Give me some tips on how to keep the volume low for practices

[Teddy]

I live in an apartment and I want to start having people over to jam and practice and form a band. I have some people I want to start jamming with but they all live in apartments too, and there aren't any rehearsal spaces around here.

 

V-drums would be cool, or something similar. I'm thinking of getting some just for my own usage at home recording and then I could use them for jams as well.

 

my apartment is part of a house that they homeoewners converted to a one bedroom apartment, so I only have them to contend with luckily no one above or below me, just them to the right.

 

I have a drum kit, a little old ludwig that is really quiet because the skins havent been changed in years so it is actually ideal for quiet practices. I play guitar, but it woul be available in case I find a drummer and that way he wouldn't have to bring his own kit. It is still pretty loud though especially the cymbols and bass drum

[Singin' Dave]

With any kind of drums, you are going to likely be louder than the neighbors would like in a small 1BR apt. IEM's, pods and V-drums may be your only option

 

Or warn your neighbors....

[Teddy]

IEMS?

[Thunderbroom]

 

Originally posted by Teddy IEMS?

 

 

In Ear Monitors

[GreyMartyr]

You may also want to invest in a good set of drum muffles to dampen the drum sound to a tolerable level. While it may change the feel of your kit, it is best to play with them than to not play at all. Any other electric instrumentation (guitars, keys, bass etc.) can be played through any amp practice or otherwise at a resonable volume. Typically band volume is determined by the drums anyhow.

 

As always, let your neighbors know what your plans are and when you plan on practicing. That way you can avoid any unnecessary conflicts or surprises.

[MrKnobs]

I have a set of v-drums I use for that purpose. Using IEMs with no amps completes the perfect silent practice. Only the vocalists can be heard in the room.

 

I picked up a set of used V-Drums about 5 years ago for $1500. I wouldn't pay much more than that, because they don't quite cut it for recording - at least not the cymbals and snare. The kick and toms are fine.

 

But for rehearsal, they're almost ideal.

 

Terry D.

[rim]

I have a set of digital drums and when I was living in a condo, my neighbor downstairs would complain she heard it - and this is with only using headphones and the floor between us is poured concrete. Go figure.

 

If you live in an apartment complex, see if it has a community room. Many times you can rent it for free or at least really cheap.

[Fr!tz]

Originally posted by Teddy I have a drum kit, a little old ludwig that is really quiet because the skins havent been changed in years so it is actually ideal for quiet practices

 

 

For the love of God man.......change those heads:mad:

 

Your best bet is Vdrums... I have 2 accoustic kits and Vdrums. There were times last fall we were writing new tracks here at my house with the windows open at 2:00am. The bass and guitar levels were low enough to talk over and actually became a very productive way to write new grooves.

[leepmeister]

Do you have people below you? If not, this should work:

 

Learn to use hot rods (those drum sticks that are like a bundle of smaller, lighter rods). Then have everyone turn down.

 

I remember one time my parents had some people over to watch a video during one of our band practices. The TV room was directly above our practice room. Our drummer pulled out the hot rods, played softly, and we turned down. It was an interesting practice because it was quiet enough to talk over.

 

No complaints from my parents I'd imagine if you could do something like that in an apartment it wouldn't get any more complaints than listening to music at a medium-high level.

 

If you DO have people below you this might be tougher because the stomping of your foot and the kick pedal will probably carry thru the floor a lot better.

[Tedster]

One thing you can do...especially if you've got a lot of backing vocals, is to practice acoustically once in awhile. This can be more beneficial than most bands realize...

[bbrunskill]

I jam with freinds, all pods, DIed keys and V-drums, all into a soundcraft desk, into IEM. As quiet as you can get!

[daddymack]

if you are stuck with the drum kit, muffles are a good start as noted. Also, use 'hot-rods', which will lower the volume on the drums, except the kick, of course. We manage to practice pretty quietly, even using amps, so that we are lower than the average stereo system...it takes some control, but it can be done if the drums are under control.

