Has anyone got any suggestions on muting a button accordion? i tried sellotaping a t-shirt over the grill, it worked for me but the woman upstairs still saw fit to come down and ring the bell to ask me to stop. Which was fair enough because i'd been at it for two hours.
I know the honourable thing to do is to never play the accordion, but i might threaten to run bodhrán classes if they insist on moaning about it
Just play quieter. Don't push/pull on bellows quite as hard. For the first five years that I played box, one of the local fiddlers always commented that I played quieter than any box player he'd ever heard. This is the same box that I play when there's no reinforced sound at a ceili.
Juniper's got a good point - you do have a dynamic range on the box, and it's very good for your playing to learn to use it.
You can also get good effects by discussing the noise issue with your neighbor. If you can find out what her requirements are, it's possible that you could work out a practice schedule that works for both of you. You might start by giving her your number, so she doesn't have to come down and ring the bell.
I've had the thought of using a few layers of denim - cut from some old blue jeans - as a mute. Experiments with a mock-up, held together with safety pins and string, suggest that it cuts the volume somewhat, but probably not enough to appease your neighbor. Mostly it softens up the bite of the treble, so it might make the sound she does hear more palatable, sort of like the little mutes that fiddles use - not the big metal things, but the little wire ones that pull up over the bridge.
Some years ago I lived in a paper thin apt. when I played in the living room which shared a common wall with the adjoining apt they could hear me. In the farthest corner away from the other apt, which happened to be my bedroom, I hung heavy blankets forming a small "room. I cover the one window and kept the door closed. They never heard me again.
Barry1963 beat me to it. In my case, though, what I did was nail the scraps of insulation foam that the contractors left when replacing the hallway carpets to the walls (and ceiling) of my walk-in storage closet. On the door of the closet, I taped aluminum foil and hung heavy coats on top. By my calculations (which I just had my math students reproduce), a 100dB fiddle is heard at around 15dB from the neighbour's living room - a volume somewhere in the range of normal breathing to rustling leaves. Haven't gotten any complaints (or threats) since.
As a third-generation piper, I was given only one rule regarding the neighbours: don't play before 9am or after 9pm. Those were more tolerant days, when neighbours knew each other; but it still stands, I think.
From my days in the building trade, I seem to remember that it is mass that stops noise, so a thin sheet of lead would be better than a mattress, as it were. Also I recall that my mother used to remark on my 'stamping' my foot, which is what it sounded like in the next room. Sound travels in mysterious ways.
I don't know anything about the box, but there is a lot of info for hi-fi- enthusiasts, such as this:- http://www.soundreduction.co.uk/Sound-Advice/Domestic-Soundproofing/#Introduction_to_building_acoustics
Get a new apartment, or learn to ignore the neighbors. I've had this problem everywhere I've ever lived. Those are the only two solutions for continuing to play in your home.
I tried covering some of the holes in the bass panel and taping over the treble grille. The solution cuts down a few decibels but you can only cover so much before playability takes a nose dive because of restricted air movement.
I hate my neighbors, and they don't like me either. There is no good time for them, except when they want to make noise. Weekends, weekdays, mornings, afternoons, it's all a bad time. So the only concession that I make now is to stop playing at sundown. Good luck!
This Is a Cracker Thread -- lol and still am... It remind's me when I started learning I tune was bothering me at night when asleep - At 4:00am I got my fiddle out just plucking the string's
to see if I had the tune right - Me Ma , burst into the room saying -- '' Are you totally Mad '' -- Or coarse she was Right ! -- lol..
And to Barry1963 < I hung heavy blankets forming a small "room. I cover the one window and kept the door closed,,ETC > '' Please dont tell my Wife about this '' -- lol.
I should be seeing this Accordion player next Saturday night -
Halloween Night - I must ask him what he Done -- lol..
*I'll get back to you - jim,,,
To a certain degree they'll have to put up with me, but since i occasionally like to play for hours on end i have a bit of sympathy for them. People are entitled to dislike trad, if there was someone playing german polkas on the piano accordion below me i'd probably be ringing their bell to beg for mercy
German polkas coming from the floor below? I'd introduce myself!
A few weeks ago I was playing the guitar (the acoustic guitar) in the living room at around 6PM. I had just returned home from work on the day when I don't have to go to both jobs. I heard some bumping from next door, as I usually do, but I prefer to respond to verbal approaches, not the bush talk of pounding on the wall. This time the fella comes outside, slams his door three times, and when that doesn't do it, he comes out again, walks down the hall, gets within 12 inches of my doorbell, and pounds on the exterior wall instead. Lovely people!
