best sound dampening. Looking for suggestions

Alright so i had been looking around a bit on here at "moving into an apartment" and "neighbors are complaining" style threads. I noticed a trend, most would spend the whole topic discussing one method. One would talk about the platform for vibration cancelling, another would talk about the practice pads on the drums, another ditching them for the dw practice pads. So my question is this: which functions best: the practice pads on drums, or mesh heads? I plan on building the platform as well, but still gotta get it quiet as well. price range is $150ish. flexible but the less the better.

Is an e-kit something that might interest you? I ask this because for $600-700.00 you could have a nice e-kit and that will make practice much more enjoyable than a practice pad kit or sound killing pads for acoustic drums. And yes the e-kit does not feel like acoustics but neither will your other options but at least you have drum like voices, metronome and more built into the e-kit module, it's almost a no brainer even if money is tight save the $200.00 you might spend on a drum pad kit or sound dampeners and just wait till you save enough money to get the e-kit. I have acoustic drums and an e-kit and love both equally but obviously for different reasons. I would never think of practice pad kits or sound dampeners as options knowing now what can be accomplished with today's e-kits. Sorry for the long post just would hate to see any drummer wasting money on something bland when in this day and age the e-kit is the go to choice for sound restricted apartments or homes

PeteN said:

And yes the e-kit does not feel like acoustics ...

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Although some of the good e-kits are getting progressively more realistic in terms of responding like an acoustic kit does. I would also highly recommend it.

PeteN said:

Is an e-kit something that might interest you? I ask this because for $600-700.00 you could have a nice e-kit and that will make practice much more enjoyable than a practice pad kit or sound killing pads for acoustic drums. And yes the e-kit does not feel like acoustics but neither will your other options but at least you have drum like voices, metronome and more built into the e-kit module, it's almost a no brainer even if money is tight save the $200.00 you might spend on a drum pad kit or sound dampeners and just wait till you save enough money to get the e-kit. I have acoustic drums and an e-kit and love both equally but obviously for different reasons. I would never think of practice pad kits or sound dampeners as options knowing now what can be accomplished with today's e-kits. Sorry for the long post just would hate to see any drummer wasting money on something bland when in this day and age the e-kit is the go to choice for sound restricted apartments or homes

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I appreciate the the longer post actually. And its not that i'm against the idea of an e-kit (especially w/ the ability to change snare sound, that makes it worth it almost immediately) tho i do still prefer the acoustic. But the problem with that is the money. I move in two weeks from today, and short of selling a kidney, raising that much that quick would be impossible. And if i want to be able to play more than an hour or so a week i need some sort of sound reduction (there are rooms on campus for musicians to practice, but it's in the middle and i'm on the corner. Campus is 500 acres, so i won't be making that trip often) It's a college so i'm assuming most of the time people will be either in class, the cafeteria, or too effed up on drugs to notice drums, so i'm hoping them being quietER will be good enough.

The mesh heads are really quiet.
Think e-kit unplugged.
Pads on cymbals will work.
Like a Pearl Rhythm Traveller kit when its set up in silence mode.

The mesh heads would be the most quiet option, but then you will have the hassle of switching to your regular heads every time you wanna play a gig. The practice pads work well, and it's an easy switch to go gig! Either way you're in the same price range, and inside your budget. Good luck dude!!!

Although acoustical kits are the worst, E-kits can and will also cause vibrations though walls and particularly floors mostly because of their pedals. You'll probably have to find ways of decoupling these areas if you go this route. Since you've read a lot of the posts concerning these problems others have had with their acoustical drums, there's no need for me to get into them again.

Good luck,
Dennis

Old trick to silence acoustic cymbals. Go and get some wide elastic from a haberdashers - say 1 to 1.5 inches wide. You need enough to go around the circumference of all the cymbals you want to damp. Cut and sew the elastic to form a 'hoop' (not sure that hoop is the right word but can't think of a better one) that will fit snugly around the circumference of each cymbal. Put it on - there you go - cymbal feel but no sound. Works for the hihat too (you only need to do the top cymbal) Should cost you about 5 bucks total. Hopefully you can make sense of what I've described. If not let me know and I'll try harder.

TMS

There are some good articles at Drumdojo about sound proofing:

http://www.drumdojo.com/magazine/magazines/soundproofing.htm

There are few inexpensive options to effectively sound proof drums. You might consider a drastic change of your approach such as:
1) Use only a snare drum with brushes; or
2) Move to a house

Finally, make sure you meet your neighbours and establish a relationship with them. Let them know that you would like to practice but maintaining a community is also important.

Good luck

GJS

So i've been moved in for a good month now, i've had zero complaints (even had one room mate ask if i ever actually play drums).
What i went with: 12, 13, 14(snare), 22 Pearl mesh heads (currently playing without floor tom, but will be changing that, when i placed the initial order they were out of 16").
Special adjustments: drastically loosened snare wires, and generally play on loosest ON setting. Off is quieter naturally, but lacks snare sound
Effect: Bass drum sounds like playing a sample of a triggered bass drum at about 4 on ur average 10 setting speaker. Snare(w/ wires on) sounds like a piccolo snare(i play 6.5x14) producing almost only crack. 6/10 Rimshot and cross-sticking sound horrible. With snares off the closest i can equate the sound to is a muted mx by cb percussion brass crash(mid hit, not from the edge). Toms....eh. 3/10 in terms of sound, but they sound really bad.
Cymbals: got a beach towel (relatively thin for a beach towel) it cuts the vollume in half and adds muting effect to end. Hats are still pretty loud.
Overal cost $80 (including price for 16" mesh head)
effectiveness (towards total silence, in relation to full sound of drums naturally) 65%