[readybeans]

Don't waste money on drum muffles - use cloth - works just fine.

 

All-acoustic practices really are good eye-openers.

[elbow]

Some really great tips on this one. We have tried the cloth-over-the-drums thing by placing bath towels over them. It worked *ok*, but as was mentioned earlier, cymbals and kick drum are virtually impossible to do much about. I'm sure there have been people much smarter than our little band that have figured that one out.

 

I have a friend who owns vdrums and plays in his basement with headphones on. He swears his family cannot hear a thing upstairs.

 

I like the idea of an occasional acoustic or very low volume practice. At the very least it may teach some control of dynamics.. which is a common fault of many bands.. and I'm one of the guilty.

[Craig Vecchione]

I'd forget about any acoustic drums. I'm a musician and would still be pretty tired of hearing it after about 5 minutes. Even the singing, which as noted already is the only thing truly audible if you use pods and v-drums, would get old pretty fast.

 

Before you spend money talk to the neighbors about your situation. They might be really cool about it and let you know when they aren't around, or some arrangement that is mutually acceptable, or you might find that they are 'zero tolerance', in which case, might be best to find an ingenious alternative elsewhere...old commercial buildings off-hours for cheap rent, storage spaces, barns, etc. have all been used as rehearsal space.

[ratthedd]

You could also consider sound treating the practice space, but this will get into some big $ if you plan on doing it correctly.

 

High frequency sound absorption is fairly easy and realtively cheap to get ahold of, but the problem area of low frequencies, like bass and kick drum are more complicated to install.

 

Of course compared to the price of a decent digital drum set, the costs may be similar. You'd still have to confer with the landlord to see if they would be willing to allow you to install LF barriers and absorption material.

[Edward]

pads on the drums, for bass a small scale amp (duh!) and for guitar, either an attenuator or some thing smaller... actually, I have a similar ish situation - though i mostly play alone at home, i have to think about the neighbours - this is one of the reasons I went for a Vox Valvetronix. I have the big 120watter (actually two sixties in stereo) that looks like an AC30 on amphetamines, but anything from the little 30watter up has a built in attenuator which offers 1watt, 15watts, 30watts, and then either 50 or 60watts (depends on the model). They're great, and surprisingly cost effective. Over here, you can find a used AD60VT (the smaller of the blue-grille cloth models, the upper end of the range) for about the same price as a Peavy classic 30. Many folk don't like modellers, though that's to taste rather than quality (and the Voxes are generally regarded as the best modellers), but they are certainly a very realistic option in terns of allowing you cranked sounds at home. I most commonly play mine set to 1 watt, and it does the business at a sensible volume, where the little Squier practice amp i used to use in the house was occasionally too loud much over 3.

 

V-drums are definitely getting better, but with what a decent kit costs (over here anyhow), if you're not a drummer yourself and are only keeping a kit there for someone else to jam on, I'd skip those and stick to pads.

[worthyjoe]

 

Originally posted by leepmeister If you DO have people below you this might be tougher because the stomping of your foot and the kick pedal will probably carry thru the floor a lot better.

 

 

Yes. This is the one problem with v-drums. The kick pedal will be bothersome to anyone below you. Other than that you are all set.

[Meatball Fulton]

The electronic drum thing might work but it's an awful expensive solution if you'll never use the kit for anything else.

 

I used to do rehearsals in the kitchen of a drummer's apartment. His "drum kit" was a hi hat, snare with a TOWEL over the head and a suitcase for a kick drum (the drummer clued a small piece of wood to it so he could clamp on a pedal) all played with hotrods. The guitarist and myself (on bass) both plugged into a 10 watt Crate bass amp with an 8" speaker. The other players (fiddle and accordion...it was a zydeco band) went unamplified.

 

It helped that one of the band members lived in the apartment just below and the drummer was strict about telling the folks upstairs when we would be playing and shutting us down at the agreed upon time (I think we would go 7-9PM).

 

I also did some rehearsals with that same band where the drummer just played the pads on a drum machine with his fingers