Noise Dampen - Kick pedal

[bully]

I know this sounds dumb but I do need some advice.
I'm now living in an upstairs apartment for
a few months and found I'm running into a snag with my neighbours below with my kick pedal.

Even though I'm playing through my headphones
the kick pedal sounds like someone hammering
on the floor which obviously has got the neighbours upset below.
Anyone got any advice on what material or materials I can use under the kick plate to dampen the sound ?

Next time I'll opt for a first floor place.

Thanks,
Bully

[puttenvr]

A thick carpet will help, first.

But perhaps you can change the beater to a soft felt one as well.

[captainbk]

There is a recent string on this in tips & tricks. See the ones from Dimitri and myself...they seem to work.

I am actually going to build an isolation riser using Aurelex PlatFoam and make it match the furniture in my condo. Since I convinced wife that V-drums classify as living room furniture...I think this will be good.



------------------
The Captain

[gingerbaker]

Are you using a KD-7? I believe there are many here that report that the Roland upright mesh kick triggers are very quiet -

correct me if I'm wrong, guys -

and being upright they don't transmit pounding directly down into the floor.

Here is an excellent opportunity to justify upgrading. Seize it!

[kv968]

I, like ginger have a feeling you're using a KD-7. I live in an upstairs apartment also and use the KD-120. No complaints (at least none that I can hear) from the neighbors. The pounding from the beater gets dispersed through the mesh head and the support legs quite nicely. Unlike the constant, almost direct, beating against the KD-7 and the floor.

[This message has been edited by kv968 (edited January 22, 2002).]

[K-Chuck]

You guys are lucky if you're able to avoid vibration by simply using an upright kick trigger. I use a KD-80 but my downstairs neighbor says his ceiling shakes like crazy. However, I use no padding under the rack and pedals except the carpet in the apartment. Though it seems unlikely, maybe the KD-120 dissipates vibration better than the KD-80.

A while ago I read a suggestion by someone who built a drum platform using car tires as a base to dampen the vibrations. A friend of mine is going to help me implement the idea in the next couple of weeks; I'll report back here on how well it works.

[Steveo the Devo]

Originally posted by feefer:
Hmmm, interesting spelling of 'neighbors' for a guy from Breckenridge, CO.

Just because you Americans like to invent your own spelling for difficult words doesn't make it right!!!

Downunder 'neighbors' is spelt neighbours!!!

[marcelpeart]

Originally posted by bully:
I know this sounds dumb but I do need some advice.
I'm now living in an upstairs apartment for
a few months and found I'm running into a snag with my neighbours below with my kick pedal.

Even though I'm playing through my headphones
the kick pedal sounds like someone hammering
on the floor which obviously has got the neighbours upset below.
Anyone got any advice on what material or materials I can use under the kick plate to dampen the sound ?

Next time I'll opt for a first floor place.

Thanks,
Bully

Hi bully
I also have a KD-7 kick pedal and use a rubber carpet and build a suport for it with what we call here "french hand" (I don't know how it called on U.S.) It's a "L" suport that fixes on walls.
Hope this help you...

[K-Chuck]

Well, several weeks later, I'm back with my new drum riser that a friend built for me. The key component is four 14" automobile tires. On top of the tires is a sheet of 4' plywood cut to a length of 4'9", perfect dimensions for the V-Custom set. We put skirting around the sides of the plywood, then covered the whole thing with a carpet remnant. The final touch is a piece of angle iron in the front of the riser to keep the KD-80 from slipping (you could also just use a strip of wood as a stopper). The whole thing took only about an hour and a half to put together, once we got the materials. Fortunately, my friend has lots of tools, so construction was a breeze.

Now, here's the bad news: the riser doesn't totally eliminate the vibration. I consulted my downstairs neighbor, who mentioned that it is an improvement, but still leaves the vibration noticeable. I checked it out myself by having him play while I went down to his apartment. The vibration was diffuse, but not eliminated by the tires. It was as if someone were playing bass-heavy music through a subwoofer, but not the kind of pounding my neighbor had described before.

The only factor I can think of that might help reduce the vibration further is to use smaller tires (13" instead of 14"). I had to squeeze the 14" tires together to get them to fit underneath the platform. Maybe because they're already compressed under there, they don't bounce as much as they would otherwise? Just a guess on my part.

Regardless, the riser looks nice. Thanks to the person on these boards who posted the tire idea in one of these forums a while ago.

[spradders]

Well, seeing as we're back on the subject of bass pedal dampening, here's what I've done...

I've got a load of bits of foam, 2 inch thick, on the carpet (almost completely covering it), with a 3/4 inch thick sheet of cheap plywood on top - creating a platform for the drums. Then I've put some high density rubber under the pedals and rack feet. This cut out about half the pounding from the kit.

Recently I've also put thick paving slabs under my mesh bassdrum pad - this has cut out even more of the noise.

The platform rocks about it a bit, and the bass pedal is about 2 inches higher than the rest of the platform. And it's still noisy downstairs, it makes the whole house shake... but it is much better than it was.

Mike.

[Okki!]

I am considering the use of a cork mat. Dunno if it'll work.

What if I get one of those thin carpets from ikea, fold it six times so it's about 8 inches thick? Will the sound still go through? I have managed to have my bass pedal sit pretty sturdily on this carpet thingy but I'd have to take it to a more friendly location so I can test it.

Will keep you posted on the results. I'm doing the carpet test today.

[mrjeff1s]

k-chuck
I dont know if tires are the way to go. They might be to dense to dampen the vibrations. I think you need something softer like nerf footballs or something like that.
I would try getting more carpet......thick stuff! Get enough to put 2 pieces under your plywood. Put the bottom piece of carpet face down, put the next layer face up. Add another sheet of plywood on that. While youre at the carpet remnant room buy some 7/16 6lb foam padding add layers of the padding on the plywood, then put your riser plywood on the padding.

Or ask the guy downstairs if he wants to trade apartments.



Jeff

[K-Chuck]

Jeff,

Smaller tires, which should flex more if given room, might work. But the tires I used, which were crammed together under the platform, were of limited usefulness.

Since then, I've bought a house, which eliminates the problem. Best wishes to those still tring to solve it.

[Rythmstik]

Someone in an old thread mentioned using tennis balls, but I can't find the thread. They basically took a plywood base and drilled evenly spaced depressions it and put tennis balls in them. They put matching depressions in the bottom of a matching piece of plywood and set it on top, and added carpet. Supposed to have worked very well...

[Okki!]

It took a while...but i finally completed the carpet test. I took two carpets and a welcome rug with a rubber bottom. First the hard red carpet from ikea for the base. On top of this red carpet, the bathroom carpet with rubber bottom. Then I took a regular carpet from Ikea, one of those soft cottony things, and folded it several times so my bass drum pedal and the two legs nearer the pedal rested on it pretty sturdily. The other two legs I put in Reeboks (yes, the shoes) and this touched the floor.

The results are amazing! No transfer at all. And... it looks pretty cool with the shoes Will take a pic soon and post it if i figure out how. Hope it works for the others with this problem looking for a cheap solution.

- Oscar!