Can I Drum In A Terraced House?
Can you play drums without annoying the neighbours?
It’s a question that many people ask. We want to drum in a terraced house but we are all too aware that they are noisy instruments and we live in a small house within close proximity of neighbours. But this is our life and our passion so we don’t want to stop drumming.It Is Possible To Drum In A Terraced House
So how we can enjoy all the benefits of drumming without destroying our relationship with the neighbours?
There are more ways than ever before for us to drum without being antisocial and we really do need to take responsibility for our actions to make sure our passion isn’t someone else’s nightmare. So let’s dive in.
Strategies to drum in a terraced house
No matter where we live there are some basic actions we can take to minimise the chances of angry confrontation with the neighbours. The first and most important strategy is communication. As soon as you move into a new area, or start drumming go round to your neighbours, introduce yourself, shake their hand and smile. Let them know that you are a friendly, approachable person and start to build a relationship. This will benefit you way beyond drumming.A good neighbour will feed your cat, look after your property when you’re away, help you when you’re in need. And you can do the same for them. It makes life so much better when your neighbourly relationships are good.
But in the drumming context this goes a long way. You can explain that you are a drummer and you want to make sure it doesn’t negatively impact on them. Just this alone will make them warm to you and they will be much more forgiving. It shows that you care about your impact on them.
Have an arrangement where they can come and tell you if it is annoying. One of the worst things is sitting in their home getting increasingly frustrated but not going to talk to you through fear of angry confrontation. By inviting them to tell you when it’s too much you instantly remove 90% of the problem because now they feel confident enough to express their feelings to you before it escalates.
When can you drum?
Remember that they might have young children or work night shifts so ask them when would be a good time of day for you to practice. Find appropriate times of day that work for everyone. Maybe they have 9 to 5 jobs so you can drum in the day without annoying them.If you can’t drum when they are out then have agreed durations. One thing that really winds people up is not knowing when you will drum and when it will stop. If you have agreed to drum for a maximum of 30 minutes and no later than 7pm, for example, then your neighbours will be far more accepting when you do drum because they understand the boundaries that they have agreed with.
They also know that they can tell you in they are doing something special which would be ruined by drum practice, such as a garden party. With your line of friendly communication most negative situations can be avoided.
Remember that your noise might impact more than one person. If you play acoustic drums it can really travel a long way so create these relationships with all relevant neighbours.
Treating the room
As well as having a great relationship with neighbours there are many measures that we can take to minimise noise. Sound proofing a room is an option but it is difficult and expensive. Specialist companies exist but you can also do it yourself. The most effective solution is to build a room within a room but this really is a major transformation and beyond what most people could justify for a hobby.
It’s also worth noting that internal acoustic treatment isn’t sound proofing. You may have seen people using egg cartons on the wall or buying similarly shaped studio foam panels. This helps the acoustic quality in the room but won’t do much to stop sound leaving the room.
The way sound waves act means that the low frequency sounds go though walls very easily. That is why when you walk past a nightclub or get near a live music venue you will hear that muffled bass noise. When practising drums the bass drum is our main problem.
So if sound proofing our house is unviable for many of us let’s look at other options.
Acoustic drum solutions
Drums are loud. We can’t ignore that. Can you play an acoustic drum kit in a terraced house? Possibly. If you go full out and play loud then you might not have a great relationship with your neighbours but if you select your gear well you might be OK.
The first thing I would suggest is practising all technical aspects on a practice pad. This allows you to do a large portion of your technique building without annoying anyone. They are very cheap and also save your ears from unnecessary abuse.
But let’s look at the drum kit itself. An age old solution that many of us have used is drum silencer pads. These are rubber or foam pads that sit on your drums and cymbals and reduce the noise significantly. They are effective and they are relatively cheap so it allows you to practice with far less impact on the neighbours. You do lose a lot of feel and rebound which can be frustrating and inhibitive for certain techniques but they do allow you to practice when you might otherwise be unable too. And if you work on your hand technique with the practice pad then this might be a good solution.
Another great solution is to replace your regular drum heads with mesh heads. These are the same heads that you get on some electronic kits and you can get budget mesh heads as well as premium mesh heads. These take away a majority of the sound but still retain a very realistic feel.
If you go down the mesh head route you might also want to consider your cymbal volume. Zildjian offer some excellent low volume cymbals that look good, sound good, and help minimise noise.
Finally you could consider different sticks such as hotrods. These are much quieter than standard wooden sticks but do lose a lot of feel which makes certain techniques difficult. But again, maybe you could save those technical aspects for the practice pad.
Electronic drum solutions
Of course if you want to drum in a terraced house one of the best options is an electronic drum kit. They have come on so much in the last twenty years and are now a very good option. The market is huge so shop around but you will easily find a selection ranging from a couple of hundred pounds upto several thousand.
To give you two examples here is a budget electronic drum kit and a premium electronic drum kit.
If you use these with headphones rather than an amp the sound is a much softer stick against rubber or mesh pad sound, even though you experience amazing sound in your headphones. Although this is so much quieter than acoustic drums, it’s surprising how much noise can travel. Particularly if your drum kit is upstairs so the thumps go through the floor boards.
Roland have recognised this problem and now offer drum mats which are designed to offer a level of shock absorption to help with this. They go even further with their noise eater panels and noise eater stand which are even more effective at soaking up those vibrations.
To minimise the thump of the bass drum beater there is also a Roland quiet kick pedal that further helps reduce the problem.
I hope this article helps you find a way to push forward with your drumming without making your neighbour’s life a misery. We have more available to us than ever before and with a combination of the strategies above you can enjoy a harmonious neighbourhood whilst still developing an awesome rhythm. Comment below if you have any other solutions that might help people drum in a terraced house.
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