Equipment for recording neighbour noise

[James Perrett]

Has anyone tried mounting a boundary zone mic (PZM) securely on the affected wall (or ceiling)?

I guess you could also go the whole hog and use a contact mic but wouldn't that be considered cheating?

[Doveman]

Has anyone tried mounting a boundary zone mic (PZM) securely on the affected wall (or ceiling)?

I guess you could also go the whole hog and use a contact mic but wouldn't that be considered cheating?

If you have a problem with sound emanating from the walls, which can be very disturbing but not necessarily very loud in the room, that's probably a good way to capture it. As long as you explain what you've done and don't try to pretend that the recording was made by a mic in the middle of the room, then I don't think it's cheating.

I have this problem. With my own TV in my living room, the sound only travels into the wall it's against, which separates my living room from my bedroom and I can easily understand the dialogue if I put my ear against the bedroom side of the wall but when my neighbour (impossible to say which one as I live in a block of flats) has their TV/radio on, it radiates from all four walls in my bedroom, lounge and bathroom.

[Doveman]

The Citronics CCU3 capacitor USB microphone makes recording very simple. If you have nothing else Audacity is a good choice but don't forget to 'Export as .wav' because no other software will play Audacity's own file regime..

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to try one of these to see how it compares to my UMIK-1 USB mic.

[ef37a]

The Citronics CCU3 capacitor USB microphone makes recording very simple. If you have nothing else Audacity is a good choice but don't forget to 'Export as .wav' because no other software will play Audacity's own file regime..

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to try one of these to see how it compares to my UMIK-1 USB mic.

Oh dear. Did not know you had that. I doubt the Citronics is as good in terms of LF response and noise floor. You really do want an omni for flat, extended LF and the CCU3 is a cardioid. It is also less than half the price of the UMIK-1 and only 16 bit to boot.

I only suggested it because it is a very decent mic for the money and simple to use. Sounds fine to us for my son's classical guitar. Still, try one and take advantage of the return regulations if it does not suit?

Dave.

[BangBang]

Thanks all for the replies, good to gain a bit of further insight into what I can. That contact mic sounds like a good idea for what I am experiencing as the other she banged (or should I say slammed) on the wall at around 11:30pm and it shook the whole house, the contact mic would definitely pick that up very well.

I think I may get the Citronics CCU3 capacitor USB microphone anyway, but is there a decent and cheap contact mic you could recommend?

Btw agree with the previous poster on having a record of everything, I just want this as further proof and backup. I have a couple of other angles as well and add them all up and it is fairly conclusive hopefully.

[Doveman]

Oh dear. Did not know you had that. I doubt the Citronics is as good in terms of LF response and noise floor. You really do want an omni for flat, extended LF and the CCU3 is a cardioid. It is also less than half the price of the UMIK-1 and only 16 bit to boot.

I only suggested it because it is a very decent mic for the money and simple to use. Sounds fine to us for my son's classical guitar. Still, try one and take advantage of the return regulations if it does not suit?

No worries. You weren't suggesting it for me specifically, I'm just curious to compare it to my UMIK-1 as it has quite a high noise floor (the UMIK-2 is supposed to be a lot better but that's about 3x more expensive) and as you say, I can easily return it if it's no better, although I might just gift it to my Dad as he's been getting back into playing his guitar recently.

[ef37a]

Oh dear. Did not know you had that. I doubt the Citronics is as good in terms of LF response and noise floor. You really do want an omni for flat, extended LF and the CCU3 is a cardioid. It is also less than half the price of the UMIK-1 and only 16 bit to boot.

I only suggested it because it is a very decent mic for the money and simple to use. Sounds fine to us for my son's classical guitar. Still, try one and take advantage of the return regulations if it does not suit?

No worries. You weren't suggesting it for me specifically, I'm just curious to compare it to my UMIK-1 as it has quite a high noise floor (the UMIK-2 is supposed to be a lot better but that's about 3x more expensive) and as you say, I can easily return it if it's no better, although I might just gift it to my Dad as he's been getting back into playing his guitar recently.

Ok well it is well suited to acoustic guitar in son's and my opinion. The Mackie EM-91 is also a good budget standard LDC. Come with a mic cable as well!

Dave.

[Csimon20]

I’m dealing with similar issues. Any luck on recording the annoying sounds? Please let me know ASAP.

[Doveman]

I've got the Citronics CCU3 USB mic and the MiniDSP UMIK-1 USB mic both connected to my laptop and I've used Voicemeeter to combine them into a single device, with the CCU3 panned left and the UMIK-1 panned right, so I can use Audacity to record them at the same time for comparison.

I've uploaded three WAV files and a MP3 file which you can download here:
https://mega.nz/folder/18QCGBxQ#zgC6KEUS1VKanzh8_u0Tqw

The CCU3 records quite a bit quieter than the UMIK-1. With the "radio and water pump" recording, I've boosted the left channel (the CCU3) by 9db, to bring the audio up to about the same level. With the other two WAV recordings, I haven't done that.

