Bass Freq Control to Keep the Neighbourhood Peace

[roccoboy]

We are a four piece classic rock band and we practice in my finished basement(detached house) in suburbia. The neighbours house is about 7 feet from mine on the side.

 

He says the bass is driving him crazy. He only hears the bass guitar going through the runs, not the gutar amps, drums or PA.

 

According to him it seems to be reverberating through the ground.

 

The easy thing would be to turn down but I don't think we are that loud to begin with since my wife isn't bothered when she's upstairs and my child has no problem sleeping when we practice.

 

I have hung comforters in the doorways, but foam cushions in the small window that faces his side.

 

We cut it off around 10 pm but even in the afternoon if it is as he says and he only hears the bass I'm sure it must be annoying after a 4 hour practice.

 

Since he doesn't hear the rest of the band are there any tehniques I can use to contain/reduce the bass better?

[dboomer]

You are conducting through the ground. It's like putting your ear to a train track and hearing a far away train. What you need to do is "float" your bass amp and drum kit off the ground.

 

Basically you build a platform ... picture a sheet of plywood or even better MDF. frame around it with 2x4' and lay a sheet on top. Before you put the top on, fill it with building sand. What you are after is the most mass you can get. If you don't get a lot of mass, it won't work. This little platform sits on top of hard (machine) rubber or layers of carpet pad or foam. The trick is to get it to not crush down the shock mount but to "load" it properly.

[ashivraj]

if it's only rehearsal, you could try EQing the bass amp so as to actually roll off low end, and boost some mids. that way you'd hear the bass a lot more than you felt it.

 

AS