Please help me keep the lows in my own house

[Oddly]

Firstly, kudos for trying to be the nice guy here and do the right thing.
It does sound like you've got an impossible ask here technically, and the best suggestions are those about trying to find a compromise with the neighbor(s).
I wouldn't bother with the DB meters and claiming by-law compliance. That only gives you the legal right, but you sound like you'd rather have folks on your side here.

One other thought I had was that maybe you could rent a rehearsal room someplace for the times you have to cut loose and play at full power.

 

[Koshchei]

Moderators: the Amps/Cabs forum seemed like the best fit for this, but obviously we have more to consider than amplification here; please move this to Live Sound or elsewhere if more appropriate, with my thanks and/or apologies.

Contributors: I have read a bit about this subject on TalkBass and elsewhere, but obviously do not have a comprehensive knowledge of the topic or what has already been said on TalkBass. I hope you will kindly provide advice with my specific circumstances in mind. I would strongly prefer to solve this problem by containing my sound rather than changing or eliminating it. In that light, please do not suggest turning down, using headphones, or radically altering my settings. I can figure out any of those approaches easily enough on my own if containing my current decibels and frequencies proves infeasible. I can probably spend up to 500 USD if necessary.

With the preliminaries out of the way:

2020 forced an unexpected and unwanted major relocation upon my family, but at least we landed somewhere wonderful. We moved from a very rural location to a relatively dense neighborhood of single family homes in a college town, and I have literally no complaints about my neighbors. I wish they could say the same about me! We found this on the door this evening:

View attachment 4032003

The care they took to put this as kindly as they did indicates just how good we have it with neighbors, I think. (I suspect that this would have come up in an equally friendly conversation if not for the ongoing pandemic.)

I DO NOT want to be “that guy” around here, but I would rather not retire my big iron. Can I contain my sound? If so, how?

I currently have things set up like this:
View attachment 4032008

Things I have tried:

•1x15 solid state 80w combo on a stand facing the outside wall. This seemed unobtrusive until that 30-year-old combo stopped working.

•Tube 200w 1x15 combo on floor facing outside wall, or solid state 200w head w/1x15 cabinet on casters facing outside wall. Perhaps not surprisingly, these setups seem to project into my neighbor’s home

Things I could do now but have yet to try:

•I could put my extremely heavy tube combo on the stand.

•I could face any rig in any other direction.

Fun things on the way:

•I have finally cracked and will receive a brand new 200w Class D combo with a neo 1x12 by the end of the week. I can easily put that on the stand.

•I also have a period correct 2x12 on the way, but unless I use it as a somewhat expensive platform for elevating other speakers, it won’t help matters.

Things I am considering that would require expenditures:

•Something other than a stand to elevate the modular solid state rig

•Gramma pads or similar

•furniture blankets hanging everywhere

•garage door insulation, if it would allow continued use of the garage door

•a (relatively) inexpensive drum booth

It also occurs to me that I probably haven’t thought of everything.

What should I do?

Thank you for any helpful suggestions (or clever jokes).

Oh: nobody playing but me just yet, but my son’s acoustic drums will likely enter the picture soon as well.

Well, there are a couple of clues here: They can "feel" your bass. This suggests acoustic coupling might be an issue.

1) Have you tried the tennis ball trick (sandwich a bunch of tennis balls between two pieces of MDF to create a riser with an impedance mismatch) that drummers use to absorb the energy from their kick?

2) Build/install some bass traps.

3) Build/install some acoustic diffusers to break up the standing waves.

 

[BassBrass]

Find out what local volume ordinances are.

Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are the neighbor) local volume ordinances don't have anything to do with the usual "enjoyment of peaceful occupancy" clause that is implied in any lease, at least in my state. That means any sound that is unwelcome especially when people are usually counting on silence. It's a health issue. Also arming yourself with a legal argument isn't going to help the relationship.

I remember being a teen and you knew a band was playing and party was going on because of the bass you hear 1/4 mile away. If you don't have detached buildings you need a rehearsal space or get used to "bedroom sound" which is what all city bass players have to get used to. Playing acoustically doesn't hurt your technique either.

 

[beans-on-toast]

As others have said, insulating a room is both complicated and expensive. To gain an appreciation, check out this site.

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • Index page

Rod Gervais has an excellent book.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Home_Recording_Studio.html?id=DwHYSgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

A more cost effective approach involves hanging sheets of wallboard with isolation clips helping to separate the walls. The garage door is a big offender.

