Neighbours

difficult situation. if you don't want a big fight between you and your neighbours you''ll have to stop. If you get all "legal" on him he will probably freak out.

Originally posted by : mrMute

difficult situation. if you don't want a big fight between you and your neighbours you''ll have to stop. If you get all "legal" on him he will probably freak out. I don't know how you managed to isolate so badly, but nevertheless, you ca make music between 8am till 22pm. I can give you tips concerning isolation...cheers, CC

Like I e-mailed you, there is

-A DB regulation for the whole country. This is ratherh igh, you'd need a soundsystem to be able to reach that, otherwise someone making noises at home with a drill or whatever would able to go over it.

-If the DB regulation isn't violated, there are strict hours for when you can and cannot make noise. As long as it doesn't fall between 23h and 07h, I believe you're fine. The DB limit I don't know, it's probably 95db.

Just like a lot of neighbour fights start, it's a risk, but I'd say just ignore him. I mean, I live somewhere where people get up at 06h and isolation isn't superb, so I sleep with earplugs. What else should I do, call the police because someone is making noise at 06h30? As long as they don't start with drills and real works, I'm powerless. This is a recurrent problem in Brussels actually, people complain about everything, if they should call the police, they usually patiently listen, note down some stuff, and go home.

He can try it in ekeren, maybe they're more radical, dunno

If you play between 8 am and 10 pm, you're fine. They won't be able to do anything, so I advise you to just ignore him. If he really thinks he has a case, he will have to go to the police and they will have to appoint an expert which will have confirm that you regularly go over the (high) dB limit during the day. Needless to say, the dB limit during the day is so high that the police won't even bother, and even if they do it's a very taxing procedure for your neighbour. He won't like you, but you'll be able to make music.

Now if you make noise during the night, he will most likely have a case, because the db limit is so strict that if you whisper in front of the soundmeter you're already twice over the limit .... 

Funny, same discussion on another forum.  The guy over there had a visit of the cops and everytime he makes noise in the future he has to pay a fee (50€/visit).

Anyway, I do think there are dB regulations but I wouldn't put an exact dB on them.  Point is if you cross that barrier (even during daytime) you'll get fined.

But I know a 'water in de wijn' solution: buy yourself a mixer (soundcraft for example) where you can use a -100hz cut.  Offcourse you need to mix basses and kicks, but not all the time.  Face it, 90% of the basses you produce are for your own pleasure and aren't needed in producing/mixing.  You can produce and mix anything except basses and kicks with a 100hz cut (in fact, you probably need to cut everything below 100hz on other sounds anyway for clearer sound).  That way your neighbour won't be bothered with  the subs.  Without <100hz you won't hear much 'dreunen' anymore. This is the way I keep the neighbourhood happy (allthough I am lucky because next to me on all sides & below me lives...me :))

well yeah, this is a legal problem, it's more about mutual respect between neighbours, no? legally you can make noise all day (between the hours) but then again if it's really a pain in the ass from your neighbour, its not about 'the law' but about people...

i'd say, see what you can do with better isolation..., or maybe you can make your music at less db? not always necessary to reach party-volume to make your stuff, right?

also, i believe some people are so stressed that they can't handle a bit of noise that to most people wouldn't be that big problem.

Very important question! Are your neighbours your landlords, because the guy sais " Dit is mijn huis, mijn eigendom"??

I understand your point of view but also the one of your neighbours. During a time, I had a group in the cellar of a house in the neighborhood, not directly connected. I assure you that was really hard to support after a working day. solutions:

• invite your neighbour to play in the group
• cut the bass
• play earlier
• play unplugged
• play in the hood
• change your instrument (harp)

If I may be so free to be a bit more to the point in question as well:

'maar jij moet begrijpen dat zulk gedreun niet thuishoort in een woonwijk. Voor het componeren van zulke muziek bestaan studio's, volledig geïsoleerd, weg van woonhuizen'

There are a lot of neighborhoods where there are youngsters who play basses to the max where this kind of problem occurs. However, he says his basement to his roof trembles due to the bass. So you either have

-A soundsystem that's off the wazoo, in which case, you might NEED to turn it down in case he'd ask for a police control with a DB metre

-A grumpy, stressed out nieghbor. This point brings me to: