I don’t believe that you thought, for one minute, it was okay to have a band practicing in a nice suburban neighborhood. People go to nice suburban neighborhoods to get away from that crap. If you were my neighbor, it would be war. Learn how to behave.
Having dealt with a landlord who did not believe in volume control, allow me to add my voice to the chorus who say that I’d be plotting your demise if you were my neighbor. I cannot live in the city for that very reason. Other people’s noise drives me insane. I think you should seriously consider the many wise suggestions made on this thread to accommodate your neighbors’ reasonable need for a drum-free home, a need that will become an imperative when the baby is born. Babies don’t care if it’s 3pm or midnight when they need to sleep.
Five straight hours of a rock band? No way, dude, no way. Either make your garage sound proof or rent rehearsal space.
Haj
OK, mea culpa - I missed the part about it being five hours of solo drumming, which I will agree is excessive. It sounds like the band as a whole was only practicing for an hour before the police came, though, which I maintain is entirely too short of time to get THAT annoyed by the noise unless they’re playing death metal with the amps turned all the way up.
I stick by my position that it is unreasonable to expect absolute quiet in a suburban development in the middle of the afternoon. (Maybe I just have noisy neighbors.) If like Rubystreak, “Other people’s noise drives me insane,” you need to buy a half acre lot instead of a house that’s only 15 feet away from the next.
Soundproofing the practice space in some way might help soothe ruffled feathers, though.
They’re not playing bagpipes.
By definition, they’re not really very loud.
Not something you can rely upon. I had the police knock and tell me they’d had an excessive noise complaint against me one night when I was sitting in front of the TV playing Monopoly with a couple of friends. I couldn’t believe it. They told me they could just barely hear the television from outside my house, but maybe I should turn it down anyway. Later I found out that the complaint was a prank by someone who didn’t even live in my neighbourhood. I couldn’t believe the police suggested that my television should be turned down because it could just barely be heard in the front yard of my house at 8pm.
:mad:
My husband and I don’t even put good windchimes on our porch just in case they would disturb our nice neighbors!
I’ve spent some good times in Chesterfield. It’s a lovely place.
Your neighbors are not being unreasonable at all. They are being straight with you. (I suspect someone else called the police.) You don’t have to be pregnant to have that stuff get on your nerves. The band needs to practice in a secluded area or for a shorter period of time with fair warning. It shouldn’t take an ordinance to show consideration.
At the same time, you might want to look around for a place for the kids to practice. I think it’s great that they’ve taken such an interest!
I’m afraid that I have to say that I have some sympathy with your neighbor. I’m having to deal with a similar situation right now although mine is probably worse. The guy next door (we share a wall) insists on playing loud rap music and he loves turning up the bass. He sometimes has it blaring out his windows so that you can hear it up and down the block and, as I said, I share a frigging wall with him. I’ve gone over 5 or 6 times now and very politely asked him to turn it down (the most recent time wasn’t quite as polite). Each time I say something he complies, then in a few days or a week he’s doing it again. I seriously do not want to call the cops on this guy but he’s leaving me little choice. So try to put yourself in your neighbors shoes. If his situation is half as bad as mine I can understand where he’s coming from.
From what I read in the OP, the hours of solo drumming came first, with the band practice on a later day, right? I think it’s possible that the drumming probably really got things off on the wrong foot, so that any band noise from your house is now more annoying than it might otherwise be. (I’d be upset about five hours of drum noise from the neighbors, especially if it was intermittent, so that just when I thought I could relax it started again.) I’d say you need to do anything you can to work this out with them, and talking to them about it is a good first step. Tell them that the band only needs to practice at your house once a month, and find out from them if there is an acceptable time (and length of time) for your young drummer to practice.
Working with them is always better than letting an adversarial relationship develop. You’ll be sharing a neighborhood with these people for a while.
I don’t know whether or not the noise is “too much.” However, I do know that the surest way to a miserable experience is to get into hassles with the neighbors. Find a way to tone the band down. Maybe go to other band members homes in rotation or something like that.
