Ironic problem: what would you do?

[Chip McDonald]

Hilarious, I'm in the Matrix.

 

My next door neighbor has a nephew, whose band she's decided to let practice in a storage shed in her backyard. The storage shed is 30' behind the room in my house where I'm sitting (and have my recording setup). Do you see where this is going? These guys are in their early 20's, and about 3 times a week, around 6 p.m. they start. On weekends sometimes all day.

 

Which I commend, particularly these days. They're actually trying to do something.

THE PROBLEM....

 

Everything below 120hz I can hear where I am sitting right now If I'm at 82 db from my monitors I don't hear them, but the moment I stop - I get to hear a another rendition of Voodoo Chile (slight return). I would guess they've all been playing their instruments for around 5 years or so, so - yeah.

 

*I really don't want to hear them inside my house*. Or outside for that matter. When I was in my Garage Phase at my parent's house, we got the police called on us - from the church pastor across the street that had to stand at his front door to hear us. The police would come out, and most of the time literally hang out and listen for an hour or so. Not exactly an equivalence, but I can empathize.

 

The thing is, they're playing at "metal club" stage volume in a little 10x10' shed. I measured 78+db C weighted inside my house one time. It's a complete disruption of my creative process, of course. Not to mention, .... I JUST DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT.

 

I have a cinder block outbuilding that I tried to use as a studio at one point, only had my electronic drum kit in there and felt guilty that you *might* be able to hear the pad tapping at their fence (farther away). At one point I had a 4x12 in there, used it as an isolation booth hooked to one of my plexis (inside my house, 100' mic cable/speaker cable), but that was only around 74db immediately outside the building. But I still felt like that was a disruption *if my neighbor went outside*, because she'd hear it. So again, not really an equivalence.

 

I told the neighbor last year "look, they need to turn down, maybe if they can get an electronic drum kit".... things I found bizarre to be saying to someone. But here I am a year later, they're still loud enough.

 

MATRIX MOMENT #2:

 

The one time I was aggravated enough to go outside, maybe get their attention over the fence or jump the fence and knock on their storage shed door.... ANOTHER neighbor walked into their backyard.

 

"Oh, good" I thought. "They're going to tell them to stop, I won't have to deal with this".

 

No. A woman and her friend from next door to them "hey guys, ya'll sound great", "thanks! We thought you were going to shut us down!" I hear them say.

 

 

Wonderful.

 

They sound better than they did a year ago, they've discovered swing and play mostly classic rock - they play Whipping Post? .... kind of.

I'm so conflicted with this. I'm where I'm at giving guitar lessons online, telling students "you need to find other people to play with", teaching how to hear/play swung grooves, shuffles, appreciate the art of lead guitar/classic rock... and these guys are doing it (for all I know the guitar player may have been/is a student of mine)(actually quite likely in my town).

 

What do I do?

 

I'm not calling the cops on them. I've told their aunt to tell them to turn down. What a bizarre turn.

MATRIX MOMENT #3

 

 

For added fun... a block away behind my house, there is some guy that likes to put his amp out on his back porch (pointed my way) and play his repertoire of broken/disjointed bits and pieces... guessing he's been playing a few years. So I get to hear that outside sometimes as well.

 

 

"Back in my day we'd have the police called on us" for the hint of a kick drum tap at <72db across the street, outside.

 

At this point I'm thinking "maybe I should set a cab up outside and start micing myself in free air, it would sound better than in here". Why not, did I mention in the OTHER direction a block away maybe every other day I get to hear the Latest in Post Miami Hip Hop Beats emanating from 100hz down, sometimes resonating at 40-50hz loud enough that things vibrate inside my house?

 

Ahrghhg...

 

 

But I really can't deal with hearing my guitar beating against the tuning of the bass guitar coming from next door through the walls, or a drum beat in my DAW clashing with ... uhghghghg.....

 

I've got to be "that guy", don't I?

 

 

???

 

/ I hate the 21st century

[Anderton]

Could the neighbor and the band rent a rehearsal space? I would imagine there are a fair amount of vacancies these days.

 

Another option would be serving as the house band for a club, for free, in return for being able to use the club for practicing when it's not open for business.

