I have quite an unusual situation going on. Although I don’t like my music too loud, I have had several complaint letters deposited in front of my apartment’s door from the upstairs neighbours “because of the bass in my tracks”. As it turns out, my apartment is right beneath theirs and apparently, the bass coming from my apartment makes their floor wobble and every piece of furniture with it. I knew bass could travel through walls, but considering the volume at which I play my music, this was absolutely crazy to me. (I take their word for it, even though they seem like they would get pissed off just about anything they could…)
I have tried looking for a solution, I got my two speaker tripods out of storage and tried to see if they would change anything to the problem, but I still received complaints after this. I tried moving the speaker’s position, but no real change here either. Weirdly enough, for the 3 years I have been living here, I have received no complaint at all from any of my same-floor neighbours. This has only started since the two living right above have moved in.
I am sure that my ceiling is very poorly isolated, but this situation is becoming quite tiring as I am now afraid to play music at home (even at a very moderate volume), just because it might piss the neighbours off. I have looked into several pieces of equipment, such as bass traps etc, but I get mixed opinions about their efficiency for the problem I am describing.
Is there something I can do to diminish the bass travelling through my ceiling and into the upstairs neighbours apartment?
Honestly it sounds like an issue with the neighbors bruv. Best thing to do is find out when they are not home. Go upstairs, knock on the door. Apologize and explain that you do music for a living and that you would like to know when it is best to work so that they are not bothered.
I have built sound booties before and they are very effective but bass is always the issue. Since bass is the movement of air, changing the position of speakers won’t really help. Bass traps and other foam wall treatments are not meant to be sound blocking, they are made to improve sound. When building a sound booth for example, it is common to use 2 sheets of 5/8 drywall with Green Glue in between. Often an identical wall is built around that wall to create a gap. I can go on and on about this.
I have a lot of advice to offer on this topic so let me know.
There are also sound blankets you could use above you on a stand but anything you do will cost money to be effective. I have explored cheap ways to isolate sound, bass especially, and sadly I have not found any.
Have you tried ringing the neighbours and going there to see how bad it really is? Basically play a track at normal volume and check how audible it is to confirm wether it’s a real issue or they are being assholes. Either way, this will allow you to find a volume sweetspot where you can still listen to music comfortably and don’t annoy anyone. Don’t really think EQing the low end will be an effective low term solution, you might as well play music from your laptop’s speakers…
Aside from that a Subpac would be a great solution like Joel suggested. It was pretty much designed with this in mind.
youre being pretty polite, in most states the law will only present a noise complaint between the hours of 10 pm and 10 am. if youre not full on blasting the music, and its in legal hours, id tell em to get stuffed and turn up the volume a little higher on oprah.
Yeah man sucks having music in a apartment I deal with the same thing. Just havent had any problems where I am now, but the other place same thing happend. Sounds like the people just dont want to hear anything. I would guess its not you so much maybe them. Start looking for a cheap house to rent thats the only thing that will really solve the problem. I miss having that music volume freedom.
ikr , if you live in an apartment, you are paying money to have your own life, within reason. you should absolutely not have to deal with people that try to interfere with that, if you are not hurting anyone. playing music during normal daytime hours is not hurting anyone. now im not advocating just being an indiscriminate dick about it, but if you are listening at a volume ,where people in your apartment can still talk without yelling at the top of their lungs, then its not too loud to be considered normal.
If you got anything bigger than a bookshelf speaker, or are running some kind of subwoofer, the bass is going to be heard by your neighbors. Just because it is daylight, doesn’t mean that you are allowed to play your music. Some people work nights, and sleep all day. You are either going to have to turn it down, get some smaller speakers, put on some headphones, or move. Just because you get a house, doesn’t mean your problems are over either. Your neighbors can still hear the bass if it is thumping loud enough, and you live in a subdivision. It’s always something. When you get married, chances are your spouse will bitch about it, or your kids. I love loud music as much as the next guy, but I also know what I can get away with.
A part of living in apartment blocks is that you are living on top and below people, you are going to hear and see other people. As long as you aren’t blasting it late at night, they need to suck it up. If they don’t like it they should probably look at moving to the country
What size speakers are you using at the moment? Possibly downsizing to something like 4 or a 5 inch monitor speakers might let you crank the volume more without as much bass coming through.
This is simply an issue between you and your neighbor.
Everyone is entitled to what is known as “Quiet Enjoyment of One’s Home”. Imagine you were in their shoes… you come home to relax, and all you can hear is your neighbors music (regardless of what it is). The key to all of this is communication. Go introduce yourself to them, ask if you can sit down with them and come up with an amicable solution. Most people are very nice about this kind of thing and will appreciate you getting involved. Passing notes it’s very passive aggressive, so don’t do that.
