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How to record noise nuisance footsteps

12588 Views 22 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Just a guy, Aug 28, 2021

Hyper32

Discussion Starter · Sep 25, 2019

I am experiencing a huge amount of noise nuisance from the apartment above. They are tenants. They don't have jobs, so run around at 2am and have too many friends over. Play loud music.

I am trying to make a video of the noise nuisance, but my mobile phone picks up nothing or very low level. So if I sent the video to anyone, it would seem, we are making a noise complaint about nothing. Most of us have jobs and need to get up in the morning, so unfair.

I want a video, so people can feel the real annoyance from sound and have empathy.

How do I achieve my goal.

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

eljaycanuck

· #2 · Sep 25, 2019

Not sure about video, but for audio I'd probably:
- purchase a decent but (relatively) inexpensive microphone* and hook it up to a laptop;
- place the mic close to where the noise is the loudest; and
- use free Audacity software on the laptop to record the sounds you're hearing.
_________________
(*A quick search of amazon.com and bestbuy.com shows some well-rated mics for under $25.)

Reactions: 1

Ryan Statz

· #3 · Sep 25, 2019

Hyper32 said:
I am experiencing a huge amount of noise nuisance from the apartment above. They are tenants. They don't have jobs, so run around at 2am and have too many friends over. Play loud music.

I am trying to make a video of the noise nuisance, but my mobile phone picks up nothing or very low level. So if I sent the video to anyone, it would seem, we are making a noise complaint about nothing. Most of us have jobs and need to get up in the morning, so unfair.

I want a video, so people can feel the real annoyance from sound and have empathy.

How do I achieve my goal.

While I sympathize with you to a degree, some of that is just part and parcel with living in an apartment building. Loud music is only a problem if it's past a certain time in the day/evening - you have a legit complaint if they're blasting music at, say, 2am. Footsteps, though... you can't really restrict how people traverse through their space. It's not fair to them, even if they're a bit heavy-footed, to tell them that they can't walk around after a certain time. You also can't force them into your schedule, regardless of how inconvenient it is for you.

It may also be a bit presumptuous to say that they don't have jobs - they're paying for the space somehow, no?

At any rate, I hope someone here is able to help you out with the recording.

Ratman

· #4 · Sep 25, 2019

Hyper32 said:
I am experiencing a huge amount of noise nuisance from the apartment above. They are tenants. They don't have jobs, so run around at 2am and have too many friends over. Play loud music.

I am trying to make a video of the noise nuisance, but my mobile phone picks up nothing or very low level. So if I sent the video to anyone, it would seem, we are making a noise complaint about nothing. Most of us have jobs and need to get up in the morning, so unfair.

I want a video, so people can feel the real annoyance from sound and have empathy.

How do I achieve my goal.

You are a tenant. Talk the landlord/owner and complain.
Complain to the local authorities with noise complaints.
Knock on your neighbors door and ask to be considerate about the late night night noise. Record that.

Or... find a new residence and make sure you are on the top floor.

Hyper32

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 25, 2019

I am an owner of my flat. The upstairs is a rental. Their landlord does not care who he rents his place out.

Their floor used to be carpet., however, they have laminate flooring. They have children running around. Have spoken to them, rather then curtail their have maliciously caused more noise. When I complain to their landlord, he said their tenant denies everything. So I need evidence!.

Moving out is not an option, given high cost of housing.

Ratman

· #6 · Sep 25, 2019

Buy them a carpet?
They should have children in bed before 2AM.

Good luck. Buy a lot of microphones and recording equipment. Make sure it's dated and timestamped. Send to someone that will possibly address (good luck).

Rent a nuisance inspector for the evening to personally experience your complaint(s).

This is not really an "Audio Theory, Setup and Chat" IMHO.

Ryan Statz

· #7 · Sep 25, 2019

Hyper32 said:
Their landlord does not care who he rents his place out.

