The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Turn down your bass!
spcmnspff
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi,
So the sound of bass makes me want to curl up and die. But I wasn't always like this...
At our last apartment we had terrible neighbours. They had speakers attached to their walls and they would party like rockstars. We tried everything - being nice, being not-nice, landlord, cops, green soundproofing material - but nothing worked. This got progressively worse until one day (for unrelated reasons) my girlfriend said we should buy a loft together. I said sure, because I love her, yes, but also because I couldn't wait to get out of that noisy apartment.
So now I have a morgage and I am ostensibly married. The place is very nice but I am still bothered by the sound of bass. There are a nightclub and a dance-studio in the neighbourhood, quite far away really, but close enough that I can hear the bass. If it is playing anywhere in the neighbourhood during the day I can't get any work done at home. Sometimes I am woken at night by that incessant drumming - bom bom bom bom. There's no way I can sleep after this because I feel all anxious as a result. The worst part is how terribly sensitive I've become. At night I stalk around the apartment putting a glass to each wall to try and determine the source. My girlfriend believes I have gone insane (she can't hear it, but I know it's there - bom bom bom bom).
I have tried many brands of earplugs, but they hurt the ears after more than 3 or 4 hours or so - not enough to get me through an entire night.
My friend suggested hypnosis. Don't know if that would work.
I am trying to reason myself into being more tolerant, but I think the past experience at the other apartment has broken some kind of threshold.
So, friends, any and all suggestions will be appreciated.
And remember, turn off your goddamn bass! braaghhghghakljshdflahshgh!!!!!!
So the sound of bass makes me want to curl up and die. But I wasn't always like this...
At our last apartment we had terrible neighbours. They had speakers attached to their walls and they would party like rockstars. We tried everything - being nice, being not-nice, landlord, cops, green soundproofing material - but nothing worked. This got progressively worse until one day (for unrelated reasons) my girlfriend said we should buy a loft together. I said sure, because I love her, yes, but also because I couldn't wait to get out of that noisy apartment.
So now I have a morgage and I am ostensibly married. The place is very nice but I am still bothered by the sound of bass. There are a nightclub and a dance-studio in the neighbourhood, quite far away really, but close enough that I can hear the bass. If it is playing anywhere in the neighbourhood during the day I can't get any work done at home. Sometimes I am woken at night by that incessant drumming - bom bom bom bom. There's no way I can sleep after this because I feel all anxious as a result. The worst part is how terribly sensitive I've become. At night I stalk around the apartment putting a glass to each wall to try and determine the source. My girlfriend believes I have gone insane (she can't hear it, but I know it's there - bom bom bom bom).
I have tried many brands of earplugs, but they hurt the ears after more than 3 or 4 hours or so - not enough to get me through an entire night.
My friend suggested hypnosis. Don't know if that would work.
I am trying to reason myself into being more tolerant, but I think the past experience at the other apartment has broken some kind of threshold.
So, friends, any and all suggestions will be appreciated.
And remember, turn off your goddamn bass! braaghhghghakljshdflahshgh!!!!!!
spcmnspff on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
I play upright bass, so I love lower frequencies, but perhaps you need to work with music playing?
Sounds like your girlfriend is right.
You're overly sensitive to this and you need to fix yourself rather than buy earplugs, fans, whitenoise machines, soundproof the walls/windows etc. Don't externalize the problem; the problem is you.
As you've said, the bass isn't very loud (your girlfriend can't hear it) but you know it's there.. you're straining to hear it, and any indication of it drives you nuts. You're running around with a glass trying to find the source of bass! You're the crazy guy in the apartment that all the neighbours hate when he complains that their tv explosions are too loud when really the volume couldn't be any lower.
First you have to admit to yourself that you're making a big deal over nothing. Realize that the ambient bass is perfectly acceptable and no one else cares about it but you. Tell yourself that it isn't the bass that's preventing you from working and sleeping, it's you getting upset over it and preventing yourself.
After admitting this, work on reducing the stress it gives you, and try to minimize how much if affects you. To start with, when you're working and you can hear it, turn on music to drown it out and ignore it. Eventually you won't need music and you won't hear it cause your brain will tune it out because it's not important to you.
Never pick up a glass and look for the source of bass again. That's just strengthening the power the bass has over you. If you think you hear it, acknowledge that you hear it and tell yourself it's just some ambient base, it's not a big deal, you don't live in a world of silence and that's ok.
If you can't help yourself overcome this issue, then I recommend you get some professional help. I'm not saying you're a nutcase and you need a shrink, don't get defensive. There's nothing wrong with seeing a professional in the short term to help you overcome an issue, and then you don't need to go back. So seriously consider getting help with this if you can't do it on your own. There's no shame in that, helping yourself with issues like this can be really hard on your own.
have you ever sat down for a play on a drumkit?
I guess I was hoping there was some magic (affordable) solution that would completely soundproof my study, or at least sequester it from the sound of bass. You have no idea how disappointing it was to install sonopanelling in our old place only to realize it was a complete waste of money.
I will look into white noise machines, or maybe those trickling water things, and see if those help (any recommendations?). The fan works alright in the summer, but it gets too damn cold here to keep a fan running in the winter.
Professional help is certainly on the horizon (if not for this than for something else perhaps!). For now I'm not convinced a shrink can tell me anything I don't already know, so I think I'd rather use that money to get out of the house, maybe take my gf to dinner and a bass-heavy show.
Yes, I certainly accept that this is no longer an external but an internal problem. Still, subwoofers are the devil.
Are you sure there is bass and you don't have auditory hullicinations instead?
or, you know, just moving to the suburbs?
why did you buy a loft in what is apparently a happening area of your city when you're so sensitive to bass?
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Subs are a highly effective assault weapon against assholes who cut you off while on a cell phone, as they tend to find holding a conversation "somewhat difficult" after performing such a maneuver.
"Hey Bob, what's up?"
*screech* *beep*
"No, I can talk, I'm just driving, it's not like I need to pay attention to the roTHUMPA THUMPA THUMPA THUMPA
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Word to this. Someone should shoot people whole talk on cell phones and drive.
water spirals the wrong way out the sink
Anyone who told you that you are crazy and it is all in your head, etc hasn't had to live thru it. I live in the burbs and it is not any better than living in the city. If you happen to read this, please let me know what you ended up doing because if it doesn't stop I am going to have to move. I can't sleep and it goes all night long. It is the winter and too cold for a fan that is "cheap" white noise. I really want to find out the source and ask them to PLEASE turn down the bass.
Thanks, and Happy New Year!