Isolating the kick drum pedal (pedal hitting the floor)

[DanLights]

So the case is my cousin is setting up a rehearsal space in the storage room of his building where we can jam, write songs, record, etc. The problem is the storage room is completely anti-isolated as in the door doesn't even shut completely and has ventilation openings in it, plus the whole floor where the room is has more echo than the fucking cathedral of Notre Damme, but that problem has been solved by using a purely headphone set up, with Electronic drumkit and all (guitars line out through Pod/Vox Tonelab, bass DI'd, headphone amp/mixer, everyone on headphones, oh and no vocals which kinda sucks but it's the best we can do for now).

But now there is only one problem left, the place is in the attic of the bulding, and every time your foot hits the kick drum pedal, the sound of the pedal hitting the floor seems to be annoying the unlucky dudes who live underneath, sounds like people stomping on the floor (well duh, that's pretty much what it is). So my cousin has come up with this method to isolate the pedal from the floor, in which he has three wood tiles under the pedal, separated with rockwool, and honestly we have no idea if it'll work so I decided to ask around here if anyone can share some insight on this. Here is the diagram (in spanish, but the drawings are self-explanatory I think) he made:

So, would this work? if not, or even if it would, do you have any other idea that could be better than this? As stated above, the only thing needing isolation is the pedal, the rest has been solved by using headphones. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Uros]

A drummer I play with had the very same problem. He bought an e-kit for practicing at home (he lives in a building). Long story short, he solved it...by moving the kit to our rehearsal space. The problem is - it's not acoustic noise, so you cannot solve it with absorbers and bass traps. It's impact noise, so it travels through building construction. In order to solve this issue you would have to decouple the pedal totally from building's construction by making a floating floor, and that's rather expensive.

Good luck though.

 

[DanLights]

oh shoot, he´s not gonna like that answer haha well we can always rehearse with programmed drums, but that´s what we already do at my place. Thanks for sharing your experience man.

Any more thoughts? Or should I consider this case closed?

 

[exoslime]

have you ever thought of put 2 layers of those thick rubber maps, that you can buy for your washing machine in the local hardware store, they are pretty cheap and if it doesnt work, you can simply return them

 

[luismars]

A guy I know made a entire kit wooden base with 5 big springs used in engines to eliminate vibrations.

What you put in the picture is not going to work, since there are parts of the pedal that are in contact with the floor through the wood in the corners, maybe if you replace them with rubber will work better.

 

[drew_drummer]

You could try making a riser.

 

[Deus.exe]

Fuck, I'm in the exact same situation right now. We're trying to record an electonic drumkit with real cymbals in my living room figuring that an E-kit is quiet enough for home use. We had to stop after just 30 minutes because our neighbour complained. We're forced to look for another place to record because from my neighbours perspective it sounded like a heard of elephants were in my apartment. I might try and get some of those washing machine dampening mats (I need the for my washing machine anyway).

 

[DaveBlack]

someone posted a badass schematic for an impact riser made out of plywood and tennis balls a while back. If I remember correctly , it was well received.

 

[Trevoire520]

I've read about drummers making drum risers using sheets of plywood floated using tennis balls for this. Not sure how effective it is though.

 

[DanLights]

I'm gonna have to do an intensive google search on that riser thing cause I have no idea about it. Me and google tonight, gonna make sweet love. I'll post any updates in case anyone else is interested!

 

[drew_drummer]

Heard of this before too.

Something like this:

 

[DanLights]

ooh, looks nice, and easy to do, thanks for that pic now I have a real idea of what I'm dealing with! now, how am I gonna do to steal the bag from someone over at the country club...

 

[Cheesebone]

I was gonna say, it sounds corny but the cheapest way to isolate the kit and keep it level would be to get a big sheet of plywood. Get a bunch of old blankets and pillows from a resale shop, lay them on the floor evenly, and then put the plywood on top. Set the drumkit up on the plywood and the pedal will hit the plywood, the blankets will absorb the impact, and the transfer to the floor will be ridiculously reduced.

It may take a while figuring where to put the pillows, you'll want to use more padding where there will be more weight (like the drum throne for example, when you set it up it will want to "lean" towards wherever the weight is centered) but eventually you'll find a way to raise the plywood a few inches off the ground and keep it level under weight & playing.

What also might work (and would be easier to adjust) would be to get the same piece of plywood, and then go get 4 bicycle tire inner-tubes. Put one under each corner of the plywood and inflate them to compensate for whichever way it wants to "lean" when weighted. I don't know if this will ultimately dampen the sound as much but it's worth a shot..

Good Luck!!