The unfortunate reality of playing the drums is that they’re incredibly loud compared to most other instruments. For this reason, many people aren’t able to practice drums due to the environment they’re in.
If you want to know how to keep volume levels down, keep reading. We have 15 tips to give you that may help out.
Placing towels over all your drums will muffle them so much that their sound will drop drastically. The towels will also drop the pitch of the drums, giving you cool low sounds.
The great thing about this method is that it’s free, as you can just use any towels that you have lying around.
Drum mutes do the same job as towels, but they’re specially designed by drum brands to fit your drum kit a lot better. You can get perfectly sized drum mutes for each drum, letting you play them without the mutes ever falling off. The more padding a drum mute has, the more sound it will muffle from the drum it’s on.
Low volume cymbals are a replacement option for your standard cymbals. They’re designed to feel like real cymbals, but they only make a fraction of the noise. This makes them an excellent practicing tool.
You can find low volume cymbals being sold by Zildjian, Sabian, and Evans.
Low volume drumheads are the same as the cymbals we just mentioned. They’re mesh heads that you can put on your drum shells in place of the standard heads. They feel the same as the pads on electronic drums, but they allow you to play your acoustic kit without people in the next room hearing you.
Brushes are something that every drummer should have in their stick bag. They’re used a lot in jazz music, but they also work very well when you want to play the drums quietly.
If you want to feel something more similar to drumsticks, rute sticks are an alternative to brushes. They include several small rods that are strapped together. They bring out softer sounds from the drums, and you get wooden and plastic options. The plastic rute sticks are typically quieter.
If you have multiple practice pads, you can place them over each drum in your setup. You’ll be able to practice your hand techniques and rudiments while moving the sticks across the kit. The downside is that you can’t really place a practice pad on a bass drum, so you’ll need to rule that out for this method.
If you still want to get all the same drum tones and play on a real set, consider using drumsticks that are lighter than the ones you currently use. The heavier a pair of sticks are, the more impact they make on the drums, giving you more volume.
If you use 5A or 5B sticks, consider switching to 7As. They’re a lot lighter, and they give you a softer touch on the drums and cymbals.
Dynamics are very important when playing the drums. One of the best ways to lower your volume is just to control your strokes and play a bit softer. It’s not the easiest thing to do if you’re new to playing the drums, but you should work at it to improve.
If you want to play energetically on a drum set without worrying about any noise, you may need to get an electronic kit. Electronic kits have drum modules that connect to pads to trigger sounds. The pads make light tapping noises, but all the sounds come out of the drum module. You can plug headphones into the module to hear what you’re playing.
Easy soundproofing involves sealing all the gaps in the room where your drums are. You can put weatherstrips on the windows and doors. You can also put a door sweep at the bottom of the door. With the gaps sealed, less sound will travel out the room from your drums.
Proper soundproofing involves creating a room within a room to block out all the noise. If you’re willing to do some heavy construction to stop your drum noise from bothering people around you, you’ll need to soundproof your drum room using all the industrial methods.
Hanging acoustic panels on the walls won’t soundproof your room like many people think they do, but they will cut out many harsh frequencies from bouncing around the walls. Having those frequencies reduced will make the drums sound slightly quieter compared to if there were no acoustic panels.
If you remove the resonant heads from all your toms, they won’t ring out. You’ll get strong accent notes that fade away instantaneously, giving you a quieter effect.
Dry and dark cymbals are slightly softer than bright cymbals. It may help use them to keep sound levels down.
You can use anything that rests on your drums to dampen them. Some popular options are Moongels, towels, muffling rings, and tape.
Drums are made to be loud. It’s in the nature of their design. However, if your drums are significantly louder than others, it could be because they’re producing too many overtones. You can fix those by dampening the drums.
Yes, you can easily adjust your technique to play softly on the drums.
Hanging sound insulation material on the walls will stop harsh frequencies from bounding around, reducing the drum noise.
Try several of the tips we mentioned, and you should find a few good ones that get the job done for you. Do whatever it takes to allow you to continue practicing and making music with your kit.
When you get to play on a set with no sound restrictions, let loose and catch up on all the noise that you weren’t able to make before
Founder of TheDrumNinja
I’m crazy about drums, it’s been my passion since I was 12 years old. I played in numerous bands going through different styles like Rock, Progressive, Pop & Jazz-Rock. After being featured in major music publications (Drumeo, Guitar Guitar, AudioIssues, MusicThinkTank) I started this website to share my knowledge and create a resource for drummers of all levels.
Find useful lessons, tips and reviews for any drummer. From beginners to professionals there’s always something new to learn and improve. Join our Newsletter for exclusive advice!
11407 SW Amu St Suite #ABM436 Tualatin, OR 97062
There may be affiliate links on this website, which means we may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to our readers.
© All rights reserved Copyright 2024
Subscribe to our ninja mailing list and get a Free E-book!
Subscribe to our ninja mailing list and get a Free E-book!
