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If you need to know how to make a drum kit quieter and you want to practice drumming in your apartment without disturbing your neighbours, then this buyer’s guide is for you. We have some of the best tips that will help you reduce the volume of the drum. Whether it is in your apartment, dorm, or house, we have got you covered. Although when you hit drums with sticks, they are never going to produce a pin drop silence. However, you can do a few things to make them quieter once you hit them.
Table of Contents
How loud is an acoustic drum set?
An acoustic drum kit can produce up to 30 decibels. The sound produced by drums can travel around your entire neighbourhood, and you may not get along well with your neighbour. Loud sound can cause a lot of damage to your hearing as the sound produced by an acoustic drum is equivalent to the sound produced by a military jet when it is taking off while you are 50 feet away from the jet. There are some ways that can help you avoid all this.
A quiet drum kit is the best thing you can have if you live in an apartment with your family or a neighbourhood with homes close to each other. With a quiet drum kit, you can have a quiet practice, unplugged performances and conduct music lessons if you are a music specialist. Acoustic drums tend to be loud, and not many neighbours would appreciate having a drummer next door. Notwithstanding, you can still practice in your apartment as electronic drum sets enable you to practice drumming quietly. We will provide you with some of the best options you can get on the market that will help you thrive well in music.
Quiet electronic drum set vs acoustic: comparison
Acoustic drums and electronic drums are more similar to acoustic and digital pianos. Electronic drums have a design that makes them produce as little noise as possible compared to their acoustic counterparts. In electronic drums, the sound is pre-recorded and stored into the brain of the drum kit and controlled by several sensors that are pre-installed in the cymbals and under the drum heads.
The sensors in the drum can detect the stick velocity and assign an extra pitch and volume according to the velocity of the stick as a response. In most cases, electronic drums use quieter rubber pads or mesh heads to replace cymbals and drum heads used in acoustic drums. These features are the significant differences between acoustic drums and electronic drums, and besides these, all other features are similar.
Both electronic and acoustic drums have their pros and cons. Your choice of the drum will entirely depend on your needs, tastes and preferences. Also, your surroundings will play a significant role in choosing a perfect drum kit for yourself. If you live in a quiet neighbourhood or with family members who get irritated by drums sounds, an electronic drum kit will be an ideal choice for you.
Electronic drum sets are made of plastic or rubber pads and mesh drum-heads, unlike their acoustic drums, largely made of metal or wood. With electronic drum kits, you can plug in an amplifier or a pair of earphones, giving you an option to practice with the minimum sound possible without disturbing your neighbour. The important thing you should know is, electronic drums are not entirely soundproof and as people around you can still hear you hitting your drums’ cymbals and pads.
Advantages of electronic drums over acoustic drums
- With electronic drums, you can easily record exactly the same sound level that you have set for your headphones. For acoustic drums, you will need to be very skilled for you to be able to record a consistent level of sounds.
- Acoustic drums take a lot of space compared to electronic drums. It will be much easier for you to set up an electronic drum kit in a smaller apartment.
- Electronic drums are more portable and easy to move and transport than acoustic drums in terms of portability.
- Electronic drums offer you a wide range of sounds that are just a click away, unlike acoustic drums, where you need some creativity to create different tunes.
Advantages of acoustic drums over electronic drums
- There isn’t any electronic drum set that can match the level of acoustic during live performances. Most top musical bands prefer acoustic drums over electronic drums for a more energised musical feel.
- There is always that aesthetic feel and beauty that comes from using a wooden stick. This traditional feel makes you feel your whole body vibrating as you hit the drums as the music plays along.
How to practice drumming quietly?
So now that you understand which drum set produces less noise, the following methods will help you make your drum drumming practice quieter:
1. Use a practice pad
They will help you reduce the level of noise produced by your drums significantly. They are less expensive, and lightweight so you can easily move them. Practice pads help you improve the control of your stick. After spending productive time on your practice pad, there is no doubt that you will perform much better on your drum set.
2. Drum mute pads
These pads are placed on the top part of your drums. They are rubber-made, meaning they will be able to absorb much sound; hence at no time, you will disturb your neighbours. The drum mute pads will make your practice smooth as they will not interfere with your performance. If you are playing your drum kit in a place where there is no sound restriction limit, you can work without them to enjoy the music better.
One shortcoming of these pads is you get minimal rebound when playing on them, and you will have to use your muscles for good results. However, your muscles will have gained strength with time, and you will not strain too much.
3. Drum mutes are also available for cymbals
You can opt to change or replace your drumsticks with brushes or rods. Although rods help in reducing the amount of sound produced by drums, they offer a different kind of sound compared to drumsticks. Besides that, they are no different from drumsticks.
Drum rods are good with rebounding and giving a dinner tone. Brushes tend to be quieter than rods, but they are not good with rebounding, and they will require a different technique compared to the one used with sticks.
