Bass reverberating problem

[Fozzie Bear]

Also maybe explain to your neighbours about the fixed times in the week when you do radio shows and see if they are willing to compromise?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

So the direction the speakers are facing does not affect the bass spread?

Low frequency speakers are basically* omnidirectional.





*they're not quite, but for for the purposes of this discussion we can assume they are

 

[Enviro]

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,

It doesn't matter what speaker you have, putting it directly into a corner will boost the (non-directional / omnidirectional) bass. Any half decent domestic speaker will produce non-directional bass. Even at the opposite end of the scale, i.e. huge PA systems, it is impossible to give the bass directionality such that no bass at all is coming from the rear of the system.

 

[editor]

You're talkjing about a few dB for the listener, there'll be bugger all difference to what's travelling though the walls.

No, that may not always be true, depending on the construction of the house/floors/walls. I had this problem with a neighbour years ago and managed to move things around to their satisfaction.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Also maybe explain to your neighbours about the fixed times in the week when you do radio shows and see if they are willing to compromise?

This is the best approach.

Although why a radio show needs high volume is a mystery to me

 

[Enviro]

You're talkjing about a few dB for the listener, there'll be bugger all difference to what's travelling though the walls.

I'd say it might make a difference to the annoyed people if the speakers are in the corners of the wall which face towards the annoyed people. Moving the speakers out of the corners and to the other side of the room is likely to make a small but noticeable difference outside the room.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Even at the opposite end of the scale, i.e. huge PA systems, it is very difficult to give the bass directionality such that no bass at all is coming from the rear of the system.

To get no bass at all from the rear is impossible. To get lots less is easy, google "cardioid sub array"

 

[Enviro]

To get no bass at all from the rear is impossible. To get lots less is easy, google "cardioid sub array"

Yeah I'm aware of sub arrays - hence my swift edit

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I'd say it might make a difference to the annoyed people if the speakers are in the corners of the wall which face towards the annoyed people. Moving the speakers out of the corners and to the other side of the room is likely to make a small but noticeable difference outside the room.

Maybe, if the levels are only slightly above the annoying level. But Bass is a fucker to control, moving from one area to another may just create new resonances elsewhere.

Just turn it down

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Yeah I'm aware of sub arrays - hence my swift edit

D&B Audioteknik have gone one stage further, their B4 sub is cardioid "as is" whilst still only using only one amp channel, due to a very clever internal design.

 

[Enviro]

Of course we've not yet considered the effect of trying to reduce the problem on the perception of the annoyed people - even if a number of measures taken to reduce the noise only result in a few db's of difference outside the room, which may be barely noticeable to those affected, their perception of the problem will also be affected. i.e. they are likely to feel less aggravated because they are aware that their feelings have been considered and that something has been done to try and help reduce the impact...

You might think this effect is limited, but it is not insignificant!

 

[Enviro]

D&B Audioteknik have gone one stage further, their B4 sub is cardioid "as is" whilst still only using only one amp channel, due to a very clever internal design.

I think I've heard of this... I was trying to recall if the cardiod in a single cabinet has only been produced for P.A. purposes and has not been scaled down for domestic purposes... Is that the first cardiod in a single cab? Or are there cardiod subs which have more than one input? I suppose there would be hardly any point in having such a dispersion pattern in anything but an extremely large room such that there would be no point in a cardiod sub in 99.99999999999% of domestic settings....

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I think I may have heard of this... I was trying to recall if the cardiod in a single cabinet has only been produced for P.A. purposes and has not been scaled down for domestic purposes... Is that the first cardiod in a single cab? Or are there cardiod subs which have more than one input? but then there would be hardly any point in having such a dispersion pattern in anything but an extremely large room such that there would be no point using such a thing in 99.99999999999% of domestic settings....

There's loads of single cabinet cardioid subs out there but they all use two amplifier channels (still only a single cable though, you just use all 4 pins on an NL4 connector). But as far as I know D&B are the first to do it using only one channel with the delay "processing" being done passively by the wood of the cabinet.

 

[Dr_Herbz]

So the direction the speakers are facing does not affect the bass spread?

Bass is omnidirectional, it doesn't matter a great deal what direction you face your speakers.

Can you not wear headphones?

Fortunately, I don't have this problem. I have a 1200W Dynacord amp driving a pair of monster speakers for when I want loud, and I blast it as loud as I want

 

[Moronik]

I mix on my radio show so I prefer it to be loud(ish), although not in my opinion excessively so. Which is why im surprised the bass is being annoying.

I use headphones already, and I am using the speakers as monitors.

So I can turn the speakers down themselves and keep the radio show at a decent level, but monitoring at home is a bit difficult because I cant hear it easily.

It all possible, but annoying.

 

[Moronik]

Also maybe explain to your neighbours about the fixed times in the week when you do radio shows and see if they are willing to compromise?

Yep i will. My neighbour is lovely, so I really dont want this to become an issue. But I would like to explore every avenue before actually turning my tunes down.

 

[Dr_Herbz]

I mix on my radio show so I prefer it to be loud(ish), although not in my opinion excessively so. Which is why im surprised the bass is being annoying.

