The Cops are Knockin...What was I Thinkin?

[Sufenta]

Thats a lovely story but if my neighbour was cranking up a musical instrument at 10pm and then attempted to 'tell me off' for banging on the door I think we'd have a serious falling out. You may not condone disturbing the peace but loud bass at 10pm IS disturbing the peace. I personally believe that disturbing your neighbours is unacceptable and I won't tollerate it myself either. Consideration for other people should'nt be that hard.

I hear you. It was fortuitous because it was the one night when my wife was away with our son on a trip. I finally had the house to myself, and my neighbor (drummer) just happened to be on a walk with his wife that night when he heard me. I was bummed that after living in apartments for 20+ years, the one night I had alone in my own home where I could practice late, someone was coming by to (what I thought) complain.
My neighbors had a party last weekend that went on well past 11pm. They might have a party like that once or twice a year. They are considerate people and cutting loose once or twice a year is acceptable. Demanding perfect neighborhood silence 365/year is unreasonable and not very neighborly.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

IMO there's no such thing as a good time of day or night to make unnecessary noise when neighbors are nearby.

Don't wait to be told. Use headphones.

Furthermore, a lifetime of experience has taught me that asking alleged adults to 'turn it down' is futile because they CHOOSE to be inconsiderate.

If throwing 'em through a wall isn't an option, then call the cops.

Those who lack self-control deserve to be controlled.

Man you need an attitude adjustment. Maybe it because I grew up in New Orleans and have lived in mostly Latino neighborhoods since I moved to California. But I always thought of banging away on an instrument as celebrating life. In most neighborhoods I live in you get a thumbs up and a beer for kicking ass on your bass/drums etc.
People who believe that violence or police are solutions to problems are, in my opinion, much of what is wrong with humanity. Not bass players or drummers grooving on their rig.

We had one neighbor at my old drummers place who was so irate about our loud practices that he banged on the window until he broke it. This was a 6x4 plate glass window! He ended up getting kicked out of his apartment because it wasnt the first such incident with him being pushy with other neighbors. The other residents of the little cluster of apts had no issue with us. I had a 50w Bassman head through a shallow fender 2x15, which is not loud at all!
OTOH if you are an apartment building get to know your neighbors and find out whats a good time of day. Playing through headphones is a drag, sweaty, claustrophobic, and not a good representation of what your bass amp sounds like. I know when I have been only jammin with phones for a few months and play with a band I always have to adjust my technique/tone!

 

[chavezding]

Man you need an attitude adjustment. Maybe it because I grew up in New Orleans and have lived in mostly Latino neighborhoods since I moved to California. But I always thought of banging away on an instrument as celebrating life. In most neighborhoods I live in you get a thumbs up and a beer for kicking ass on your bass/drums etc.
People who believe that violence or police are solutions to problems are, in my opinion, much of what is wrong with humanity. Not bass players or drummers grooving on their rig.

We had one neighbor at my old drummers place who was so irate about our loud practices that he banged on the window until he broke it. This was a 6x4 plate glass window! He ended up getting kicked out of his apartment because it wasnt the first such incident with him being pushy with other neighbors. The other residents of the little cluster of apts had no issue with us. I had a 50w Bassman head through a shallow fender 2x15, which is not loud at all!
OTOH if you are an apartment building get to know your neighbors and find out whats a good time of day. Playing through headphones is a drag, sweaty, claustrophobic, and not a good representation of what your bass amp sounds like. I know when I have been only jammin with phones for a few months and play with a band I always have to adjust my technique/tone!

Yeah, playin thru headphones sucks for bass. It's just not the same when you can't feel the thump.

My MarkBass F1 @ 8 O'clock volume is a good level. I can't hear it outside my front door (using a X2 wireless). Just think, I almost returned the F1 for the even louder
SD1200 head.

 

[UncleFluffy]

*cough*

 

[Slax]

Yeah, playin thru headphones sucks for bass. It's just not the same when you can't feel the thump.

My MarkBass F1 @ 8 O'clock volume is a good level. I can't hear it outside my front door (using a X2 wireless). Just think, I almost returned the F1 for the even louder
SD1200 head.

Agreed. Headphones suck.

You can always rent out an hour of a practice studio to practice at as loud as you want almost whenever you want for pretty cheap.

I currently have two bands that practice at a nice volume twice a week, and I can play softly without headphones at home. I can though, see myself possibly doing this once a week between practices if I couldn't. Just hook my Laptop to the PA and jam out to some songs on grooveshark for an hour or so at the practice studio instead of headphones.

Just an idea...

 

[NickInMesa]

Yeah, playin thru headphones sucks for bass. It's just not the same when you can't feel the thump.

My MarkBass F1 @ 8 O'clock volume is a good level. I can't hear it outside my front door (using a X2 wireless). Just think, I almost returned the F1 for the even louder
SD1200 head.

