How to play drums properly in the city?

karnivoolsoundawake

Junior Member
Hi guys,

When I move out and go out into the world, I want to keep playing drums. Just looking for ideas on how I could do this.

I don't think I'd mind sleeping on some matress in a sound proof room if I had to. Can you think of any ways I can cheaply play drums in the city? Is it possible to just live in some sound proof studio thing and play drums and sleep on something?

What kinds of places can you play drums in the city? Basically, I'm not very high maitenance and could sleep and eat very simply because I want to play drums.

How can I play drums, in the city, without disturbing anyone? Leave stupid suggestions as well thanks :)
 
Sleeping there consistently would be hard unless it's private owned. If it's a rehearsal space business it's not that easy and either way, the best way to save money is to share.

I'm in a bit of a situation myself and might have to do something similar for a while. In that case it will more like sleep in car, shower at gym and share a space with one or two bands that practice in the evenings, meaning I can use the space mornings and afternoons most days with no hassle.

Electric kit or some other low volume option is the easiest way to go. That depends a bit, though. If it's a hobby I'd do that for a while, but if you're a serious player who needs to work with an acoustic instrument all the time, play dynamic types of music, I'd probably go pretty far to be able to practice on the real thing.

My city of choice will probably be the city of Trondheim here in Norway. By global standards it's not even a city and it's fairly cheap to live there, especially if you're a bit patient. If we're talking New York or something, I think the mony will be quite a bit more.

I'd try to get in contact with drummers already living there and ask them about it.


Ah. Then I see you're in Australia.

Actually, my niese was dating a guy from Melbourne who spent last Christmas with us, so I know housing is on the expensive side.

Just find some people to ask.

If you have an apartment and some sound is allowed, you can still sort of go acoustic with stuff like L80 cymbals and then for drums either Aquarian Superpads, Remo Silent Strokes or the new RTOM Black Holes. I predict lots of products like these in the future as it is the main challenge today. World population is growing, musicians that make less than ever want to live in cities and salaries in the first world will be dropping a lot in our generation.
 
Hi guys,

When I move out and go out into the world, I want to keep playing drums. Just looking for ideas on how I could do this.

I don't think I'd mind sleeping on some matress in a sound proof room if I had to. Can you think of any ways I can cheaply play drums in the city? Is it possible to just live in some sound proof studio thing and play drums and sleep on something?

What kinds of places can you play drums in the city? Basically, I'm not very high maitenance and could sleep and eat very simply because I want to play drums.

How can I play drums, in the city, without disturbing anyone? Leave stupid suggestions as well thanks :)

Even with an electric kit you will need isolation, if I were you I would honestly find a studio/practice rooms complex and book a regular slot. I am so cynical about all this (as I've been through it all) in that you just simply cannot play drums in this day and age in anything other than a detached house/building/room
 
Even with an electric kit you will need isolation, if I were you I would honestly find a studio/practice rooms complex and book a regular slot. I am so cynical about all this (as I've been through it all) in that you just simply cannot play drums in this day and age in anything other than a detached house/building/room

I would do a cheap e-kit for practicing at home every day, and book time on an acoustic kit for once or twice a week, if finances allowed.
 
I would do a cheap e-kit for practicing at home every day, and book time on an acoustic kit for once or twice a week, if finances allowed.

Agreed, cheap ones are rubbish though. I would say the best usable cheapest e-kit would be a roland TD11
 
Agreed, cheap ones are rubbish though. I would say the best usable cheapest e-kit would be a roland TD11

Wouldn't that depend on if you ever plan to use it for performing? I've not played many e-kits, but how good do they need to be for just home practice? I mean, I'm just trying to save the guy some money, if possible.
 
I have a roland hd3 lite. Perfect for home practice unless you need to really work on your pedal technique. But i also use a studio which has an acoustic kit i use. You can work on independance timing rudiments etc . It is a bit different but its by far better than nothing. Supplemented with lessons and regular use of an acoustic kit too should get you started. You wouldnt want to gig with it and yes the sounds may not be the best but for home practice it does the job cheaply
 
Join a band.

Also, if you come across a video of Simon Phillips talking about learning to play open-handed, you'll find that he, too, lived in the city (London) and couldn't have a kit in his apartment. His solution: practice on the sofa.
 
I have a Roland TD-6 for practice, and it is a great option. Is it the same as an acoustic kit, of course not. But it lets me at least play, play, play....and when I need to really work on new material it's a godsend. Headphones on, phone plugged in, simple and effective.

