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Help needed. keybed noise being heard on floor above


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Recently moved into a 1 floor apartment that has a totally unfinished basement.

With the landlords blessing i am planning to put up a few wall partions to give me a space to set up my Keys.

Nothing really extensive. The problem that i have is the mechanical noise of the keyboard (XF8) is being heard ( faintly) on the floor above (main living area).

NO SPEAKERS involved, just using headphones

The ceiling joists are exposed with very old R7 insulation. The basement is now heated, but walls are uninsulated.

I do not think landlord will go for dry wall on ceiling as that will cover up to many utilities.

Planning on putting in a drop ceiling.

How effective do you think this wil be?

Would adding something like rock wool be worth the effort?

I would just like to be able to practice late at night without disturbing anyone.

Thanks in advance.

 

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Can"t offer any help, but I had this same problem at my first flat, but with the floor below. The thumping of my RD700 made them think someone upstairs was playing drums.

 

In the end I bought a cheap midi controller and had to play it on my bed if I wanted to practice past 8pm. As a music student it sucked. Maybe a thick rug or an extra piece of carpet underneath your keyboard stand will dampen the vibrations travelling through the stand? If it"s just the loud action though, I"ve no clue, sorry!

Hammond SKX

Mainstage 3

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I'm assuming the floor is solid like concrete or similar so it probably an issue but a piece of carpet, or the rubber floor panel like gyms use will damping thing a lot. That will help stop acoustic coupling of the piano with the floor. A drop ceiling should help kill a lot of sound going up. You can check there probably different types of ceiling panels that suck up more sound. When trying to kill sound having something like a dense ceiling tile will slow down the sound wave. Then having air between the tile and the actually ceiling is good to the slowed down sound wave should bounce off the hard ceiling and bounce back into the absorbing ceiling tile.

 

If more is needed maybe make or buy some gobo like you'd surround amps and such in the studio. Then sound eaten and slowed at the source then the ceiling tile, air space, hard bottom of floor deal with the rest.

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4" concrete ceilings should do the trick!

 

So are we talking living room area, bedroom, kitchen? If the basement is below a bedroom and you''ve got a light sleeper it's understandable. I'm surprised the XF8 is that noisy. Already seems very considerate practicing with headphones. So I imagine it's your landlord on the upper floor-

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The keyboard is in the basement below the living room. As far as i can tell the ceiling looks to be plywood(OSB) . There is carpet and padding on the floor above.

My thought was to stuff the area between the joists with rockwool and put in a drop ceiling.

I wasn't planning to put in a door to this room but rather have an open layout, but maybe i should consider this also.

The XF8 is great. It's the weighted keybed that makes a "Thump" when the keys bottom out, I guess i play harder than i realize with headphones on.

Maybe i just need to find something else to do after 9PM :)

 

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The keyboard is in the basement below the living room. As far as i can tell the ceiling looks to be plywood(OSB) . There is carpet and padding on the floor above.

My thought was to stuff the area between the joists with rockwool and put in a drop ceiling.

I wasn't planning to put in a door to this room but rather have an open layout, but maybe i should consider this also.

The XF8 is great. It's the weighted keybed that makes a "Thump" when the keys bottom out, I guess i play harder than i realize with headphones on.

Maybe i just need to find something else to do after 9PM :)

I'll second the suggestion to find a way to mechanically decouple the "Thump" from the floor. I had the same problem at my girlfriend's house and never did completely solve it, but in my case at least, when playing with headphones, it wasn't the sound transmission through the air that was the problem.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

-Mark Twain

 

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I think you'll have more success closer to the source of the noise. What is your keyboard sitting on? I'd try to isolate the keyboard from its stand/table, and possibly add a rubber mat underneath the stand. We had a discussion over at the Piano World forum about using sorbothane bumpers to isolate your keyboard from its stand to reduce mechanical noise transmission:

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2635027/1.html

 

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I think you'll have more success closer to the source of the noise. What is your keyboard sitting on? I'd try to isolate the keyboard from its stand/table, and possibly add a rubber mat underneath the stand. We had a discussion over at the Piano World forum about using sorbothane bumpers to isolate your keyboard from its stand to reduce mechanical noise transmission:

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2635027/1.html

 

THIS ^^^

 

I've experienced a hundred iterations of this problem!

 

On the bright side, the current arrangement is infinitely better than if you were on the upper floor with a neighbor below you. I used to work late nights in a music room on the 2nd floor of our old 2 floor apartment, directly over the bedroom. My wife nearly murdered me several times.

 

 

In my experience you've got the beams of the house transmitting the thumps and the sound of the keys thwacking that travels through the air. While the latter can be significant it's usually the former that presents the biggest problems. You need to deaden the thumps before they can reach the floor boards and supporting beams. Picture a big-ass hunk of wood table straight out of the Godfather set, on top of a rubber mat on top of seven rugs - maybe not practical but good to picture this as what would be ideal.

 

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

 

 

 

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Thanks everyone- Some very good advice here. I think i will order some sorbothene isolation feet, and look onto a thick rubber mat. The big box stores sell tiles that interlock to form

about a 1/2 inch thick mat. that just may do the trick. I think i will still install the drop ceiling, with some rock wool between the joists. not that hard to do.

 

Thanks again

Very Helpful

Doug

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I went through this a few years ago when I set up my CP-4 in the guest bedroom directly below the master bedroom. With headphones of course.

 

Ended up buying a $100 specialized acoustic mat that got covered by a plywood sheet. I way over-engineered it.

 

No good. The pea was still underneath all seven mattresses, and I heard about it, but good.

 

The final answer, and solution, was to move the dummy keyboard further from my wife.

 

130 miles.

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I've been struggling with this for the 10 years I've been with my with my wife. She says hearing keys clunking is highly annoying. When I put myself in her shoes, I can't say that she's wrong. It's a little surprising, because if I would have predicted what her pet peeves would be regarding my being a keyboard player, I would have said the late nights, the cavorting, the groupies . . . not this.

 

It's surprising how much that sound penetrates through walls and ceilings, down hallways, etc. Some keyboards are better than others. I know that's not the solution you're looking for, but I bring it because it's an important variable in thinking about the problem, generally. The high end Roland action (FP90, RD2000) is probably the quietest action I've played. My CP73 has a very quiet action, which was a consideration when I bought it. Of the keyboards I've played, I'd rank them #1 and 2 for quiet actions.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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Thanks Adan. I actually have been considering changing keyboards. Love my xf8 but it is a beast. Actually since diving into Logic, Mainstage and soft synths i realize that

at least 80% of the time i'm using it as a midi controller. I'm not a classically trained pianist but always have prefered weighted keys for pianos, both acoustic and electric.

Looking at the Native Intruments S88 Mk2 and maybe a Motif xs rack. I am going to try to demo a S88mk2 tomorrow. Maybe can check out the Rolands also. Anyway thanks- Great minds think alike :)

 

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