaints from the people in this neighborhood. I would then dial back the subs just a little bit and adjust my EQ settings to try to compensate.
Even though we made every attempt to comply and bring down the level of bass it made no difference. The bar owner and patrons were very happy with our sound and the volume levels that we played at. However, the complaints continued form the neighbors.
I think that somehow the building itself was acting as sort of a low frequency amplifier and even though you could sit at a table and have a normal conversation without having to raise your voice the low frequencies were traveling to these peoples homes and keeping them up at night. City officials eventually came to the bar to listen to us one night. Then they left and drove around the neighborhood in question. The city later passed a noise ordinance that basically killed the bar and our gig...
Inside the bar our levels were very well controlled and well balanced. I used a full time RTA to set a nice flat EQ curve. I was using a 4x10 bass cab with a 100 watt amp boosted in the low mids sitting on a table right behind my ears, and the stage volume was not out of control. (Well maybe except for the drummer...) We would occasionally get a visit from the police because of complaints from the people in this neighborhood. I would then dial back the subs just a little bit and adjust my EQ settings to try to compensate.
Even though we made every attempt to comply and bring down the level of bass it made no difference. The bar owner and patrons were very happy with our sound and the volume levels that we played at. However, the complaints continued form the neighbors.
I think that somehow the building itself was acting as sort of a low frequency amplifier and even though you could sit at a table and have a normal conversation without having to raise your voice the low frequencies were traveling to these peoples homes and keeping them up at night. City officials eventually came to the bar to listen to us one night. Then they left and drove around the neighborhood in question. The city later passed a noise ordinance that basically killed the bar and our gig...
I once decided to see how loud my bass amp could get.
I was in high school, at home.
My Mom had gone to visit the neighbours-a4 or 5 houses down the street.
The windows were closed & she was inside the neighbour's house.
I plugged in my first bass (Which isn't a loud one) and cranked the amp.
Later when my Mom came home she asked if I was playing bass-they could hear it inside the neighbour's house.
I was in high school, at home.
My Mom had gone to visit the neighbours-a4 or 5 houses down the street.
The windows were closed & she was inside the neighbour's house.
I plugged in my first bass (Which isn't a loud one) and cranked the amp.
Later when my Mom came home she asked if I was playing bass-they could hear it inside the neighbour's house.
Buy noise cancelling headphones and give them to your neighbor. Let him know you are waiving the security deposit and first month’s rental fee.
Another option is to replace your volume control knob with a 0-11 knob, which will allow you to maintain your current settings while providing an approximately 9% reduction in output to the neighborhood.
Another option is to replace your volume control knob with a 0-11 knob, which will allow you to maintain your current settings while providing an approximately 9% reduction in output to the neighborhood.
Last edited:
