Your rehearsal room is our bedroom

It is not one loud night. It is one band after another, every day.

Noise log kept by us from 13 October 2024 to 19 June 2026 and handed to the building management. It records rehearsals on weekdays, Sundays and public holidays, all day long and past 3 am. The 10 pm line is the lower bound of the problem, not the problem itself.

What reaches us is the bass. And no wall stops that.

The sound insulation of walls and ceilings drops sharply towards low frequencies, and kick drums and bass amps sit exactly there. So what is left in our flat is the rhythm, long after the rest of the music has stopped being audible — a drone, through every wall, that earplugs do nothing about.

We are not the only ones who hear it.

Our building holds nothing but the rehearsal rooms and us. It is still audible in the neighbouring buildings — low frequencies travel through the structure as impact sound and do not stop at the outside wall.

At night, 45 dB(A) are allowed outside. Inside our flat, 25.

TA Lärm no. 6.1 c) for mixed and core urban areas: 60 dB(A) by day, 45 dB(A) at night. No. 6.2 for noise inside buildings: 25 dB(A) at night. “At night” means 10 pm to 6 am. Confirmed by the City of Cologne immission control authority.

The building management formally warned the operator. Over a year ago.

Formal warning issued by the building management on 11 June 2025 under § 29 of the tenancy agreement, with notice of termination threatened.

The forecast the permit rests on describes a building we do not appear in.

• It assumes ten rehearsal rooms “on one floor”. The funding was granted for building 13.
• It states: “The project is to be realised on the ground floor. The building is not structurally connected to development requiring protection.” One line earlier it describes that same part of the building as having two storeys.
• Our flat is in that building and has been residential space since 1956. It is not among the six assessment points examined, and it is not on the site plan either.
• It assumes operation “from 0:00 to 24:00”, on weekdays as well as Sundays and public holidays.
• The acoustics consultant confirmed to us in writing that the report named measures and restrictions — and that implementing them is the operator's responsibility.
• Whether the actual use matches the permit is currently being examined by the building authority.

Noise forecast for the change of use at Silcherstraße 23, dated April 2021, obtained by file inspection at the City of Cologne. City of Cologne building authority, file numbers ORV-5302-2026 (received 18 June 2026) and 63-ORV-8411-2025. Correspondence with the acoustics consultant, May 2025.

€200,000 in public funding. €22,000 of the budget was earmarked for soundproofing.

• Total eligible conversion costs: €292,043.
• The City of Cologne covers €200,000 of that, or 69 %.
• In the cost plan: €22,000 for soundproofing work, €6,480 for acoustic planning and the report.

City of Cologne council paper 1463/2022, “Errichtung von Probe- und Atelierräumen, Mittelfreigabe Objekt Silcher Straße”, including its annex. Publicly available in the City of Cologne council information system. Citizens' petition under § 24 GO NRW, ref. 124/26.