Which One is Quieter?

Chunkaway

Chunkaway

Silver Member
I'm considering building a drum room in a condo - (it would be on the second floor of our two-story condo with no one above us) - and I'm only going to be able to keep one drum set.

I currently have a modern kit and a vintage kit. The modern kit projects more and has more mids and highs. The modern kit does not have as much punch or as many lows as the vintage kit.

The vintage kit does not project as much as the modern kit, but it has considerably more lows.

I have heard that when trying to deal with creating a drum room, the low end is what tends to cut through the walls and is often what is heard by the neighbors. Others have said a louder kit will always be a louder kit, regardless of the mids or lows.

So, would I be better off using the modern kit that has fewer lows? Or should I go with the vintage kit that does not project as much and isn't as loud?
 
Chunkaway said:
...I have heard that when trying to deal with creating a drum room, the low end is what tends to cut through the walls and is often what is heard by the neighbors...
Click to expand...


You might know all this, but just in case:

The most annoying part comes from the bass drum since it´s STRUCTURAL noise and not AERIAL noise, it´s this contact and transmition with/through the floor to the rest of the building structure. That´s the reason people that play electronic drums have to build a plataform/riser, which I recommend you to build too.

I don´t think the sets (old/new) are going to make any substancial difference.

Play quieter, help your ears and muscles!


Best regards!
 
Last edited:
good luck with your neighbours

My situation:

I used to play a Yamaha Stage Custom and my neighbour was fine
I then bought a Sonor Prolite and he went mental

Despite the small bass drum and smaller drums, the prolite is much more of a fuller sounding kit and the sounds and vibrations were huge.

So I have now built a riser on top of acoustic foam to try and flatten out the vibrations, which it does a little. The issue now is with sound escaping through the windows, along the walls and into the ceiling.

It's a constant nightmare so I'm consistently looking for a detached house to move to.

Use the kit that is less full sounding. The Yamaha sounded great, it just didn't fill the world with sound like the Sonor does
 
I really don't think it will matter. I think you may have to do some serious room treatment if you are playing drums in a condo.

Although I'm not a huge fan of doing this, you do something like this:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/pearl-tru-trac-electronic-head-pack?cntry=us&source=3WWRWXGP&gclid=Cj0KEQiA5bvEBRCM6vypnc7QgMkBEiQAUZftQETDe-O7pupmjLNB98Fsi_Po0nZYlK9udpDlLexJG_kaArrH8P8HAQ&kwid=productads-adid^156717928496-device^c-plaid^143130745722-sku^H82377000000000@ADL4MF-adType^PLA#productDetail

I would be more apt to buy something like this as opposed to an e-kit. I feel like if I played on nothing but an e-kit for months, it would really mess with my muscle memory. With something like this, you only change out the heads. I don't know what happens to the natural acoustic sound of the drums, but surely it quietens it down quite a bit.
 
I live in a condo, and I don't think this is a good idea.

Maybe your walls aren't as thin as mine, but condos were NOT designed to contain noise like that.

I'll use a practice pad that doesn't make much noise (one of the Invader V3 ones), and even that I limit my use of and use it only during the day.


Check out the condo for a bit first and figure out how much sound gets through. if it's really soundproof, then you might be able to set something up, but I think you're going ot have to get a practice room somewhere, or get electronic drums. Although even electronic drums will make a lot of noise for your neighbors unless you have them on some sort of platform to absorb the vibrations.
 
"Which One Is Quieter" LMAO! That's a good one. Here's the answer.....neither. Your plan of playing an acoustic drum set in a condo is an unrealistic one at best. Not gonna happen....doesn't matter what is done to the room.

Consider contacting Agent 86 and ask about how to construct a larger "Cone Of Silence".

Get_Smart-Cone-of-silence.jpg
 
I think that you'll need an electronic kit, or really, really nice neighbors.
 
So, first off, thank you to everyone who responded with suggestions, I really appreciate it.

Second- to all of the people trying to convince me that it is impossible to build a drum room in a condo, let me explain my situation.