That still doesn't mean the current tenants don't have jobs. And who the owner of that unit rents the place out to isn't really any of your business. It's also none of your business how many people they have over at their place.

Hyper32 said:
I am an owner of my flat. The upstairs is a rental.

Whether you own or not isn't relevant. I live in a condo with owners, and renters - you can't use that as a matter of leverage because you can still get evicted even if you own your flat.

Hyper32 said:
Have spoken to them, rather then curtail their have maliciously caused more noise.

That sounds like another assumption. If they did happen to react in a malicious manner (and that burden of proof falls onto your shoulders), then I would question what your approach may have been.

Your only legitimate complaint is if they're actually blasting their music late at night past the building's rules/area's bylaws. And apart from suggesting that they maybe get an area rug for their high-traffic areas, you can't dictate how they get around in their unit (or even complain about it, you just have to suck that one up). They have rights as tenants as well, even if they're perhaps not the most courteous. If they're denying things, it could be that they don't consider simply walking around their flat/apartment or their kids playing as something you can complain about. Footsteps are just something you have to deal with being in a shared living space like an apartment/condo, and it's near-impossible to avoid if you're in a building that's old with creaky hardwood flooring.

Just sayin'... We've had neighbours who thought it was a good idea to have a karaoke party at 2am on a Sunday a few times, but they turned it all off when we politely asked them to turn it down. When we lived in an older building with creaky floors, we had a neighbour below us complain when we just got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the day because she worked the night shift and needed to sleep even after we made the extra effort to lay down some heavy rugs in the areas we commonly walked around, so... seeing anyone complain about tenants above them just walking around or letting their children play is a huge nope.

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Hyper32

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 25, 2019

Ratman said:
This is not really an "Audio Theory, Setup and Chat" IMHO.

Is there a better place to ask this question? There is n't a microphone category. Or May be another forum / site?

I think I need microphone, which will work with a phone, so portable.....

eljaycanuck

· #9 · Sep 25, 2019

https://www.micreviews.com/guides/top-10-best-smartphone-microphones

https://www.smartphonefilmpro.com/15-best-microphones-smartphone-filmmaking/

https://wiki.ezvid.com/best-smartphone-mics

Reactions: 1

Hyper32

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 26, 2019

Ryan Statz said:
That still doesn't mean the current tenants don't have jobs. And who the owner of that unit rents the place out to isn't really any of your business. It's also none of your business how many people they have over at their place.

I was responding to other people questions. Yes, it does matter who the landlord puts in. The landlord does not want to spend money on fitting carpets, and the laminate flooring is not allowed. So, he needed to be more selective on tenants, may be the kind who have office jobs without children (who would run around).

Ryan Statz said:
If they did happen to react in a malicious manner (and that burden of proof falls onto your shoulders), then I would question what your approach may have been.

I find that comment insulting to me. I am the victim here and you are blaming me!!! For the avoidance of doubt, I was polite in talking to my neighbours. I am on this forum asking for help to solve a technical problem, so that I can follow the rule of law and collect evidence. I am suffering here. If I was a nasty person, as you think I am, I would be looking for a muscle man to make sure they don't behave badly.

I wonder, if you are the sort of person, if you read in the newspaper a woman got raped. You would be thinking that it must be her fault, because she must have been wearing a mini-skirt and entice men to attack her.

I am already angry and frustrated by my situation. This is just insult over injury.

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CharlesJ

· #11 · Sep 26, 2019

Another option, perhaps last resort is to have a floating ceiling with Z channels and caulked edges at walls and perhaps insulation between the two ceiling as well.

Reactions: 1

Hyper32

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 26, 2019

eljaycanuck said:
.....

Thank you for your help!

eljaycanuck

· #13 · Sep 26, 2019

Happy to help.

I don't envy you your situation and I sincerely hope you're able to get things resolved quickly and fairly.

Ryan Statz

· #14 · Sep 26, 2019

Hyper32 said:
Yes, it does matter who the landlord puts in.

