What do you consider home/bedroom levels?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MadAsAHatter
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85 dB for me, but the room isn’t huge, it has quite high ceilings and the floor is 50% varnished wood - the sound doesn’t get absorbed by much. I won’t play at that level past 9pm though, because my house is in suburbia and I have neighbours close by. I have a power station, but I don’t feel the need to use it - all my amps sound good at 85 dB. That may change soon - new amp incoming….
 
for my tube amps, I'm not sure the dB level, but as loud as I need for it to sound good. I like power tubes contribution to be noticeable in my sound.

I also wear earplugs and already have tinnitus / hearing issues.

using plugins and modelers, I usually play at low volumes in my nearfields; or loud, into a powered PA.
 
If I’m going by the posted chart, I’m thinking my “bedroom volume” is somewhere between 70 and 90, depending on what’s going on in the rest of the house.
 
I have one of those cheap amazon DB meters on the wall, and I find the most comfortable volume I play is in the 90-100 DB range, but I'm not sure quite how accurate that thing is. It's loud enough that it sounds fun and shakes the floor a little, but not so loud that I am in pain or can't hear someone yelling to me. I have turned up louder but usually with headphones or earplugs on. However I don't have a shared wall with a neighbor and so on, so I wouldn't consider that volume to be my "bedroom" volume, I'd be aiming for 70-80db for that, such as if I had an apartment or had someone else in the house trying to watch TV or something like that while I practiced. That's what I think a lot of people are asking when they ask about bedroom volume, they mean quiet enough that it's not bothering other people in their house - not everyone has a nice studio or garage where they can play 100db without annoying other people.

I do worry about hearing long term but I try to be careful. I definitely play quieter than many live shows and other events I've been to, some of those I'm even covering my ears, if anything to protect them so I can at least damage them later myself. If I'm going to kill my hearing, I at least want it to be something I enjoy doing. I went to see Springstein with my family and I basically had to cover my ears the whole time, I'm sure there'll be jokes about the music lol but I mean, it was so fricken loud it was near physical pain. Half my section cleared out before it was over, I wasn't the only one with hands over ears. Not sure why these venues will take every measure to protect hearing down on the stage and then blast 120db straight into the seats from 20 feet away. It's also why I haven't been back to that venue even though a few bands I actually like have come through lately.
 
I consider home bedroom levels to be satisfactory when I start peeling paint off the walls by using the sonic blast wave distributed by my cab. I also consider the volume proper when my hearing loss transcends severe to catastrophic, and when my neighbors go from raging mad to shrieking pleas of mercy from the sonic blitzkrieg that’s actively driving them barking mad. Only then, when the triumvirate of insanity has taken place , and sonic destruction has occurred, do I know for sure I have achieved proper home levels.
 
NorCal_Val said:
If I’m going by the posted chart, I’m thinking my “bedroom volume” is somewhere between 70 and 90, depending on what’s going on in the rest of the house.
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Seems to be me as well!
 
Bedroom level = as loud as a TV, a conversation or an acoustic guitar.

I live in a flat and I‘m happy I don’t have to hear my neighbors shit all the time. So use this approach when adjusting the levels of my playing.
I have a rehearsal room to play loud
 
BesaMoogie said:
Bedroom level = as loud as a TV, a conversation or an acoustic guitar.

I live in a flat and I‘m happy I don’t have to hear my neighbors shit all the time. So use this approach when adjusting the levels of my playing.
I have a rehearsal room to play loud
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Wow , I've heard of people grunting and really straining when trying to take a shit but being able to hear your neighbors must really suck .
 
ccn said:
Wow , I've heard of people grunting and really straining when trying to take a shit but being able to hear your neighbors must really suck .
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Guess I should have written something like I don’t like to hear everything my neighbor does. But you got my point
 
If your significant other is a real screamer in the sack, then you have a good excuse to crank the volume and still say you’re at “bedroom volume”.
 
thegame said:
If your significant other is a real screamer in the sack, then you have a good excuse to crank the volume and still say you’re at “bedroom volume”.
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Modern problems require modern solutions.

:unsure:
 
BRL is a mindset defined as complete sackless failure in the land of loserdom that cannot be reclaimed.
 
BRL is actually something that is required if you don't want to find yourself homeless unless you're satisfied with headphones.
 
I condemn you to a world of suck..

nicol1.png
 
107 is my sweet spot for bedroom levels, you can hear it outside before you get in the house, but you dont hear it down the street less i crank it to 112 or 114. A tube amp under 102 (50 or 100 watt) is not breathing, so i would consider under 100 masturbation with knubs for hands.
I keep my db meter diagonal to cab. So not in the mic area. That is in same area that i play. No telling what it woukd read where mic sits
 
100 for me until my wife has a shitfit
then I turn it up to 120
 
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