So, my neighbor is angry...

[jwilson67]

Without trying to gloat - One of the bands I'm in rehearses in the drummer's garage with the door OPEN in a very nice neighborhood in Alta Loma, CA. The neighbors actually like it and some of the little kids come to watch us and play on their toy guitars while we practice!

 

[carl h.]

I used to rehearse a group out on my deck. The neighbors would bring lawn chairs and grill.

 

[Honch]

5 pm? Drama queen. You should get one of these sub-sonic subwoofers called ROTARY SUBWOOFER, and scare the poopie out of him. He will think it's an earthquake. But, alas, the rest of the neighborhood too. They've played some good pranks with these countryside...they're not THAT expensive, can be driven with a regular domestic hi-fi amp of ca 50 watt. However, the installation will be expensive as it takes up one of your rooms. It just moves air.

Once they tried it in a barn, and a housewife from a house several MILES down the road, complained and called the police..her house was haunted. Porcelain, and dishes started to shake for no reason. And of course, such low frequencies can't be sourced, there's no direction. It's well below 20 Hz, and just used as an effect in large cinemas and theaters for sound effects. Animals and birds will scatter...

The police called, investigated, and asked around, but only saw this when they came to the barn...from the outside...

but from the inside it looked like this:

A Rotary Subwoofer. The whole barn/room inside are sealed like it would be a giant cabinet. The low frequency are just made with blades shifts ANGLE (pitch) very quickly while rotating. If you stand nearby or close nothing is neither felt or heard. You have to stand a long way from it until it has any effect. Down the road.

Eventually, he will move... and relocate...

Rotary woofer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Honch]

Regarding your neighbor, I think it's just a "mote and the beam" thing. Find something to fire at him...cognitive bias...

The Mote and the Beam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[iiipopes]

Sound waves are strange. The technical term is "propagation," and has nothing to do with the relative volume. If the sound is at just the right frequency(ies), and the neighbor's room is just the right size and shape, a whisper could be amplified into a loud noise. The same thing happened to me in reverse in the house my grandparents lived in as a teenager in the late 1970's: an older friend's band rehearsed in the garage of his parents house between one and two miles away from where my grandparents lived, at the other end of a large subdivision full of houses that you would think would disperse all the sound. And so it seemed; even with their garage door up, you could not hear them when standing in my grandparent's back yard. But...when you went into my grandparents' patio room, which had a large picture window and a sliding glass door, and shut everything, you could hear the band clearly as if it were a stereo on at moderate talking volume in the room.

 

[HiEnd Basses]

Neighbor to me: "we're always hearing that Bass playing at night".
Me to neighbor: " Really, what do you think"?

 

[Pyrate]

The guitar player from my band came over today and we were doing a little freestyle jamming (beer drinking) and having some laughs in my basement. We kept the volume low enough to here each other say "Go to C" or "I need a beer" or what-have-you, when suddenly my neighbor whom I rarely see is pounding on my window screaming "you're driving me nuts!". Then he stormed off and slammed his door. We immediately stopped our little jam session and I walked over to apologize. He answered his door and I could tell right away he was quite intoxicated. I said "I'm sorry, were we making too much noise?" He says "Yeah! All day long it's boom boom boom! I can't even watch TV!" (It wasnt all day. It was about an hour) So, I say "Well, my wife is watching TV in the same house as me and trust me, she'd let me know if I'm being too loud." He responds with "If you want to make so much edit noise why don't you move to the country? I'll be d*mned if I'm gonna spend my retirement listening to this crap!" I say "I'm sorry. Tell you what, how about I give you my phone number and if we're being too loud give me a call and I'll try to quiet down. But, I'm in a band so this is gonna happen now and then. It's only 5pm. We never play for more than an hour or two and never passed 7pm." At this point he goes into an incoherent babble about how I should just move out to the country and stop being a menace, etc. I respond with "Well, I tried. Next time, call the police and let them sort it out."

Like I said, we were playing pretty quietly. I was playing through a 2x10 cab, guitar player was playing through a 1x12. We could still hear ourselves talking and laughing. And, we were in my basement while my wife was watching TV right above us. She's not shy about telling me she can't hear the TV over us and she said it was fine.

Damn neighbors! Now I'll be nervous about playing at all. And we have rehearsal with the full band tomorrow! The way I see it, we were not playing loud, I apologized immediately and offered a solution to the problem (my phone number) and he continued to be unreasonable. My guitar player even said I was much more patient and courteous than he would have been.

