Crowded House

[goom]

For those who live with other people and try to record in their bedrooms and whatnot, how do you get your roommates to shut the hell up or know when you're recording to know WHEN to shut the hell up. Or when they tell you to shut the hell up 'cos they're trying to sleep. Do you have a recording-in-progress sign?

[GigIdea]

Most DAW software comes with a plugin that accomplishes what you are trying to do. Or you might try some of the freeware out there. One excellent choice that comes to mind is LARIN JITE-S 2.0, a brickwall limiter. The twist: it doesn't affect your audio, it operates on your roommates voices. Most people prefer the strongest setting, "Choke."

I have 5 children ages 3 to 16. You think you have noise problems? You think you're worried about disturbing someone's sleep. Ha!

I wouldn't do the sign thing unless your friends were really on board with it in a big way. Not just saying, "Oh yeah, go ahead" to be polite. That kind of solution gets old for the other guys real fast. There you are, controlling them with the flip of a switch over and over, day in and day out, without a "please" or "thank you." The resentment builds up fast. Its like leaving a note on the refrigerator instaed of talking to your roommate face to face about his snoring or something. Impersonal, smacks of arrogance, rudeness.

I am not saying you are rude or arrogant. I am just telling you what I think of the proposal and how it could be perceived.

Here is what I think you should do:

Invest in a decent pair of mixing headphones. Get something that blocks out your roomies' noise. And that allows you to monitor your session without having to turn on your speakers. If you're recording acoustic instruments though, this solution is limited. You need to go somewhere else or put up some soundproofing material. Maybe build a vocal booth thing.

Sound reasonable?

[panda]

you could go all "wall of sound" and try to get your roomates to participate.
i've been shocked to learn *how* interested people i've known are in what i'm doing hunched over all my stuff.. beyond the finished thing. and even wanting to participate in any way they can.

but really, you have to ask all your room mates [to their face] before your make alot of noise. sadly the McD's ad where the guy buys everyone in his building some food before "band practice" isn't really a bad idea. if your recording. you also have to ask for the quiet [to their face's].. and your only gonna get so much, cause most people don't realise how much mic's pick up.
but nothing wrong with some house bleed.. you can try to use the mic's rejection to try to cut it some.. hang some blankets..

the other advantage of getting roomies involved sometimes. .is they learn what your hearing!! so they might appreciate and understand more when you ask if they can quiet down some.. [you really can't ask them to just be quiet, when ever you want.]

scheduling loudness is also good. .like.. "tuesday 2 to about 5" or something.

cause maybe they have stuff they want to do outside the house, and can know..

my 3 cents

panda

[goom]

Thanks. I just remembered in that movie Hustle and Flow the rapper gave out some weed to the neighbors to get them to turn their music down. Okay, so I'm not a dealer.

I'm more afraid of, when I'm recording acoustic, someone knocking at my door. People knock only when I'm recording, and for the most stupid reasons, like lets go hang out somewhere...nothing related to my playing, but they never knock when I'm not.

For some reason I think people get irritated them I'm doing something productive and they have to screw with it. But I like all the suggestions 'cos it's not passive aggressive.