Housing and Practice and Playing the Blues
To make a long story short: as a result of the recession I've had to move several times this year and I plan to move one more time at end of my lease in about 8 months. I was wondering if people had any words of wisdom or just wanted to share how playing the harmonica and listening to the blues a lot has affected, or not, their choice of housing.
I'll start: during the past year I've had occasion to live
--with roommates. My area of the house had two rooms, so the front room acted as insulation so that my roommates wouldn't have to hear me play the same thing over and over again.
--in an apartment building, with three walls shared. The opera singer above did not appreciate the bass in the blues. (Hmm! But I have to admit her Un Bel Di was pretty good.)
--in a room off a dance studio, worked well for the harmonica, but the neighborhood was bad
--now in a house with no shared walls, works well but costs more than I think it's worth
Phew! I'm tired, but now that I'm settled into my new job I will take my time and examine the market in this area. So I thought I'd see if anyone had some comments on this issue.
What do other people do? Do you just choose to live wherever and play the harmonica and your blues music softly? Drive your family nuts? Play only when no one's home? Wish you could live elsewhere, so you could practice/play to your hearts content? Practice only in your car? Practice in a cemetery? Live in the country? In the deep woods? In an apartment building with shared walls, and let somebody make something of it!.....
How has housing helped or hurt your practice time? Have you figured out any tips you could share?
Thanks,
Anne Marie
I built a 4' x 4' "portable sound proof booth from plans I bought on the internet. It works really well and I can play whenever I want day or night.
The truth is, practice is not fun for others to listen to. As you say, you have to play the same thing over and over
4'x4' booth, cool idea. I'll research it.
I think they call that a broom closet? ;-)
Here's where I got the plans ; http://www.dawbox.com/
Looks like the new plans are fancier than the one I built.
Actually Dave is right. A broom closet would work great if you soundproofed the walls. I really wouldn't discount that idea. If there is an available closet that is big enough it might be easier to soundproof it than to build something from scratch.
Interesting thing about sound proofing is one of the keys is to seal all air leaks. Sound travels best through air. Therefore it's recommended to have a source of outside air. I built a simple system with a small fan and some dryer hose type material. The old plans didn't cover this, but I think he has that in the new ones.
You can buy the acoustical foam on eBay for a fraction of the cost elsewhere.
I don't use mine as much now that my two daughters are grown and have moved out, but I still use it. I also rigged it up so I can put my amp in there (by itself) and record the miked amp to my audio recording system while I play in a different room. It allows you to crank the amp up. I really just did it as an experiment but it was kind of cool.
I usually just hide myself up in my room & play , we are lucky I suppose we live in a pretty rural area but have one set of neighbours close. I sometimes wonder what they think but they've been good and never complained (apart from under their breath). Im probably not the loudest source anyway as have a son who plays drums & another guitar but am pretty strict and make sure every packs it up and doesn't play anything loud after about 9pm.You do have to think about others too I suppose-the thing with harps though is you cant really turn them down much can you.
OK, so my lease is up on the house that's too expensive for me (I am grateful to have gotten something fast enough to start my new job on time after getting laid off).
So now I've had time to learn about the area and I'm going to take a chance on another apartment. (My last experience was not so good.) I think I'll be a real goody-goody at first, in other words, be mindful of when, where in my apartment, and how loud I play, and keep my amp and base (on my great Bose speakers with a subwoofer) turned down. Then I'll slowly loosen up to see what they can handle---and what I have to hear from them. Last time I rented an apartment, I was serenaded by Christian evangelist TV on one side, Muslim prayers and too-much-information-type phone calls on the other, and opera above me (she was pretty good). I just really didn't want to know that much about her "personal life." I think the main thing that bothered them was the base when I was just listening to my blues collection. I understand that in most cities it's legal to play music at an "acceptable" volume until 10 or 11 at night and after 6 or 7 in the morning.
Any tips from apartment dwelling harmonicists?
Anne Marie
I remember those days...
When my wife and I first moved in together, we had an apartment in a Detroit suburb. Downstairs was a very nice male couple who very much enjoyed Whitney Houston and Broadway tunes. They would crank it up and sing along. We put up with it for awhile, but then it began to drive us nuts. I never played my instruments in the apartment then, as the band I was with met at another location for practice fairly regular. But I couldn't take any more Whitney Houston. One night I got fed up. I took one of my 100 watt amps and placed it face down on the floor, then pulled out my Strat and began my best imitation of AC/DC.
I think it must have knocked the pictures off of their wall. From that day forward, Whitney was played at a respectable level.
They say fences make good neighbors. Sometimes an axe and a giant Marshall stack can do the same...
Reading this reminds me of the story.....
My neighbour's terrible. He's an insomniac too! He was round last night banging on my door at 3am telling me he couldn't sleep - though why he wanted to tell me I have no idea. Banging away and shouting he was. Fortunately he didn't disturb me, I was awake anyway - practicing my trumpet...... ;0)
Truthfully, my neighbours only ever say complimentary things abut my music making, and they might be getting a bit deaf which is useful, but I think so long as you don't play late (after 9:30 or maybe 10pm?) and loud (I stick to acoustic, no amps) no-one has the right to complain. I'd still like a soundproof broom cupboard though, for those nights when insomnia gets a grip. When I played trumpet I had a mute that reduced it to a whisper. Same with a fiddle, I regularly used to practice jigs and reels into the early hours. Now I find I can strum a uke really quiet and no-one in my house wakes. Not sure about a harp, I haven't tried it. Has anyone invented an entirely electric harp? Breath controller, headphones - you could practice anywhere. Although probably more trouble and more expensive than I'd think it was worth!
The only place I can practice is into my car , and I find it really convinient, I mean I practice early in the morning (from 5 'till 7) and again 1 hour or so at lunch break, and there is not other way/place I can immagine (as far as you do not live in a castle) not to drive crazy family and neigbours
Well, I moved. I took an apartment! It has really solid walls all around. I never hear anyone, except a small creak of a footstep above me once in a while. My neighbors on either side have never heard me practice. Haven't met the guy upstairs yet. But one neighbor did hear the bass from my subwoofer, which I warned her to let me know about. Can't blame her. At the right pitch, it will rattle anything it resonates with. So, once again, I am snuggled into my happy little harmonica practice space. Even play with the amp sometimes on low volume, not too late or early. Lunch breaks at work......yeah, car is best.
I love where Ilive. Pretty, lots of flowers.....and there's this beautiful library across the street with beautiful grounds, and a big hall.....
TODAY I HEARD BLUES COMIN' FROM THE HALL!!! Of course I went over, but they were on their break, so I jammed with the guitar player for a bit on Baby What You Want Me To Do and he asked me to sit in...but there were speeches and all kinds of stuff for someone's retirement....couldn't stay....places to go....
LIfe is like a box of chocolates....you never know what you're gonna get. Let me go check if they're still playin.......
you gotta be a pretty hardcore player to let the harp influence where you live.
i think that no matter where i lived, or with whom, i could find some place to call my woodshed.