How to proceed? We do not have an alternative place to rehearse. Our drummer plays with Hotrods to keep volume down and we only use one PA speaker for vocals while we practice. I don't want to make enemies with my neighbor. What to do???

Have to say that happened to us as well. Oh, The guitarist does live in the desert!! His neighbor (who lives approx. 450m away) called the Sheriffs Office, who (Sheriff's Deputy) did come out and visit with us rehearsing for an upcoming gig. Sure, we stopped as he approached the fence line. Then he asked us to play a song (so he could see how loud we were/are/might have been). Asked us to turn down a bit, explaining someone had called, and then stated we weren't causing a nuisance, and would drop by the gig, and keep up the practice. he did say that he would stop by the neighbors house (to show the uniform was following up) and ask that their dog be let in. He did stop by our performance, with other deputies in uniform lining the stage, it was funny.

 

[swarfrat]

My next door neighbors are maybe 50 yards away, but we play in a bonus room over the garage - which are notorious for leaking sound (and heat). I have this giant 32" bass drum that I picked up on CL for cheap, and play it (and a 12x15 marching snare) as a kit. I knew it was loud, but one day my son was playing it while I was working across the room. WHOOOM WHOOOM man that will turn your innerds to jello in a hurry! It's tuned WELL above lowest possible pitch, and I honestly measured the fundamental at 30Hz with my tune-bot gig.

I don't see the neighbors very often, but I was kinda dreading it -but I asked. They didn't even know we played. They're both half deaf and never home. Whew.

 

[PortlandBass77]

I would have giving that dude the finger, he is quite obviously an *******. Let him call the cops, they can't and won't do anything unless it's past 9 or 10 pm depending on your area.

 

[CGremlin]

Maybe get the cheapest used saw you can find and a cheap piece of plywood.

Aluminum is even better. A tile saw with some thick ceramic tiles are good for this too.

 

[Flooflox]

Read the first page or so. Regarding noise laws, regardless of times quoted for noise to cease most places have laws that excessive noise is not allowed at any time. Of course, the devil is in the details. What constitutes excessive noise? I'm in the country but when a car drives by with subwoofers going, I may not hear anything but the BOOM BOOM BOOM but it is annoying until they get out of range. My doors and windows are shut but bass don't care. Your neighbour is in worse shape than me. Your house won't continue on down the street and go around the corner. He's stuck.

Many of us are noise sensitive and here is a paradox for you. I have always loved Rock music and loved it LOUD. But, its the songs I choose. I'm in control. And that's only when I'm in the mood. I have had neighbours run stereos far too loud as far as bass. It gets me mad enough that I can't really go over and say anything because I wouldn't comport myself well. Fortunately, that only lasted a few days. Maybe, someone else said something.

Solutions? Some sound deadening around the windows might help cut some back. Like a full insert of sound insulation to be removed when practice is over. Also, taking the bass knob on the amp and turning it right off and living with mids and treble would probably make the biggest difference. If drummer could use a set of electronic drums for practice that would help that end of things. Also, instead of using amps you could go to in-ear monitoring.

Sucks not to be able to kick it out when you want but in a modern world with people living on top of each other and our ability to make big, loud, bassy sounds now.... well, consideration of your neighbour's ability to not be sonically assaulted becomes a thing. Best of luck!

 

[spaz21387]

I have an 8x10 in my bedroom and my neighbors love it. The music promoter guy across the street always says crank it up you arent loud enough. The older guy next to me even gave me a shout out in our little newsletter they send out. He said i love how james practices his bass on the weekends... the others dont say anything.

 

[Cole Louis Allar]

Just ignore him. You are a bass player man! Just be awesome! If he continues to come at your door, just play louder. He will give up eventually.

 

[Spent]

Just give him grief about his loud lawnmower.

 

[dalahorse]

Too many replies to read them all. But...

1: He had to come onto your property to pound on your window. I believe that counts as trespassing in many places. Next time he trespasses, call the police.

2: I absolutely agree with the idea of measuring the SPL and comparing it to your local ordinance. Stay below that threshold! When the police eventually show up, have them measure it themselves. Then ask them to document your neighbor's harassment.

3: Measure his SPL next time he mows his lawn, revs his motorcycle, or anything else that makes a ton of noise. If it exceeds that level, tell him he should move out to the country if he wants to do that stuff. Then call the police.