 

I don't think there's any acoustic solution for bass. But there's a whole world of personal monitors out there, and they could rehearse on headphones. That they assumed the neighbor was going to shut them down shows they're aware they're on thin ice. That might be enough incentive for personal monitors and electronic drums. If they say "it doesn't have the vibe," well, rehearsals never have the vibe of playing in front of people. Goes with the territory.

[RABid]

Several things come to mind.

 

Sitting a major PA on the back porch and blasting hip hop when ever they start practicing. The thump should penetrate and throw off their timing.

Making spaceship noises at 2 AM. (I did this in an apartment to the person above me who would get up at 6 AM every work morning and blast his stereo while getting ready for work. He got the hint.)

Sneak out some night and cut the power line to the building.

 

Seriously though, you might just have a heart to heart with them, musician to musicians. Tell them that it is so loud that you cannot use your recording studio because it is picking them up. Then negotiate a schedule with them. Maybe practice at low volume, then blast out the last half an hour. Or, just set a certain time like 7:00 to 7:30 at louder volumes. Tell them that you will eat at that time and not be recording. When I was learning to play drums my dad put me on a schedule. I had to avoid news time, and when he went to bed my practice was over. Also, see if they have a basement. Basements are wonderful for practice because it knocks out so much sound.

[Chip McDonald]

Could the neighbor and the band rent a rehearsal space? {/quote]

 

They *could*, I don't know, I don't know these guys. I barely know my neighbor.

 

Another option would be serving as the house band for a club, for free, in return for being able to use the club for practicing when it's not open for business.

 

They're not at that level yet, unfortunately for them and for me.

[Chip McDonald]

Sitting a major PA on the back porch and blasting hip hop when ever they start practicing. The thump should penetrate and throw off their timing.

 

My wife suggested putting a 4x12 cab out the back door, but... uhg.

 

 

Making spaceship noises at 2 AM. (I did this in an apartment to the person above me who would get up at 6 AM every work morning and blast his stereo while getting ready for work. He got the hint.)

 

That is easily doable, but they don't live there so...

 

Sneak out some night and cut the power line to the building.

 

... Hmm.

 

Then negotiate a schedule with them. Maybe practice at low volume, then blast out the last half an hour. Or, just set a certain time like 7:00 to 7:30 at louder volumes. Tell them that you will eat at that time and not be recording.

 

Uhg. Yeah. The problem though, is I'm on this side of the house until 9 p.m.... so I would have to tell them to stay quiet until then, ... uhg.

 

 

When I was learning to play drums my dad put me on a schedule. I had to avoid news time, and when he went to bed my practice was over. Also, see if they have a basement. Basements are wonderful for practice because it knocks out so much sound.

 

 

I'm in the south east where effectively nobody has a basement (it's all crawlspaces and slabs). Gah, they're playing Hey Joe right now, I can tell inside the house. Frakking loud crash cymbal, one of those Paiste plate steel things I bet, as loud as the snare and kick in my house. Guy is killing the crash.

 

 

Ahghrh.

[KuruPrionz]

My first thought was "take their photo, record their demo and book them at all the local clubs" but it doesn't sound like that has any possibility of working soon enough.

The next step in my impossible plan was to book a tri-state tour and then southern US tour in the winter and northern US tour in the summer.

 

None of this is feasible it seems. Killing them is illegal and probably not all that much fun. Pretty nearly impossible to hire an electrician to install a transformer that ups their power to 220, causing everything to burst into flames and the glorious yellow smoke to fill the shed.

 

I'm out of scheme, it sounds like you are stuck to me.

 

I live near a freeway, this time of year my windows are open to stay cool and it is noisy. I've adapted by using over ear headphones like Sennheiser HD280 Pros and recording as much as possible directly.

I've grown fond of the Chandler GAV19T, that is a great sounding guitar amp plugin. Some of the Tech 21 pedals are nice for guitar or bass too. Just got a Double Drive 3x and there is a world of tones in there.

My Shure KSM 8 is the vocal mic go to, with a Stedman pop filter one can sing close enough to keep the external noise to a minimum. It is a good sounding mic. Condenser mics pick up EVERYTHING, I don't find them useful in this situation.

 

And there really isn't anything I can do about it except move. Bellingham was borderline affordable when I bought, now it's gotten expensive. Which is good for my property value but not for finding somewhere else to live that is quieter. And your kids would probably move next door anyway, they are everywhere.

