Can't Get My Kids To Turn It Down. Now The Neighbors Have Shut Them Down.

I know, but I figure the OP didn't post his message for us all to say we agree and not offer any other perspective.

 

If they would have called the cops, it would have been a much worse situation. At least around here. I believe 2nd offenses are mandatory jail time.

 

Never been in a band, but have always been around people who were. In the 'lean' college years, all my friends in bands rented storage units on the outskirts of town and that is where they rehearsed; never had any issues with noise complaints.

Maybe it could be a life lesson in responsibility: since your son is the focal point of these bands given he's the drummer, he is in charge of the unit, but everyone who is practicing there with him must pitch in -- that keeps costs down for everyone. Life lesson stuff for the group: eventually, some of these guys are going to welch or drop out of the scene, upping prices on everyone, introducing other 'grown-up drama' that they must learn to deal with in the proper way if they want to continue to have a private practice space.

 

The only way to learn is to get shut down. Took me almost four years to realize that my parent's neighbors weren't into listening to Geddy's bass licks delivered ineptly full blast out of a GK 800RB with 2 15s. I've apologized to all the ones I could track down. My mom should have laid down the law and told me to take it somewhere else.

I am stunned that some of the posters here seem to lack basic human courtesy (not the OP!). In addition to guitar and bass, I play drums - pretty damn well if I may say so - but I realize as an adult in my mid-40s that my neighbors really, really, didn't sign up for listening to my awesome percussive skills for 3 hours a day. They've got kids and some of them work from home. I talk to them every week, make sure we're all good and I'm not getting on their nerves. We tell each other if tile saws or construction's going to be taking place. You can never be courteous enough to your neighbors, you'll be stuck with them for a long time.

I play a pad set to keep the chops up, bust out the acoustic set once a week, a a time pre-cleared with all the neighbors to make sure I'm not stomping on someone's naptime or sales call. I think asking people to put up with much more than that is pretty unrealistic.

The kit: '65 Niles Slingerland Champagne Sparkle. The oldest, most vintage instrument I own and good lord it is great.

EDIT: San Jose? Yeah, I've had volume issues with them in my NorCal past. Send the kids up to my buddy's rehearsal studio, Hitwall, South City. He's a drummer and loud bands play there constantly. There used to be a decent but pricey hourly rehearsal space in SJ in the 1990s, but they're probably gone by now. Best o' luck.

 

And the OP should consider not telling his son where he is moving.

Jim

 

mic the amps into the board use cheap wired in ear monitors.......60 buks for a rolls headphone amp. no sound other than low vol amps and padded drums. been doin it for years. dont need high vol for tone these days.

 

I'd be pretty pissed if i was woken up on a Sunday at 7:45am to a garage band, and i'm an absolute music lover.

Fair's fair. As stated above, the laws are there but being considerate is something different.

I live in an apartment complex, and still play my Orange AD30 sometimes - and i've never had a complaint (complex of 22 flats) and i put that down to, i don't make any excessive guitar noise before 930am and 7pm.

It sounds like here though, that it's not so much a matter of time but repetition. You can imagine it would get pretty tiresome living with somebody's multiple bands next door. Even as a music lover myself, i can't say i wouldn't get the ****s with that eventually.

Maybe limit the kids to one or two rehearsal sessions a week, and liase with the neighbours on what times/days would suit them better. It's surprising how humans work! If they perceive you're working with them, even if you don't directly follow what they ask, i think you'll find they're much less likely to complain again.

 

As someone who's ears ring constantly it's not the the neighbors I'd be worried about. If you can hear them a block away they are destroying their hearing. Obviously they're still too ignorant to understand that concept...

 

I'd defy you to find any of us that could've understood it in their teens.
I know i certainly couldn't be told.
Luckily i wised up a couple years ago and started wearing plugs for rehearsals and loud playing...

 

Well, yeah... I mentioned my ears constantly ring now, right?

 

I've gotta give the Rolls a big +1.
My rehearsal studio doesn't have great monitors and i've been straining my vocals keeping the projection. I just bought one of these, used it last week...
I was blown away, it's really a great product. A poor mans in ear monitor

 

Nice work! Good to hear... No pun intended

 

My next door neighbor's kid has band practice in his basement, is getting louder over time, and he hasn't the excuse of being a teenager anymore. I don't mind as long as they shut down by ~10pm, and so far they have. I'm amazed his parents can stand it inside that house, being that it's loud metal. One good thing I can say is they are getting better.

 

I did that in college; sadly, around Chicago storage facilities have gotten wise to that trick and have pretty strict "no bands" policies.

 

My 2 cents: For a neighborhood band practice, a 2 hour practice is more than fair for all parties involved. Not before noon, and not after 6 pm. On weekdays, most people are at work during these hours anyway. On weekends, well, 2 hours isnt a lot of time for neighbors to deal with. But all day practices, multiple times per day, isnt gonna make the neighbors happy. Put yourself in their shoes, and imagine if your neighbor sat in his driveway and honked their horn for hours at a time. You would be agrivated too. Its all about consideration for others.

 

I've played in pubs / clubs here that have a sound meter wired to the electrical circuit powering the stage. Play too loud and the power gets cut. Problem solved.

 

One of these:



A set of electronic drums and a couple of Pods, or similar guitar/bass modelers and they'll be all set.

 

Softapads ftw.
http://www.jhs.co.uk/softapads.html
They don't alter the response/feel of drums so kids can practise at full intensity without upsetting neighbours.