Although many areas do have noise regulations in place, your community probably has rules that extend beyond those that you agreed to when signing the lease. Don’t try to go against those, you will lose (especially if it’s a condo). There’s nearly always a blanket “no nuisance” clause.
Like it or not, DJ’ing is not considered normal “apartment” behavior. Neither would be playing an instrument.
Also keep in mind these neighbors might work odd hours, maybe they are trying to sleep while you are playing.
You don’t need to tell them that you are a DJ. This can ONLY work against you.
It doesn’t matter if you are playing a CD, or stood mixing for 74 mins - the end result is exactly the same (if it’s too loud) - annoyed neighbours.
There is no benefit to telling them you’re a DJ - so don’t do it.
You have to be fair, though. You’re in a great position. Since they’ve already sent a note, you know that they are a certain type of person (the type of person that writes notes!). If you deal with them politely, face-to-face, you’ll already have them on the back foot. Like it or not, they’ve already got an opinion of you based on the volume/tempo/bass of the music you play - so dealing with them face-to-face, with courtesy, is very beneficial to you.
I had this exact problem about 15 years ago. I got a note saying “Please turn your music down, or else we will ring the (city) council. If you want to listen to that jungle music, please move to South Africa!”
It wasn’t even jungle that I was playing (it was Breakbeat & a little Hip-Hop!), so that note told me a LOT about what these old codgers were like.
I didn’t even acknowledge receiving the note. What I did, was be extra polite whenever I saw them in the street (smiling and saying hi, etc…). I gave them EVERY opportunity to speak to me like grown-ups about the issue, and they never, ever did.
I never got another note, either. (But I did keep the one they sent - ‘cos, y’know - it’s a fuckin’ funny note!)
<100Hz content is “onmi directional.” It goes in all directions. Given the “small room” effects of a typical apartment, there is little to nothing you can do to constrain the bass in your apartment.
It is possible that your new upstairs neighbors do not use a TV or music as “background noise” when they are in the apartment. That would make anything you are doing sound more obvious in their apartment.
I would always lead with being considerate of neighbors, and talking to them. Talking to the neighbors is 50/50, IME. Some are willing to be reasonable, some are not. Not knowing you or your neighbors, it is hard to say. Emphasize that you have already made some changes that you thought would help. Since what you have already done is not sufficient, you want to talk to them and hear the problem from their side of the floor/ceiling. Suggest an experiment. Play the music like normal in your apartment. Go to their apartment and see what you can still hear. That might help you to clarify what you can do to help.
If you really can hear any mid/highs, then a simple high pass filter to remove some of the bass might do the trick. Sometimes even 5-10Hz is enough to stop furniture from rattling.
Ean added one of these to his club rig a while ago. Combined with a high pass filter that knocks out the <80Hz content…this will go a LONG way in the direction of removing the bass complaints from neighbors.
the suggestion of using 4 or 5 inch studio monitors is good advice. the sound for you will be pretty good, and once you leave the near field area, the sound gets lower quickly.
living in a condo association could work for or against you: i doubt anyone signed a clause saying anything beyond “reasonable volume level” and if your one set of neighbors are the only ones complaining , chances are you are being reasonable, and that if the management were given a chance to hear what it sounded like in the next apartment, they might actually agree. you never know the other tenants might be a sore spot to the management already if they are the type to complain a lot. i really know nothing at all of your relationship with your community, so of course a lot of this is just wild conjecture. the point is, don’t give up your own freedoms so readily just to appease the herd if you feel like you are in fact being reasonable. the whole “Everyone is entitled to what is known as “Quiet Enjoyment of One’s Home”.” argument easily goes 2 ways because you are also entitled to enjoy your home.
im not at all trying to encourage being impolite to your neighbors, but if people are merely being petty , and it interferes with your own freedoms and happiness, i would also not encourage someone having to tolerate that. its soul crushing ,and most people already have a hard enough time feeling free.
Yes, that is me. I would honestly try this. I do have a sub I could use, but honestly, the implementation of this platform works incredibly well. I have not used the sub since building this. Not hard to build. I use it with in-ear monitors and headphones. I do also use it with 5-inch monitors and it also works well. The vibrations from this platform are not 100% silent, but close to it. Isolation apart from the ground is key to getting this to work well. Keep in mind I have both versions of the Sub-Pac as well, M1 and S2. What I built works WAY better. You don’t have a backpack attached to you with a wire while (standing) mixing. You can literally finely tune the bass from a mild buzz to earthquake 18inch sub levels.
(But I did keep the one they sent - ‘cos, y’know - it’s a fuckin’ funny note!)