 

Maybe I am just paying for all the torment I've inflicted with my own loud shenanigans, I certainly had my moments.

 

No, my solution is not ideal. I like it better than hearing all the traffic. Sometimes we must settle for "less worse."

[Anderton]

Since it sounds like bass in the main problem, noise cancelling headphones might be a solution. They seem to work best on the bass frequencies

[KuruPrionz]

Since it sounds like bass in the main problem, noise cancelling headphones might be a solution. They seem to work best on the bass frequencies

 

 

I wonder if you could set up a big bass amp in the yard with a full frequency microphone running out of phase and just cancel the sound before it reaches Chip's studio?

 

That would be the best thing ever.

[pinkfloydcramer]

Maybe the neighbor didn't adequately relay your POV to the perps.. so why not talk to them directly? They may actually understand where you're coming from and try to accommodate you- especially when they find out who you are and how well you play (I assume you're pretty good, because nobody wants to pay for lessons from a mediocre guitar player).

[The Real MC]

Want them to turn down? Put sheet music in front of them.

[Notes_Norton]

I like the "have a heart-to-heart talk" suggestion as the first response.

 

If that doesn't work, it's time to escalate.

 

I think blasting them with 110dba of Mozart might do the trick. But then, that might just initiate "PA Wars".

 

Another might be to find out the local noise ordinance. I know for a fact, in our county, it's 55dba at the neighbor's lot line. We were playing in an outdoor club, and the neighbors next door in a new condominium complained. (Why buy an apartment next door to a bar that plays live music outdoors every Sunday afternoon???) When the police came, they measured the sound at the neighbor's lot line and found it to be 50dba, 5db under the noise ordinance.

 

I have problems with giant lawn mowers. It seems every day of the week, one of my neighbors has a lawn company with a riding lawn mower disturbing the peace for a couple of hours. Admittedly not nearly as bad as a garage band, but sometimes I'd like a little relief.

 

Mrs. Notes and I practice. Since we don't use Air Conditioning (by choice to save the environment) we do two things:

 

1) Tell the neighbors that if we are practicing at a bad time for them, whether you want to take a nap, listen to an audiobook, or anything else, call us and we'll stop

 

2) Practice mid-afternoon on weekdays when many of the neighbors are gone.

 

3) Make sure the max volume inside the house is less than 85dba. I have a half acre corner lot so that will keep the volume way under the limit at the lot line.

 

All the neighbors tell us that we never bother them.

 

It's about being good neighbors.

 

Try the talk first. Tell them you enjoy the music, but it's interfering with your recording.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[dboomer]

If it is the very low frequencies that are a problem get them to put their drums and bass amps up on some isolating platforms. There are dozens of 'tennis ball' solutions on the web. http://mikedolbear.com/seriously-wired/noise-annoys/

 

Sound travels much better through solids than through air and I"m guessing most of the component that is bothering you is ground conduction.

[Greg Mein]

Acoustic drums really set the level in most situations and when they start bashing the cymbals...well. I see Plexiglas shields often anymore, even in auditoriums. I'm having trouble with the whole band in a 10x10 shed thing to start with?! Yes suggesting electronic drums really seems like the best suggestion to me!

[Chip McDonald]

 

None of this is feasible it seems. Killing them is illegal and probably not all that much fun.

 

Let me think about it.... hmm. Yeah, that might not be a good idea.

 

Maybe I am just paying for all the torment I've inflicted with my own loud shenanigans, I certainly had my moments.

 

Yeah, I wonder if I'm in purgatory, or some Matrix sit-com morality play. But I never subjected the neighborhood to this volume, and tried to make crude (but educational) attempts at bass traps in my parent's garage, baffled off the windows; at the curb the kick was probably around 60db or lower. If that loud. We would have the cops called on us not for volume, but because we were playing Satan's music (according to the pastor across the street). And we'd stop at 9, and we tried to play "soft"; The cops would come and then hang out, said we were fine - so I don't feel too bad about abusing my Suburban Privilege.

 

But.... the countless bands my students have played in have no doubt caused mayhem in many a suburban area, so I halfway feel like I'm doing penance for my volume transgressions?