When I was younger, I used to have some serious sound kit in my car, and one day while I was listening to it (quietly?) outside my hate's house, his neighbour came out and complained... the bass was rattling his letterbox, 30 yards away

 

[Enviro]

When I was younger, I used to have some serious sound kit in my car, and one day while I was listening to it (quietly?) outside my hate's house, his neighbour came out and complained... the bass was rattling his letterbox, 30 yards away

You were hardly to be held accountable for his faulty letterbox

 

[Gromit]

I don't want to turn my music or bass down.

I can only see two solutions:

1. Don't turn your music on. Then you don't need to turn it down.
2. Only play music genres that do not use base. Such as Patagonian flute music.

 

[Moronik]

I think its the walls' fault.

 

[Dr_Herbz]

You were hardly to be held accountable for his faulty letterbox

That's probably along the lines of what I would have told him at the time

 

[Citizen66]

Get some proper bloody speaker stands for starters. They give minimal contact with the floor precisely to stop dampen the low frequencies carrying on through the building's structure. As others have suggested, a DIY sound treatment will do fuck all when it comes to bass. The egg-box patter is for high frequencies. And they're for solving room not sound leakage issues. You could go a step further and build a false floor which is basically a new floor on top of the old with bits of carpet fitted beneath the new joists. Make sure it doesn't connect with the walls. Ah, the walls. You'd need serious renovation to sort the walls. Your room would be a lot smaller but you could sacrifice your bed?

Get some decent headphones.

 

[Citizen66]

Moving the speakers away from the walls (as inconvenient as that is) is the cheapest solution that may or may not produce a noticeable difference. The frequency really needs to hit a wall not connected to any other part of the structure, then a cavity followed by another wall. You need a room inside a room... and that will help rather than solve. Loud bass isn't designed for domestic settings really.

Actually, IIRC you can fill the cavity with marbles to help dampen the frequency.

 

[rutabowa]

Does everyone on this thread realy only listen to music on headphones at home?

 

[gentlegreen]

In the 90s when I was out to a rave every week, I acquired some rather good kit and played my music quite loud - turning it down in steps hour by hour so the neighbours knew I knew ... and much less on a school night...
I'm fairly sure my neighbours lived in their front rooms whereas I live in the back - though the ones on one side said they liked my "80s music"

I used rockwool batts in my computer alcove to cut down the higher frequency transmission.
I have a coir mat on top of carpet on top of felt underlay on a plank floor.

My speakers are full size dipole electrostatics only a metre from the garden wall, so not fantastically bass-heavy and with no cabinet resonance - I fancy they deliver bass in a subtler way ...

But these days I mostly use my computer speakers and headphones - unless I'm on holiday and I know both sides are at work or they're doing loud DIY.

I'm looking forward to retirement and having my own barn - and neighbours further away.

 

[Moronik]

I have moved the speakers into the middle of the wall and while the music is now audible in the corridor, can only be heard in my neighbour's room at obscenely high volumes. It took me about three hours to move all the furniture and records!

So hopefully thats sorted. Hopefully.

 

[Batboy]

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 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.

This is pretty much spot on,

But I will add there are materials foam and otherwise, that will work better on lower frequencies. The key is heavy density and design construction of the building. To cope and reduce impact noise, a building needs to be designed in a way that there is as little mechanical fixings as possible utilising resilient bars for example to construct walls and as you have said floating floor. In air flight path areas, architects do have to resort to building a room in a room. It is a challenge and it is not cheap, there is no quick fix. I've seen sand bags used in floors, which logically could help but I've never seen test results.

A thick slab of high density foam of 110kg with a sound deadening liner (years ago people used lead) will absorb some of the sound if placed on walls, but you will still have issues if the structure of the building is in a conventional sense 'connected'.

I've worked off and on in soundproofing for the last 30 years and I am currently working on two nightclubs as we speak, both of which have issues with residential properties connected. I also worked on MOS and have worked on anechoic chambers. I am revisiting a nightclub today in Acton where the problems of drum and bass have been difficult to address. We have made a substantial improvement by using a high density foam on the principle walls, but there are still issues and this is despite having a 120cm cavity between the ceiling of the club and the floor of the flats above and the floors in all the building being 'floating' to meet schedule E of building regs.

I am bombarded with enquiries on noise issues and I am afraid unless you have the budget it is difficult to solve. Domestic dwellings are the worse as they only changed the building regs in 2004, everything built before that date is often acoustically challenged.

So as Crispy says turn it down, it would be the cheaper option and.. get a decent pair of headphones!

 

[Batboy]

Get some proper bloody speaker stands for starters. They give minimal contact with the floor precisely to stop dampen the low frequencies carrying on through the building's structure. As others have suggested, a DIY sound treatment will do fuck all when it comes to bass. The egg-box patter is for high frequencies. And they're for solving room not sound leakage issues. You could go a step further and build a false floor which is basically a new floor on top of the old with bits of carpet fitted beneath the new joists. Make sure it doesn't connect with the walls. Ah, the walls. You'd need serious renovation to sort the walls. Your room would be a lot smaller but you could sacrifice your bed?

Get some decent headphones.

I like the idea of sacrificing your bed! I might incorporate that into some surveys!

 

[rutabowa]

he has already solved the problem without recourse to "turning it down" or "buying some headphones". good for him.

 

[sim667]

I've got a really annoying crackle coming through on one of my monitors on bassier sounds..... But cant see any damage to the bass speaker/cone.

Could something like that be cause by a dodgy mixer and cable connections (im using my housemates mixer to run my controller through and its a pretty knackered piece of kit).