Avoiding the thump

[Tumbleweed]

From personal experience, I know I can sleep through most noise by using earplugs. However, one thing earplugs don't block is vibration, specifically the booming bass coming from the large sound systems. The Burning Man site says the loudest zones are at the 2:00 and 10:00 edges of the city. My question is, how far away from these areas does one need to be to avoid the thump? Is 3:00/9:00 too close?

[AntiM]

Gerlach at least.

[phil]

Gerlach at least.

I was thinking Empire wasn't far enough. I don't know how those ranchers make it through the week out there will all the music going 24 hours a day.

The prediction of loudest zones, tumble, are done by the same economists who predict housing bubbles and NBA playoff winners.

Further, if you find an area to be quiet when you get there, nothing keeps a sound camp from moving in 15 minutes later. :-> Abandon hope. It's Burning Man.

[chrispburn]

no matter where you settle in, or how quiet it it, 24 hr drumming camp is bound to set up next door.

ask 200 of you closest friends to camp around you, creating a buffer zone.

and roadblock all the art cars from driving through your neighborhood too.

wax earplugs and ambien?

[TheJudge]

If you can't beat em, join em.

If you're tired enough, you'll sleep.

[Tumbleweed]

Ah, so the feedback I'm getting is that no matter where I camp, it will be loud. So, I should just set up camp directly next to the loudest sound system I can find and it will be no different than anywhere else on the playa? Got it. Thanks.

[phil]

So, I should just set up camp directly next to the loudest sound system I can find and it will be no different than anywhere else on the playa?

Until the disco art car drives through and drowns out that rave camp. :-)

[kampkalamazoo]

Yep. Not even HUSHVILLE is safe from the dreaded Portaparty!

[Tumbleweed]

Well, I've been once before and noise was not a problem at all where we camped. Maybe I was just lucky?

But this time I am going with a group that has already picked a spot at the 9:00 street. I'm just wondering if this is too close to the large scale sound zone at 10:00.

[Bob]

You never know where someone's going to have a sound system or in which direction they're going to orient the speakers. Camping at 9:00 may place you right in line with speaker stacks set up across the circle at 3:00, or smack across the road from Lone DJ With A Van.

[robbidobbs]

Yep. Not even HUSHVILLE is safe from the dreaded Portaparty!

One word: Earplugs.

Ok, I lived across the street from 3:00 potty-bank, and it was really quiet all night. Only the occasional WHAM! of the potty-doors. What was a drag was the karioke camp next door playing Pink Floyd covers until 1:30am. I've lived in Center Camp, and I'll take a potty-bank any day.

I'm planning on living on the outside road (Ego) from the 9:00 bank, because it should be reasonably quiet. Quieter than living closer in, to be sure.

We'll see soon enough, kids, if I'm full of shit or not.

[TheJudge]

Ah, so the feedback I'm getting is that no matter where I camp, it will be loud. So, I should just set up camp directly next to the loudest sound system I can find and it will be no different than anywhere else on the playa? Got it. Thanks.

You'll realize once you're out there that its not nearly as noisy as you imagine. I work the early morning shift (6am) and have no problem getting to sleep, even when my neighbor plays music till 3am.

[headquarters]

yeah just camp back a few roads maybe 4 or 5 and just stay a little ways away from 10 or 2 and you should be ok. you'll always hear noise but generally it's pretty quiet back there.

[robbidobbs]

Until the large sound installations get put up, that is.

[stuart]

If you're tired enough, you'll sleep.

very true.

in the past, as a general rule, the further back you are the more quiet. Now, with the new camp mapping, I would say avoid 7:30 and 4:30 as well.

I never thought about slamming porto doors. The arhythmic nature of that would drive me insane.

[Sean_til_Dawn]

If you can't beat em, join em.

If you're tired enough, you'll sleep.

This is the best advice.

However, if you want to have the best chance at a quiet stretch of street, camp on the outer two streets. This year, that would be Hysteria and Gestalt. The main group here is latecomers and newbies. Generally, no huge soundsystems. It can get crowded. It is not uncommon to wake up Friday with a tent right next your shade structure or an RV parked on that nice buffer between you and the street. Do not be afraid to stake out a claim on turf. Don't be greedy but don't corral yourself neither.

Who knows how the new arrangement of theme camps and villages will affect this.

[Sharky]

Just think of it as the heartbeat and pulse of the city, smile and realize that in a week you'll actually start missing it!

[Tumbleweed]

Thanks y'all for the input. I will follow the conventional wisdom and go with it.

[diane o'thirst]

Earplugs *help*. It also helps if you're so dog-tired that the thump (or anything else) doesn't matter. Personally I go go go until I can't go no more, then I go to ground, stick earplugs in, take melatonin and hellllooooo, Morpheus.

There won't be a place in Black Rock City where it'll be perfectly serene/pastoral round the clock, until after the city's gone. There will be mostly quiet areas with mostly quiet times; usually dawn is pretty quiet anywhere in the city except the rave ghettos, the Promenade is fairly quiet most of the time. Even the Esplanade can be fairly quiet at certain times of day.

I'd find a place that has nice neighbours you get along with, and adjust your sleep schedule and habits to the rhythms of that area.

[HughMungus]

yeah just camp back a few roads maybe 4 or 5 and just stay a little ways away from 10 or 2 and you should be ok. you'll always hear noise but generally it's pretty quiet back there.

Yep. We were at 5:30 and Fetish and it was pretty quiet. You'll just about ALWAYS hear someone's thumps at night. I did but it was far enough away not to be a problem (being tired enough to pass out was helpful).

[Rage]

Imagine setting up a decent sound system and finding that you have been placed directly across the street from Deep End's 50,000 watts!

We had to give up once they went 24/7...

Shame on the placement people for putting us there...or should I say placing them there.

[RedHeaven]

I was at 730 & C last year and i was totally amazed by how quiet it was compared to a music festival even. I didnt touch my earplugs for the whole week. Its nice haveing lots of space, that helps out there....I love the distant hummmmmm of the untz untz, but it wasnt loud. When I got home on Monday night the Crickets were loud as shit, though! I could barely sleep in my bed the crickets were sooooo chirpy!!

[Rockdad]

I was at 7:30 and C too it was just right! AEZer?

[robotland]

I was at 7:30 and C too it was just right! AEZer?

Wrong side of "suppertime"....AEZ were our good (Hushville) neighbors.

[Tumbleweed]

Wow, this thread I started last year is still active?

Well, as it turns out, I ended up camping around 6:30 and Fetish and it was remarkably quiet. Some nights I slept without earplugs, no problem. So, the bottom line is it is possible to find a relatively quiet spot at Burning Man.

Here's how we did it. We arrived on Monday (I think) as the sun was going down and the wind was blasting. So, we just parked on the outskirts, pitched a tent, and hunkered down for the night.

The next day, we scouted for a permanent location on our bikes. By this time, many of the camps were already set up, so it was easy to get a sense of where the noisy places were. We found a spot and talked to the neighbors, asking them if the area was quiet. They said it was. Also, the spot we found was the last space in the immediate area, so it was unlikely a noisy camp would spring up nearby later.

Anyway, that's the formula that worked for me: arriving after many camps had already set up, scouting for a camp location by bike, and asking the neighbors about the noise factor.

[diane o'thirst]

That doesn't surprise me. Pretty much the big game in 6:30 is Center Camp Café and nobody wants to trump them (as if they could). So all you have to deal with is the Café in terms of sound and they point at the Man.

[Ugly Dougly]

Military experience has shown that a howitzer barrage creates silence. After the screaming fades away, anyhow...

[Tiara]

There's always walk-in camping if you really need quiet space.