[Chip McDonald]

Since it sounds like bass in the main problem, noise cancelling headphones might be a solution. They seem to work best on the bass frequencies

 

 

I feel like I shouldn't have to change *my* habits inside my own house.....?

 

One day there will be an engineered meta-material surface that uses phonons to bend soundwaves around areas at certain frequencies, that will revolutionize noise pollution, but.... unless they could understand the concept of trying to rig up an active inverse-bass trap I suppose I'm out of luck for now.

[Chip McDonald]

Maybe the neighbor didn't adequately relay your POV to the perps.. so why not talk to them directly? They may actually understand where you're coming from and try to accommodate you- especially when they find out who you are and how well you play (I assume you're pretty good, because nobody wants to pay for lessons from a mediocre guitar player).

 

One fear is that it's a pretty good chance in my town the guitar or bass player would know who I am - or maybe were even students of mine - which makes playing the role of Party Pooper worse. "Hey Chip! You live next door to Drummer Dood? Hey, see, I'm doing a band! I'm doing something like you said I should! Hey, check us out playing this Hendrix song,,and.... wait... what? You want us to turn down......? What?"

 

Ahrgh.

[Chip McDonald]

I like the "have a heart-to-heart talk" suggestion as the first response.

 

 

Yeah. I've got to pick the right time when they're outside and I'm not exhausted from lessons/life, lest that bias the outcome.

 

 

Another might be to find out the local noise ordinance. I know for a fact, in our county, it's 55dba at the neighbor's lot line.

 

Well..... "things ain't like they used to be". I thought for sure someone by now, other than me, would have complained and they would have had to stop by now. Except....

 

People are more tolerant of loud music now. I live about a 1/4 mile up a hill from a Really Nice Development on the Savannah River; that is adjacent to a minor league base ball stadium. Where every weekend a loud fireworks show goes off at the end of the game; which I would have thought would annoy the Pretty Wealthy People in the Really Nice Development next door, but... they like the stadium.

 

...and they like bands to play there. I've heard Hootie and the Blowfish loud enough inside my bedroom that I could make out the lyrics; in must be ridiculous to the neighborhood down the road next door to the stadium. But they like it so much that....

 

just last week they passed a new noise ordinance. That allows them to do whatever until 7 a.m. on weekends.

 

When we moved here we knew we'd hear noise from the HS football stadium 1/8th of a mile away, kind of across the street from us. We'll barely hear yelling and marching band bass drums outside, but not inside the house.

 

What we didn't count on was the ridiculous Civil War idiots that routinely insist on firing off actual muskets at the cemetery across the street, on quasi-random days. Or that the Creighton "Living History Park" a few blocks over would ALSO occasionally fire off an actual Civil War cannon. The annual top-fuel drag boat race on the river was only once a year, but I amazingly couldn't hear it as much at my house as I could Hootie and the Blowfish.

 

And the hip hop subsonic "environmental soundz" are pretty routine.

 

...but they extended the noise ordinance. Ironically I live in an apparently sonic-amplitude disaffected part of town.

 

 

tto be 50dba, 5db under the noise ordinance.

 

 

They've been over 70 inside my house, that wouldn't be a problem - IF the police cared around here, but I prefer it not get to that point.

 

I have problems with giant lawn mowers.

 

 

Before covid I used to walk along the river in the aforementioned Really Nice Development every day. Most of the time landscapers have their 90db leaf blowers running non-stop there. I don't get it: you're going to pay million+ $ for a house and you're going to be bombarded with "RBRRBRRRRBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRR" all day long, most days? I suppose that's why they don't mind Hootie blasting through their walls at 11:30 p.m..

 

 

 

It's about being good neighbors.

 

Try the talk first. Tell them you enjoy the music, but it's interfering with your recording.

 

 

 

Yeah.

[Chip McDonald]

If it is the very low frequencies that are a problem get them to put their drums and bass amps up on some isolating platforms. There are dozens of 'tennis ball' solutions on the web. http://mikedolbear.com/seriously-wired/noise-annoys/

 

Sound travels much better through solids than through air and I"m guessing most of the component that is bothering you is ground conduction.

 

 

The shed they're in is tympanic, they'd have to have their walls not vibrate. And it's literally 30 feet out my backdoor, they'd have to both build out the walls like a studio as well as decouple the bottom.

