...to record some stereo guitar. 
 
Literally just plugged them in and fiddled with the levels. Great! And then I hear a rumble outside, so I opened up the window. 
 
They've just started resurfacing the road with one of those godawful machines the size of a cruise liner (give or take). At 9:10pm. 
 
Fantastic! That's going to really lend a certain je ne sais quoi to the recording. NYC forever!

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

HAH... I took mine down about an hour ago, LOL. Going to do some "in the box" stuff. I have an old MXL 2001 I may get rid of... I absolutely hate the way it makes my voice sound. Way too much high end. Have fun with the guitar!
 
J

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
 

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.

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...

ampfixer 
 
I thought I had it bad , Whew , your situation sure sounds like a lot to have to put up with .
 
+1000 on the whole "We apologize for the inconvenience", just doesn't seem like fair compensation….
 
Come Monday they want to paint my staircase and my front door. Then they want me to leave my front door open for 3 hours , and I will not be able to go up or down the stairs until the paint has dried ……
 
I'm not loving that request ,  Duke may housebroken but he is certainly not trained to use a toilet to do his bizznez
 
Kenny
 

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. 

sharke
...to record some stereo guitar. 
 
Literally just plugged them in and fiddled with the levels. Great! And then I hear a rumble outside, so I opened up the window. 
 
They've just started resurfacing the road with one of those godawful machines the size of a cruise liner (give or take). At 9:10pm. 
 
Fantastic! That's going to really lend a certain je ne sais quoi to the recording. NYC forever!

I was going through my personal archives and the accompanying "blog" entries recently, and, for a while, it seemed like every time I had a week off and an opportunity to record, s""t like that happened.
 
I remember the last year it happened...
 
First they repaired the pavement directly underneath my bedroom window (I lived ground level). Jackhammer. Lasted a few days. A couple of days later, the landlord decided to do some work on the building, involving a brick wall... On Thursday when I thought I'd finally have a bit of time, there was a power outage that affected only a couple of buildings - including mine....
 
On Friday, there was big pride parade. And on Saturday, my PC started giving me BSOD and fatal errors, so I basically spent the next two days (make that 3 or 4 months) troubleshooting..
 
 So, yeah - I totally know what you mean.

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