 

[Damien Starr]

I would take a different approach. You never know what is happening in your neighbor's house, perhaps someone in his family is going through a life crisis like sickness or financial. Rights are rights sure, but you guys are neighbors and you want to be on good terms with your neighbors who may one day be needed to call the fire department or police for you if you guys are away from the house.

After he knocked on your door you should have waited a bit to approach him to let the energy go down but that is water under the bridge. Personally, I would find some place else to jam for a while and catch him one day in a good mood and say this. "Sorry about the other day, in the future we will try to keep it down and I am going to insulate my space more so you are not disturbed" and do that.

If he is a jackwit, nothing will help because he has some issues. If he is a human being who hasn't given you argument before it may work.

 

[000_Unknown]

Lets see.. Ive had the neighbors who just call the cops, each and every time. I had neighbors who come over screaming. I've had neighbors who never say anything but then I found out later that their pictures used to fall off the walls. Then Ive had the neighbors who say nothing, but smash out the windows of the drummers car, probably because he partially blocked their driveway again. They were quite clever too, after they smashed out the rear window, they threw a big tree branch on top so it looked like some kind of accident. The funny thing is there were no trees above where the car was parked. I think the drummer was too drunk to notice. But you have to think of things the other way around. It really sucks to live next door to people like us. Do the adult thing and get some practice space, either at your school or rent some space out.

 

[Jools4001]

Once upon a time, when I was in my twenties, we used to rent a village hall to practice in every Tuesday evening until 9pm. We were just winding down after one such rehearsal when a middle aged woman tore into the hall, screaming that she'd had enough of our damned noise and threatening all sorts of sanctions. We let her rant to the point where she'd blown herself out then my drummer said "you do realise that your words don't have much gravitas when you're nearly naked don't you?" She had obviously been getting ready for bed and had stormed out of her house in such a temper that she hadn't put a dressing gown on; she was wearing a white cotton nightdress and, whilst it wasn't exactly lingerie, it was sheer enough to leave nothing to the imagination. Her look of anger turned to horror as she looked down at herself and realised that she was showing her all to five twenty-something guys...I've never seen anybody try to cover up and scuttle out of the door as fast. Needless to say we were rolling around with laughter....but we were banned from the hall the same week.

 

[waynobass]

My band in high school was filming a video in our backyard, interrupted by the retired next-door-neighbor storming over to yell, "Toin dem cott-dam amplifyas down!"

That became a catchphrase much repeated among us.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

The guitar player from my band came over today and we were doing a little freestyle jamming (beer drinking) and having some laughs in my basement. We kept the volume low enough to here each other say "Go to C" or "I need a beer" or what-have-you, when suddenly my neighbor whom I rarely see is pounding on my window screaming "you're driving me nuts!". Then he stormed off and slammed his door. We immediately stopped our little jam session and I walked over to apologize. He answered his door and I could tell right away he was quite intoxicated. I said "I'm sorry, were we making too much noise?" He says "Yeah! All day long it's boom boom boom! I can't even watch TV!" (It wasnt all day. It was about an hour) So, I say "Well, my wife is watching TV in the same house as me and trust me, she'd let me know if I'm being too loud." He responds with "If you want to make so much edit noise why don't you move to the country? I'll be d*mned if I'm gonna spend my retirement listening to this crap!" I say "I'm sorry. Tell you what, how about I give you my phone number and if we're being too loud give me a call and I'll try to quiet down. But, I'm in a band so this is gonna happen now and then. It's only 5pm. We never play for more than an hour or two and never passed 7pm." At this point he goes into an incoherent babble about how I should just move out to the country and stop being a menace, etc. I respond with "Well, I tried. Next time, call the police and let them sort it out."

Like I said, we were playing pretty quietly. I was playing through a 2x10 cab, guitar player was playing through a 1x12. We could still hear ourselves talking and laughing. And, we were in my basement while my wife was watching TV right above us. She's not shy about telling me she can't hear the TV over us and she said it was fine.

Damn neighbors! Now I'll be nervous about playing at all. And we have rehearsal with the full band tomorrow! The way I see it, we were not playing loud, I apologized immediately and offered a solution to the problem (my phone number) and he continued to be unreasonable. My guitar player even said I was much more patient and courteous than he would have been.

How to proceed? We do not have an alternative place to rehearse. Our drummer plays with Hotrods to keep volume down and we only use one PA speaker for vocals while we practice. I don't want to make enemies with my neighbor. What to do???

You have, in effect, been told to get off your own lawn!