You missed the part about them taking turns practicing at each other’s house 
I would definitely see what it sounds like from their home. Some years back, my family lived in a trailer park and one night we could clearly hear the bass line from a neighbor’s stereo. It was very disturbing, so my dad went over to (politely) ask them to turn it down some. They were very nice about it, and agreed. Still, the thumping was so strong, we could feel it in our chests. Dad went back and talked to them and they turned it down some more. What surprised us was that Dad said that in their trailer, it wasn’t really that loud at all, and the bass wasn’t as strong. So what may not seem loud to you may be more disturbing than you realize.
Also, pregnant women can be ultra-sensitive to certain stimuli. Things like taste and smell are not always the only ones affected. I can remember times I wanted to curl up into the fetal position (but my tummy wouldn’t let me!) because even little noises got to me. And she’s probably plagued with fatigue and nausea, both of which can be exacerbated by prolonged strident sound. I know, I know, you can’t be responsible for her every comfort, but it never hurts to have a little compassion! 
I’m going to chime in with the majority and say: you don’t need to be pregnant for this to irritate you. I come home from work at 5:30, tired, and I have to listen for the next 2 1/2 hours to a bunch of young punks banging away on their drums who don’t even work?
(I can’t believe I’m saying this, I’m only 28). But I guess in this case I feel old. Please, have some consideration - it’s the reason I live in suburbia.
I don’t have any children yet. And my wife and I consider ourselves pretty cool with most things the younger generations like…We are both 34. But I also live in a nice upper-middle class neighborhood, granted my home is set waay back, I can still hear some neighbors. And band playing at anytime would annoy me.
Even though she is not pregnant yet, I have seen her in a mood…And NOOOO WAAAAY do you want MY wife in a MOOD, and on your ass for being too loud. I can contain her if I have my tranquilizer rifle with me, but otherwise, open season on all teenagers who would dare drum from 4 p.m. till 8 or 9 on a weeknight. You would pitty you if you lit a fire under her ass. So it’s not me, you’d have to worry about…
Anyway that said, it is slightly ryde in my opinion to be playing a band in that type opf neighborhood. Sorry IMHO only.
Your sound problems are coming from two instruments - the bass and the lower drums. Guaranteed.
As a musician who’s been in more bands than I can count, including many who rehearsed at various members’ homes in the early days, I offer the following suggestions:
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Acoustic Baffling. It works wonders. The real stuff is pretty expensive, but thick wallhangings such as rugs or blankets do wonders. Hang some hooks or nails, and before the band practices, they can hang the baffling on the walls. Don’t let them stick nail holes in your $3000 Persian rug. Trust me, I speak from experience.
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Most young drummers learn this early, but have your son throw some blankets in the kick drum. It’ll sound better anyway, and cause less ring to the kick. Also, tape triangles of duct tape on the underside of each tom and the more ‘ring-y’ brass. They’ll sound better, too, as the toms will tighten up in tone and the brass won’t have as many harsh overtones.
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Hot Sticks, Brushes and Bamboos are all great ways to drum with a much lighter touch. I recommend your son pick up some Hot Sticks anyway - down the road he’ll find it a useful skill to have for playing in smaller rooms.
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Amp and drum paneling. These things rock. Link for drums and amps. I’ve also made my own out of storm windows, but they WILL break if you knock them over! Drywall also works, although not being able to see the other players sucks.
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If the bassist is playing multiple cabinets, have him only bring one. The one with less low-end (i.e. the 4x10 instead of the 1x15 or 1x18). Have him drop the low end on his parametric eq on the amp as well. As long as the mids are there, he’ll hear it just fine, but the tone won’t carry nearly as far.
just my $.02
Picker
I work at home, as does Mr. Athena. If you lived next door to me, and your son played drums for 5 hours during the afternoon, that would be 5 hours that we could not work. That could potentially mean several hundred dollars worth of lost productivity. You bet I’d be pissed.
People are entitled to quiet within their own homes. I’m not sure what the noise ordinances say, but common sense says that you oughta be able to be reasonably assured that you could, say, take a nap at any time during the day if you closed your doors and windows. Lots of people work at night (and need to sleep during the day), work at home, or study at home during the day. Hell, like someone else said - you ought to be able to come home from work and have a few hours of quiet time to just relax if you so desire.
