Are there any QUIET DIY kick pads?

[DjPiLL]

I have a KD-80 kick pad and striking it with the black beater that comes with it is so loud. My wife is not happy.

I already built the tennis ball platform and while that helps with the vibrations greatly, the striking sound of the KD-80 is so loud the platform isn't helping.

She doesn't hear the PD-100 or PD-120 pads.

Are there any DIY kick pads that are much quieter? Or maybe a better beater? I already tried the KD-8 and KD-7 and those didn't help much either.

Many thanks in advance.

[daveybabes]

Hello

Sorry but it's a common problem, same here too, tried a KD8 and now a mesh kick, tried tying socks around the beater, noise absorbant patch, TD10 mat, built a platform etc

if ya upstairs the only real way is soundproofing under floor... it's airborn sound.

At the moment i have a large wooly hat over the bass kick ...

[DjPiLL]

Yeah... I am actually going to be gutting out the two bedrooms underneath at some point this year. So I guess I could sound proof those ceilings which would be right under the floor. That would help right?

But that wont be for a little while. The wife did say the kicking is "a little better" with the platform. But I think she is just saying that because of all the work I did today building this tennis ball platform.

[kivarenn82]

BIG EDIT:

sorry had my products confused.

anyway.. i had a pad similar to that KD-80 from pintech. and while it was mesh and all.. it was also filled with foam and still prety loud and thumpy.

i took the foam out and the noise went down about 100%

I'm not in the process of converting a floor tom into a e-kickdrum with the pearl jingle jig (JG-16) handy little conversion kit.. its basically just spurs and a base to attach your pedal, but it looks like a good idea. I'm hoping the floor tom will be even quieter than the pintech KD-80 clone or the Kd-8

[MrSamurai]

I have a falam slam double bass patch on my mesh head (hasn't fallen off yet), but it makes a horrible thwack whenever I hit it with my plastic beaters. I'm thinking that maybe I'll change to felt beaters, which would cut down on the noise. I've read all the stuff about felt beaters, but since I have the patch there, it shouldn't rip apart the mesh head, right?

[freddarl82]

I'm using the Falam Slam with a felt beater (12" DIY mesh-head trigger). I tried an Aquarian patch initially, but it wouldn't stay on. I think the concerns you are referring to about felt beaters/mesh heads is that it tears up the felt BEATER, not the mesh head. After my Aquarian fell off, I used the felt beater directly on the head, and after only about two weeks the wear on the beater was quite noticeable (so I switched to a plastic beater, but this time I WAS worried about the plastic eventually tearing up the head). Once I put the Falam Slam on, you're right, the THWAP, THWAP, THWAP was quite loud with the plastic beater!! So, I switched back to the felt beater on the Falam Slam, and it cut the noise level considerably. But, as everyone's said, no bass pedal/bass trigger combo is completely quiet. I think the problem for apartment dwellers (and upstairs drummers) is the vibrational energy of the pedal strike is transferred through the frame of the pedal to the floor and that is where the noise emanates from.

[Vader]

Noise on kd-7

Do the kd-7's or related devices like hart hammer kick make as much noise as these other bass triggers you all are referring to? I know most use the felt beater with these, and I imagine that they wouldn't resonate as much as a diy kick would. Im looking for some of these on ebay currently. V

[M_C_M]

I have a 13" mesh diy kick I built a while ago and I sewed a piece of thick material to where the beaters hit ( the type furniture movers use to wrap furniture ) and it is virtually silent even quieter than the pd-120 snare...

[daveybabes]

Hiya

I have a 13" mesh diy kick I built a while ago and I sewed a piece of thick material to where the beaters hit ( the type furniture movers use to wrap furniture ) and it is virtually silent even quieter than the pd-120 snare...

I tried a double piece of self adhesive padding to where the beater strikes mesh (it's used to sound proof the inside of pc towers to silent fan noise)

just makes an even bigger thud now he he and that's with the thick wooly hat over the whole thing too.

Can u post a pic of this material u used or describe it further? is it cloth?

Thanks from Dave.

[Bencthemusicman]

sounds to me like its not the impact on the head thats making the noise but its the vibration being passed on.

try holding your bass drum pad off the floor while the beater is attached and see if it strikes just as loud.

your best bet would be to use a felt beater onto a patch of some kind (i'm temporarily using duct tape and its fine)
although the Tennis ball floor is a great design and very useful, in your case it may be working as a sound box for the vibration.
look at the legs and try and figure out the direction the impact will travel then place cork or something similar under those legs

send us a photo so we can see!

Good luck

[DjPiLL]

sounds to me like its not the impact on the head thats making the noise but its the vibration being passed on.

try holding your bass drum pad off the floor while the beater is attached and see if it strikes just as loud.

your best bet would be to use a felt beater onto a patch of some kind (i'm temporarily using duct tape and its fine)
although the Tennis ball floor is a great design and very useful, in your case it may be working as a sound box for the vibration.
look at the legs and try and figure out the direction the impact will travel then place cork or something similar under those legs

send us a photo so we can see!

Good luck

It makes the same noise when I hold it in the air.

I can literally jump up and down on my platform and I don't hear any walls creeking or any noise downstairs. The platform works.

I think its just the sound of a plastic beater hitting a mesh KD-80 pad that's mostly made of plastic.

I am thinking of putting something on the pad to help muzzle the sound... like a patch or somthing.

[daveybabes]

Balanced

I just stuck a tennis ball under each of the rack feet and bass pedal, my kick is bolted to rack frame, under this a tdm10 mat then a foam absorbant mat and the noiseproof beater pads and wooly hat on the mesh kick and guess what?

ha ha thud! so thats tennis balls out the window, wanna buy 20 slightly used tennis balls lol

So thats placing the balls under the direct source of vibe with no board to act as a soundboard.

I did come up with the idea of issuing muso's earplugs to those poor effected souls downstairs but the idea never came about and was received poorly.

EDIT - "The only other thing i saw once was a floating stage, where a guy had placed a board on a matress and made edging for it ? question is, is anyone here brave enough to "borrow" the matrimonial matress as a tester? ha ha"

[DjPiLL]

Actually I think there is still some vibration going through. While the beater is still loud when i strike it in air, I can feel more vibrations from the bass pedal.

Has anyone ever built some type of spring platform for the bass pedal? An old DJ trick we used for turntables in clubs was to suspend them with rubber bands so the vibrations from the subwoofers wouldn't cause the record to skip.

Has anyone taken made a platform for just the bass pedal? Put a spring similar to the springs on the pedals on all four sides and to suspend the pedal in mid air?

[DjPiLL]

I actually tried putting some bubble wrap at the points where the kick pad touches the ground (at the two legs) and at the "heel" of the pedal itself. This helped a LITTLE. Which is why I think maybe a spring loaded platform for the pedal might help.

[daveybabes]

Springs mmm

Hiya

Yeah i thought about springs hence my late added info below about the "matress under a board" stage, interesting idea.