[Chip McDonald]

 

Yeah, I'd already told his aunt to get an electronic kit.

[Mike Rivers]

I once taught a recording class at the local Mars Music store (remember those?). It was one evening (7-9 PM) a week. They had a pretty decent, certainly functional, recording demo room where I had wanted to teach the class, but they wanted to keep that open for customers who wanted demos so they offered me a room downstairs where they taught other classes. We loaded a cart with enough gear and cables to put together a "Mackie-ADAT" 8-track control room in a few minutes, which was cool since after the first couple of classes that were mostly about gozintas and gozoutas, the students took turns assembling the studio before class.

 

Things went along nicely for the first few classes until the drums came along - they had scheduled a drum class at the same time as the recording class, just a couple of rooms down the hall. It was even difficult to talk, much less listen to music or record anything. The store just never thought about the possibility that there would be noise interference. They couldn't re-schedule the classes, but promised that if I taught another session after this one was over, they'd be sure to keep things quiet during the recording class. I didn't trust them, and didn't offer to continue the class. The store (the whole chain, I think) went out of business a couple of years later.

 

 

I don't have a problem with local bands, but it seems that there's always a house under construction (or de-and-restruction) in the neighborhood so there's always hammering, sawing, and generators.

 

We have four seasons here -

 

Lawn mowing

Leaf Blowing (overlaps other seasons)

Chain Sawing

Rainy, hot, and cool (some call this Summer)

 

Most of the nearby home have a lawn maintenance service so there's almost always a few gas engines running nearby. Same for leaf blowing. Chain saw season is best for recording because it's intermittent. The other seasons, the noise is nearly constant. One of my neighbors asked the lawn service that worked in the next house over if they could start an hour later (they were starting around 7 AM) and they accommodated. Perhaps that approach would work with the band - make the point that while they're not THAT loud overall, but that there are elements of the music that travel further than others, and that's what's interfering with your work.

 

 

Nothing I can do about it other than enjoy the fact that I don't really have to work in the studio at specific times.

[Notes_Norton]

I remember Mars music. Unfortunately, they bought my favorite music store, Ace (In Miami), and then ran themselves in the ground. Too bad, Ace was a great store, the Manny's of Miami.

 

In the 1980s, I used to live near a college. The college radio station decided to move their broadcast antenna from west of town to the campus to save money. When finished, if it toppled in the wrong direction it would have demolished my house, it was that close.

 

When they powered it up, I had WQCS in my radio, in my television, in my telephone (landline), in my Teac A3440 tape recorder, in cassette recorder/players, and probably in my microwave oven.

 

I complained to the FCC and the engineer who came from the FCC was the engineer also hired by the college. I ended up moving.

 

Where I live now we have the lawnmowers (almost daily), leaf blowers, occasional airplanes, a few trains per days, barking dogs (why is it always the little ones?), and loud vehicles (even though it's a dead-end street).

 

At least I don't have WQCS in my toaster.

 

I've pretty much given up on recording anything live in my house that isn't 100% MIDI.

 

But I like living here.

 

Notes

[KuruPrionz]

Like Notes, I live in a world of uncontrollable noise.

Quieter areas are off yonder a ways and offer their own abundance of inconveniences.

 

Short of building a sound proof structure (pretty sure the HVAC install would be $$$$$$) my only real option is to find workable solutions and note the unworkable solutions as no longer viable.

 

In general, condenser mics - the ones that sound real purty - are not good at attenuating external noise. My KSM 44 picked up EVERYTHING, it could hear a fly crapping in the next room and tell you the gender by the sound of the squeeze.

I don't own it anymore, I could not use it here unless I made an album - "Kuru Prionz and the Noise of the Freeway, My Refrigerator and My Upstairs Neighbor Vacuuming Their Carpet with an Almost Broken Contraption, featuring People Running UP and Down The Stairs and Landscapers Blowing Leaves Around".

 

I am mostly using dynamic mics and primarily for vocals. Putting a foam windscreen on a a dynamic mic that is designed for vocals delivers a workable sound - I love my Shure KSM8, Aston Element and Sennheiser MD421 for that purpose. You can mic a guitar amp with a dynamic mic close to the speaker and get a clean take. I am using Neat Worker Bee condensers (2 of them) to record acoustic guitar but I also upgraded the pickup in my Rainsong OM1000 to a K&K Pro MIni and going direct is a usable option now.

