Sound Dampening - Drum STAND - Ideas?

[Pellakin]

Wow - there are some creative folks out there trying to keep their families/pets/neighbors happy. I've seen some great ideas tossed out there regarding mods to the drum sticks and the pads to cut down on the tapping sound. Keep those ideas rolling.

I'm more concerned right now about the sound that's transferring through the entire drum set down into the base, into the floor of my 2nd-floor apartment, and into the ceiling of the ground-floor tenant.

Obviously the couple downstairs are concerned about it too, since after about 6 hours of playing today, they finally got fed up with my drumming and beat on the ceiling to get me to shut up.

Anyway, aside from stick/pad modifications, has anyone come up with a good way to dampen the sound going down into the floor by modifying either the stand or using some kind of padding/stage?

I ended up rolling up a 3" memory foam pad that we used on an old full-size bed. I got it rolled into quarters so it was four layers thick, and it was wide enough that the drum stand sat on it without wobbling. I played this way for about an hour because I wanted to see how much noise it made (along with some dampening I did to the sticks - thick socks cut and duct taped to sticks) - I also played much more conservatively and didn't wail on the drums like I was earlier in the day.

Obvious problems: 1) The stand is now sitting up about a foot off the ground (not a huge deal, since I can just adjust/lower the pads). 2) The pedal is now stretched way out and is itself still sitting on the floor - and still causes foot-tapping sound to transfer down into the lower apt. 3) Stability doesn't seem to be a problem, but it's far from solid sitting up on the roll of foam like that.

I ended up going down to apologize and verifying that the sound wasn't a problem during the hour or so after I had made the modification to my setup. He was cool about it - and said he didn't have an issue with any sounds after he had pounded on the ceiling earlier.

So, the jury-rigged system seems to work somewhat well, but I'm still very conscious of the sound and worry about the foot pedal.

I'm thinking of getting some egg-crate foam tomorrow to add another layer right on the floor and continue with my rolled-up pad on top of that. I'm still struggling with the foot pedal, as I tried multiple things, including putting it on top of a pillow and blanket, but it just became very awkward.

Any other ideas out there from the angry-neighbor crowd? :)

[admanimal]

I'm thinking of getting some egg-crate foam tomorrow to add another layer right on the floor and continue with my rolled-up pad on top of that. I'm still struggling with the foot pedal, as I tried multiple things, including putting it on top of a pillow and blanket, but it just became very awkward.


I have egg crate foam under my set right now, including the pedal. The piece is kind of small and the feet of the set don't even sit entirely on the foam, so it wobbles if you nudge it. However when I am playing I don't notice it at all, and it seems to reduce the vibrations sent into the floor. I live on the first floor, but I am concerned about the noise going up the walls to my upstairs neighbor. No complaints from anyone yet (I also wrapped some of that foam around the drum stick tips, which also works well), but I think the apartments here are pretty well noise proofed from each other, fortunately.

[SteppinRazor]

For the pedal you might want to try some carpeting extras. Something that will keep friction but dampen vibrations without lifting the pedal off the floor too far.

Most houses have some old carpet somewhere, or scraps from a cut-to-fit wall-to-wall carpet. If you don't have any, a good place for DIY stuff like this are "end of the roll" style stores which sell odd bits of textiles and such.

[Pellakin]

I'll be looking around today for some carpet remnants. Thanks for the idea.

I've got a bit of a plan forming in my head - I'll have to flesh it out a bit more - but I'm thinking a combination of layers of some kind of rubber padding/neoprene pad (like a sleeping pad roll), egg-crate foam, and the memory foam mattress pad I have now should work.

Now I just have to decide whether I want to try to craft it all into some kind of wooden box/plank that I can slide under the couch when it's not used.

[PunkJr]

We put a futon cushion down. :)

http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=8896

[imagine]

Here is an idea if by chance you h ave a deluxe DDR dance pad. You could put the drums on that since they are foam insulated.

[surferbill]

yeah ive been worried as heck that my downstairs neighbors are going to send bullets through the floor...no complaints as of yet though.

Up until this point I have been using 4 rolled up t-shirts...one for each corner of the stand...i try to have as little of the stand touching the shirts though...less room for sound to transfer...so i try to get it at the very corners and have it balanced.

I'd like a better solution though, one that looks a hell of a lot better than freeking tshirts all over the floor and that may be virtually transfer proof.

I may give your memory foam suggestion a whirl!