1. Towels
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.
2. Drum Mutes
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.
3. Low Volume Cymbals
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.
4. Low Volume Drumheads
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.
5. Brushes
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.
6. Rute Sticks
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.
7. Practice Pads
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.
8. Lighter Drumsticks
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.