Just get my mics set up for the first time in ages....

You could always DI and run through an amp sim, add plenty of delay and reverb......
 
 
 
I'll get me coat!!!!!

sharke,
Welcome to my world .
I've just spent 8 whole weeks of climbing over a construction site where I live just to put the key in my door .
What I would give to have peace , quiet and the option to use a microphone to record my guitar in my apt 
 
Kenny
 

ampfixer
I live in a 20 story apt building. Since April they've been shearing off the front and back face of the building with jack hammers. Sound levels in the 90-120 db range for hours every day. I think the poor cat is damaged goods now. Poor little bugger has no idea what to do because there's no place to hide from the sound.
 
"We apologize for the inconvenience", just doesn't seem like fair compensation. Since affordable rentals are so hard to find I've had to suck it up and live with it. The cat didn't take well to ear plugs.

 
Probably not a good second option...

I don't think anything beats a pile driver for sheer annoyance. I've had the pleasure of a few brand new buildings going up near me in the last 7 or 8 years, and that pile driving phase is hell. They usually start as early as they're legally allowed to, and it's just a horrible THUMP which happens every few seconds and hits you right in the chest. Because there's a gap of a good few seconds in between each thump, you're continually bracing for the next one. I find that harder to ignore than constant noise like a jackhammer or belt sander. 
 
Having said all this, the most annoying aural disturbance I ever experienced was about 12 years ago when I shared an apartment next to Madison Square Garden with a married couple. They were both really nice, but the guy was this gigantic portly fellow who made this phlegm raking sound with the back of his throat every 10-15 seconds. My bedroom was right off the living room, and his computer desk was right next to door so that he literally sat right outside my door (he'd have to move his chair to let me out). I'd be sat inches away from at my computer desk with only a door between us, and every 10-15 seconds that raking noise would cut through me like a knife. I would sit with my fists clenched thinking "he's going to do it again....here it comes....any minute....argghh there it is!" It's amazing how such a tiny little thing can ruin your living situation - I felt too awkward to bring it up seeing how I was just the lodger. 

Around here it is leaf blowers. edgers, mowers, and the ever present fire station that is about 75 yds away through some trees. The fire station isn't as bad as you might think. There is the regular ambulance and firetruck taking off but there is only a sound for a moment. Thankfully at night they don't hit the siren until they get to the highway down the road. The only time they really bug me is when some kid (they are kids compared to me) plays with the horn or siren, hitting short blasts in the parking lot at about 8:00 AM... the blowers and edgers are the worst and any given day someone is doing it. There are 40 houses on a cul-de-sac and I've seen three different lawn care trucks from my window at the same time, different yards and I can see less than half the neighborhood. Blowers make the most annoying sound to me. OH... some roofing company figured out that all the houses have some sort of "Architectural shingle" on the roof and there is a lawsuit. Same with the cement siding. They have been replacing roofs. The first time I heard that it sounded like a war. (Pile drivers though... I've heard them driving down the interstate when they are putting up a new overpass... I cannot imagine living next to it day after day).
What'cha going to do? It doesn't help to get upset. It's like getting upset in rush hour traffic. It only hurts me or you, if you let it. I used to get upset in gridlock traffic but one day I decided to just use it to unwind before getting home, listen to some music and just go with it... that works much better. Same with annoying sound, but sometimes I do get annoyed, I think it is more because I know the people. The whole "love your neighbor" thing is HARD. It is much easier to love people in India or somewhere you'll never really know the people.
Being people is hard.  
I almost forgot, the sound that annoys me the MOST is a car with a loud exhaust and a subwoofer you can feel a half mile away.. that still makes me mad. Loud exhaust by itself is annoying to me. Subwoofers though make me see red. (However, when I was 18-19 years old  have a VW van with the speaker cab from a Silvertone 2x10 in the back, wired to my 8-Track player. I've never heard a louder 8 watts in my life... so I shouldn't be mad, I may as well be hearing me).
J

kennywtelejazz
I'm a quiet guy , you would never know I was a musician if you lived near me ..i like to practice w cans on and play my music softly ..also I trained my dog to never bark when someone knocks on my door ….
 
A few years back , I had an upstairs neighbor who did everything he could possibly do to create noises to annoy me on purpose …..2 am dropping tool boxes and furniture above my head all the time , going to get his mail 4 am in the morning right outside my living room window and slamming the mail box a few times for dramatic effect 
Slamming the garage door that would shake my whole apt all hours of the day and night ….
 
I got real tired of his $hit fast …this dude suffered with major anger issues and he liked to stomp around like he was gonna kick some A$$ ….to compound the issue even more he was a classic case of a guy that suffered from little man syndrome ….lol
 
The day I had enough of this A$$hole was the day he got his wings and he leaned how to fly …
 
He was upstairs doing his little war dance so I took my lavaliere mic attached to my vacuum cleaner plugged that into my 50 watt Marshall , pegged the amp and started my vacuum cleaner  ….
 
He actually jumped out his second story window thinking a jet was gonna crash into the building and he landed on his A$$ right outside my apt on the grass right near my walkway 
 
The guy freaked out when he found out it was me ….He started asking me if I had a rocket motor in my apt ..
I said Yeah I got a jet motor in my apt ,he knew I had 2 motorcycles at the time so I told him I was building  a rocket bike in my apt just like the one Jay Lenno has ….that shut him up for a while …
 
every so often when he would start acting up , I would plug in my mic into my Marshall , peg it and then flush my toilet ..dude din't like that one either … 
He moved ,
 
Kenny

Hehe...  When I was younger I had a bunch of immature roommates.  One day they decided to pull a prank on me so, at 4am, I set up just the first scream from Oingo Boingo's Cry of the Vatos (hear it below) to play on my 400 watt stereo cranked.  Just the scream and only once.  It went off, and there was NO sound outside (I just about hurt myself making sure I didn't laugh out loud or make ANY other sound).  The next morning I saw one of my roommates and he was looking tired, pale and nervous.  "What's wrong Rich?" I asked.  "I woke up early this morning scared s**tless and sweating but I don't know why!  I haven't been able to get back to sleep since!"  The other roommates had similar reactions but had no idea what I had done (which I thought was hilarious) - and I never did let them know!  Revenge accomplished.  Muhahahaha!
 

Only from 00:01 thru 00:03 (not the first "oh wow" - just the scream at 130 dB - then completely silence).