As for the German polkas, well, aside form being a fan of such music I'd rather have that than Beyonce, Katy Perry and the latest Twilight soundtrack.
How about hanging a heavy blanket off the ceiling?
Years ago, as i was moving into an apartment, the fellow downstairs saw my fiddle case and said "you play fiddle? great, i play guitar, let's jam sometime"
Off to a great start i thought. The only other occupant of the bldg being an elderly deaf man, i thought i could play as often and as long as i wanted.
Wrong. On the afternoon of Halloween, downstairs neighbour came up and violently yelled at me to shut the----up. I put up the fiddle, apologized and asked when was a good time for me to play. Whenever he went out, he said. Later, i heard his door slam and picked up my fiddle. I didn't hear him return but I did hear my door crash to the floor when he booted it in.
A fist fight ensued. It was straight out of a John Wayne movie. We rolled down the stairs flailing away. When we slammed into his door, he said he'd had enough. The very next day, he moved out! I've since built myself a house, on a forested acreage. None of my (critter) neighbours has complained about my playing
one time the old lady next door called the police on me and my band. Thing was, when the sheriff came around and was at my front door, he was banging on my door with his flashlight in time to the music! We thought it was the drummer making that racket somehow and we never quit. Not until he kicked in the door and they came busting in, pistols drawn
that old bat reported my dog to animal control, too!
now I live in the woods like fred. Its alot better than trying to live in town
A friend of mine stuffed sanitary pads under the grilles of her piano accordion to mute it. (She is now a terrific player, so it must have bought her a lot of practice time).
I really have the greatest sympathy for any musician trying to practice an acoustic instrument in an urban area. The trouble I use to get into in a flat in London trying to practice the box. Unfortunately at the time I mostly lived in an upstairs room or flat and the complaints were usually in the form of the downstairs neighbour banging on their ceiling with a broom. It did however teach me to play with or without tapping my foot. Thankfully I now live in a area where I could have a pipe band practicing outback and nobody would give a toss. Many years ago I bought an old rare button box with stradella bass. I took it in for repair and much to the amusement of the repairer, and mine, he found a nylon stocking stretched across the reed blocks of the bass. The mind boggles.
I've been very lucky with neighbours where I live these days although some of them have been "hellish" in my previous flats. Mind you, I was a bit wilder and louder back then myself.
A young couple and and children moved in above me last year and I was slightly concerned but they're out working and at school most of the day and are surprisingly quiet themselves too. So, plenty of scope for both peace and practice..
One simple suggestion which you may or may not have thought about...
Would practising in another room, i.e. not directly below where this woman is most of the time not help?
Blimey! What unimagined troubles you all seem to have! I’ve never had any of these problems.
My answer is to live in a nice big detached house in South London all your life. I’m able to play any instrument night and day, acoustic or amplified, with bass & drums if you like. Sorted!
I lived in an end of terrace flat over an empty shop on the main drag in SW17 (Tooting) for a fifteen year episode , the adjoining people next door were literally deaf and the other end overlooked a builder’s yard and railway. A similar acoustically liberated situation existed; in fact I think we made even more noise with bigger amps and drums than I’ve ever used in the house!
The answer is to select where you live carefully: don’t be silly and choose a filthy garret, vile tower block flat or some nasty small terraced or conjoined house with people in your hair and cardboard walls. Live somewhere big and detached and sturdily built or (Heaven forbid) somewhere out in the sticks miles from any other thing.
Had a good session with Damien McKee and friend's last night did not get home till 4:30am - And that with the clock's put back - lol
* He's one on the left here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNVh27-Gm_4
He said there's a way of taking out Row / Boxe's That can reduce sound of Button row Accordion -- Maybe someone on here know's more what he's talking about - Then when I said your perhap's a Learner -- He advised me '' against it '' for you saying Its to Complex - And that you should just play Quiter,
jim,,,
Tormenting the neighbours
Tormenting the neighbours
Has anyone got any suggestions on muting a button accordion? i tried sellotaping a t-shirt over the grill, it worked for me but the woman upstairs still saw fit to come down and ring the bell to ask me to stop. Which was fair enough because i'd been at it for two hours.
I know the honourable thing to do is to never play the accordion, but i might threaten to run bodhrán classes if they insist on moaning about it
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by Rollix
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Put your t-shirt over the doorbell. That should do it.
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by gam
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Just play quieter. Don't push/pull on bellows quite as hard. For the first five years that I played box, one of the local fiddlers always commented that I played quieter than any box player he'd ever heard. This is the same box that I play when there's no reinforced sound at a ceili.
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by juniper
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Juniper's got a good point - you do have a dynamic range on the box, and it's very good for your playing to learn to use it.
