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We get on very well with our next door neighbours (semi-detached). At the moment they are quite insistent that our son's drumming on his electric kit does not bother them at all, although they can hear him (he uses an amp and the noise of the pedals is still loud). His bedroom is on the party wall.
He's been saving for 2 years for an acoustic kit and after his birthday in the new year he'll have enough. We are going to swap him and his brother round so Sam has the bedroom that is not on the party wall, it is the furthest away from the neighbours.
We know it's going to be noisy in our house when he's playing, and we're ok with that. I'm wondering how much it will help moving him to the non-party wall bedroom? The neighbours will be quite happy for me to go to theirs and see what the noise is like. I'm quite happy to install soundproofing material in his room if necessary, although I don't know much about it. I could probably borrow a drum from his drum teacher and do some tests, but as always, opinions from the relevant STW experts are always welcome.
Alas it is not jazz drumming that floats his boat.
Get practice pads and stuff cushions in the bass, then agree times with the neighbours when it's ok to play without them.
The lad who lives next door played drums (he’s now moved away). We get on well with his Mum, so there’s always been a good level of communication and understanding between us.
His kit was in their garage, on the opposite side of the semi from us, and was separate from the house itself aswell.
All we asked was the drumming didn’t happen at certain times, and that was fine.
It was loud, despite being a long way from us, and must have been louder for the other neighbours.
Even with sound proofing the sound will carry through your common flooring joists.
A full kit being walloped with gusto is about the equivalent of a 300w guitar amp.
I’d have some sort of understanding with the neighbours about when he can and can’t play. Also talk to the other neighbours nearby, not just your nextdoors.
I put my drum kit in the garage, play lightly with brushes and not sticks and never play later than 8pm. No complaints so far.
Young lad over the road has been learning for the last 3 years in his converted garage, never played loud after 6pm and mostly has those dampers on anyway...
Plenty of options to deaden the sound down, I'd go seek that out then explain to your neighbours what you've done and give them the opportunity to mention any noise they hear.
After all noise is the most complained about nuisance innit.
I'd second the above advice, set times and dampers.
Me and my friends formed a 'band' when we were at 6th form, set up I'm my mums garage, you could literary hear the drums 3 or four streets away, it was LOUD! Lol
All that sounds good, we know everyone around us pretty well so no problems discussing it with them.
Just my twopenneth but after he has had his acoustic kit for a while have a check with the neighbours, what may have seemed ok at the start may now have changed, we were lucky when our son was learning as we had a spare room and covered the walls in old egg trays (does make a massive difference) and he mostly practiced when the neighbours were out and never later than 7pm, everyone was still ok after 6 months and never bothered on the occasions his band used our lounge as a practice room.
Probably just me but I can't see why an acoustic jit is necessary these days - mesh heads seem good enough?
I don't get to play my tube amps anymore an pretty much always use a modeller/headphones at home
Assume I wil be enlightened soon
We have a drummer up the street and never had a problem with him at all
I've got an electric kit with mesh heads at the moment but I'm in the process of converting it to a hybrid system by switching to low volume cymbals.
Probably just me but I can’t see why an acoustic jit is necessary these days
Me neither, but I am not a 12 year old Dave Grohl fan 😀
covered the walls in old egg trays (does make a massive difference)
Within the acoustics/recording studio world putting up egg boxes is seen as a bit of joke and done by people who don't really know what they're doing.... but I'm definitely intrigued and can see egg boxes could have some effect.
What difference does it make? Did you compare before and after?
The egg boxes won't have anywhere near the extra mass to decrease the amount of sound travelling through the walls of the room to the outside/other rooms
However, inside the room the egg boxes will have added to the acoustic absorption, and reduced the reverb/echo in the room (at higher frequencies I would guess). They will also have a scattering/diffusing effect. This means they could reduce the overall sound level within the room, I.e. the sound can't build up as much. This then means there is less sound to "escape" to the adjoining rooms/outside. So overall you get a reduction in sound level both inside the room and outside
For the OP, one thing that will likely help is putting the drums on an isolating riser or mat to reduce transmission of sound into the structure of the house.
Son 2 did drums for GCSE music. Acoustic and in the loft room of our detached house in a street of semis. They were loud, so he never practiced late. Neighbours were fine. In my experience the quality of the sound is important. If it's scratching the vile-din for hours, or soggy trumpet, it's much more distracting than someone actually playing something to time and in tune.
Hang a rug on a strip of batten on the adjoining wall to absorb some sound (forget the egg boxes). Use some pads, go easy. Should be fine - your neighbours, like ours, sound very reasonable.
Probably just me but I can’t see why an acoustic jit is necessary these days
Maybe not for solo practice, provided you can afford an electronic kit that feels like an acoustic kit.
If you’re in a band and gigging regularly then yes, an acoustic kit with cymbals is required. Unless you’re in Spandau Ballet.
As is a dedicated rehearsal studio.
I was talking to our local studio engineer last night, he recently recorded someone with a £6k Roland kit, apparently it played ok, but he said it sounded terrible and nothing he could do with the output from the kit’s brain to make it sound good
Hang a rug on a strip of batten on the adjoining wall to absorb some sound (forget the egg boxes).
Rugs and egg boxes will do nothing to stop the transmission of sound through a party wall. They could help reduce the overall sound level within the room itself though. Therefore there's less sound to be transmitted. You could put the rug on a non-party wall and achieve the same effect
He will be moved to a bedroom that does not have a party wall, and I’ll get one of those rugs for the floor to protect the carpet anyway.
For a rug for the floor, try something like this: https://www.gear4music.com/Drums-and-Percussion/Shaw-Pro-Drum-Mat-2m-x-16m-Charcoal/1I5K
I wish someone would buy me one of these. I made do with an off cut of carpet but it depends what colour carpet you can get hold of. Might clash with the stage 😉