Resilient Sound Isolation Clip (RSIC-1) | Acoustical Solutions

 

[bbh]

I wonder if corner traps would help. I know they’re significant inside the room but out side?

 

[LetItGrowTone]

(After you accept the expert advice already given), I'm telling you that big cab(s) up and in your face can help you forget, and avoids the terrible problem of room resonance at the same time.

 

[Honkey tonk]

On the cheap . Roofing felt works inside of walls if layered in waves. Mass air mass

 

[Splash7]

Can I make another suggestion (probably obvious and therefore redundant...): If my neighbours were so nice about it, I would include them in the process of finding a solution. I'd start by turning down for a start, but then I'd have them over for a cup of tea and some cake and show them my rig and talk with them. Are there times when they are at work with no-one in the house? That could be my time to turn up. When they come home from work, turn down. Maybe arrange practice times where they'll tolerate you playing a bit louder, if at others you'll be more quiet. Explore what might work for all concerned. Technical solutions will not be easy for all the reasons explained elsewhere.

Arrange a safe word - make it clear that you want to be constructive and if it is still too loud they should give you a quick ring. I have had great success with the conspiratorial phonecall approach: 2 rings followed by two rings. Or just a whispered "Rosebud" when you pick up. Be creative, but meet them and figure out a way that'll work.

And I'd also explore this with all other neighbours within earshot - they may not have said anything yet, but why not start off on the right foot by making the first step?

I think asking my neighbors to "give me a call" when I am playing too loud isn't very neighborly. They shouldn't be bothered by the loud playing or having to give me a phone call.

So many people have so many schedules, I doubt the OP could find any constant schedule that will be satisfactorily to both his neighbors and himself.

 

[RumbleBot]

This reminds me of the old joke:

Man: It hurts when I do this.
Doctor: Then don't do that.

Sorry. Not helpful.

 

[grinx]

if it was that cheap or easy, we would all have band practice in our houses that feature nearby neighbors

 

[And I]

For $500 you're only going to get the suggestions you said you don't want... if you really don't want to be that guy, turn it down...

 

[HardNHeavy]

professional recording studios spend thousands on this very same problem....$500 wont cut it..........move back to the sticks, kill your neighbor because it's halloween..lol......or wear headphones!....I know that need to crank the amp, sucks using headphones!, i like to feel it..but gotta compromise some nights.

 

[lordradish]

Gotta simply echo the others, here. Your living situation has changed; you can't simply have it like you used to, and are gonna have to make some changes. It's not simply about what you want, as other people's quality of life matters, as well.

 

[David Jayne]

As Agedhorse explained, bass doesn't care about fluffy stuff, foam, whatever. It takes mass, and a lot of it to stop bass.

 

[Basslice]

Well, I can add my 2C. The note was clear that it was an after work (evening?) problem. How late do you play? If it is between 5-8pm, I'd just say turn down a little. If you are practicing after 8pm, you are unreasonably making noise. Headphones in either case would help.

I second the idea of trying to find out who it was and have a conversation. Again, I wonder about the timing. If it is at all times, then you have a big problem. If it is late night, it can be solved.

I could understand this problem if you shared walls or ceilings or floors, but if you are just close houses you must be playing pretty loud, pretty late, or you just have sensitive neighbors.

As others have said, I find the idea of soundproofing to be a fool's errand or very expensive. You would need to do the walls and ceiling and not just fiberglass insulation.

 

[pie_man_25]

Or bury the neighbors.....




What????? It's Halloween!

Imagine bringing that one up with the missus, "honey I'm joking! When you react like that I'm joking!"

Recce by response.

 

[Frank77]

Firstly, kudos for trying to be the nice guy here and do the right thing.
It does sound like you've got an impossible ask here technically, and the best suggestions are those about trying to find a compromise with the neighbor(s).
I wouldn't bother with the DB meters and claiming by-law compliance. That only gives you the legal right, but you sound like you'd rather have folks on your side here.

One other thought I had was that maybe you could rent a rehearsal room someplace for the times you have to cut loose and play at full power.

This.

I was once "that guy" unknowingly, until my neighbor came to talk to me. I was playing at what I thought was a reasonable volume, but low frequencies can travel in funny ways and we live in an old building, so the soundproofing is very sub-par to begin with.

Like the OP, my neighbors are very nice folks and I didn't want to be an a-hole, so I started praticing with headphones. Weird at first, but you get used to it - it's actually easier to get the right balance between your own volume and the volume of the track you're playing along to. When I want to try out something at full volume, I book an hour at the local studio where my band rehearses. 20$ every once in a while to maintain a good relationship is pretty cheap if you ask me.

