Are you looking for a technique to soundproof a drum room? You’ve arrived at the right place! Here we explain 8 technique on Soundproofing a Room for Drums.
This expert guide will teach you. What Exactly Does Soundproof Mean, and What Can I Expect? How Do I Soundproof My Drum Room? What Other Options Do You Have for Quiet Drumming?
And a lot more!
Drums are incredible, and a great drummer can elevate a good song to a supreme work of art. On the other hand Drum practises are not nearly as entertaining for bystanders. If you have a drummer in your home, you’ve probably wondered how to make a soundproof drum room.
Unfortunately, most people believe that soundproofing a drum room is too expensive and time-consuming.
So you can rest assured that you’re in good hands when it comes to knowing what works, what doesn’t, and what cost-effective DIY solutions are available. I’ll also tell you some great soundproofing advice as we go!
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What Exactly Does Soundproof Mean, and What Can I Expect?
Before we get into the methods and logistics of actually soundproofing a room for drums, there is one misconception about what the term “soundproof” actually means.
Unfortunately, making a room completely soundproof (i.e. no sound escaping at all) requires a lot of money, extensive building work, and extremely specific knowledge and experience in how sound is transmitted.
Professional recording studios completely soundproof their live rooms by constructing a new ‘room within a room’ that is isolated from the external walls by air gaps and mountains of sound insulation.
Because these rooms are airtight, they require their own air supply and air conditioning.
As you might expect, this level of soundproofing is not cheap!
We are dealing with sound REDUCTION rather than soundproofing as drummers looking for a solution for practise or even home recording.
With a limited budget, we’ll look at some of the ways you can reduce the amount of external noise escaping from your practice space, thereby minimizing disruption to your neighbors and housemates.
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Soundproofing a Room for Drums An Expert Guide
Here are some ways that you can use to soundproof a room for drums:
1. Windows and Doors
When soundproofing your practice space, start with the doors and windows.
Fundamentally, they are the weakest link for sound transference because they have the least mass and the greatest potential for air to escape (e.g the gaps between the door and frame).
2. Filling Gaps and Adding Mass
Using draught excluders and seals designed to help insulate your home is an excellent way to reduce the amount of airflow in and out of a room.
3. The Floor
The floor is frequently a major source of sound transmission to the outside world. Because the vibrations of your bass drum are transmitted directly into it, they are then transmitted along the floor and under walls to the adjacent rooms.
The best solution is to try to isolate your drum kit from the floor as much as possible.
One simple DIY solution is to pile as much carpet or soft rugs underneath your kit as possible.
A drum kit on concrete or hardwood floors will transmit a lot of sound, and the hard surface of the floor will also help amplify the sound. Soft surfaces will help with this.
4. Taking care of the walls
Adding extra mass to the walls will improve sound absorption while also reducing nasty unwanted sound reflections within your practice space, following the same principles as before.
Companies such as Audimute manufacture Sound Absorption Sheets that can be hung on the walls with hooks or curtain rails (they can also be used over windows and doors!).
5. The Windows
The windows will be treated in a similar manner. If you have very modern double glazed windows with compression latches, you won’t need to add any additional air sealing solutions.
These windows already perform admirably in terms of reducing airflow and noise.
6. The Front Door
Purchase an under door draught excluder strip (also known as a door sweep) to adhere to the bottom of your door. These are excellent low-cost methods for reducing airflow through the largest gap at the bottom of the door (and therefore the amount of sound).
Now that the bottom of the door has been sealed, you’ll need to find a way to keep air from escaping around the rest of the door frame. Weatherstrips/draft excluder tape are ideal for this.
7. Increasing Mass
Windows and doors are much thinner than structural elements like brick walls (windows are typically only a couple of panes of glass, and doors are typically hollow!). You’ll need to add extra mass to both of them to improve their sound absorption. There are several approaches to this.
Adding some dense acoustic tiles/panels to the door would help increase the amount of mass. You’re looking for the densest material available. You can also create your own acoustic wall panels by combining fiberglass insulation and mineral wool.
On the other hand, below we bust a myth about soundproofing a room for drums.
8. Tame Your Space
Finally, we recommend that you install acoustic treatment in your room. It will not only improve the sound of your practice area, but it will also reduce the impact of sound waves as they hit the walls.
Soundproofing a Room for Drums: Myth Buster
The use of egg cartons as soundproofing is a hilarious myth that circulates on the internet on a regular basis.
It was decided somewhere along the line that sticking empty egg packing crates to your walls would magically soundproof your room for the cost of the eggs (bonus!).
Unfortunately, this is simply not true; egg cartons have almost no mass and thus will do nothing to reduce noise… they will only serve to make your walls look very ugly!
Is it Possible to Soundproof a Drum Room?
The truth is that a room will never be truly soundproof unless it is purpose-built or rebuilt to be soundproof. Sound is extremely difficult to contain, and very loud, fast-moving sounds like those produced by a drum kit are the most difficult to contain within an ordinary room.
Having said that, even the most basic soundproofing methods can help keep a room quiet for those outside the room.
As long as you keep in mind that soundproofing is not sound treatment and is intended to reduce outside noise, thinking along those lines will assist you in effectively dampening the noise of your drum practice room.
Conclusion
Drum kits are beautiful expressive instruments, but there’s no getting around the fact that they’re extremely loud.
However, by implementing some of the tips and tricks in this article, you should be able to jam out to your favorite tunes whenever you want, without having to spend a fortune getting there!
FAQs
Q1. How do you soundproof a room for band practice?
To block airborne and structure-borne sound transmission through walls, ceilings, and floors, heavy, dense, and resilient materials must be used. Materials such as mass-loaded vinyl sound barriers, combination sound absorbing/blocking acoustical blankets, and Green Glue Noise proofing compound can be used.
Q2. How do you play drums without annoying Neighbours?
People have been trying to figure out how to make drums quiet for as long as there have been drums! Filling drum shells with packing peanuts or moving blankets, putting towels on top of heads or cymbals, and putting sheets between the bearing edges and the heads have all been tried as home remedies.
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