Our old fart neighbours decided to call the police every time I play my drums, at any time of the day.I didn't get any practice in the last 3 days! I tried insulating with matresses and other junk but even two layers of those on each wall wasn't enough for the old bastards. I hope they die soon, but meanwhile I have to make my drums quieter. I stuffed my bass drum and now it just sounds distgusting but it's still loud. I muffled the cymbal and hi hat with tea towels, but it still wasn't enough. Proper insulation costs 100 AUD a sheet and I can't afford that. My teacher spent 3000 AUD on insulation, and it still wasn't 100% and his practice room is half the size of mine. One hour of drumming a day is too much for them because it distrurbs them while they watch TV and wait to die.


Could you kindly give me some insulation and drum silencing advice please?

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haha, i just put my drums in my garage a while ago and i think my neighboor is starting to get pissed. My dad gave me a bed sheet to cover my drums with to keep off the dust. I was lazy one day and dident take off the cover. I left it on my toms and snare and it muffled them pretty good. Its harder to play fast but its good practice. Anyways, try putting a bed sheet over your drums. I dont know what you can do about your cymbals and bass drum though.

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I have some practice pads. They just fit in the hoop of your drums and they make them for cymbals too.They work really good. i suggest getting some of those.

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Yeah, I have a practice pad for my snare but it has very little rebound when I put it on the drum, it rebounds quite well when it's on my wooden table, but on the drum it's like hitting a wall. I'm going to a drum store in the city tomorow to buy a full set but I won't get to hear the full sound of my drums. I just want to go crazy with my drums basically and hear their proper sound instead of a rubber thud.

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call the Citizens advice bureu and find out what the law says about it, it will prbably say something like 'between 8-7 and below X number of Decibels (probably around 100 or so) is acceptable' also talk to your neighbours and point out that you are practising (it helps if you say for school assesment or uni assesmnent) and if they find this inconveinient that they should suggest times when it is not for them.

if they are just being unreasonable then make sire you are within your rights and tell them politley were to stick it.

sneak oneday into his house and put some wool in his ears or block his ears or do something so he comes deaf. thats the solution for your problem.
i had same problem but i made a tactical decision what i dont want to tell

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i highly suggest real insulation.... like foam or or padding type stuff.
this stuff is nice and very affordable

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...3752758073&rd=1

here's what i have all over my band room

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...3752947901&rd=1

i don't have a problem with the neighbors or the people i live with. they're all chill, but it cuts back on room reverb and makes everything seem more clear.

+1
yeh, around here, before 10 o' clock you can be noisey all you want in residential areas unless they get a certain amount of complaints(from more than one person).
but my neighbors are chill and you cant really hear my band room from outside very well because it's in the basement of a well insolated house, and the room itself has being covered with big muffling blankets and carpeted on the floors.

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yeah my neighbours and were I practice neighbours are cool with any noise providing it is reasonable,

the other thing you could do is be nice and buy them a christmas preseant of ear plugs and head phones (for TV)

i had a big problem with this for a while...i live in a sketchy neighborhood so the houses are real close together..luckily its also one of the main streets in boston so there's traffic all the time and we just got environmentally friendly buses that are louder than the drums...
anyway, i had to put pads (the SoundOff pads) on my drums for about a year, and in that time my wrists got very very strong because there wasn't much rebound, so you could look at it as a positive learning experience...then one day i got home and my neighbor was in the middle of getting arrested for a series of burglaries...and that fucker called the cops on me...
it sucks that you have to compromise, and even now that the bad neighbors are locked up i still have thick curtains up, but try to get friendly with them and work out a deal. or figure out the law (usually below 100 dB within 100feet between 9am and 9pm if they're outside a certain distance they legally have no claim) tell them to fuck off, and hope they die.

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My brother's a drummer, he uses pads when our mum's had enough of the 'noise' I'll check the brand now, he has one for his snare, his two toms, his hi-hat and his crash (i'm not to good with drums, so i might have massacred his kit just there).

Ok, they appear to be just nameless ones that any drum equipment shop should have, and they only have marginally less rebound.

He's also got a blanket in his bass, but i'm sure that's got something to do with vibrations and clearer sound. (i'm really not good with drums )

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SoundOff pads for me....MY BABY, MY POOR BABY! The lack of rebound made my wrists hurt, but I put a rubber practice pad on top of the mat on the snare and surprise, without the soundoffs it didn't rebound too well but now it does, so I'll buy a whole set of rubber practice pads to put on top of the soundoffs. I can belt the crap out of my hi hats now and not hear anything but the bass drum is still loud, aswell as my cymbal, the soundoff didn't work with it too well.

The foam is overseas, so sadly I can't buy it because the delivery would cost quite a lot.

The council never gives me any good info. The websites go around in circles, the laws I have to refer to are downloadable but are very long and confusing, the police told me they were acting under one act but when I phoned the agency responcible for the act they told me that the police acted under a different act and every single cop told me a different thing. One cop told me that the sound limit was 20 decibels, that's how much a fucking fridge makes! I have no belief in the law enforcement system anymore and I don't believe the council. People have to wait up to half an hour for police to attend after serious crimes such as shootings and they came to me within 15 minutes of the time I started playing every time. Assholes.

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The cops should be worrying about other shit than you playing your drums. Thats bullshit

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you should borrow a great p.a. and hook it up to your stereo. find a polka album and jam to it on your front porch. to my knowledge, no one (maybe except for john candy) has been arrested for playing polkas.

Polka, hey?

Polka polka yunnie goda
polka polka eto havsegda
something something polka polka yay...

I know someone who has speakers which are like PERFECT for this. Thank you.

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I dont know why I dident think of this before...Get a pair of those jazz brush sticks. They use them in jazz to play quieter. They arnt realy that loud and are good for practice because they have no rebound. You would still have to do something about your bass drum though. Hopefully you know what the brush sticks are.

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I've been playing with soundoffs, and it's actually ok, except that I don't get the same sound. No rebound at all is bad bad bad >_< With soundoffs, my wrists and ankle (especially ankle) are a lot stronger now.

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drum rods are also a good idea.

If you (or you're parents) own the house and have a room you can use. I'd advise "gutting" the room.

Insulate between the new walls and apply sound channel to the studs. sound channel is what a lot of apartment buildings use for anti-sound.
for about 200 bucks you've got an serious anti-sound room. You could fucking kill someone in this bitch!

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No rebound isnt good for playing all the time but is good for warming up. Before I start playing i usually play with my brush sticks. It has the same effect of putting a weight on a baseball bat before your up.

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how much studio foam do I need for a 2 car garage? do I have to completely cover the walls or do I place about 7 on each wall?

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Girl, I think of you as one of my friends on this site and I must say I think your neighbors are crancky ass ol' folk. I've had people like this before bitch to the police and the police also gave me a bullshit reasons to stop and I didn't. I talked to the neighbors and tried to make a deal with them. It didn't work so I kept on playing even when the police showed. Hopfully your neightbors will not be as difficult. Ask them what time would be best for them when you practice everyday, because you are going to practice no matter what. If they want to be difficult, find out the strict law about loud volumes times during the day and just beat the hell out of your drums during that time. If the police show at that time then tell them about what you know, polite like and don't get an attitude about it even if they are being assholes. Make the encounter fast and to the point and ask them to leave if you are not going to be arrested because of breaking a law. Then continue practice.

I wish you the best luck. Don't let these asses kill your learning and fun.

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