 

[Warwick Qc418]

It is a major investment. you need to build a room within a room with decoupled walls and as much mass as possible (heavy drywall or concrete bloc). We play at our drummer house in an excavated garage (quebec/canada) so it is all concrete and even then there are 2 sets of insulated walls. We can still hear some sound outside but nothing more than someone listening to a movie with a home theater system.

 

[LBS-bass]

I agree that the roll-up door is probably the weakest point.

My own experience: we rehearse in a similar garage with one of my bands. In order not to disturb neighbours, we put thick carpet hanging in front of the roll-up doors (inside the garage). The carpet is from wall to wall and from ceiling to the floor. While it limited highs and mids a bit, it had no effect whatsoever on bass frequencies.

My rehearsal studio is also a converted garage. When you're standing in front of the door in the driveway, it is almost as though the door might as well not even be there. We're lucky to have tolerant neighbors and we also have strict parameters around cut-off times for practices.

My husband plays drums but he has a light touch and never gets very loud. I've worked with drummers in there who do play loud, but the drummer in the bands I had in there a lot pre-COVID used an e-kit, so it was not too hard to keep volumes under control. I do use a high-pass filter, which does help. If the neighbors started complaining I would probably go to in-ear monitors and or a headphone amp. For the OP I think headphones are going to be the best bet for compromise. The bonus with headphones is that you will hear a lot of what's happening and that can be helpful in refining your technique.

For personal practice I have a smaller combo set up in another room in the house. I don't need to be loud in order to practice, so that works out just fine. I know it's frustrating when the big iron just sits there. I haven't fired up my bigger rig in close to a year; taking it out tonight for a video taping and it will be the first time it's been out of the garage or even used since February.

 

[rtslinger]

Moderators: the Amps/Cabs forum seemed like the best fit for this, but obviously we have more to consider than amplification here; please move this to Live Sound or elsewhere if more appropriate, with my thanks and/or apologies.

Contributors: I have read a bit about this subject on TalkBass and elsewhere, but obviously do not have a comprehensive knowledge of the topic or what has already been said on TalkBass. I hope you will kindly provide advice with my specific circumstances in mind. I would strongly prefer to solve this problem by containing my sound rather than changing or eliminating it. In that light, please do not suggest turning down, using headphones, or radically altering my settings. I can figure out any of those approaches easily enough on my own if containing my current decibels and frequencies proves infeasible. I can probably spend up to 500 USD if necessary.

With the preliminaries out of the way:

2020 forced an unexpected and unwanted major relocation upon my family, but at least we landed somewhere wonderful. We moved from a very rural location to a relatively dense neighborhood of single family homes in a college town, and I have literally no complaints about my neighbors. I wish they could say the same about me! We found this on the door this evening:

View attachment 4032003

The care they took to put this as kindly as they did indicates just how good we have it with neighbors, I think. (I suspect that this would have come up in an equally friendly conversation if not for the ongoing pandemic.)

I DO NOT want to be “that guy” around here, but I would rather not retire my big iron. Can I contain my sound? If so, how?

I currently have things set up like this:
View attachment 4032008

Things I have tried:

•1x15 solid state 80w combo on a stand facing the outside wall. This seemed unobtrusive until that 30-year-old combo stopped working.

•Tube 200w 1x15 combo on floor facing outside wall, or solid state 200w head w/1x15 cabinet on casters facing outside wall. Perhaps not surprisingly, these setups seem to project into my neighbor’s home

Things I could do now but have yet to try:

•I could put my extremely heavy tube combo on the stand.

•I could face any rig in any other direction.

Fun things on the way:

•I have finally cracked and will receive a brand new 200w Class D combo with a neo 1x12 by the end of the week. I can easily put that on the stand.

•I also have a period correct 2x12 on the way, but unless I use it as a somewhat expensive platform for elevating other speakers, it won’t help matters.

Things I am considering that would require expenditures:

•Something other than a stand to elevate the modular solid state rig

•Gramma pads or similar

•furniture blankets hanging everywhere

•garage door insulation, if it would allow continued use of the garage door

•a (relatively) inexpensive drum booth

It also occurs to me that I probably haven’t thought of everything.

What should I do?

Thank you for any helpful suggestions (or clever jokes).

Oh: nobody playing but me just yet, but my son’s acoustic drums will likely enter the picture soon as well.

Foam insulation sheets like used on the outside of new construction homes,
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ignGuide.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0k1GlFgXZszDOlRCpfIuD8

good luck