I disagree. If you have good headphones and a good setup, it will sound better than through any amp.

I use a DI and a mixing table, that's how I do it.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I disagree. If you have good headphones and a good setup, it will sound better than through any amp.

I use a DI and a mixing table, that's how I do it.

that is precisely why playing through headphones sucks. You can hear every ridge of your fingerprints as you change positions. You can hear all the tiny artifacts of the pickups as you switch pickups.
Amps mask these details. And very few bands can get by just jamming with headphones. So it's unrealistic to practice with them.
Of course I am not gonna say I never use cans, but I know that even with my DJ headphones I am not getting a good representation of the bass or the low freqs.

 

[COBRARI]

Rockman BASS ACE by Tom Scholz.
It has two inputs (one for you and one for your guitar playing bud). You have to use a splitter for the phones.
When I first started playing with my friend (total rookies) we played through small amps and it still got on our girlfriend's nerves. You know... we would play the same song for an hour.
Well... I got one of these and split the phones.
We loved it.
It is funny, women anyway... When they discovered what we were doing... it wasn't good enough. We would ignore the attention they wanted because "I can't hear you with the phones on sweetie" worked.
Eventually a compromise was made and me and Joe went back to playing through our little 15 watt 8 inch combo's.

But... the BASS ACE is the ticket if you want to rock out without bothering anyone.

 

[whocaresnotme]

There is actually NO time that you can practice that won't potentially piss your neighbors off. People love music but hate it when musicians practice/rehearse. Goes with the territory.

 

[COBRARI]

One more...

One night I was in bed with my girlfriend at an apartment complex. Maybe midnight. The single guy next door kept playing the same 3 minute song on his turntable.
My girlfriend wasn't as tolorant as I was and said "Go do something about it!"
Creepy man... anyway, I go next door and just before I knock,
I look down at the bottom of the sliding glass door in front and
see his two red sneakers pointing towards the glass.
He is waiting for me.
I knock... he opens the door and I say "Would you please turn that down". He says "sure".
So, I am feelin' pretty cool about it and go back and get in bed.
The song starts playing again only now at a slower RPM.
Like from 45 to 33.
My girlfriend looks at me in horror and says.. You told him to turn it down and he did!"
Man after seeing those red sneakers waiting for me the first time... I let it go. Freaked me out. Diabolic.

 

[pbass2go]

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This is what I use. Plug my Ipod into the "tape in", bass into channel 1 and into my headphones.

Best practice setup I have had yet. And at 99 bucks, well worth it

 

[chavezding]

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This is what I use. Plug my Ipod into the "tape in", bass into channel 1 and into my headphones.

Best practice setup I have had yet. And at 99 bucks, well worth it

That's the set up I have. Where is your gain set on the Mackie? Mine is barely @ 8 o'clock.

 

[NickInMesa]

that is precisely why playing through headphones sucks. You can hear every ridge of your fingerprints as you change positions. You can hear all the tiny artifacts of the pickups as you switch pickups.
Amps mask these details. And very few bands can get by just jamming with headphones. So it's unrealistic to practice with them.
Of course I am not gonna say I never use cans, but I know that even with my DJ headphones I am not getting a good representation of the bass or the low freqs.

That is correct, it forces you to improve your playing technique a lot.

But you can also change it on the EQ, you know... Put a bit less highs, a bit more mids and you should be fine.

You can also add effects to compensate somewhat.

 

[SpamBot]

That is correct, it forces you to improve your playing technique a lot.

+1. Even if you don't like the tone all that much, practicing like that will force you to play with better technique, and that's a good thing. Unless you're lazy.

 

[chavezding]

+1. Even if you don't like the tone all that much, practicing like that will force you to play with better technique, and that's a good thing. Unless you're lazy.

This is so true. Just the last few days playing with headphones, my right hand slap/muting technique has gotten cleaner. Was kinda surprise when I played thru my cab. My typical open string hum/ring was gone. Each note was more clear.

 

[OldogNewTrick]

that gets everybody off my back....

and sounds pretty decent

 

[Ekim]

Can they still complain with legit if it was high noon and jamming?

I had some idiot neighbor bring the cops around at 5PM. So I'm thinking the answer is "yes".

But of course, the morons using power tools past midnight I had to shut up myself (and they acted as though I was unreasonable...)

I hate my neighbors in my ghettoriffic hole.

 

[marchone]

That is correct, it forces you to improve your playing technique a lot.

+1

 

[Supertanker]

One more...

"Would you please turn that down". He says "sure".
So, I am feelin' pretty cool about it and go back and get in bed.
The song starts playing again only now at a slower RPM.
Like from 45 to 33...

That's a winner!

Here's my solution, buy a free-standing house with a basement.

That's what I did...

 

[iamdenialNJ]

I live in the suburbs of LA and I can jam as loud as I want anytime of the day and night. My parents are very understanding when it comes to music and cool neighbors help too.