Your soundproofing for room?

[djadav]

Hello Everyone,

I am newbie to drumming and have bought a pearl export set.

I live in house and don't have basement. So wondering how you have soundproofed the room so neighbors are not disturbed?

Thanks,
Djadav

[Tadman]

Hi Djadav!

Welcome! Many will likely have thoughts on this, but to help the responses be more useful, can you let us know:

-are you in a home that has some distance between you and neighbors (i.e., unattached house with surrounding property) or attached (like apartment or townhome or two-family home situation?
-is the house wooden, brick, etc.?
-do you want low-cost fix or are you looking to invest in some sound proofing? (Sure the recommendations can go from things found around the home/hardware store, to things you by (sound dampening panels, etc.).
-assume this soundproofing is just for the drum kit, not a band practice (amplification requires an entirely different level of sound proofing...)

There are many ways to insulate, one of them being to help vibration reduction inside the house (putting set on some pads (like the kind that you see in gyms/workout areas) or carpeting, if you haven't done so already. Sometimes the pad on top of carpeting helps. If the room has windows, heavy draperies can dampen sound.

Whatever you do, if you sense issues with neighbors, often good to just go and explain. Hoping you have reasonable folks for neighbors. That also depends on when you want to practice/play.

[djadav]

Hi Tadman,

Thanks for the quick reply.

my house is wooden, with nearest neighbor less than 10 feet away. I don't want to spend a lot on the sound proofing. I am an occasional player not in band or something like that. No amplifier also.

thanks again for the quick response.

regards.
Djadav

[ScreaminSGs]

It is very hard to soundproof for a bass drum. I have a pole building that has a music room built inside it. I used some tricks I heard that do a pretty good job. The highs and mids are almost completely stopped. But the bass and bass drum come through, though slightly muted.
The first, and most important, thing I did was talk to the neighbors. They all knew I played in a band before I ever built my music room. I told them to let me know if I ever bother them. That was 15 years ago. The only response I've ever gotten besides it wasn't bothering them was to crank it up so they could hear it better. I always quit by 10:00 pm on weeknights.
I have some really good neighbors.
One band I was in rented a storage room that wasn't far from a residential area. We had the cops come and shut us down on a Sunday evening. We talked to all the people in the area and figured out a schedule we could all live with. I remember we had to shut down at 6:00 pm on Sundays.

The better your relationship with your neighbors the less you have to worry about soundproofing.

Good Luck

[Russ]

For serious noise stopping power, you can't use stuff like rugs, moving blankets, sheets or other thinner materials on walls. These are better suited for redirection of the sound from within, but not intended as a shield for containment. With that kind of location you're going to need something thick like audimute blankets, king size mattresses,(good square footage for the money) roll on or spray foam insulation, or if you can afford it, Auralex. The effectiveness of your soundproofing will depend primarily on the thickness of material used. How much soundproofing you use should depend on the distance you have between you and your neighbors. I used audimute blankets in my area, pretty good results within the room so far but it requires layers for complete proofing as you can imagine:

[wolvie56]

Welcomw to DC djadav. I had a situation where my across the street neighbor works nights, sleeps during the day. In the summer time his windows were open, while mine were sometimes open but most of the time closed. You could hear it pretty good on his side of the street. So I bought some 3/8" OSB board, cut it to the size of the windows 1 1/2" to 2" oversized, stapled some carpet remnants on the sheets of wood. Bought some of that foam padding for carpeting and cut out 4" strips, stapled that on the edges of the wood sheets on the opposite side of the wood (so it is against the window jambs). Used those holders that look like what you see on screen doors to hold the screens in, they work on a swivel basis), only larger (hardware stores have them). When I want to play I put them in place, if I want the sun in I take them down during the day. No way completely soundproof, but you can barely hear it any more. Just a muffled bass drum thud is left. Don't play past 9:00 or 10:00PM, whatever the rule is in your area. Havn't heard any complaints anymore. Relatively inexpensive and works pretty well.

[dave0549jv]

wolvie is right, you windows are likely to be your biggest problem area. i'd start there.

[therocker]

I don't even play past 6PM, because where I live, this is generally when most people are getting home from work, relaxing, watching a bit of TV. Just play in sensible times, make sure windows and doors are closed, maybe get some thick curtains to draw for the windows.

I live in a fairly well built house with concrete walls, and I've got three walls in between the drum room and the house. My neighbours next door say they only really hair a muffled thud- Like the same volume as a loud TV or radio.

Try this- But if you really want to make a good impact, I've heard Audimute makes some good products- And read the other helpful posters!