March 08, 2004

• I converted an old Econoline into, basically, a giant subwoofer which I use to cruise around the city at night. Nobody ever complained before.
• Do you mean from passing cars or from neighbors? Here in my Chicago dorm room, I actually notice almost no bass from my musical housemates, unless there's a party. At home in Atlanta, we sometimes get loud music from cars passing, but nothing as annoying as you're experiencing. (Except for concerts in the park or high school football games, blocks and blocks away but still audible.) Either you are rather sensitive to it, or your situation is quite abnormal, I'd say.
• I hate (hate) bass. I don't hear it nearly every day, but when cars cruise past or when the rare party goes on nearby it kills me. How is it nice to listen to? My roommate last semester had his subwoofer turned up to the point it quite literally gave me a headache -- you can't even here the music for all the noise! Once, I was in a movie theater (can't recall the film) and some crazy kids were apparently chillin' in the parking lot with their system pumped up, and the bass was loud enough that it spoiled a good 5 minutes of the movie. But, no, it's not too terrible where I live. I've been woken up several times recently in the middle of the night by cars gunning it up the road nearby, though. I think the trends of boosting your bass and doing away with your muffler are somehow linked. Adolescent cry for attention, 00s style.
• It's not abnormal in my part of California. There have been times when other drivers have blasted bass so loud that my rear-view mirror rippled so much it appeared to be under water just because someone wanted to show how butch their speakers were.
• I live on a loud corner in Manhattan. The noise didn't bother me when I first moved in but either it's gotten worse or I'm getting more sensitive to it. About a year ago some Bridge & Tunnel kids parked on the opposite side of the street from my bedroom at around two in the morning. They had the music skull-vibratingly loud from my bed, four floors up. Apparently they were going into the bodega to stock up on some more beers, while pissing on the dumpster and playing really really bad hair rock from the stereo of their (I think) Mercedes. After about five minutes of this I got up and went to the kitchen, took a handful of eggs out of the fridge, turned off the light, yanked open the kitchen window and attempted to throw the eggs threw their open sunroof. I failed, but DID hit the side of the car with at least one egg. They were gone in about fifteen seconds and I did a little dance back to bed, my girlfriend shaking her head at my glee.
• I live a few blocks from downtown Ann Arbor. A bass-flaunting car probably drives by 4-5 times a day or night. I consider it part of the semi-urban soundscape.
• I was brought up next to a street where they did illegal bike racing most nights. And lots of cars booming past at 3am or thereabouts. Didn't have any problems with it though. Moved when I was about 12 to a much quieter estate. And got insomnia because it was too quiet. I remember lying awake at night listening to nothing, alot of nothing, and being very very afraid, for some reason.
• Bass? hmph. I live 2 miles from a friggin air force base. I get F-15's doing maneuvers, C-130s flying about 40 off the tops of my trees, and the occasional butthole-clenching sonic boom. AND the sideband radar they use to monitor their perimeter on weekends when they run short shifts on the fence messes with my cable tv reception. But otherwise, the kids around here are pretty circumspect; some bit of thump, but pretty rare. I piss them off more than they do me, what with the full blast early-years Jethro Tull. Heavy Horses, dude! Swut!
• Up until about a year ago, I lived downtown in a small town. Noise was constant and it usually didn't bother me until I rented a movie or went to bed. I would go nuts with all the friggin' noise and especially the kids with their sub-woofers. You could hear it for blocks. The weekends were almost unbearable. The only redeeming thing about living there was the wonderful apartment I was renting (almost 100 years old) and the fact that I was in the center of everything going on. But I am happier where I am at now, another tiny, old town but infinitly quieter. Now, I may hear subwoofer's about once or twice a week.
• We don't get bass around my neighbourhood, just cars with massive-bore mufflers that sound like two-stroke motors when they redline their way down the street. However, we also live near an airport. My parents stayed the night on Friday and complained the next morning about the aeroplane noise -- we're so used to it we didn't hear a thing.
• I am a bass player.
• What do you mean, proliferation? Been around for years. As a sound engineer and muso, I don't give two shits, really. I rejoice in the massive bass coming out in unidirectional frequencies from the bourgemobiles going past my house. More power to them. Bass is good for you, mans. Remember, hi frequencies only go in one direction; bass is everywhere. Bass is god.
• I live next door to a fire station. I can tune out just about everything except a crying baby.
• I forgot to mention: I also have a crying baby in the house.
• (Bass! How low can you go?) You're not hypersensitive. You've just no longer inured to the din of city life. I recommend that you move back to the country-- but that's just me, projecting my own wishes.
• "Kicker: Pissing off old folks since 1980" To answer your question: It's not a problem personally, but thanks for asking! I personally like to listen to my music at an "elevated" level, but not to the point that my car vibrates, and not with my window rolled down in an effort to impress the (imagined) ladies and piss of the geriatrics. I think the people that take it to that point fall into the "look at me" category. Sometimes though, I think music needs to be experienced at that elevated volume to get the nuance to it. Daft Punk put that bass there for a reason.
• Why are you attempting to impress the piss of the geriatrics?
• What I mean is, do you know something we don't?
• And if he does, Wolof, do you want to find out? Do you really?
• Don't worry, Fes, one day they stop crying and start whingeing. /voice of experience, mother of currently teething baby
• Lightning Bolt. That's what happened.
• Persistent exposure to loud sounds results in hearing loss. So if people listen to enough loud music or jet engine noises, etc. they eventually go deaf.
• *sigh* hearing loss
• beeswacky -- yeahbut then they have to turn up the music (or jet engine noises) even louder
• Man, talk about a viscous circle...
• Or vicious, maybe.
• for more info, see Noise Free America
• Noise pollution is bad - almost as bad as light pollution. And beeswacky is right, we should be worried as much about our ears as about our sleep, especially young people. OMG! I just said "young people"! I knew I was getting old, but not that old! : )
• well let's all just live in a sensory deprivation tank, shall we? not all together, of course. far too, um, sensory.
• GramMa's Gramma used to live 13 feet from the Conamarra and Blacklick Railroad in Johnstown, PA. Gimme a subwoofer bass anytime. Beats a train comin' thru the bedroom at two ack emma.
• I haven't been hearing that subbass sound as much as I used to - it's becoming passe, I think. However, no apartment dweller should be without a loud stereo and the two following Ultimate Weapons against bass heavy hip-hop, guaranteed to cut through them like a laser through butter ... 1. Black Sabbath - "Black Sabbath" - effective against 90% of transgressors. 2. Wagner - "Flight of the Valkyries" - guaranteed to wreck ANY hip hop track and leave it whimpering for mercy. In my previous apartment, prompt application of these increased neighborly consideration very quickly and permanently. For revenge after loud parties, the WMDs of the music world, "The Shaggs" and "The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralyzed" will do the trick - if they're not hungover the morning after, they soon WILL be.
• Pneumothorax or lung collapse linked to loud muisc.
• *plugs in bass*
• I had one of those ones. Pain like you wouldn't believe. I got mine by tripping over a baby gate and crashing into a wall. Once a lung goes down, all you want to do is roll over and die.
• once, not ones.