Any tips for recording apartment noise issues with Zoom 1he?

[Taki8888]

Hi,

I am trying to record and document noisy apartment neighbors below me. Unfortunately, no success so far.
Rude people below me keep banging the walls and slamming doors or cabinet doors, vibrates the shared common walls.

The recorded sound from the Zoom 1He is just ambient noise even after amplified with Audacity.

Any suggestions or this is a lost cause?

 

[JSmith]

IMO, use a calibrated SPL meter or a reputable app with a calibration feature.

Take multiple readings, noting the time and location.

Keep a log of dates, times, dB levels and descriptions of the noise.

As you have discovered, consumer devices may not capture volume accurately.


JSmith

 

[Taki8888]

Guess i am out of luck then. Just cannot capture it correctly.

 

[JSmith]

Just cannot capture it correctly.

If you want to do that, you'll need a proper mic... like an UMIK-1 etc.

Best of luck with your shit neighbours... I'd be banging the wall in reply every time you hear a door slam and hope they get the message.


JSmith

 

[Roland68]

Hi,

I am trying to record and document noisy apartment neighbors below me. Unfortunately, no success so far.
Rude people below me keep banging the walls and slamming doors or cabinet doors, vibrates the shared common walls.

The recorded sound from the Zoom 1He is just ambient noise even after amplified with Audacity.

Any suggestions or this is a lost cause?

There are apps for smartphones to document such things with decibel measurements and recordings.

 

[AnalogSteph]

The puny little electret mics in a cheap handheld recorder like the H1e are a lost cause when it comes to self-noise and bass response. Your best bet for recording low-level, low-frequency noises without spending a fortune would be a proper low-noise LDC, think RODE NT1.

Also, if you can hear the sort of stuff you describe, it would appear that the building acoustics are a bit crap. There are regulations for that sort of stuff in rentals nowadays, but that won't help you with any 100-year-old buildings.

 

[unpluggged]

The puny little electret mics in a cheap handheld recorder like the H1e are a lost cause when it comes to self-noise and bass response. Your best bet for recording low-level, low-frequency noises without spending a fortune would be a proper low-noise LDC, think RODE NT1.

Also, if you can hear the sort of stuff you describe, it would appear that the building acoustics are a bit crap. There are regulations for that sort of stuff in rentals nowadays, but that won't help you with any 100-year-old buildings.

Mainstream audio recorders and microphones (even SPL-calibrated like the UMIK-1) is of no use here since they are not certified measurement devices and recording done with them cannot be admitted as evidence. That's why proving cases of noise disturbance is a very difficult matter. So difficult that in many cases people have been forced to move out away from such neighbors.