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Downstair's neighbour complaint about noise at night when using headphones


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Hello fellow musicians,

 

It finally happened as I have been practicing my piano (AP-650) for over a year at night while using headphones :  the neighbour downstairs complained about the thumping noise (not connected to any foot tapping as I am very cautious about the noise that would generate at night).  My piano is resting two inches away from the wall on a pine wood floor.  Our apartment complex is poorly isolated.  The neighbour's kitchen is standing directly under my piano so the sound carries through the floor structure to the neighbour's downstairs adjacent bedroom.

For now, I am neither looking into moving entirely to another apartment or moving my piano from one room to another as a preferred solution.

 

I have surfed quite a bit for some solution on the Internet but found nothing conclusive.  I am aware that the ideal final solution should be a mixed and shared one.


For my neighbour : some type of white noise to cover any unwelcomed other low-end noise, ear plugs or... move to another far and distant galaxy!

For me : isolation pads, thick rubber rug, sorbothane, ensolite and eggcrate foams as underlayments, tennis balls, noise reduction headphones to no longer hear her banging on her kitchen ceiling, etc.

 

Does anyone have a proven solution that they kindly can share?

 

I need to keep a good and sound relationship with my neighbour.  Yet, I will not stop myself from practicing in the evening as my work days oblige me to do so (as much for lack of time, relax & pleasure time and the need to keep sound mental health habits).

 

Thank you in advance,
Fred Garvin

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Anyone?
I only posted here as our respective AP models come in a cabinet that might trasmit more vibrations to the floor than an X stand for portable units.
Will cross-post hoping to find a solution that might also benefit others.  And I know there is...

I know this cause I'm Fred Garvin... MP
:banana:
 

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Something like this along the floor contact areas of the AP-650 might work while still providing distributed support. Of course, it's not a particularly attractive solution and you'll have to raise your bench by a similar amount: 7/8". (Hopefully your bench is adjustable.)

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Interesting AlenK!  My bench is ajustable and at 6'3" tall, I could endure (welcome) a small amount of elevation. But it is mostly the pedals (damper, soft and sustain) elevation that I am worried about being confortable to use without creating new problems (foot or ankle tendonitis).  Perhaps the sexy carpet matt under foot might then become handy (footy).  But so much for the look :(

Definitely worth exploring and for the cost/benefit to provide peace and silence for my neighbour is more than worth the try!

Thank you for your response and suggestion AlenK!!
 

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You might try Brad's carpet idea first using an inexpensive remnant from a discount carpet store. They might even give you a piece for free if you ask nicely. If that is not sufficient for the neighbors then spend the bucks on the isolation pads. If you go for the pads you'll also, as you say, need to elevate the area near the pedals by a similar amount to avoid straining your ankles (I did not think of that!). 

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  • 3 months later...

Sly

 

I totally love my old WK-3800 workhorse here.  When I had to give up my newer CTK/WK boards, a year or so ago, I made certain I would be able to keep the WK-3800 . . . BUT its clunk clunk clunk when the keys hit bottom just about drives me crazy.  Maybe one of these days, I will open it up and put some heavier felt under the keys, but at the moment, that is beyond my level of patience.  At least I am on a concrete floor, with no neighbors below me to complain.  Imagine my surprise when I dug my 20 some year old WK-1200 out of the back of the closet and racked it up a few weeks ago.  Aside from the fact that its entire voice set is early GM, and its rhythms are rudimentary, at best - its keybed is out of this world - both the feel and the sound.  Sound ?  What sound ?  It is completely silent.  As a matter of fact, the build quality of the keybed in the WK-1200 is well on par with that of the keybed in my Roland XP-80, which is about the same age.  So, what is the difference ?  The older Casio boards were made in Japan while the newer ones are built in China - a world of difference in design, manufacturing, and quality control philosophies.  I am not sure about the newer Roland boards, but the keybeds in my Juno-Gi and Jupiter-50 were every bit as good as that in my XP-80 and G-1000, which are completely top-notch.

 

 

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  • 8 months later...

I also live in a 100+ year old noisy apt, and could feel my keys thumping literally on the floor in my feet, but a little styrofoam underneath and viola  - no longer.  But yeah that neprene thing looks thinner.  Good thing is you can test different solutions but putting your feet on the carpet near the base, and playing fast/heavy.  It's amazing what some absorption can do :)

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Seems to me not a technical problem.  anyway, the carpet idea is a good one. Yo could search also some rubber ones normallu sold for the kitche and put over a piece of MDF. I used as a similar solution to solve a problem with a turntable and stopping the nelledle juping out if one bumped on the hi-fi stand. For a more heay item maype a visit to the wrking yard and four shock absorbers?