If you open them in Audacity (or any other program that lets you see the waveforms) you'll notice that the UMIK-1 shows peaks where there's nothing actually audible (on headphones at least), so I suspect it was picking up some low-frequency rumble, maybe from a car parking nearby. The CCU3 is more useful in that respect, as where it shows a peak there's normally something audible.

Both mics are quite noisy but the CCU3's noise is higher frequency and that's better for this, as it doesn't mask the noises I'm trying to record as much. So I'd recommended getting that rather than the UMIK-1 for recording this sort of thing.

The "washing machine" recording was made using both mics, before I converted it into a mono MP3. It doesn't really capture how intrusive the noise is, as it vibrates the whole structure of the building which the mic can't record. That applies to the other recordings too, as the impact noises and the water pump noise all have elements to them that can't be captured by these sort of mics. I haven't tried a boundary mic yet, so that might be worth a try.

[Tigerhawk]

Hello, I am also trying to record low frequency noise of my neighbors and make it audible on regular computer speakers. They are constantly stomping and setting off alarms.

I have tried a boundary microphone called the MXL AC-44 USB Condenser Microphone. It did not work. I also tried the Audio Technica AT2020 USB Cardioid Condenser Microphone and that did not work as well.

I managed to get the low frequency sounds audible on laptop speakers by increasing its gain in a audio recording software. I am not sure if that is considered acceptable evidence or tampering evidence. I assume its the latter.

[wireman]

I note that at least one council (Wrexham) is suggesting the use of recordings (https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/service/nois ... -complaint) and even a specific smartphone app.
I suspect this is more as part of their complaint process as most councils would visit and attempt calibrated recordings once they get a complaint.

[Drew Stephenson]

Irrespective of the microphone, your laptop speakers won't reveal the low frequency noise because they're simply not designed to do so; they will 'roll-off' around 100Hz (or possibly higher). You'll need to listen through headphones to hear the low frequency content.

[Tigerhawk]

Irrespective of the microphone, your laptop speakers won't reveal the low frequency noise because they're simply not designed to do so; they will 'roll-off' around 100Hz (or possibly higher). You'll need to listen through headphones to hear the low frequency content.

I am not sure if the government branch that focuses on these issues would accept an audio or video recording where it is only audible through headphones. Someone told me they will not accept it.

I did manage to reveal the low frequency noise on my laptop speakers by increasing the gain through an audio recording software called OcenAudio. I increased the bumps of the soundwave which is where the stomps are by 24 decibels. But I fear it would not be accepted because they would call that tampering evidence.

I heard a couple of people suggest an Earthworks Omni-Directional Measurement Microphone could work. If I get it and connect it with an audio interface, use its gain presets and increased it by 24 decibels like what I did with OcenAudio, would I be able to get the low frequency sounds audible on laptop speakers like I did with the OcenAudio?

[Sam Spoons]

Laptop speakers simply cannot reproduce low frequency sounds, it's a simple matter of Physics, where LF reproduction is concerned size matters* and laptop speakers are far too small. `You need either much bigger speakers or headphones.

* Earbuds can reproduce LF despite having very small drivers only bexcause the acoustically couple to the listeners ear drum. Try taking your earbuds half out and listen to the bass disappear.

[Gone To Lunch]

Has anyone tried mounting a boundary zone mic (PZM) securely on the affected wall (or ceiling)?

The omni capsule should have a good low-frequency response, plus the physical contact might help to capture the transients, whilst also picking the in-room sound to give a sense of the relative levels of in-room speech and external noise.

I've never tried it, and don't know if it would work, but it seems an obvious thing to try and I've not seen any mention of this approach.

I am interested in this question. I have a studiospares sb400 Boundary mic:
https://www.studiospares.com/boundary-m ... 449520.htm

What is the best way to attach it to the ceiling - there is just a thin layer of foam on the flat backplate?

[AnotherPerson]

I've been reading through this and I'd like to thank people for all the suggestions. Unfortunately most apps I use don't really capture the stomping noise in my ceiling. It also doesn't help that my ceiling is pretty tall so I'm trying to figure out a way that I can attach a mic all the way up there. For those who put the mics to their ceiling, how did you do it?

[Trey803]

Make sure to run the tracks through a limiter with a 0db ceiling, before you send it to council

[Azzurra]

Hi, I have the same problem. I live in UK, in a flat and all night I can hear a sound from upstairs, like a vibration sound because I cannot record it. In the daytime I asked the neighbours to come but because there are other sounds they say it is not from them . It is constant noise and I literally cannot sleep. What can I do? I want to move but I want to demonstrate also that I am nkt crazy. This sound can start in the middle of the night or at 10pm, can be a dishwasher, a tumbledryer, an aquarium, an ventilator but they say they don't have any of this. It is not every night but when it is can be all night. We had an dish antenna near our wall outside so I had it removed, but the sound was still on...I don't have a clue what can be but they didn't asked me to see in their apartment. It is such a strange sound all over the apartment. Like is in the pipes or the electrical system:((((