You can also get good effects by discussing the noise issue with your neighbor. If you can find out what her requirements are, it's possible that you could work out a practice schedule that works for both of you. You might start by giving her your number, so she doesn't have to come down and ring the bell.
I've had the thought of using a few layers of denim - cut from some old blue jeans - as a mute. Experiments with a mock-up, held together with safety pins and string, suggest that it cuts the volume somewhat, but probably not enough to appease your neighbor. Mostly it softens up the bite of the treble, so it might make the sound she does hear more palatable, sort of like the little mutes that fiddles use - not the big metal things, but the little wire ones that pull up over the bridge.
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Some years ago I lived in a paper thin apt. when I played in the living room which shared a common wall with the adjoining apt they could hear me. In the farthest corner away from the other apt, which happened to be my bedroom, I hung heavy blankets forming a small "room. I cover the one window and kept the door closed. They never heard me again.
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by Barry1963
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Barry1963 beat me to it. In my case, though, what I did was nail the scraps of insulation foam that the contractors left when replacing the hallway carpets to the walls (and ceiling) of my walk-in storage closet. On the door of the closet, I taped aluminum foil and hung heavy coats on top. By my calculations (which I just had my math students reproduce), a 100dB fiddle is heard at around 15dB from the neighbour's living room - a volume somewhere in the range of normal breathing to rustling leaves. Haven't gotten any complaints (or threats) since.
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by Tall, Dark, and Mysterious
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
As a third-generation piper, I was given only one rule regarding the neighbours: don't play before 9am or after 9pm. Those were more tolerant days, when neighbours knew each other; but it still stands, I think.
From my days in the building trade, I seem to remember that it is mass that stops noise, so a thin sheet of lead would be better than a mattress, as it were. Also I recall that my mother used to remark on my 'stamping' my foot, which is what it sounded like in the next room. Sound travels in mysterious ways.
I don't know anything about the box, but there is a lot of info for hi-fi- enthusiasts, such as this:-
http://www.soundreduction.co.uk/Sound-Advice/Domestic-Soundproofing/#Introduction_to_building_acoustics
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by gam
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
You could try taking all the reeds out, or you could move house, ever thought of emigrating ?
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by ormepipes
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Get a new apartment, or learn to ignore the neighbors. I've had this problem everywhere I've ever lived. Those are the only two solutions for continuing to play in your home.
I tried covering some of the holes in the bass panel and taping over the treble grille. The solution cuts down a few decibels but you can only cover so much before playability takes a nose dive because of restricted air movement.
I hate my neighbors, and they don't like me either. There is no good time for them, except when they want to make noise. Weekends, weekdays, mornings, afternoons, it's all a bad time. So the only concession that I make now is to stop playing at sundown. Good luck!
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by gravelwalks
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
This Is a Cracker Thread -- lol and still am... It remind's me when I started learning I tune was bothering me at night when asleep - At 4:00am I got my fiddle out just plucking the string's
to see if I had the tune right - Me Ma , burst into the room saying -- '' Are you totally Mad '' -- Or coarse she was Right ! -- lol..
And to Barry1963 < I hung heavy blankets forming a small "room. I cover the one window and kept the door closed,,ETC > '' Please dont tell my Wife about this '' -- lol.
I should be seeing this Accordion player next Saturday night -
Halloween Night - I must ask him what he Done -- lol..
*I'll get back to you - jim,,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDg3WGq5Qe8
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by FIDDLE4
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
To a certain degree they'll have to put up with me, but since i occasionally like to play for hours on end i have a bit of sympathy for them. People are entitled to dislike trad, if there was someone playing german polkas on the piano accordion below me i'd probably be ringing their bell to beg for mercy
# Posted on October 24th 2010 by Rollix
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
German polkas coming from the floor below? I'd introduce myself!
A few weeks ago I was playing the guitar (the acoustic guitar) in the living room at around 6PM. I had just returned home from work on the day when I don't have to go to both jobs. I heard some bumping from next door, as I usually do, but I prefer to respond to verbal approaches, not the bush talk of pounding on the wall. This time the fella comes outside, slams his door three times, and when that doesn't do it, he comes out again, walks down the hall, gets within 12 inches of my doorbell, and pounds on the exterior wall instead. Lovely people!
As for the German polkas, well, aside form being a fan of such music I'd rather have that than Beyonce, Katy Perry and the latest Twilight soundtrack.
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by gravelwalks
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
How about hanging a heavy blanket off the ceiling?
