mattyfatty76
Member
Maybe you could get some SoundOff's...and Sundays can become "SoundOff Sunday's". Muting the drums for a day is better than not playing at all.
Specifically, what he asked is that I don't play on Sunday. This is not unreasonable, although it's 50% of my days where I can actually play for any extended period of time. So I do have the option of basically doing nothing except laying off on Sunday. This last Sunday I spent my practice time sitting at the kit with a pad going through "Great Hands for a Lifetime", which is fine.
Honestly, my real issue now (aside from losing Sunday) is simply that I feel self conscious. I'm trying to work through some fast, aggressive songs and sometimes I need to get into a loud/aggressive mindset to drill into them, but the back of my mind is thinking about how the guy may be listening: a) being annoyed, and b) hearing me scr ew up repeatedly as I try to figure out the parts. It's not conducive to productive practice.
I poked around a little at those booths. I'm skeptical they do all that much for sound isolation, outside of taking the edge off at church or something. I could be wrong. Technically, 50% is 3 dB, so when they say 50-60% reduction, that's ambiguous to me.
My main concern with room in a room is just doing it right. The materials are not especially expensive, but if you spend a bunch of time and money and do it wrong, it's all for nothing. My room is "roomy" now for a drum set, probably 8x10'. Putting a room inside might make it tight, but usable, depending how much gap/spacing is required. I have reading to do before I go down that path. Or I hire it out to an expert and open the wallet...
FYI: Though it is frequency dependent, half as loud is -10dB. Twice as loud is +10dB. If referring to power and loudness, then reducing power in half results in -3dB. Doubling power increases by 3dB.
you can find a decibel meter on your smart phone. Play a little and have someone stand out side at the edge of your property , and find out the level for your area.If there is a noise ordinance where you live, have the police come out with a decibel meter. They can measure the sound from the source of the complaint (the neighbor's house) while you play. If you are within the ordinance parameters, the neighbor is being a pest. If you aren't within the parameters, then you figure out how to reduce the sound.
If you call the police, it looks like you are trying to play nice and remedy any issues in order to keep the peace. If he calls the neighbors and tells them it's everyday and has already asked you to keep it down, you will look like the bad guy and get a ticket.
Sounds like your neighbor has a case, if he chooses to exercise it. Now that's unnecessary, offensive and annoying!Clear as mud:
View attachment 88584
Which is it, 125 ft, or the property line? Are drums excessive, unnecessary or offensive?
I guess I'm lucky. I'm in Gilbert, too and my drums are set up in my den/office. That's on the north side of my house and there's a green space between our house and our neighbors to the north. However, my neighbor closest to my drum room is a DPS cop and he works nights, so I try to limit my playing to later in the day out of consideration. I don't know if he can hear it or not, I just don't want to be "that guy".in Gilbert, 20 minutes east of Phoenix.
Clear as mud:
View attachment 88584
Which is it, 125 ft, or the property line? Are drums excessive, unnecessary or offensive?
125 feet from the properety line. Your property line. They just didn't write "125past" in the second instance. So basically the second house past yours. You next door neighbors will have to tolerate some sounds. And that is really lenient.Clear as mud:
View attachment 88584
Which is it, 125 ft, or the property line? Are drums excessive, unnecessary or offensive?
I rent a practice space to drum in but I like being able to play when I'm inspired without having to drive twenty minutes to get there. The problem "used" to be I live in a brick rowhouse and if I played loudly -- my neighbors would definitely hear it. Well, a funny thing happened three months ago - our neighbors sold their place and some guy bought it with the sole purpose to renting it out. That's fine and dandy but for the fact that his renters are four twenty-somethings from Serbia. They REALLY enjoy living here because two or three times a week they come home at 2:00 am all buzzed up and proceed to party for a couple more hours. In the process not only do they wake me and my wife up - but more importantly, my ten year old son. Anyway, I mention all of this because after a few times of asking them respectfully to tone it down a bit -- cultural differences considered -- I've taken a new approach: I pound my drums now harder than I ever have in my life. And I do it early in the morning particularly after they've kept us up. So my suggestion to anyone looking to play drums is get a few douchebag neighbors who don't respect your kid's (normal) sleeping patterns -- and then play your butt off all morning. (YES - I'm venting.)