Through the floor

Strix Varia · #1 12-11-2007, 03:42 AM

This isn't the first time that apartment life has presented problems when it comes to practising. I decided to bring my double pedals into my place to get some decent exercise with them, only to find that no matter what I position them against, I get a pretty solid "thud" on the floor. I'm on the second story, so I feel bad for the person under me. (No one has knocked on my door yet, but if I continue, I'm sure it won't be long before someone does.)

Any ideas on how to absorb some of the energy going into the floor? All I can think of would be to buy a thick yoga-type mat wide enough to fit my seat and pedals on. But I feel like there's going to be a delicate balance between what's soft enough to absorb, but firm enough to get decent practice on.

NUTHA JASON · #2 12-11-2007, 02:30 PM

i knew a guy who built a drum riser in his apartment. it was made out of four wooden (forklift) pallets with shag carpeting nailed to both sides and then he had 10-ply wood nailed, with rubber washers to the top side. he then had normal carpet on top of that to stop the kit moving around. he used velcro to hold the pallets together. he also placed the riser on top of 3 or 4 layers of carpet in the corner of the room. looked ugly but it worked. he worked in a carpet shop by the way.

j

Wavelength · #3 12-11-2007, 02:49 PM

A lot of people have built risers from two sheets of wood which are isolated from one another by tennis balls.

Strix Varia · #4 12-11-2007, 06:20 PM

Thanks. I might just try taking on some kind of riser project.

samthebeat · #5 12-13-2007, 03:49 AM

Particle bord sandwich mate, put sheets of dense rockwool (fiberglass) in between to 18 mil sheets of chipbord or mdf. better than ply cause it is denser. The higher acoustic grade rockwool you can get the better, rexel is good, but there are plenty of products on the market that are good to.

#6 12-13-2007, 12:09 PM

Perhaps you've already done this but you should also tell the other people in your apartment building you're a drummer so you might be making some noise every now and then. They will be a lot more tolerant if you tell them and check every now and then if you aren't bothering them. I play acoustically in our living room, it's not a big house and the neighbours can really hear me very well, but they don't mind because I don't play late at night and I ask them if it bothers them every now and then. The other day one of the neighbours even knocked on my window asking if he could have a look and have a go at my kit :)