Sound transfer (bass) issues

[Harrismark]

Hi all,

I have moved into a new house which I figured that as it is detached, would be my dream house. I am a DJ and play live streams for 2 hours mostly early evening (5-7pm Sundays typically). The decks are in the newly extended living room on the back and the speakers which are KRK Rokit 7's are near to the wall closest the neighbours on stands. There is an external wall, pitched roof with Velux windows and my neighbours have a similar arrangement with an extended living area. There is a gap of about 2m between the external walls of the respective houses.

I play the music pretty loud so that i can monitor from the speakers but certainly not super loud.The neighbours have complained that they can hear the bass in their house and it is a problem. The last thing i want to be is a problem neighbour but me and the Mrs enjoy having a bit of a party on a sunday for a couple of hours so playing in my headphones is not an acceptable solution.

How do you think the sound is transferring to the adjacent property?

Would it be better to have the speakers positioned differently i.e. away from the wall rather than close to it or facing in another direction i.e. towards the wall altogether. The speakers are near field monitors not PA speakers so aren't designed to be super loud. The guy says that he can feel the bass.


Any advice graciously received

 

[Sergeauckland]

The sound is most likely transferring through the air, a smaller part may transfer through the ground, but that's likely to be a relatively small part. There's not a lot you can do except play more quietly. Bass goes through walls quite easily, the best way by far is to add mass, heavy concrete construction with several layers. Modern houses are built using lightweight construction methods, so sound passes relatively easily. Old houses are more solid, but sound still passes through suspended floors, partitions into roofs, anywhere construction is lighter. From what you wrote above, your extension will likely just have plasterboard and thermal insulation between the room and the roof covering, so won't attenuate sound very much. Your neighbour's room will likely also be built the same way, so not surprised they can hear you. If you stand outside in the space between you and your neighbours with the music playing at your preferred level, can you hear it outside? If so, then so can your neighbours inside, with little attenuation.

I've tried to reduce sound transmission through walls of a normally constructed building, but short of a room-within-a-room, suspended on rubber shock mounts, with heavyweight construction, hardly practical for a home, not a lot you'll do will make much difference.

S.

 

[chris_w]

You could try an air bladder under the speakers. This would be a half inflated innertube between the floor and a concrete slab under your speakers..These are very good at removing mechanical vibration transference, you can tune their efficiency by the degree of the tubes inflation. Another option which is slightly less effective is The TNT SandBlaster 1.0 (tnt-audio.com)/ Maybe a couple of Bass absorbers on the wall that is closest to the other property.