Duck Tape
Platinum Member
I live in the city (for work), and in the city a serious drummer couldn't hope to practice as much as he needs to on a real kit unless he had a bonified sound proof room. Luckily I live near a drum shop that has practice rooms, it's actually the biggest reason I moved to my area, hah (slowly getting to the point).
These kits have sheets stuffed under the batter heads, I'm pretty sure there may be more sheets thrown in to mute the reso heads too. They're all but dead. The cymbals are unmuted.
Since I've been practicing on these kits I've developed a much better sense of how my sticks interact with the heads, this has helped me focus on my technique, which was quite bad until recently.
And something else that I'm starting to notice is that my timing is cleaner. I think this is because the drums are so dead, rather than long loud notes, I now have short staccato notes. I think it's much easier to sense the accuracy of your timing in this setting.
I notice that I'm not dealing with an overwhelming amount of volume coming from the drums anymore, and I might go so far as to say that this may disorient a drummer at times, he might lose compusure ever so slightly with all this noise hitting him in the face and this may affect his musicality. I also notice this phenomenon when I'm playing on my electric kit but that's a different story.
Just some food for thought.
Council made me soundproof my drum room back in my home town and that cost me in excess of $5,000... and I know this arrangement might not be ideal once you get other musicians involved but I find that my drumming has improved since I was forced to practice in different settings and I've found this setting to be very good for my drumming, better for your hearing and also alot more neighbour friendly. One last cool thing - since you're muting them, it doesn't matter what drums you use, you can save your money and use the cheapest kit out there.
So
1. My technique has improved
2. My timing has improved
3. I'm more composed
4. My ears aren't copping so much abuse
5. I can be a cheapskate
Not bad in my eyes.
These kits have sheets stuffed under the batter heads, I'm pretty sure there may be more sheets thrown in to mute the reso heads too. They're all but dead. The cymbals are unmuted.
Since I've been practicing on these kits I've developed a much better sense of how my sticks interact with the heads, this has helped me focus on my technique, which was quite bad until recently.
And something else that I'm starting to notice is that my timing is cleaner. I think this is because the drums are so dead, rather than long loud notes, I now have short staccato notes. I think it's much easier to sense the accuracy of your timing in this setting.
I notice that I'm not dealing with an overwhelming amount of volume coming from the drums anymore, and I might go so far as to say that this may disorient a drummer at times, he might lose compusure ever so slightly with all this noise hitting him in the face and this may affect his musicality. I also notice this phenomenon when I'm playing on my electric kit but that's a different story.
Just some food for thought.
Council made me soundproof my drum room back in my home town and that cost me in excess of $5,000... and I know this arrangement might not be ideal once you get other musicians involved but I find that my drumming has improved since I was forced to practice in different settings and I've found this setting to be very good for my drumming, better for your hearing and also alot more neighbour friendly. One last cool thing - since you're muting them, it doesn't matter what drums you use, you can save your money and use the cheapest kit out there.
So
1. My technique has improved
2. My timing has improved
3. I'm more composed
4. My ears aren't copping so much abuse
5. I can be a cheapskate
Not bad in my eyes.
Last edited:
