Your practice area set ups

My practice space looks like a practice pad on a stand, next to my drums, where I do rudiments and such while the tv is on, sometimes with youtube videos.
I feel very lucky to have a place where, besides heat, climate is not an issue. It sounds like, based on your situation and location, you want to get a dehumidifier, as noted above.

As for sound absorption, you could do a lot with DIY bass traps and such, but sound transmission can be a tough thing to mitigate. What's above/around the room where you play? How many windows?

It's a ground floor room with a picture window behind it and a picture window on the other side of the room. Above is ceiling and second floor is bedrooms. I like the idea of a humidifier in the basement. The cinderblock foundation is high enough that I could perhaps build some sort of smaller room down there. The basement walls would be ideal to help block out some of the noise. I have three pillows stuffed in my bass drum which has helped.

I want to take the pads off the drums sometimes to practice on the kit or the snare to make sure my technique is consistent. I've been practicing on different surfaces, practice pads, pillows, those rubber drum pad mufflers and a mouse pad on a table top and each surface has a different feel. I had a recent left hand injury which has healed and I had to switch over to traditional grip, (I really like this drip!)...so the different surfaces really test to see if I am consistent in technique (easier said than done).

Anyway...I'm getting too wordy here--but I very much appreciate everyone's ideas on sound muffling and love seeing the practice spaces. I want to start making a lot more noise and need to consider muffling and room changes.
 
Most basements are damp. The real problem is if you get real water down there. If so, you need to resolve that to save your foundation. But if no real water, put a dehumidifier down there and keep the humidity at about 45. My drums have been in basements for most of their 45 year lifespan. My parent's basement was damp and occassionally saw a little water in a corner. But they had a dehumifier down there. Then when I bought my house it too is damp, especially in the summer. From day one we had a dehumidifer running down there. We recently finisthed the basement and got a new dehumidifier to go with the new installation. In the winter it rarely turns on. In the summer it runs most of the time with daily dumping of the water. But the humidity level down there is always around 45.


Exactly--it's damp in the summer from condensation. You're quite right. My brother is a construction guy so I'll have him visit and look at the foundation--maybe he'll have some ideas on where to set the drums up so they stay dry. I absolutely LOVE my Gretsch Renowns and would want them to be in a drier environment.
 
It's a ground floor room with a picture window behind it and a picture window on the other side of the room. Above is ceiling and second floor is bedrooms. I like the idea of a humidifier in the basement. The cinderblock foundation is high enough that I could perhaps build some sort of smaller room down there. The basement walls would be ideal to help block out some of the noise. I have three pillows stuffed in my bass drum which has helped.

I want to take the pads off the drums sometimes to practice on the kit or the snare to make sure my technique is consistent. I've been practicing on different surfaces, practice pads, pillows, those rubber drum pad mufflers and a mouse pad on a table top and each surface has a different feel. I had a recent left hand injury which has healed and I had to switch over to traditional grip, (I really like this drip!)...so the different surfaces really test to see if I am consistent in technique (easier said than done).

Anyway...I'm getting too wordy here--but I very much appreciate everyone's ideas on sound muffling and love seeing the practice spaces. I want to start making a lot more noise and need to consider muffling and room changes.
What's your main area of concern?
What's your intent?
What's the budget?

Windows are a huge source of sound transmission, and the bedrooms above definitely complicate the issue. I'd think you'll never get the room "silent", but you may be able to mitigate things some, maybe quite a bit.

Is the basement the only option? What's above/around that? If it has no windows it's likely already be an improvement. Also, make sure to get a de-humidifier if you go there.
 
A super-cool individual who lives locally lets us practice at his place. It's a former seafood restaurant that he's converted into a boat repair/dock building/artistic expression/guy-pad. It has A/C, heat, and is way out in the country so we can do whatever we want. He sits in on most practices and loves every minute of it.

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When I've been in bands that practiced at my place, we would play in my basement.

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Moving blankets. I bought a 12-pack, tacked pairs together with grommets and hung them using pipe & Velcro. The A-clamp prevents slippage on the pipe.

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I will hopefully be building a space like this in a few years to house my musical, mountain and BMX biking, and sports card collecting areas...a "man barn"

for now, I am very lucky to keep my drums set up in the band room where I teach

my set is 6 feet away from my desk just to the right of tha window. We also use it as the jazz band set at school, which the kids love
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Mine after a re-build and the current look.
Wood paneling and a tiffany light. You need some shag and a Ludwig Octaplus to finalize it :) I have a bedroom that I call my retro room. I actually wanted to find some wood paneling but found it near impossible other than doing real planks which isn't cost effective with the Covid shortages.
 
Wow ...... Yamaha RC's in Antique Amber Burst ????? Sweet !!!!

Mine practice space is pretty much a "hard hat area" mess, right now. But I always have 1 kit, sometimes 2, set up. Right now, it's my newest acquisition, my Yamaha 8000's (20, 12, 14). Have 2 keyboards to the right of my floor tom, going into a Jamman loop station, so I create a loop, and then play to it. Little Korg metronome used as my click, to keep me honest.
 

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I have to dissasemble the whole room where I play because of a maintenance guy visit... I may rethink some things- there may be pics. :D
 
Here’s mine from earlier today. We are headlining a festival Saturday night. Going through the set list a few more times plus getting my mic placement dialed in.

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Here’s my corner of the drum shed I share with a couple of buddies. The drumheads on the wall and on the bass drum are all painted by my kid. Adds to the good juju in the room and gives me extra inspiration to practice.

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Here’s my corner of the drum shed I share with a couple of buddies. The drumheads on the wall and on the bass drum are all painted by my kid. Adds to the good juju in the room and gives me extra inspiration to practice.

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dude...the drum heads are sweet!!! How old is the kid doing them?

and seeing those low mass stands might have convinced me to get some for my 4 piece...
 
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