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Bass reverberating problem

Moronik

Moronik

roughly humanoid
My speakers are apparently booming out excessive bass to my housemates.
Anyone know of a way to stop this? I don't want to turn my music or bass down.

My speakers are currently on a table level with my decks, while the other is in a compartment of a vinyl shelf unit (one of those ikea Expedit that recently got discontinued). Its possible being inside the compartment might be amplifying the speaker...

The room has no windows but is carpeted. However the area the decks table is standing on is NOT carpeted.

Any tips on removing the excess bass?


I was thinking of getting some of those foam tiles and putting them on the wall behind the speaker.. what do you guys think?
 
I have a similar issue - just moved into a terraced basement flat. Only recently got my Technics but hardly ever use them now because I know that any half decent level will cause neighbours agro :( and mixing on headphones isn't really the same is it? Whenever I get deep into a mix and I'm just using headphones, there always comes a critical point where I try and take my headphones off to hear the next tune coming in :facepalm:

Bass is notoriously difficult to stop and a little bit of foam is likely to do bugger all without proper mounting (some distance away from the wall - a quarter wavelength of whatever the problem frequency/ frequencies are - mainly the 31.5, 63 and 125 Hz octave bands). Putting the deck table on carpet and putting the speakers on vibration isolating foam pads may serve to reduce the bass travelling into the structure of the building slightly, but this is unlikely to significantly reduce the noise levels travelling to other parts of the house.

If the room is quite small there is likely little you can achieve by moving your speakers, but if there is any possibility of getting them away from walls, or out of the corners of the room then that will help... Also, having them directly in the middle of any axis of the room (in line with the middle of either pair of parallel walls (assuming the rooms is largely box shaped) will serve to elevate the bass levels in the room because they will more easily excite the lowest frequency room resonance...
 
Enviro said:
I have a similar issue - just moved into a terraced basement flat. Only recently got my Technics but hardly ever use them now because I know that any half decent level will cause neighbours agro :( and mixing on headphones isn't really the same is it? Whenever I get deep into a mix and I'm just using headphones, there always comes a critical point where I try and take my headphones off to hear the next tune coming in :facepalm:

Bass is notoriously difficult to stop and a little bit of foam is likely to do bugger all without proper mounting (some distance away from the wall - a quarter wavelength of whatever the problem frequency/ frequencies are - mainly the 31.5, 63 and 125 Hz octave bands). Putting the deck table on carpet and putting the speakers on vibration isolating foam pads may serve to reduce the bass travelling into the structure of the building slightly, but this is unlikely to significantly reduce the noise levels travelling to other parts of the house.

If the room is quite small there is likely little you can achieve by moving your speakers, but if there is any possibility of getting them away from walls, or out of the corners of the room then that will help... Also, having them directly in the middle of any axis of the room (in line with the middle of either pair of parallel walls (assuming the rooms is largely box shaped) will serve to elevate the bass levels in the room because they will more easily excite the lowest frequency room resonance...
Click to expand...

hmmmm ok thanks. I will try and move my speakers about
 
Enviro said:
lol, if you manage to find a way to contain bass in your room (and thus defy the laws of physics) I for one would be most interested to know how you achieved it! ;) :D
Click to expand...

my previous comment was not directed at you by the way!
 
Moronik said:
hmmmm ok thanks. I will try and move my speakers about
Click to expand...

Be aware that the best your likely to achieve is maybe 4-5 dB attenuation in certain bass frequencies, which may be of some use, but is also quite likely to be completely unnoticeable to those who the bass annoys...
 
having the speakers suspended in some way, i.e. not touching the floor, shelving, etc might make a tiny difference, but im sure its just the music is too loud for them. this is a reality of city living - im the same, my set up is next to door to a family whose tv i can hear - i just ration the amount of time i can play music out loud - ask them to bang on the wall if theyre home and its annoying them and so on. Often mix in headphones...sigh...
Sometimes i put a tune on and 5 mins later they go out! Theyre nice people... we get on well
i hope one day to live in a semi or detatched place - being able to turn it up anytime would improve my quality of life no end
 
My music is really not that loud, and there is a stairwell separating the two rooms, so I am surprised its audible at all. But apparently so. I haven't had a chance to test it myself. I'm also surprised because previously people have commented on how crap the bass is on my speakers.
I'm also told it can only be heard when there is silence (which is rare anyway as I live in an extremely loud house), and only the bass is audible, nothing else.

I need it at a decent volume (not excessive) a couple of times a week to do radio shows... :(


Ive got a very large room and one side is an external wall... would it be better to put the speakers on that side do you think?
 
Sorry for possibly the stupid questions, but im usually very careful not to piss off my neighbours, and I've never had a sound complaint before..
 
Stick egg cartons all over the walls? I dont know why people do it, but they do.

It depends on how much hassle you want to go to, I've been in rooms that were nearly soundproofed with just old carpet etc, but they were for pirate radio stations, and solely used for DJ'ing, totally impractical for anyone else.

Im lucky I've got quite accepting neighbours, my housemate beasts my speakers into the middle of next week, but I try to be a bit more considerate. They've got us both on twitter though so they tweet us if its a problem.
 
Enviro said:
This. This. This. This. This.

Part of the reason that I've sort of fell out of love with music is that I just can't play it at the level it needs to be played to be enjoyed properly :(
Click to expand...
feel the same, but fuck it, some times you just have to sod the neighbours and do it - weekend afternoons at the least
 
Moronik said:
Ive got a very large room and one side is an external wall... would it be better to put the speakers on that side do you think?
Click to expand...
It won't make any difference. Bass diffracts (ie. spreads around) very easily, and once it hits the fabric of the building, it will be transmitted through it.
sim667 said:
Stick egg cartons all over the walls? I dont know why people do it, but they do.
Click to expand...
Because they've seen pictures of sound-isolated rooms and think that egg crates will magically stop sound. As bees says, the corrugations are there to break up high frequencies. The only things that stop bass are are 1) Solid and heavy walls/floors. 2) Isolation of the room from the surrounding building. This means literally building a room within a room, with a "floating" floor.

Bass too loud? Turn it down. Only thing that works in a shared house.
 
Last edited:
Crispy said:
It won't make any difference. Bass diffracts (ie. spreads around) very easily, and once it hits the fabric of the building, it will be transmitted through it.

Because they've seen pictures of sound-isolated rooms and think that egg crates will magically stop sound. As bees says, the corrugations are there to break up high frequencies. The only things that stop bass are are 1) Solid and heavy walls/floors. 2) Isolation of the room from the surrounding building. This literally building a room within a room, with a "floating" floor.

Bass too loud? Turn it down. Only thing that works in a shared house.
Click to expand...

So the direction the speakers are facing does not affect the bass spread?
 
editor said:
It may do. Some sorts of speakers placed in corners may generate more bass buildup as can moving them off the floor and away from hollow boxes/adding soundproofing etc. Although I'm loathe to do it, fiddling with the tone controls may tame the bass response a bit,
Click to expand...
You're talkjing about a few dB for the listener, there'll be bugger all difference to what's travelling though the walls.
 
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