If you’re making enough noise that your neighbors are being bothered, you need to cut it out. Sometimes it’s not avoidable - like when you mow your lawn. But lawn-mowing takes 45 minutes or so for the average yard, which is reasonable. 5 hours of ANY noise is something to be embarrassed about!
Having band practice once a month does not seem excessive. I am unclear on the frequency of solo drumming practice sessions - how often do those occur?
The key question is how much noise is reasonable. If the law does not prohibit the amount of noise your son & co. are currently making, then your neighbor is going to have to deal with it. (Conversely, if the law ends up being on your neighbor’s side, you are going to have to deal with it, at least until the noise is within legal limits.) You might even want to consider measuring the sound levels to see with certainty where the noise level currently lies.
Take the advice of other posters - mute the drums, and let the neighbors know in advance when band practice is going to be held at your house (and don’t let the band deviate outside of this schedule.) Similarly, if the solo drumming sessions occur often, try to work out another schedule with the neighbors. When the full band is playing, make sure they keep the electrics turned down part way, instead of turned up to 11. Can the practice room be cheaply soundproofed? (Styrofoam egg cartons? Thick blankets over windows?)
Your neighbors seem to want no drumming or band rehearsals, period. Too bad for them. (Again, assuming you are within noise ordinance levels.) Tell them you want to be of as little nuisance as possible, but that your partner’s son needs to use the house for practice now and then, and that you’d like it to be during a time that would cause them the least discomfort. Suggest times when they might not be around the house as frequently.
Good luck on containing this situation rather than letting it blow up - it’ll require compromise from all of you.
P.S.
To anyone that would start wars or feuds over quasi-frequent, semi-contained daytime band noise, I hope I never live within six blocks of your thin-skinned hide.
You think you have problems now, just wait eight months until there’s a baby to wake up. THEN you’ll see what a really pissed-off neighbor looks like.
Five hours of practice is totally unreasonable. I’d say anything more than one hour is unreasonable. Practice in a non-soundproofed room is unreasonable and unacceptable, no matter how long (or how short) the practice is.
Do the right thing and soundproof a room if you want to continue having a band practice at your house. Don’t start a war with your neighbors that you will not win. BTW, if the cops have to come out to your residence multiple times for noise complaints, after a while you get fined each time they have to come over. Your neighbors are right, you are wrong. Now go play nice.
Can you tell I’ve had issues with noisy neighbors lately?
I have to say that this is the thread that made me join -
I am totally new at this and nervous - but here I go. I have just moved into a well to do neighborhood and have had issues with my neighbors - but instead of coming and talking to me - they called the landlord and the church that owns the house. The landlord made a big issue about my comings and goings with out even asking what the deal was!! I was so frustrated and so I went around to all my neighbors and told them my sob story - I am a single mother with FOUR kids ranging from 18 mos to 16 years old. My middle kid has mental issues and so he has a therapist come to the house twice a week. My 16 year old foster daughter works all the time after school, and to top it off I am recovering from a car accident that left me in need of home health care. I ended my sad story with " I am not running a meth lab - I really don’t have the time. Sorry if my visitors have bothered you. We could cut it down some if you would like to come and do my dishes and laundry." Needless to say, I haven’t had any more problems from my nosey neighbors.
I think that you are well with in your rights to have practice at your house. Just the same as your neighbors have paid for their “enjoyment” of their home - so have you.
Great first post hard at work. Welcome to the Boards.
I disagree with you. Your situation is totally different. In your case we have neighbors who should have been minding their own business. Having people going into your house at weird hours does not affect me while I am sitting in my home office trying to run my business. Having a garage band play for five straight hours does. The law backs me up on this point.
I am well aware of what it is like to have a neighbor who is over sensitive and this happens to currently be a problem in my neighborhood. There is a crazy lady who complains to every house within a half block area of her place when there is any noise. She would call me if my dog barked at a delivery guy for 30 seconds in the middle of the day. She complained to another neighbor when he was playing relatively quietly with his three year old daughter in his backyard. At one time or another she has bitched to about ten different houses. She even started calling the cops on us. She sent animal control to my house and the officer, who has been on the job for 30 years, told me that I was well within what was acceptable. Finally, the cops told her not to call about noise ever again.
There have been some great suggestions here. Just noise proof the garage and be done with it.
Haj