Need drum advice!

Sputnik

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Jul 6, 2001
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Im playing drums, but I dont own a set. When I play I use the set in the drum learning room with my teacher. But learning curve is much longer without an own drumset.

The problem is that Im living in an appartment in stockholm, and the sound of drums is very loud if you know what I mean...:D

So I must damp the set to lower the sound...
Does anyone how do this?? rubber...jelly...clothes? I have no idea. But I know that some of this forum have their bands and they must have some advice on this...Or do you know a good drum site for this?

Its very, very important...If I cant damp them...Il be like :cry:
 
You've got a number of options. The best one (if you have some spare cash) is to buy an electronic kit. Means you can still hear the kit through haeadphones as loud as you want without disturbing anyone else. Failing that though, there are a number of products on the market that are designed for your problem. The one they sell here in Australia are called "Sound Offs" ... they are big rubber pads that go over your skins and cymbals and which pretty much block out all of the noise.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks! Great! then I know its possible to damp them...

I will never in my life get electronic drums! I dont like that kind of stuff...no feeling at all...and they are EXPENSIVE as hell!

Im very intresting in those rubber "sound off" things though...
Do you know were I can find some more information on this?
That would be great! :)
 
Originally posted by Sputnik
Thanks! Great! then I know its possible to damp them...

I will never in my life get electronic drums! I dont like that kind of stuff...no feeling at all...and they are EXPENSIVE as hell!

Im very intresting in those rubber "sound off" things though...
Do you know were I can find some more information on this?
That would be great! :)

Yea man, totally possible. I use sounds-offs and they work great, you should be able to buy them in any well-stocked music store that has lots of drum stuff. They aren't that expensive either, and trust me, it's a lot better alternative than getting electronic drums (which totally and truly SUCK because the cymbals are crap on electronic sets, especially the hats) or a practice pad set, which is a lot of money for basically nothing and it sounds like complete crap.

Some advice on using sounds off: Contrary to what the company claims, they are totally useless on the snare and bass drums so don't even bother getting pads for these it does NOT work at all.

For the bass drum, I suggest you remove the head and make something else for the mallet to strike. Personally, I used my 10" tom cardboard-like drum case, stuffed tight with a blanket, and then tape a few layres of some kind of hard sponge on it (I used carpet underlay). I then cut up some left over sound-off material and taped it on there and used that as the contact for the mallet. It's works great, it feels different from a bass drum head obviously but it's better than nothing or getting evicted from your apartment cuz of the noise. You can use blankets to position the box (or whatever you use) inside your bass drum. Trust me, don't bother getting the bass-drum sound off, it's expensive and it looks good but it doesn't work.

For the snare, get yourself a standard wooden practice pad covered in rubber. The popular one is north america is called the Frank May Fast Hands pad. Just take this rubber covered wooden pad and place right on top of your snare skin. You will get an excellent feel and the perfect volume. Again, don't use the sound off for your snare, it doesn't work, it's way way too loud like the bass drum one.

Also, use very light sticks and learn to play lightly (more advisible for technical playing anyway) to cut down on the racket if you are playing late in the evening and keep in mind that the loudest thing your neighbors will hear is your bass drum mallet striking the box cuz it travels through the floor really well. Also, if you use medium to heavy sticks, even something like a 5A on your sound-offs, they will get destroyed much faster.

If you can't find sound offs or a frank may fast hands pad for your snare in your area, just order it from an on-line store, they are both very readily available items.

If you plan on getting some things like glocks, sound blocks, tamborine, cow bell, chimes, etc, let me know and I can tell you how to damp these things as well while still preserving their sound.

Don't get too excited and think playing like this is anywhere near as exciting as playing with no damping, it's not, but hey, it's better than hitting your legs and the air! ;)

cheers,

Satori
 
Thanks pal! Now I got all the information I needed...

The only thats left is to buy some nasty metal-drums! That wont sound so much with "sounds off" :D

Another thing Ive thought of: The bass-drum, can a thick rubber carpet fix some of the problem? then the drums dont have floor contact wich is quite important when removing loud sounds.

???

Thanks again!!!