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Good Fuzz = tonebenders, fuzz faces, factories, bosstones,...

Bad Fuzz = the ones that interrupt your gig, practice space.

So, this is the situation I am in.
I thought I would share since most of you guys have been playing much longer than me, have gigged out, etc.

My band got through 4 songs (one night about a month ago) before the cops ended our outdoors set. Which sucked. It was perfect. We were playing on a huge deck with a fire pit in the center, jacuzzi to the side, beer, barbecue, tons of people, tiki torches, beautiful lake in front of us, perfect weather, no bugs.... I could go on and on....
I accepted that we may have been too loud...at 8pm...
But, at practice last night, we got interrupted by a cop.
First he stuck a noise ordinance paper in the door, highlighted one sectio that read "only from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m."....and left.
He came back 30 minutes later and shut us down.... at 8:45pm.
My drummer (who owns the house we practice in) was trying to ask him what we could do to remedy this situation, if we needed signature acceptance from neighbors, the whole works. The cop didnt offer help or advice, but threatened of fines the next time he has to come by, which is his 1st time there (the other cop was a different guy).
He also said that in the past 6 months there have been a whopping 4 people who have came to our door letting us know we were too loud. We were all pissed about that, cause nobody came to say anything like that.
In fact one night, we cracked the screen door open to let some fresh air in (we play with the door and window shut) and we got a knock on the door. A neighbor came over and we thought he was going to bitch about the noise. It turns out him and his girlfriend wanted to come over and watch us, cause we sounded really good (according to them).
So, Im not really trying to rant.
Im sure you guys have been in similar situations, so what did you do?
Weve talked about soundproofing, but not only does that sound extremely expensive, but I doubt that would solve our problem.
I just keep thinking, "we cant be playing that loud, can we"?
We dont really play too loud. We dont wear ear plugs. Its a loud, but comfortable volume.
We practice in the back room of a house that sits on about 2 acres, on a lake. Not an apartment community.
We always end at 11pm... which the noise ordinance states.
His immediate nighbors are cool and dont mind at all! Weve talked with them.
lol, his one neighbor said if we ever get too loud, she would erect a flag on the edge of her yard to signal to us we need to stop or turn down.... hahaha, weird.
So.... what are my options? I got practice tomorrow...

First off, cops are subhuman slime only interested in bullying the taxpayers.
When they aren't pulling the wings off of flies, kicking puppies or stabbing the footballs of children, they are harrasing the taxpayer.

Fence, gate and lock the perimeter of the property. Do sound proof your rehearsal space.
If you get fined, make sure the citation has the correct information on it, and not a falsified time of violation. If you are not breaking the law, you will do good in the court.
Do not let the cop flare your temper, do not argue and give the pud a reason to break your face with his nightstick. secretly Videotape the cop when he comes over and bullies you for youtube. Cops are criminals, wifebeaters, child abusers, and they cheat on thier spouses. Find out everything you can about the guy, send a tape to his wife of him banging his girlfriend.

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We were playing a show in the St. Pauli District of Hamburg, Germany a few years ago, and during the opening band's set, the Police show up and make them turn down. We were going to ignore this, until we were advised that if the cops came back they would impound all of our rented backline. Apparently, the rock was interfering with the business of the prostitutes working the street and cathouses outside the bar.

I love that story...

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^^^ I fear AmberBock doth protest too much ... I reckon they're a cop

not a cop, just been observing them for some writing I did.
Went on ride alongs for entire shifts. Saw more harm than good caused by adreniline junkies with badges and guns. Easy marks get harrassed, real crime goes unnoticed, uninvestigated.

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I'd telephone the local police department and basically get them to spell out for you when you are allowed to make noise, and when it would become a problem. Or better yet, ask them in a letter so you have something in writing (assuming they take the time to reply, perhaps write and call them).

The only reason I can see there being some kind of problem is if someone's complaining about you. I mean, you say it's not like an apartment community, but if the fuzz are coming round, they must have heard that you were practicing from someone...

Quality stuff, i love st pauli, but hate football.

Painting with a pretty broad brush there AB... perhaps survival of the fittest anarchy would be better?

Nobody seems to care much for cops... umm... until they need one...

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I... have become... uncomfortably numb...

Regarding the noise, what can you do man, you live in a community with other people. Sometimes those people are going to complain. Fortunately, there are rehearsal places here in Seattle that can be had for reasonable prices and you can go there at all hours and raise hell. Does that option exist for you? If so, explore it. Maybe all the band members can kick in for the rent.

As for cops, my mom was a cop for many years and a good one at that. She worked some cases with some real scumbags i.e. Little and Romero, Angela Davis and some of those SLA guys. What I can tell you from my perspective is that there are generally two kinds of cops. There are decent cops who despite all the crap they see day in and day out manage to treat regular people civilly and then there are the cops that like to throw their weight around. They see life through a lens that we can't possibly fathom and though I don't count myself as a big fan of the cops, especially in light of the fact that my wife got a ticket and a condescending lecture from a cop today, I think they deserve a little latitude. Don't get me wrong there are times for civil disobedience, I mean the WTO protests took place in my backyard and yeah, some of the cops were running amok.

My mom's advice to me when it comes to dealing with cops (besides, not getting in a position where you have to deal with a cop) is keep your mouth shut. Name rank and serial number. If you feel you've been harassed, stay calm, sign the ticket and go file a complaint. The lieutenant will listen to a calm well reasoned complaint and the cop may be reprimanded. State the facts, stay calm and plead your case with his boss. If level headed people call the watch commander with legitimate beefs often enough the guy could get in some serious trouble.

Believe me, cops stick together and you most certainly don't want to fuck with a cop while he's off duty. So forget about videotaping him with his mistress or finding out his address, or any other such activity. That is some notoriously bad advice AB. Nevermind what could happen to you if they charge you with something. Messing with a cop on his personal time is a BIG mistake. I can't overstate that point.

