Good White-noise machine?

[brentw]

I'm having trouble sleeping due to some unwanted noise, more specifically the bass of people's stereo systems. I was wondering if a white-noise machine would help eliminate some of these noises. I've tried running a fan but I can still hear them. What do you guys think of a machine like this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/custom...ws.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=3760901
Will it help eleminate some of the low bass noises?

 

[mayest]

I've always thought those machines are overpriced. Do you have a CD player in your bedroom? If so, get a soothing CD. I have a whole set of nature sound CDs. The only one I use is the one with beach (surf) sounds. It works great.

I did a quick Google and found some white noise CDs. You can probably find something similar at any music store.

 

[Baked]

Why can't you just go out when it rains and record an hour of the noise, burn it on CD and just loop it. I love the sound of rain.

 

[brentw]

Yeah, but wouldnt I still hear the music (mainly the bass) over that?

 

[Jeff7]

Your computer.

Goldwave

Create a new file of some length, whatever you want, maybe a half hour.

Tools menu -> Expression Evaluator
Expand Noise on the left
Pick White, Brown, or Brown (softer).

Brown noise will probably be better. It's heavier on lower frequencies, but it depends on your speakers. If I disable the subwoofer crossover in my audio controls (nForce2), it sounds like an earthquake. Otherwise, it's a nice gentle noise, like a waterfall. Goldwave's white noise sounds more like static from a cheap radio.

Save it as a WAV, MP3, FLAC, or whatever you want. Loop it in Winamp. If you want your computer off after a certain amount of time, run "shutdown -f -s -t xxxx" where xxxx represents the seconds-to-shutdown. (-f is to use a forceful shutdown, to make sure it won't hang up when shutting down due to unclosable processes)

 

[goobernoodles]

Weird... The second before I clicked this thread, (as I turned up my sub) I was just wondering to myself how many rooms my bass penetrates here in this dorm. LOL

Sorry...

 

[Navid]

This is more a question than a solution to your problem!

White noise contains all frequencies. If you had a choice between two noises, one being the base (low frequency noise) and the other being the white noise and both of the same total power (volume), obviously, the white noise would be more tolerable because of the distribution of energy in all the audible frequency spectrum whereas the base with all of its energy at low frequency would be very annoying as you have noticed.

However, to bury the base in white noise, you will need a white noise that is much louder than the base! Every single frequency in the white noise will have to be louder than the base at your ear. Otherwise, you will still hear the base. I would think that such a loud white noise will be much worse than the base that is bothering you now.

Is that not correct?

 

[brentw]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Your computer.

Goldwave

Create a new file of some length, whatever you want, maybe a half hour.

Tools menu -> Expression Evaluator
Expand Noise on the left
Pick White, Brown, or Brown (softer).

Brown noise will probably be better. It's heavier on lower frequencies, but it depends on your speakers. If I disable the subwoofer crossover in my audio controls (nForce2), it sounds like an earthquake. Otherwise, it's a nice gentle noise, like a waterfall. Goldwave's white noise sounds more like static from a cheap radio.

Save it as a WAV, MP3, FLAC, or whatever you want. Loop it in Winamp. If you want your computer off after a certain amount of time, run "shutdown -f -s -t xxxx" where xxxx represents the seconds-to-shutdown. (-f is to use a forceful shutdown, to make sure it won't hang up when shutting down due to unclosable processes)

Hey thanks a lot man..I will give it a try

 

[Rubycon]

What you want is octave select (bandpass) noise (pink/red/white/brown, etc.). Select a passband that straddles the average resonant frequency of the errant waves escaping from the distant source and it will mix in real nice.

Oh and since this will be absent of high frequencies, all of it will be directed to your woofer/subwoofer system exclusively. It will not sound particularly loud since your ears are not very sensitive to lower frequencies. But it will have higher average amplitude than listening to rock music at very loud levels. This is a caution as it can overheat the low frequency amplifier or woofer voice coils.

A 10' head sea makes a real nice totally random rumble.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: mayest
I've always thought those machines are overpriced. Do you have a CD player in your bedroom? If so, get a soothing CD. I have a whole set of nature sound CDs. The only one I use is the one with beach (surf) sounds. It works great.

I did a quick Google and found some white noise CDs. You can probably find something similar at any music store.

White noise CD's are everywhere. I actually have one from when I was an installer. Has test tones of each frequency, pink and white noise.

Pump it through some noise cancelling headphones and you're set.