Playing Drums in an Apt.

[chrisberry84]

Hey guys,
I just recently got a drum set but I have a problem, I live in an apartment and the walls are paper thin. For the time being, I got some brushes and only play during day time hours so as to not piss anyone off, but I'd really like to be able to use drum sticks becuase i feel pretty limited with brushes. I saw that brandondrury made a makeshift "guitarfort" with roxul, but I can't find any of that around here. I'm trying to find a way to build a makeshift insulation booth to keep the sound down or some other way that would let me play with the drum sticks. Any suggestions? I don't have a whole lot to spend on this, maybe $150 -$200 but I didin't want to buy something and then find out that it's not going to work.

any help would be appreciated,
thanks,
-Chris

[andykaz]

My band practiced in a house next door to an apartment. Police were called repeatedly. We tried everything to shield the drums from the neighbors (next door). There were tons of blankets and comforters on the floor and walls...pillows in between the windows. You know what finally worked? laying a large blanket over the entire drum kit. yeah. We never practiced there again... All I can suggest is that you try and get away with it for as long as you can. Kind of like "No cop = No Stop." rock on!

[chrisberry84]

ROFL! that's awesome, about the whole no cop, no stop. Really sucks about not being able to play though. Doesn't get my hopes up too much. I mean it's all good right now because I just moved into a new apartment building and i'm the only one in this building as of now so I can get away with the no cop, no stop rule, but here pretty soon, I imagine they're gonna be getting more people in this building and you can hear everything through these walls. I was playing some music through the speakers and went outside in the hall to see how loud it'd be (trying to get a feel for how much i could get away with) and it's just like there's not even a wall there. Really sucks. I've been trying to find all these different solutions from buying those foam pads to buying concrete forms and filling them with sand. I saw that "brandondrury" made a 'guitar fort' with Roxul, but I can't find anyone around here that sells that (or has even heard of it for that matter). The feeling of defeat is setting in. I'm wondering if I can just completely fill the bass drum with pillows to get rid of as much bass as i can and then use padding on the wall to dim the rest of the drums from the neighbors. Oh well, we'll see. Guess I can get away with it for now, but I'm gonna be here for another year and I know this isn't gonna last.

Thanks for any help guys,
-Chris

[andykaz]

oh yeah... I forgot about these things. They're on sale too!!! Musician's Friend - Search Results

[chrisberry84]

yeah, i was at guitar center the other day and my girlfriend saw those and pointed them out. I took them home and tried them out. They're not too bad, but the bass drum still makes a thump loud enough to piss the neighbors off. So I stuffed it almost completely full of padding and it's a little better. Stilll get a 'decent' sound out of the set, good enough at least to practice on and improve, but I definatly feel like I know what castration feels like now cause my drum set officially has no balls : (
Anyways, thanks for your help
-Chris

[vdrumdrummer]

Sell them and buy some VDrums and you can play and play and play.Nighttime day time.....

[kiteboarder]

Hey man, I have to be REALLY honest. There is no way you are going to be able to stop that noise from going into your neighbor's. Not with $1,000, not with $2,000! Sorry. The truth is... A drummer's best friend are walls. Extra-thick, super insulated walls, that is. That and a floating room withing a room! You can spend hundreds of dollars on acoustical products and while you will get the volume down a bit, those bass waves are going to go through the wall like there was nothing there. It all has to do with wavelengths. A deep, low-frequency wave can be a few feet long from peak to peak. Try insulated something like that!

My best suggestion would be an electronic kit. I've soundproofed a studio in my home. But, I have thick-sound insulated walls, I'm on a corner - so my room is at least 10-15 feet away from any neighbor, and I spent about $1000 - $1,500 on soundproofing material. I still can't play past 9pm, cause I rely on the car's zooming by the nearby avenue to cancel out the sound that does get out! Imagine that!

[vdrumdrummer]

Originally Posted by kiteboarder

Hey man, I have to be REALLY honest. There is no way you are going to be able to stop that noise from going into your neighbor's. Not with $1,000, not with $2,000! Sorry. The truth is... A drummer's best friend are walls. Extra-thick, super insulated walls, that is. That and a floating room withing a room! You can spend hundreds of dollars on acoustical products and while you will get the volume down a bit, those bass waves are going to go through the wall like there was nothing there. It all has to do with wavelengths. A deep, low-frequency wave can be a few feet long from peak to peak. Try insulated something like that!

My best suggestion would be an electronic kit. I've soundproofed a studio in my home. But, I have thick-sound insulated walls, I'm on a corner - so my room is at least 10-15 feet away from any neighbor, and I spent about $1000 - $1,500 on soundproofing material. I still can't play past 9pm, cause I rely on the car's zooming by the nearby avenue to cancel out the sound that does get out! Imagine that!

Dude,that's what vdrums are!Electric.Tap an yer desk.thats how loud they are

[chrisberry84]

I actually have a set of vdrums (or I'm pretty sure that's what they are-they're a Roland electric set with that white wired mesh drum heads) that I play on a regular basis for my church and I will say, they are really nice. And i used to think that they were the best until I played on a real drum set. I can't stand the roland hi hat now. There's just no way that you can get the sound of a real hi hat out of it. But for now, I've been using the mute pads and they've actually been working great so I'm happy. But we'll see if it continues to work in the future.

[kiteboarder]

Originally Posted by vdrumdrummer

Dude,that's what vdrums are!Electric.Tap an yer desk.thats how loud they are

Yeah, I know what V Drums are. My Reply was intended for the OP and his problem with acoustic drums.