I live in Singapore, and the condos here are built almost entirely of concrete/brick/mortar- very solid walls. In addition, in my current condo we live in a penthouse (not any kind of glamorous situation at all, by the way). The drum room is on the second floor of our condo - this is the 16th floor. There is no one above us or beside us. The floor below the drum room is our first floor, so no neighbors below the drum room or to the sides of the drum room. So, I really need to make sure the sound does not travel out the window, which has been covered with wood and sheet rock.

I am working to make it even more sound proof, but I am also trying to do everything I can to keep the sound down. Thus, my question about drum set volumes.

For the people suggesting an electronic kit - I have owned an excellent electronic kit and it was not for me. I learned that I much prefer the sound and feel of acoustic drums/cymbals. If I can't play an acoustic kit at home I would rather play with quiet cymbals and pads on my drums or try to rent a drum studio somewhere. Electronic kits aren't my thing.
 
I know you're in Singapore, but at this year's NAMM I really checked out the WhisperRoom enclosed rooms you can purchase. I am not kidding, you get the premium package, and you can't hear a thing outside the room. They come in any size, the one I tried was a 6'x 3' vocal booth, but GoPro had a full demobooth that housed an entire 5-person band, plus drums and amps, and you heard nothing outside!

Of course, these are pricey, in the US, I think a nice 8' x 8', with all the fixins', plus air conditioning would run me about $20K - but that's still cheaper than me adding a room to my home that's sound-proofed (which would put me in the $40K range).

But the WhisperRoom is an option.
 
This shouldn't be so much a question of "which drum kit" as much as it should be a question of "how do I build it properly?"

Trying to discern which kit is going to have the most projection, is largely nothing more than splitting hairs. If the room isn't built properly, then it's not going to matter. They both cause low end vibrations and regardless of whether it was made in '66....or '16, both will cause your neighbours grief if you don't get the build right.

Forget about the kit.....drums are loud......regardless of whether they're vintage or not. Pick what ever kit you like the most and keep that one. if you really wanna do this right, concentrate your efforts on the build.
 
Matt Bo Eder said:
I know you're in Singapore, but at this year's NAMM I really checked out the WhisperRoom enclosed rooms you can purchase. I am not kidding, you get the premium package, and you can't hear a thing outside the room. They come in any size, the one I tried was a 6'x 3' vocal booth, but GoPro had a full demobooth that housed an entire 5-person band, plus drums and amps, and you heard nothing outside!

Of course, these are pricey, in the US, I think a nice 8' x 8', with all the fixins', plus air conditioning would run me about $20K - but that's still cheaper than me adding a room to my home that's sound-proofed (which would put me in the $40K range).

But the WhisperRoom is an option.
Click to expand...

I will absolutely check this option out. I do appreciate the suggestion. My post was directed to the people saying I needed to just buy an electronic kit.
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
This shouldn't be so much a question of "which drum kit" as much as it should be a question of "how do I build it properly?"

Trying to discern which kit is going to have the most projection, is largely nothing more than splitting hairs. If the room isn't built properly, then it's not going to matter. They both cause low end vibrations and regardless of whether it was made in '66....or '16, both will cause your neighbours grief if you don't get the build right.

Forget about the kit.....drums are loud......regardless of whether they're vintage or not. Pick what ever kit you like the most and keep that one. if you really wanna do this right, concentrate your efforts on the build.
Click to expand...

I certainly agree that the drum room is more important than the kit itself, however I am trying to do everything I can to help with the situation. I figured the drum kit is probably the easiest component to address. But the room is the most significant aspect of this endeavor.
 
Chunkaway said:
I will absolutely check this option out. I do appreciate the suggestion. My post was directed to the people saying I needed to just buy an electronic kit.
Click to expand...

I get that. I had a nice Roland TD-10 V-Drum kit (then the top o' the line) and absolutely hated it. I have to have the real thing, especially since I spent most of my life playing and working with the real thing. I appreciate electronics when it's needed, but my technique has to be fed by the acoustic instrument. It can't be duplicated on mesh pads.

