Soundproofing Drums/Room

funky penguin

Right, so I'm moving into a new apartment soon and I need to sound proof my kit/the room.

It needs to be really quiet as I've 3 other apts in close proximity to think of, particularly one directly below me.

Apart from the rubber heads I can get, what other means can anybody suggest?

Hanging duvets all over the room? Putting pillows under the stands et al?

Any advice appreciated.

Kenny_D

Drums in an apartment? I dont think you'll be able to do enough to avoid any run ins with the neighbours. I'd look at picking up an electric kit and some headphones

Eoin Madsen

funky penguin wrote: »

Hanging duvets all over the room? Putting pillows under the stands et al?

Any advice appreciated.

Putting pillows under the stands will just create extra noise when your stands fall over. :pac: Duvets and curtains etc. can just about stop the middle and high frequency reflections from a drum from coming back to the kit, but they'll do practically nothing to stop the direct source sound.

You can get rubbery impact absorbing stuff to put under the whole kit which will reduce impact noises from stands or pedals going into the floor. But there's nothing practical you can do to stop the actual sound of a snare drum travelling through the entire building. If you have space and money to burn, you could build a soundproof room inside the room. Otherwise, think electric kits and rubber pads.

studiorat

Forget it.
Blankets and duvets will just deaden the room.

They won't really do anything to stop sound transmission, that's the sound traveling from room to room. Better off deadening the kit itself. Proper sound insulation is a seriously messy and expensive job.

funky penguin

Cheers for the replies.

I am a little bit wary, but its not the end of the world if I can't play them (I'm definitely not getting electric ones).

studiorat, do you think completely deadening the kit will be sufficient?

Don't know if it matters, but I play jazz, so I'm not hammering them. Well. Not much anyway.

studiorat

Deadening the kit means it'll be no louder than banging on say the kitchen table or something and about as much fun too. I suppose it could be just down to the time of day you play at and what your neighbours are like.
Stuffing the kik with a duvet and sloshing around with the brushes shouldn't be too loud in the afternoon. It's in the evenings when you should be out playing anyway! are the problem.

funky penguin

Cheers.

I'm going to talk to the neighbours and find out good times to practice. Playing them deadened doesn't bother me too much I have to say. Well. I say that now.

Thanks again!

Dord

Electric drum kit. Acoustic drums just don't work well in an apartment.

Jonakin

egg cartons on the walls.

eoin5

Jonakin wrote: »

egg cartons on the walls.

Have they busted this on mythbusters yet?

red_ice

If you really want to sound proof a room and you have a bit of cash you have to build a room inside a room with a ply or MDF on both sides of the stud and rockwool or some sort of sound proofing material between the sheets. Also a door that opens the inner room. The inner room also has to be elevated and not touching any of the walls in outer the room. To elevate it you need to lay a stud type mounting, joists or even just lay planks down.. They will have to be wrapped in a rubber sheet to stop passing vibrations. Windows in and out of the room will have to be double glazed and placed in a \/ type angle rather than ||.

We just converted a shed thats 18x14 foot for 3,000. And by just, i mean it needs the second sheet of glass and carpet, even considering a skirting board..

Other cheaper alternatives would be obviously dampening the kit. We found cutting a sheet up and putting it over the symbols and giving it about a 6inch hang was very good. We cut a hole in the middle of the sheet and held it on under the felt. Also placing a mouse mat on each tom and the snare killed off alot of noise and kept some bounce on the heads. The kit sounded crap, but enough to know what was being played. You could rockwool the walls and window but it would look horrid.

Doctor J

Unless he puts in an artificial floor and ceiling too that's not going to matter one jot. If the drum kit is sitting on the floor the sound is going to make his downstairs neighbour's life hell and it will all get very unpleasant very quickly. It's not going to do anything to help the upstairs neighbours either, if he has any.

Really, the only answer here is an electronic kit, as has been said.

fish-head

My drummer swears by his electronic kit. It's the key to household peace.

I, however, swear at it.