 

Bass goes direct, either a Tech 21 Bass Driver DI (V2) or an Amplitube Ampeg Bass Amp plugin. Both work well, getting a good bass tone.

Kick drum is either a Korg Wavedrum Global (my all-time favorite), a Roland Handsonic, or a 5 gallon water bottle, carefully chosen at Goodwill for it's massive thump. I have a snare I intend to tune and try, the Korg Wavedrum has some great sounding snares as well. Drums close mic'ed with dynamic mics (Heil PR-40 is awesome here) can provide a good signal to noise ratio most of the time.

 

There are times when I can listen to playback on my monitor speakers (Mackie HR828) and tweak mixes,etc. There are also times when headphones are a better choice, over ear sealed cans. I am pretty used to them.

 

As to not wanting to compromise by changing your recording techniques - you live in an area with uncontrollable noise so your options are - sit there and stew, move elsewhere, soundproof your room, or adapt.

Life is cruel, existence is harsh and meaningless - and then we die... Cheers, Kuru

[Chip McDonald]

The landscaping noise thing is totally out of hand. How did we manage before 1982 or so, without leaf blowers?

 

MATRIX IRONY:

 

Right now, a cool day - only 82 outside, my a/c is not running, no leaf blowers, no band next door, no ambulances, police or firetrucks... I can hear the CPU fan on my PC my noise floor right now doesn't even show up on my ancient Radio Shack analog meter, must be <50 db? I can hear water moving the the water heater behind me, no wind today, birds or cicadas. A slight dribble from the ice maker in the fridge....

 

I'm going to literally walk around my house. Quiet. A bird in the distance, a prop plane now....

 

Cawing bird. Ah, the A/C came back on. Still below 50 db.

 

A brief respite, I have 2 hours to work out the guitar part to this theme...

[hard truth]

Try to problem solve with them. Perhaps you get them to change their schedule to a time that is better for you. You could also advise them on how to contain more of the sound in their space with sound proofing. It would probably help if they can move into their garage. You also might want to sound proof your own space better. It is reasonable to ask them to maintain a reasonable SPL outside of their property.

 

We rehearsed with headphones during lockdown and it was bearable, but no nearly as fun as making real sound. I wouldn't expect anyone to do that all the time.

[Anderton]

Chip, it seems like good noise-cancelling headphones would ameliorate a lot of your problems...

[KuruPrionz]

The landscaping noise thing is totally out of hand. How did we manage before 1982 or so, without leaf blowers?

 

MATRIX IRONY:

 

Right now, a cool day - only 82 outside, my a/c is not running, no leaf blowers, no band next door, no ambulances, police or firetrucks... I can hear the CPU fan on my PC my noise floor right now doesn't even show up on my ancient Radio Shack analog meter, must be <50 db? I can hear water moving the the water heater behind me, no wind today, birds or cicadas. A slight dribble from the ice maker in the fridge....

 

I'm going to literally walk around my house. Quiet. A bird in the distance, a prop plane now....

 

Cawing bird. Ah, the A/C came back on. Still below 50 db.

 

A brief respite, I have 2 hours to work out the guitar part to this theme...

 

Ah, nostalgia - irony indeed. It always paints such a pretty picture. I remember breathing the fumes of automobiles running on gasoline containing lead and no pollution controls on the engine or exhaust system.

We killed ALL the passenger pigeons, put all the First Nation people on reservations (where many of them are today still), and mostly did not wear hearing protection or other safety gear even while working in occupations that were loud, dusty or otherwise noxious.

 

We had more trees then, in some places. Other places got clear cut - "you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all."

Zoning laws did not protect people from the lovely sound of jet powered passenger planes flying low overhead. I remember that.

And, we didn't have computers like we have now, guitar strings broke more often too.

 

A recording studio worth working in was a major expense, not something we could put together piece by piece, and tape was not cheap.

In the 1950s, the US did nuclear testing in several states, some of them probably still glow in the dark. A friend's dad died of radiation exposure from a test he was forced to observe at close range in Nevada while he was in the military. His bones "melted".

