Could use suggestions on how to quiet a Grand Piano in an apartment bldg.

[Infusion]

I could really use your advise on this one. I've a 6'3" grand in the dining room. Usually I play it up until about 8:00-8:30 pm, so the neighbors won't be disturbed or irritated.

 

I'd like to cover the piano with something to attenuate the level(recommendations please). I'm simply looking for a significant drop in overall level.

 

I suppose thick, quilted covers that drape all the way to the ground will probably be necessary? Who, what and where should I go for such a thing? Any personal experience with good solutions?

[Dave Horne]

In addition to stuffing old towels in the sound board, you can place a strip of felt along the rim of the piano where the lid almost touches the body. There's always a gap of about 1/4 inch.

 

You can also talk to a tech about using a solution of isopropyl alcohol and fabric softener on the hammers once they've been filed and needled. This is a well known 'trick' but only lasts for a few months.

 

I've also been known to lay a piece of felt over the strings as well when I owned a 'real' piano.

 

You could also buy a Yamaha GranTouch piano and have a real grand piano action with a first rate sample.

[iLaw]

Remember that a significant portion of the sound is coming off the bottom of the sound board, which of course is unaffected by what you're doing to the lid. So make sure you've damped the bottom well. Carpeting for sure, but probably also a fair amount of absorbent material directly under the sound board.

 

Also, if the neighbors are below you (as I suspect) there's a fair amount of acoustic coupling taking place through the piano legs to the floor, which, after all, is their ceiling. You need to break that connection with the most absorbent material you can stand to put under the legs.

 

There. Now that you're done, get set for the worst sounding grand piano you've ever heard!

 

Larry.

[guestuserguestuser.com]

Originally posted by iLaw:

There. Now that you're done, get set for the worst sounding grand piano you've ever heard!

Exactly!

 

Infusion, wouldn't buying a digital (in addition to the grand, of course) be the solution to this problem? Then you could wear headphones after 8 pm or whatever time.

 

Also, talk to your downstairs neighbours and ask if they mind if you play until 11 pm. Find out what their 'cutoff time' really is.

[DanL]

Solution? Send that piano to me and get yourself a digital! If you don't want to donate to the Dan Grand Piano charity, why not get a digi anyway, that way you can play the grand during the day and then change to the digi at night.

[ManInTheBox]

I could think of worse things, than one of my neighbors playing a grand Piano at all hours of the night.

 

If I were you, I definitely wouldn't be trying to decrease the volume of the piano.......I'd try to manage the leakage of sound from my apartment before I did that. I'd look into getting some baffles to go around the piano, or hang heavy quilts on the walls. put a heavy quilt on the floor under the piano...you'll still compromise the sound of your piano, but it won't be ass bad as muting the piano itself.

[Clavinovaguyusa]

There are some companies like PianoDisc that offer silent piano options on their midi players. This will give you the grand piano feel, midi capability, and you can used headphones.

[cconroy]

Originally posted by GovernmentCheck:

I could think of worse things, than one of my neighbors playing a grand Piano at all hours of the night.

Depends on how well they play...

 

-Chris C.

[Botch.]

How did you get a grand piano into an apartment building in the first place?!?!?

[BluesKeys]

I work for a company that makes sound proof rooms that can be assembled in your apt. Rather pricey but you could play anytime. They do a lot of them in NY city. We make them for audiologists as hearing testing rooms.

[ITGITC]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

You could also buy a Yamaha GranTouch piano and have a real grand piano action with a first rate sample.

I KNEW, I just KNEW that you could NOT end your post without saying this.

 

Now how did I know this, you ask?

 

Because the OLD FART switch is stuck ON. That's why.

 

 

And the old fart switch also engages the cantankerous button. Whick is located adjacent to the smart-ass lever.

 

It always gets hit if you're anywhere near it...

 

and you were.

 

I've got your number, Dave.

[Trill]

A little pricey but a good solution and everybody wins. You could customize the size or not go all the way around the piano.Its always great to have for recording. We have one for our drummer

 

http://drumcentral.com/drum_shields_04.htm

 

 

http://drumcentral.com/drum_shields_01.htm

 

 

Greg

[ITGITC]

http://drumcentral.com/images_clearsonic/megapac_2.jpg

 

THAT, my friend Greg, is called a Mother-in-Law suite.

[guestuserguestuser.com]

Originally posted by dream:

I work for a company that makes sound proof rooms that can be assembled in your apt. Rather pricey but you could play anytime. They do a lot of them in NY city. We make them for audiologists as hearing testing rooms.

I went to one of those audiologists about ten years ago to get my hearing tested - turns out the only test up to about 8k, which is pretty odd - do they really need fancy equipment and a soundproof room just to do that?

 

I ended up testing myself, as well as I could - I bought a test tone cd, and played each tone until I couldn't hear it anymore. I got up to around 15 or 16k

[marino]

I have a Yamaha grand piano and I live in a fifth floor apartment, no problem.