Years ago, as i was moving into an apartment, the fellow downstairs saw my fiddle case and said "you play fiddle? great, i play guitar, let's jam sometime"
Off to a great start i thought. The only other occupant of the bldg being an elderly deaf man, i thought i could play as often and as long as i wanted.
Wrong. On the afternoon of Halloween, downstairs neighbour came up and violently yelled at me to shut the----up. I put up the fiddle, apologized and asked when was a good time for me to play. Whenever he went out, he said. Later, i heard his door slam and picked up my fiddle. I didn't hear him return but I did hear my door crash to the floor when he booted it in.
A fist fight ensued. It was straight out of a John Wayne movie. We rolled down the stairs flailing away. When we slammed into his door, he said he'd had enough. The very next day, he moved out! I've since built myself a house, on a forested acreage. None of my (critter) neighbours has complained about my playing
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by fredlyr
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
bagpipes!
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by mcknowall
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
one time the old lady next door called the police on me and my band. Thing was, when the sheriff came around and was at my front door, he was banging on my door with his flashlight in time to the music! We thought it was the drummer making that racket somehow and we never quit. Not until he kicked in the door and they came busting in, pistols drawn
that old bat reported my dog to animal control, too!
now I live in the woods like fred. Its alot better than trying to live in town
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by Nate Ryan
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
A friend of mine stuffed sanitary pads under the grilles of her piano accordion to mute it. (She is now a terrific player, so it must have bought her a lot of practice time).
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by Jack Campin
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
I really have the greatest sympathy for any musician trying to practice an acoustic instrument in an urban area. The trouble I use to get into in a flat in London trying to practice the box. Unfortunately at the time I mostly lived in an upstairs room or flat and the complaints were usually in the form of the downstairs neighbour banging on their ceiling with a broom. It did however teach me to play with or without tapping my foot. Thankfully I now live in a area where I could have a pipe band practicing outback and nobody would give a toss. Many years ago I bought an old rare button box with stradella bass. I took it in for repair and much to the amusement of the repairer, and mine, he found a nylon stocking stretched across the reed blocks of the bass. The mind boggles.
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by Free Reed
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Well, if you got into trouble playing in a flat, you should have tried a different key instead.
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by ethical blend
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
"It did however teach me to play with or without tapping my foot"
Is this because the neighbor was keeping time with the broom?
Could be trouble at the session - "Sorry lads, I'm having trouble keeping time. Usually I've got this neighbor with her broom..."
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Let us now praise the granite houses of Aberdeen, and double glazing
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by Bren
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
I've been very lucky with neighbours where I live these days although some of them have been "hellish" in my previous flats. Mind you, I was a bit wilder and louder back then myself.
A young couple and and children moved in above me last year and I was slightly concerned but they're out working and at school most of the day and are surprisingly quiet themselves too. So, plenty of scope for both peace and practice..
One simple suggestion which you may or may not have thought about...
Would practising in another room, i.e. not directly below where this woman is most of the time not help?
# Posted on October 26th 2010 by Johnny Jay
The answer...
Blimey! What unimagined troubles you all seem to have! I’ve never had any of these problems.
My answer is to live in a nice big detached house in South London all your life. I’m able to play any instrument night and day, acoustic or amplified, with bass & drums if you like. Sorted!
I lived in an end of terrace flat over an empty shop on the main drag in SW17 (Tooting) for a fifteen year episode , the adjoining people next door were literally deaf and the other end overlooked a builder’s yard and railway. A similar acoustically liberated situation existed; in fact I think we made even more noise with bigger amps and drums than I’ve ever used in the house!
The answer is to select where you live carefully: don’t be silly and choose a filthy garret, vile tower block flat or some nasty small terraced or conjoined house with people in your hair and cardboard walls. Live somewhere big and detached and sturdily built or (Heaven forbid) somewhere out in the sticks miles from any other thing.
# Posted on October 26th 2010 by yhaalhouse
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Here ye go!
Nowadays every accordian is supposed to come with one of these;
http://www.studiospares.com/isolation-booths/esmono-12x12x2metre-high-room/invt/411660/
...........they must have left it out of the box when they sold you the accordian. Bring it to sessions too.
# Posted on October 28th 2010 by Beanzy
Re: Tormenting the neighbours
Had a good session with Damien McKee and friend's last night did not get home till 4:30am - And that with the clock's put back - lol
* He's one on the left here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNVh27-Gm_4
He said there's a way of taking out Row / Boxe's That can reduce sound of Button row Accordion -- Maybe someone on here know's more what he's talking about - Then when I said your perhap's a Learner -- He advised me '' against it '' for you saying Its to Complex - And that you should just play Quiter,
jim,,,
# Posted on October 31st 2010 by FIDDLE4