 

For all the fond memories I can conjure up if I ignore all the grotesque realities that surrounded us, I am here, now.

And I deal with that every day, the past is long since over and gone.

 

I have tools I never dreamed of, the computer age and digital recording made that possible. Excellent tuners for guitars are small, light and very affordable.

The amps I gig with are small and light and have any and every possible effect built in so I don't need a pile of crap on the floor hooked up with 10 patch cables

 

Life is sweet!!!!

[Chip McDonald]

Over the fence, as the band took a break:

 

"Hey, excuse me"

 

(guy pretends to not hear me/know I'm there)

 

 

"Hey EXCUSE ME..." "You guys have to turn down".

 

 

(continues to ignore me).

 

 

"YOU HAVE TO TURN DOWN"

 

 

The guy finally looks over at me, and says "we're finished anyways".

 

 

"You'll have to turn down the next time you practice" I tell him.

 

"We've TRIED to be nice (mumble) (mumble) noise ordinance"

 

.... ? His posture and tone of voice, I hate to say it, is.... pretty entitled. For no reason.

 

 

 

"Do you know what decibels are? You're over 78 db inside my house."

 

(Ignores me)

 

"You've got to turn down. I don't want to hear Interstate Love Song inside my house unless I want to".

 

 

Hmmm. Tried to be nice? He saunders off while the rest of his band exits their shed, ignoring me. When I've been in band situations like this, that's not how I/we handled it. I was going to tell the guy to just turn the bass eq down on the bass amp, try using Blastix/Hot Rods on the drums until 9 p.m. or so (when I'm not trying to do music on their side of the house). It would have been a great thing for many bands I've been in to have a free, residential practice room where the neighbor said "turn down until 9 p.m.".

 

 

Now I'm guessing the next time I've got to call the cops on them. I'm going to try talking to his aunt again, but that didn't work before. What an ironic timeline I'm in....

[KuruPrionz]

Be sure to invite the police to your yard so they can measure the decibels there. I don't know about where you live but they always measured from the curb in Fresno.

My band now almost never practices and when we do we are not loud and it is afternoon.

 

I was in a band in Fresno and the across the street neighbor kept calling the police. We would go out and politely talk to them and one day we talked them into working with us to find a legal volume level.

They were measuring from the curb in front of the house and we were in the garage so that was pretty fair.

We got it dialed in a couple of db below the legal limit and kept it there. We quit at 8:30 or 9 every evening anyway.

 

The neighbor still hated us but there wasn't much he could do about it since we were never in violation again.

[Jazzmammal]

Yeah...been there on both sides. The funny thing is some movie years ago started that cliche of the guy looking in the mirror being totally shocked and saying something like "I've turned into my father!!" I remember as recently as 20 years ago I'm in the bass players ground floor rented house in Redondo Beach. we rehearsed there at least one or twice a week in the evenings and got compalints. And we were a middle aged funky jazz band, not young kids doing Hendrix. No cops but he would talk to the neighbors who were literally 6 feet across the property line. We would try to shut down by 9:30. In SoCal beach cities, the buildings are only 6 feet apart with the fence running down the middle and of course zero basements.

 

Whats really funny to me is their song list sounds exactly like what I've been doing on Catalina Island every summer with the classic rock band. Every song you mentioned I've been doing and it's mostly middle age folks and younger who really dig that stuff. They're too young to have grown up with it but they definitely like it which is a good thing. That classic Hendrix/AllmanBros/Joe Walsh/Santana stuff is way better than modern R& B. This little garage band could have a nice part time gigging future if they have a decent singer. It sounds like they're blowing you off because to them you're just another old fart but try to get next to them and maybe help them a little. A tray of tea and cookies? Nah...here's a better idea.

 

You know their set list by now so how about setting up your guitar amp outside and when you see them showing up to start practicing you start playing one of their tunes but better than their guy plays it? If you are truly better than they are then do a medley of their stuff and see if somebody comes to the fence to talk. Play some SRV backing tracks and solo your ass off to it, that'll get their attention. Ordinarily I would never interfere with another band like that but you're getting desperate and all of you are kindred spirits, they just don't realize it yet.

 

Entitled? Of course they're entitled, what did you expect?

 

Bob

[KuruPrionz]

Jazzmammal makes more sense than I did, by far.