Currently, I'm in a situation where I need to be able to play my drums in a quiet atmosphere. I've looked around at cymbal mutes and drums mutes but none of them interested me fore various reasons:

-I want to retain the natural feel of the drums and cymbals.
-I don't want any residue from the mutes to stay on the drums after removing them.
-I don't want to spend a lot of money.

So I've got an idea for the drums.

I think I'm going to get 6 drum triggers and cut a few rubber disks to mute the drums and protect the triggers. I'll probably match them up with a cheap module. This will also keep any adhesive from sticking to my drums.

However, I'm lost as what to do for the cymbals...They are so loud and I don't want to buy electronic cymbals because I don't have very much money to spend. Anyone got a way of quieting them down inexpensively without adhesives? Appreciated.

Also looking for some help on choosing a module. It doesn't have to be nice or have a lot of options, just looking for something that will work for practice with muted drums. I don't plan on triggering the cymbals.

Place tape around the cymbal to deaden the sound, This is probably the cheapest way to make drum set cymbals quieter, but it's pretty effective. Using any kind of tape (athletic tape sticks well but also removes cleanly), place squares around the outer rim of the cymbal. Start off with a few and add more if you need less volume.

There are various ways to make your Kit slightly quiter, but playing a legit drum set, with legit cymbals and legit sticks, there's no possible way to be quiet (unless you happen to be able to build a studio in your house).

Best advice would be to get rid of your acoustic kit and get an electric kit (I'm assuming you can't play because of the neighbors or something? If it's something fairly permanent, I'd advice going an Electric Kit, as you're not gonna find a solution to neighbors who want peice of quiet).

On top of what Lakky said, you might wanna try making the room you have a little bit more sound proof, Egg Cartons actually work pretty well to deaden the sound, and are easy to accumulate/obtain.

As for a Drum Module, I would try and get a Roland TD-3 Drum Module. If you have a bit more, try getting the TD-4 (major difference would be recording, you can play whatever you want and then just replay it/save it on a computer). Both have ports so you can hook it up to your computer (giving you an infinite amount of sounds for drums/cymbals). Obviously, if you can't afford either of these, just find one that you can hook your computer up to, as it is an essential key to recording/enjoying as many sounds as you can.

I stupidly forgot to mention that we are building a studio in my friend's house. I only want it to be quieter because when his folks are home I still want to be able to jam, but just at a reduced volume. The room's walls are loaded with at least 2"-4" of styrofoam was was previously used to insulate an industrial sized freezer. We're currently sealing the drywall boarders with drywall mud, then paint and carpet on the floor. If necessary, we'll put some kind of sound insulation on the walls afterward, but it should be sufficient. We're also building a drum rise so the drums aren't on the floor to reduce vibrations throughout the house.

This is an easy one, just play as quiet as you possibly can

Of course this may not be a solution to your problem, but it works for me. I can happily play quiet enough to accompany an acoustic guitar without any amplification. You might want to buy a really soft beater for these occasions. It also really helps your style as well as the small occasions when there is an open-mic pub/bar with a drum kit. Invariably they will always want you to play incredibly softly, even on heavier parts - just because of the size of the venue coupled with just how often live music is played there - many complaints from neighbours.

All this being said, I use an electric in my own home with a couple of P.A speakers for practicing with friends and the band, and headphones every other time. Edrums were the best purchase I ever made

This post was edited by dysgenics on Oct 14 2010 12:15pm

The style of music usually requires fast/heavy and playing soft is really hard! Though the control would be good practice. I can't buy a whole electronic kit because I'm poor, and I recently bought a new acoustic kit and I'm too attached to it to trade it in for something else.

Ok fair enough... There is no real solution without totally getting rid of the sound of your drums in general... I can still play pretty quiet death metal drums untill about 170bpm, after that theres no controlling the volume unless I want to totally ruin how tight I play

Try out axis pedals, owners defend them to hell trying to tell you there's no loss of power, but seriously - when I used axis pedals was the only time no one downstairs could hear my roland mesh head bass drum. Shame i didn't get on with the direct drive as even quieter edrums was pretty handy... and acoustic I would always use triggers for metal anyway so axis really doesnt compromise the sound with the lack of power.

This post was edited by dysgenics on Oct 14 2010 07:20pm

I heard they fall apart. On top of that, they are out of my purchasing power.

Basically your own answer here lol, your best bet would be just to sound proof the room from the rest of the house, especially if you wanna keep the same natural feel then you don't really have to do anything to the drums.