drumming in an apartment problems

SkullDrummer

SkullDrummer

Active Member
so i live in an apartment, and i read the lease, which said that they did not allow things like drumsets, even if i made it a silent kit, and i dont have enough money for a good electric kit. what should i do?
 
1) practice pad (rubber) (stick control (book(s) and a metronome..

4) band mate where you can group practice at his 'house" then out to play gigs
 
How about buying an okay electric kit on the used market in your area? Bound to be some satisfactory kits available for relatively cheap on your local Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. In your profile it says you're from Washington--DC or the state? If state, what's the nearest community to you that will have a Craigslist section? DW members will check out what's available in your area and give you recommendations.
 
The management at the apartment complex may consider an electronic kit in the same category as an acoustic kit. They probably don't permit muted kits because will still be vibrations transmitted through the floor to the ceiling below.

I have found that students who live on the ground level have much less to worry about. Without neighbors below them, drummers can use mutes, mesh heads, etc. At that point, the volume is usually less than that of a surround sound system (which many people in apartments have).

I have been in the process of writing some articles on a new website. It is a work in progress, but these two articles may offer some information.

Can I Learn to Play the Drums Without a Drumset?

and

Can I Play Drums if I Live in an Apartment?


Thanks,

Jeff
 
You could buy those 10 inX1in foam rubber disc they sell at hobby shops and screw them into dowels you set up to positions like snare, toms, and cymbals. The kick is the main issue cause that thumping just transmits like crazy. Maybe like those inexpensive ekits that just have pedals- so no beater- you could at least practice motions of drumming. I basically use my ekit unplugged just as a big practice pad so I can practice quiet in my home during day, then after 4-5 I'll play my acoustic kit.
 
I just ordered a practice pad meant for single or double pedals from sweetwater for $59. Then I have the average old real feal pad on snare stand. I can't tell you how quiet the kick practice pad is until my shipment gets here. I think it was the evans one.

Back in the day some apartments i lived at had a clubhouse that nobody ever used, they let my band use it once a week.
 
- Practice pad.
- Air drumming.
- Working to acquire an electronic kit
- Friends and acquaintances. Hit them up for spaces to practise.
 
Last edited:
specgrade said:
Move.
Click to expand...

It gets to a point where you kinda gotta agree with this.

You ask what you should do?

Maybe look at all options of where you can live first.

If you are reading the lease on a property....then you either haven't moved in yet or you are reading it after you've moved in.

If you have moved in already, then look at what you have available to you.

If a practice pad and sticks is all you can use, then go for gold.

Maybe get a teacher in your area?

If you haven't moved in, then rethink and look at all other avenues.
 
jeffwj said:
The management at the apartment complex may consider an electronic kit in the same category as an acoustic kit. They probably don't permit muted kits because will still be vibrations transmitted through the floor to the ceiling below.

I have found that students who live on the ground level have much less to worry about. Without neighbors below them, drummers can use mutes, mesh heads, etc. At that point, the volume is usually less than that of a surround sound system (which many people in apartments have).

I have been in the process of writing some articles on a new website. It is a work in progress, but these two articles may offer some information.

Can I Learn to Play the Drums Without a Drumset?

and

Can I Play Drums if I Live in an Apartment?


Thanks,

Jeff
Click to expand...

Great ideas in these two articles by @jeffwj! The idea of learning to play drums without drums by using pads or pillows may seem ridiculous to you, but it can work if you do it! I work in a federal prison and when the inmates say, "I'm bored" (which they do often), sometimes I ask, "Have you learned to play drums yet?" They look at me dumbfounded until I explain how they can do it by just sitting in a chair tapping on their knees and tapping their feet. Obviously playing actual drums is better, but people can learn on their own body or using random objects around the house. Heck, humans used to do math using pencils and paper! No calculators or computers! As the old adage goes: where there's a will, there's a way! Also, remember the bucket drummers who also play without actual drums. I will be your first subscriber to your YouTube channel called, "Drumming without drums"!

 
Tama "True Touch" practice kit?

pen_TTK5S_Header.jpg
 
jeffwj said:
The management at the apartment complex may consider an electronic kit in the same category as an acoustic kit. They probably don't permit muted kits because will still be vibrations transmitted through the floor to the ceiling below.

I have found that students who live on the ground level have much less to worry about. Without neighbors below them, drummers can use mutes, mesh heads, etc. At that point, the volume is usually less than that of a surround sound system (which many people in apartments have).

I have been in the process of writing some articles on a new website. It is a work in progress, but these two articles may offer some information.

Can I Learn to Play the Drums Without a Drumset?

and

Can I Play Drums if I Live in an Apartment?


Thanks,

Jeff
Click to expand...
This.
Benthedrummer said:
It gets to a point where you kinda gotta agree with this.

You ask what you should do?

Maybe look at all options of where you can live first.

If you are reading the lease on a property....then you either haven't moved in yet or you are reading it after you've moved in.

If you have moved in already, then look at what you have available to you.

If a practice pad and sticks is all you can use, then go for gold.

Maybe get a teacher in your area?

If you haven't moved in, then rethink and look at all other avenues.
Click to expand...
And this.

Apartments typically have thin walls and ceilings and if you're above or next to another apartment, no matter how quiet you or your drums are, the vibration and sound will be heard by neighbors, and you're going to have problems.
 
When I was going to University of Georgia back in 70s I lived in a couple of apartment complexes and we had similar sound problems. So myself and a few other friends rented an old farm house in rural Bogart nearby where we had no noise issues at all. Well except when we would throw a party-a UGA party always would grow to over a hundred people showing up (but the house was in an empty field so plenty of parking and no neighbor for half a mile or so) because word of mouth-so we had the police called on us then. But usually we would cajole them and offer them some barbecue goat (we'd dig a pit and barbecue a whole goat) and promise to keep noise down. They were actually pretty cool about it all-I always felt they wanted to join us. I'd find a house that has some distance from other homes.
 
on the idea of electronics, I understand the annoyance of the hard rubber roland td7 type of pads in an apartment, but isn't the mesh pad kits like the alesis actually as silent as pillows? Or vdrums with mesh pads?
 
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