Maybe there is a company like WhisperRoom in your country that specializes in that sort of thing. America can't be the only place one would need a sound isolation booth! Good luck!
 
Goodness gracious y'all. I've been playing only a couple years and had to switch to electric to save my marriage...literally. Glad I'm not the only one who is a fan of acoustic vs. electric. Even so, I built a set of full size mesh head pads, painted them with liquid rubber to minimize vibration and still it's, "too loud." My next step is to build an enclosure, hence my search around the internet to figure it all out in the most cost effective manner. Once I get t built, I post some photos. Fingers firmly crossed for 65dB of sound attenuation and another 25 years of wedded bliss...yes I read the Gervais book, repeatedly

Cheers
 
Keep one real kit, buy a Pearl Rhythm Traveller and use the mesh heads as a practice kit, and be considerate about when and for how long you practice.

This will, by far, the easiest option.
 
Matt Bo Eder said:
I know you're in Singapore, but at this year's NAMM I really checked out the WhisperRoom enclosed rooms you can purchase. I am not kidding, you get the premium package, and you can't hear a thing outside the room. They come in any size, the one I tried was a 6'x 3' vocal booth, but GoPro had a full demobooth that housed an entire 5-person band, plus drums and amps, and you heard nothing outside!

Of course, these are pricey, in the US, I think a nice 8' x 8', with all the fixins', plus air conditioning would run me about $20K - but that's still cheaper than me adding a room to my home that's sound-proofed (which would put me in the $40K range).

But the WhisperRoom is an option.
Click to expand...

You could build a room that would isolate a drum kit better than a WhisperRoom for a whole lot less than $20,000. I'm building a 16'×12.5"×9' room-in-a-room in my garage and when it's all done it'll come in around $4,000 including treatments for inside the room so my drums actually sound half decent in there.

Considering the OP already has the mass of concrete and/or brick walls for his outer leaf going for him, he could get very good isolation by building an inner leaf of 2×6 framing with a 3" air gap between the inner and outer leaves and then filling the stud spaces and 3" airgap completely with pink fluffy insulation packed as lightly as possible and 3 layers of 5/8" drywall on the inner face of the stud walls and ceiling. Second floor or not, the bass drum will still transmit impact noise through the structure to adjacent condo units, so a decoupled floor would still be needed, but it's doable, if the OP has about 5 grand and a ton of free time to burn. Both leaves and their respective doors would need to be completely airtight to achieve good isolation, but a build like this could reduce sound transmission by maybe 75-80 dB if it was done properly. Really laying into a kit puts you in 100-110 dB territory, but if you limited yourself to playing fairly lightly, you could play an acoustic kit in a room like that without disturbing any neighbors.
 
Just because it hasn't been mentioned, the tennis balls under a 1" plywood work to isolate the bass drum transmission to the structure. Quiet technique is a real factor too. You could use a brush as a BD beater. This L-80(?) low volume cymbals from Zildjian rock IMO.

IMO, the best thing you can do is play so beautifully...and so quietly...that people like it when you play.

Quiet technique has served me so well, in so many ways...I can't even begin to tell you.
 
larryace said:
Just because it hasn't been mentioned, the tennis balls under a 1" plywood work to isolate the bass drum transmission to the structure. Quiet technique is a real factor too. You could use a brush as a BD beater. This L-80(?) low volume cymbals from Zildjian rock IMO.

IMO, the best thing you can do is play so beautifully...and so quietly...that people like it when you play.

Quiet technique has served me so well, in so many ways...I can't even begin to tell you.
Click to expand...

That is the method I was going to suggest. Plywood on top of tennis balls laid out in a checkerboard pattern spaced about a foot apart in all directions. Thick carpet underlay between the plywood and whatever flooring is used couldn't hurt either. Just ensure the seam between the existing floor and the bottom plates of all 4 inner leaf walls is caulked airtight before covering it over with the floating floor. The inner door would still be framed and sealed to the existing floor, so you would have to step up 4 or 5 inches to enter the room.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top