Perhaps to you, but that's not your decision to make or force upon the owner of that unit/flat.

Hyper32 said:
So, he needed to be more selective on tenants...

Maybe, but again, that's not for you to decide.

Hyper32 said:
I find that comment insulting to me. I am the victim here and you are blaming me!!!

I'm not blaming you for anything, nor was it meant to be insulting. I'm giving you a hard truth about being in a shared living space.

Look, I sympathize with you if they're having loud parties super late, or even blasting their music at times they shouldn't be doing it, but I don't have any sympathy for complaining about other people's day-to-day living or footsteps during normal waking hours. I've lived underneath thunder feet before - it's annoying, I'm not going to argue that it isn't, but it's something you just have to deal with sometimes, and it's an unfortunate part of living in a building with other people. I've also lived next to people who had parties until 3-4 in the morning, too.

Hyper32 said:
If I was a nasty person, as you think I am

That's another gross assumption.

Do what you can to record the loud music they're playing after reasonable hours - a good mic that you can plug into your phone's headphone jack should be good enough, I think. If you can get them to tone it down, great. But also remember that you do have the choice to sell your unit, and move to a place that'd be free of potentially annoying neighbours.

That's the last I'll say on this. Good luck.

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Ratman

· #15 · Sep 26, 2019

Hyper32 said:
I am experiencing a huge amount of noise nuisance from the apartment above. They are tenants. They don't have jobs, so run around at 2am and have too many friends over. Play loud music.

Call police. If there is that much noise, they will address. Your locale surely has noise ordinances.

Reactions: 1

Alan P

· #16 · Sep 26, 2019

Have you considered a white noise machine? I have used this one for years and can't sleep without it:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MY8V86Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

· #17 · Sep 26, 2019

Just curious @Hyper32, what will you do with said recording, since the tenant’s landlord doesn’t care?

I sympathize, this is a tough situation. But I’m not sure what good a making a video with the audio will do. Every video recorder has a mic level control. They could always claim you turned it up to make things would worse than they are.

Have you tried sleeping with a white noise source in the room, such as a box fan on high speed?

You might try “payback.” Since they’re up all night, they probably sleep during the day. You could make a recording of some obnoxious action movie bass, and play it on a loop through your subwoofer while you’re gone to work. In my experience, everyone has a threshold of even their own nonsense.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Reactions: 1

Mashie Saldana

· #18 · Oct 4, 2019

Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:
You might try “payback.” Since they’re up all night, they probably sleep during the day. You could make a recording of some obnoxious action movie bass, and play it on a loop through your subwoofer while you’re gone to work. In my experience, everyone has a threshold of even their own nonsense.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Many years ago when I was living in an apartment I did just that. The neighbours upstairs were playing very loud music until 4am, as in loud enough that you easily could hear the lyrics. At 8am I started up a single player game of Call of Duty, parked my character next to one of the anti aircraft guns in game, turned up the sound and went for a 1h walk.

They never played loud music again, not even during daytime. :devil:

Reactions: 2

DreamWarrior

· #19 · Oct 4, 2019

Ahhh, I remember those days. Thunder-foot and thunder-f*** were my wife and I's personal favorites. The former was annoying, the latter was...well, it'd have been nice if they didn't setup the units so bedrooms were over-under, lol. But, we often got a chuckle out of both the duration and frequency...quick and plentiful, haha.

For your situation, I don't know if recordings alone will help. As has been mentioned, you can amplify them to make them seem worse than they are. I think your better bet is to buy a meter and measure the decibel level -- if it's over the legal limit for the time-of-day, call the cops, over and over, every time the noise is consistently above the threshold. At the very least, you can make sure the spl readout is visible within your video frame to help make your case if you'd prefer to start there instead of the cops.

RayGuy

· #20 · Oct 4, 2019

Carpenters on replay all day at volume should do the trick!

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