I also play it out in the venues where we are seriously volume-constrained (seriously, a guy walks around with a db-level meter). It does change my style of playing, but getting to play is the thing, isn't it?
 
What I used to do was find a local college with practice rooms in their music dept and set up my drums and practice there.

Usually you could practice anytime between 8AM and 10 PM 7 days a week.

You had to set and tear down every time ,but you got to practice as loud as you wanted.
 
1 idea would be to go and see what you can get on ebay.

My friends kids want to start drumming and he doesn't want a full acoustic kit but doesn't want to fork out on electric kits that are pretty crap below the £500. I therefore did the following:

Sell him my old yamaha stage custom
He buys mesh heads for it

I then lend him my old roland TD5, foot controller and 3 pads he can use as cymbals, plus my Ddrum trigger pack.

Plug it all into the roland and you're away.

I bought my electric kit years ago from the back room of sound control in leeds. It was very basic but because it came on a gibraltar rack and had all the fixtures and fittings, I wasn't buying an old flimsy kit made to suit a certain budget. I converted my mapex black panther to an electric snare with mesh head and trigger and used that in flats for quite a few years.

Didn't stop people complaining about the thudding below though
 
I have an electric kit that I am very satisfied with. It takes up less space and gives lets you listen to music while playing very easily.

I also play my acoustic kit with chopsticks sometimes....they are the longer heavier chopsticks you see Asian chefs on the Food Network using to cook things. They are very quiet compared to normal sticks and have a better feel on the drums than the brush, bound sticks, and other things I have tried.
 
+1 for low volume acoustic solutions. Zildjian LV80s, a cheap kit and mesh heads. That's what's worked for my boy.
Definitely worth finding the LV80s in a drum shop and giving them a try.
 
I find it cheap and easy to simply not care about my neighbors, if it falls within the hours of our local noise ordinance, too bad for them!!
 
I find it cheap and easy to simply not care about my neighbors, if it falls within the hours of our local noise ordinance, too bad for them!!

I assume you're joking, but with all the quiet practice solutions available now, there's really no need to disturb anyone.
 
I assume you're joking, but with all the quiet practice solutions available now, there's really no need to disturb anyone.

I don't know, depends on your neighbour.

I live in a new house, when my neighbour moved in next door, I went round and told him i was a drummer. He didn't look too pleased but then i told him that it would only be at sociable times, no more than an hour and attempted to practice before he gets home from work.

Now, for THREE YEARS he was absolutely fine.

Then I changed my Yamaha Stage Custom for a Sonor Prolite and he turned into a rabid beast. Banging on my front door, shaking with rage, shouting at me etc etc. So I told him to fork off until he could speak to me in a rational way.

Even if he went to the cops, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on because I have done everything to mitigate the noise.

People get disturbed by birds singing, doors closing, cars arriving, children playing - flipping everything.

If you keep kowtowing to people who just want to watch strictly come dancing in peace then you are doing us all a disservice. Stand up for your right to drum!!!

And I've just stepped down off me soapbox...
 
I assume you're joking, but with all the quiet practice solutions available now, there's really no need to disturb anyone.

Dead serious. I live in a shitty trailer too with super thin walls and the drums are at one end of the trailer. I own my shit trailer and the land it is on, and whenever someone would come to look at the place next door for rent, I made sure they heard there were drums next door. I played the whole 2 hours while the current tenant signed the lease so if they had no problem then, I don't want to hear about it.

I know people 3 streets away can hear me and I do not care.

Are any of those people going to take into consideration that I work nights and sleep all day? Of course not. Can I ask them to not mow their yard while I sleep? I could but that would be ridiculous to expect them to cater to my schedule. I sleep with earplugs in to block out the noise of the world, so I feel they can do the same.
 
Dead serious. I live in a shitty trailer too with super thin walls and the drums are at one end of the trailer. I own my shit trailer and the land it is on, and whenever someone would come to look at the place next door for rent, I made sure they heard there were drums next door. I played the whole 2 hours while the current tenant signed the lease so if they had no problem then, I don't want to hear about it.

I know people 3 streets away can hear me and I do not care.

Are any of those people going to take into consideration that I work nights and sleep all day? Of course not. Can I ask them to not mow their yard while I sleep? I could but that would be ridiculous to expect them to cater to my schedule. I sleep with earplugs in to block out the noise of the world, so I feel they can do the same.

+1 for you mr Galaxy
 
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