 

In these cases unfortunately I think the main problem is more a social one. We'are not talking of an acoustic grand piano. 

 

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  • 5 months later...

I did not really solve it.  The neighbours moved, the landlord sold the apartment complex and I entirely stopped playing late at night as I can only understand how frustrating this might become when your on the receiving end...  later heard that my upstairs' neighbour (a double bass daytime player) could also hear it but would not complain about it. 

 

Have been thinking for some time about buying a second piano to put it at the other end of my apartment where I know that no one is sleeping under and above the piano.  That way, my favorite neighbours can enjoy the piano percussions night & day 😆 

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15 hours ago, FredGarvin said:

I did not really solve it.  The neighbours moved, the landlord sold the apartment complex and I entirely stopped playing late at night as I can only understand how frustrating this might become when your on the receiving end...  later heard that my upstairs' neighbour (a double bass daytime player) could also hear it but would not complain about it. 

 

Have been thinking for some time about buying a second piano to put it at the other end of my apartment where I know that no one is sleeping under and above the piano.  That way, my favorite neighbours can enjoy the piano percussions night & day 😆 

I have a similar experience but with Privia. (I was hoping that Cevliano is better )

All my family members were very unhappy about the mechanical noise it makes.

It is interesting that most of the noise the keys make on their way up after they released.
I changed the keyboard because of this problem several times.

 

The best result I got with Roland keyboards (note: it feels slightly slower).


I tried Korg and Yamaha(different kinds). Better than Casio but not as quiet as Roland.

I did not try Kawai. I know it has great quality, but I do not have any idea about how quiet it is.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 11/7/2018 at 4:20 PM, FredGarvin said:

I did not really solve it.  The neighbours moved, the landlord sold the apartment complex and I entirely stopped playing late at night as I can only understand how frustrating this might become when your on the receiving end...  later heard that my upstairs' neighbour (a double bass daytime player) could also hear it but would not complain about it. 

 

Have been thinking for some time about buying a second piano to put it at the other end of my apartment where I know that no one is sleeping under and above the piano.  That way, my favorite neighbours can enjoy the piano percussions night & day 😆 

 

I am extremely curious (so much so that I registered for an account to ask this question): How on earth did the upstairs neighbor hear the key thumps?

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On 1/19/2020 at 6:28 PM, LoveNanRen said:

 

I am extremely curious (so much so that I registered for an account to ask this question): How on earth did the upstairs neighbor hear the key thumps?

Hi LoveNanRen,

The sound from the key thumps was transmitted through the structure of the building.  Same as the vibration resulting from deep bass (or someone walking heavily on their heels), these vibrations were easily transmitted from my former apartment to the above and below ones.  

Again, this is no longer an issue as I have since moved to a much better isolated apartment and that I now occupy the top floor.  Nonetheless, while I hardly ever hear anything from the downstairs's neighbor apartment, I do hear the vibration noise from the heavy front door if it slammed or when his featherweight teen son walks like an elephant.  Yes... vibration moves in mysterious ways!   

Hope this helped to quench your curiosity.

 

Résultats de recherche d'images pour « speaker sofa ad »

 

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2 hours ago, FredGarvin said:

Hi LoveNanRen,

The sound from the key thumps was transmitted through the structure of the building.  Same as the vibration resulting from deep bass (or someone walking heavily on their heels), these vibrations were easily transmitted from my former apartment to the above and below ones.  

Again, this is no longer an issue as I have since moved to a much better isolated apartment and that I now occupy the top floor.  Nonetheless, while I hardly ever hear anything from the downstairs's neighbor apartment, I do hear the vibration noise from the heavy front door if it slammed or when his featherweight teen son walks like an elephant.  Yes... vibration moves in mysterious ways!   

Hope this helped to quench your curiosity.

 

Résultats de recherche d'images pour « speaker sofa ad »

 

 

Thanks. It was just astonishing that the vibrations transmitted upwards. I guess that means it was transmitted first to your floor, then to the walls, then to your ceiling (ie, your upstairs neighbor's floor). It was amazing that after all that traversal, there was still enough energy left for the upstairs neighbor to perceive it (whether he was disturbed by it or not).

 

I just felt surprised because, in my experience of apartment living (whether wood frame or concrete), I was most of the times disturbed by the footsteps from upstairs, but never from downstairs. I guess your old apartment did have a terrible structure.

 

 

 

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