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"It's not that I'm a freak for lox but my love for you is so much more than orthodox."

Does a cop give an off duty cop a speeding ticket?

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Not in most cases, but sometimes. I agree w/everything Non-Reverse said. My dad was a cop in Spanish Harlem, N.Y, during the 50's. The kind you don't want to have to deal with, believe me (maybe that's why I became the hippie musician), and he got a parking ticket from another cop, who wouldn't listen to reason, so he put a gun to the cops head, and got out of the ticket.

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Everyone likes sausage. Nobody wants to see how it's made.

Well, no cops last time, thankfully.
I did some investigating into the sound. We turned down a smidge, left the door closed, thick curtains covering windows, closed nearby windows and doors, and had the guys thrash about while I walked around outside. From his road which is about 55 feet from the bandroom I couldnt hear anything. This is at the end of his driveway by the street.
At his front door (opposite side) of the practice space, you could hear muffled playing, but nothing that would annoy anybody. In fact I think the neighbor on that side is his tenant who he is renting the house out to, so Im sure they arent sending cops over to his house, plus they are friends with him. On the other side, his neighbor has already expressed how much she doesnt mind, and that she is never home anyways.
But ... our bass player didnt show up (again) and after messing around with his volume and EQ settings on his amp we noticed that alot of the vibration and noise came from him. He is a loud bass player, which is fine.
But, as of now, the noise cant be bothering anybody.
If a cop drove by, slowly, head poking out the window, he MIGHT hear a cymbal or a hard bass drum kick but very lightly.
There is just no reason for people to complain, but we'll see.
I dont like cops, period. But I never disprespect any. We were all nice and respectful, and wanted to know what we could do to help the issue, and all he said, with one hand on his gun was "I dont care, I dont want to hear it, next time I have to come back, youre getting a fine."
So, we shutdown, turned on Grand Theft Auto 4 and killed as many cops as we could, lol...(kidding...)

holy crap!

i am almost as shocked and appalled by this post as i would be if you had just flat out said that "black people are n_______s", or "i hate jews, and i think hitler was right" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dude, i don't know where you live, but i feel sorry for you. look, i don't want to get a ticket as much as the next guy, but i definitely am not afraid, nor do i hate police officers. they have a very hard job to do, and most of the time are doing good things.

i may be a tad biased since i have a few friends that are cops.




personally, if a cop came and asked me to turn down or stop playing, instead of being mad at him (or her) who is JUST DOING HIS JOB, i would do as asked, then at a different time go and talk to each of my neighbors and tell them that if my music got to loud it was okay if they asked me in person to turn down. i'd give them my phone number and stuff. to me (i'm not everyone) being a good neighbor is important. if i'm bothering someone i want to stop.

interesting side note, i live in a rather small apartment complex, there are four buildings, and each face inwards to a central "quad" type area. i have an apartment below me, and one to my right. the apartments in the building to the right are about 20 feet away, and the apartments across from me are about 50 feet away. i have never had one person complain about my guitar playing. i've even sat on the porch with my amp outside with me and played. the only comments i get are that it sounds good. then again i always play during the day (or if at night i play VERY quiet), and my amp is a vintage fender princeton, not known for it's wall shaking (even though it holds it's own and is often louder than my bandmate's 50-watt carvin

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safe? who said anything about safe? of course He isn't safe! but He's good. He's the king i tell you!

+1

Just like with ANY profession there are good people and bad people. Cops are no different. I've found that MOST are generally good guys/girls...especially when you keep in mind that the reason they react certain ways occasionally is because their job has the potential to be "fatal" any time they pull someone over for a ticket, ask someone to turn the music down, etc, etc.

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Just get some of that egg-crate looking padded crap that people put on their mattresses and apply it to the walls and ceiling of the practice space. Sound proofing done! And around this time of year, if there are any colleges or universities nearby, you maybe be able to find some of that stuff while dumpster diving if you are hurting that bad financially...

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

Well, not really. That will deaden the room reverb in the rehearsal space, and absorb some of the high end frequencies, but is pretty much useless for the bass frequencies. It's a matter of physics, the sound waves are too big for that material to absorb. My suggestion would be to have the bass player set up across the room from his amp, and turn it down a little, since you said he's very loud. We had the same issue, and comes back to the physics of sound. He couldn't hear himself very well being next to his amp because he was standing in the middle of the waves, meanwhile the rest of were having trouble hearing everyone else.

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David Sumpter
I wish my lawn was EMO, so it would cut itself.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Augur/26521248742

It may not be the best soundproofing, but it'd be better than nothing....And yeah, the bass player needs to either get earphone monitors or stand across from his amp. I am familiar with that a bit because of the physics and low-end frequency characteristics due to jamming with another guitarist who worships Dimebag Darrell, so he sets his EQ with no mids, and all you end up hearing is speaker farts, vibration, and suction....

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

Yeah, that's true. If I remember, I'll post up the info for the studio design book that I learned it from, it's a great reference book to have.


I'll never understand the extreme mid scoop, that's where the meat of the sound is, IMO.

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David Sumpter
I wish my lawn was EMO, so it would cut itself.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Augur/26521248742

A big +1 and an amen to boot. I've seen it my dang self!

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Jimi made me do it!

This was great advice, actually. Our bass player has his EQ set like that as well. We sometimes mess with it before he arrives, and after a song or two, hes changing it back. He has to know we mess with it, but doesnt say anything. I love having a bass player, but I cant stand his tone. No mids.... just vibrating bass. Hes got a 5 string and it sounds like hes only playing on one (the lowest) string. We also turned him down and told him not to touch the volume.
So, no cops since.....