Re: Kleenex and Spit


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Posted by Joe Baker on August 17, 2000 at 15:10:18:

In Reply to: Kleenex and Spit posted by Rick Denney on August 17, 2000 at 11:49:25:

Rick,
you've got lots of good advice, and I wouldn't argue with any of it, but here's a couple of other things to consider:

o Maybe the concrete is transmitting the sound better than you think. Because it is both hard and elastic, and because it has a lot of steel inside, concrete CAN in fact sometimes transmit sound pretty well. It can even resonate (ever see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge film?) And if it's actually concrete block, then it might as well not even be there! To test whether it's transmitting the sound, use a stethoscope on the outside of the basement wall. If it sounds louder than in the surrounding air, it is transmitting sound; if it sounds quieter, it is not.

o Is there ductwork in the basement? If so, you need to make sure your sound isn't getting into that, especially the furnace exhaust. Worse yet, if there is plumbing you could actually be passing your sound into their house THROUGH THE SEWER SYSTEM!

o Is there any natural focuser/reflector at work? The eaves of our house provide a perfect reflection point to bring every SOUND made by our neighbors into our back yard (40 feet away, across two privacy fences). By planting a tree that blocks sound off of the eaves, I have greatly diminished the sound transmission.

o Maybe you're in the wrong part of the house. Is there an interior closet? My wife and I have an interior walk-in closet, and when I want to practice at night I just go in there. The clothes dampen the sound a lot, so all I had to do was pad the ceiling with an extra layer of sheetrock and a double layer of convoluted foam. A little still comes through the floor (the closet is upstairs), but not that much.

Good luck,
Joe "could never be as loud as my neighbors if I played six tubas" Baker



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