 

To keep my neighbors friendly, I had a tech build a proper mute into the piano. Upright pianos usually have mutes (felt stripes which interpose between the hammers and the strings), with a pedal to activate it; on grands, a mute of this kind is much more difficult to build, because of the limited space and the logistics. It takes a good and patient tech to do it. You have to build not one, but two mutes, one for each series of strings; then you have to build a mechanism to move the felt in and out, and find a method to attach the things to the inner sides of the piano.

The tech made three attempts before finding the right dimensions for both mutes. He asked about $300 for his work, and I paid that amount happily, because he did a great job. Every year or so is necessary to adjust some part of the felt strips, but overall it works great.

 

Of course, even with the mute, I can't play the grand at late night; for that, I have the electronic stuff.

[Trill]

I have a Yamaha grand piano and I live in a fifth floor apartment, no problem.

Fifth Floor!! I hope they have a frieght elevator in that place. I can just picture the old movie scene with the piano bieng hoisted up by rope blocks. I guess it must have fit in the regular elevator with the legs removed

 

 

 

web page

[marino]

Originally posted by Trill:

I have a Yamaha grand piano and I live in a fifth floor apartment, no problem.

Fifth Floor!! I hope they have a frieght elevator in that place. I can just picture the old movie scene with the piano bieng hoisted up by rope blocks. I guess it must have fit in the regular elevator with the legs removed

 

 

 

web page

Nope. Too big and heavy to fit in the regular elevator. It was brought up the stairs by two very big guys, with the help of a special cart. There are transporters who specialize on pianos; they get paid by the floor, actually!

I've also seen trucks with big cranes attached to them - but they can only be used in a few cases.

[Bill H.]

Concentrate on the sound board. As Dave said, towels on top with lattice or other light bracing to keep them off the strings, and insulation underneath. This preserves the sound better than a heavy blanket over the whole thing.

 

I've actually had to do this on the job back when I was doing cocktail and piano bars in order to keep the volume where the room wanted it. I know for a fact that I was hired on one occasion simply because the other players were "too loud for the customers" as the maitre d' put it...not because I was any better.

[Infusion]

I already have a digital piano (88 weighted keys) in my studio, but I want to play the grand, without too much level.

 

I'll look into the felt for the strings, but I didn't really want to "alter" the grand. I was thinking more of a heavy cover to cover the majority of the piano. I tried sound absorbing panels in the corners, but it didn't do much.

 

As far as moving it? I use to live on the 24th floor. It took the piano movers something like 15 min. to deliver it, using the freight elevator. 3 or 4 big guys simply (and easily) flipped the piano on it's side, took the legs and pedal off and rolled it around on a flat dolly. Actually it was no big deal and a breeze for them to handle. And when they came back a few years later to move it up to my new apartment, on the 26th floor, it took them another 10 min. or so.

[BluesKeys]

I went to one of those audiologists about ten years ago to get my hearing tested - turns out the only test up to about 8k, which is pretty odd - do they really need fancy equipment and a soundproof room just to do that?

 

I ended up testing myself, as well as I could - I bought a test tone cd, and played each tone until I couldn't hear it anymore. I got up to around 15 or 16k

--------------------------------------------------

The sound proof booths are more for 1k and below. There is so much ambient noise that seeps in there. Even a cold or respitory problem will mess up those readings.

[Jazzman]

Dream, normal hearing is between 20Hz to 20,000 Hz. I'm suprised that you weren't tested further. I've had the same test done on me too. Sometimes some of the sounds sound like a dog whistle to me!!!

 

Jazzman

[Dave Horne]

I ended up testing myself, as well as I could - I bought a test tone cd, and played each tone until I couldn't hear it anymore. I got up to around 15 or 16k

Without knowing how loud the tone is in reference to another tone, stating a frequency response doesn't really say anything, right? I'm sure I could hear tones around 10K if they were cranked up loud enough.

[MikeT156]

After after reading this thread, no wonder there are DIGITAL pianos on the market. Acoustic purists take note.

 

 

Mike T.

[guestuserguestuser.com]

Originally posted by Jazzman:

Dream, normal hearing is between 20Hz to 20,000 Hz. I'm suprised that you weren't tested further. I've had the same test done on me too. Sometimes some of the sounds sound like a dog whistle to me!!!

 

Jazzman

Jazzman, I think 20-20,000 is an ideal range. Young people may be able to hear up to 20k, but it's not normal for everyone; it's normal to lose some high end as we age. Also, ears might get damaged along the way by loud music from amps, and so on. Even 15 or 16k is so high that that it sounds like dog whistles, it's more of a high-freq 'sheen', it's very difficult to hear pitches up that high. I can understand why audiologists only test up to 8 or 10k as a general rule, but in my case, I wanted to be tested up to 20k, and they just weren't equipped to do it, which I found odd.