If you have no intention of replacing or changing your drumsticks, you should get a new pair that is thinner than the one you are using. Thinner sticks make the force you apply on your drums reduce hence reducing the amount of sound produced by the drums.
4. Control your movements
You should have full control over how hard your stick hits the cymbal or drum. Learn to adjust the movements of your hands as you practice until you achieve a consistent skill of hitting your drum to produce a low sound.
5. Soundproofing
You can opt to get a professional to soundproof your room; however, you will need to dig a little deeper into your pocket. There are other DIY soundproofing methods, such as covering our windows and doors with heavy blankets. Soundproofing helps in ensuring sound does not escape your practising room.
What to consider in an electronic drum Kit
Before you consider anything else, the amount of money you want to spend on your electronic drum will entirely affect other factors. A high-end drum kit tends to be the quietest. The following are some of the things to look out for when shopping for an electronic drum kit:
1. How quiet is the electronic drum set?
For most drummers, electronic drum kits require passing the noise test before other considerations. Different manufacturers address the drums noise concern differently, such as using rubber pads, drum heads, mesh heads and rubber pads. The main issue is usually at the kick pedal as it tends to be challenging to control as the thumping sound is absorbed by the floor and walls, allowing sound impact to be felt by down-floor and next-door neighbours. The effect is experienced more in the cheaper models than the expensive high-end ones.
To prevent this impact, you can build tennis ball risers that create air cushions between the walls or floor and your drum set. This method is quite effective, although you will need to add some money on top of your electronic drum set cost. Before purchasing an e-drum set, get to understand how well it can absorb the sound.
2. A Large library of drum sets and good quality sounds
The quality and depth of the sound of the electronic drum set highly depend on the hardware quality and the pre-recorded kits with the module. Because of the evolution of sound modules, it will take you some time to figure out everything. However, with a lot of musical samples to load, the module memory comes at a premium. So, the area of interest is usually on the sustainability of the quality of specific notes, like cymbal sounds which tend longer than most.
The type of headphones that you use will affect how your e-drum kit sounds. So choose quality headphones so that you can record or listen to great sounds produced by your kit.
Sound latency is also another area that influences your overall electronic drum kit quality. Poor latency hinders your kit from expressing and blocks you from enjoying the performance fully.
So, before you take any drum home, you should consider the quality of sound a drum kit produces.
Our best silent drum kit reviews
Product description
Mesh electronic drum kit heads give a realistic, immerse and responsive playing experience a drummer would ever demand. Alesis Nitro Mesh Kit is the latest style of the critically acclaimed all-mesh kit that will help you get an immerse and incredible drumming experience.
Alesis and melodies have joined hands together to bring Alesi’s customers 60 lessons offered upon registering your drum set from Alesis. With Melodics, you should choose a genre that you like the most. Also, there are a wide variety of techniques that you can learn. There is always something for all, no matter the skill level.
The kit is an eight-piece drum that consists of:
- Eight inches dual-zone snare pad.
- Three tom drums, eight inches each.
- Three cymbals, 10 inches each: ride cymbal, hi-hat, and crush w/choke
Other equipments in the package include:
- Drumsticks
- Connection cables
- Drum key
- Four-post aluminium posts
Main features
The following are the key features that make this product do well on the market:
- It is a premium eight-piece drum set that offers you a realistic and immersive drumming experience.
- It includes some powerful educational features such as a sequencer, Aux input, 60-built-in play-along tracks and a performance recorder that helps you hone and improve your drumming skills.
- In conjunction with Melodics, Alesis offers 60 virtual lessons for free to give you skills you would want to master.
- The drum kit is appropriate for everyone. It does not matter your skills level; this drum will help you become a better drummer.
Why we have chosen it
This drum kit is a high-end one that will help you practice your music without disturbing your next-door neighbour. The manufacturer aims at offering you a drum set that will help you improve your drumming techniques. The kit has drum-mesh heads, which helps minimise the amount of sound produced when you are using it.
Besides its incredible features, Alesi’s customers get 60 free virtual lessons from Melodics to enhance your drumming techniques and hone your skills for any type of genre or technique you may wish to master. This is a rare chance that is up for grabs, and you should not ignore it.
Also, many people seem to have been impressed by this product just like us. Reading reviews made us consider placing this product on top of our list of the Best silent drum kits.
Read reviews
This product has excellent reviews. However, you will still find some negative reviews. These reviews will play a significant role in your shopping process, as they will help you decide whether you need this product or not.
Product description
This kit is ideal for the aspiring drummer. It has everything amateur drummers would need in the process of sharpening their skills to become professional ones. The kit has four velocity-sensitive drum pads which deliver realistic sound with the response and feel of a real drum. There are various built-in rhythms and songs that help an aspiring drummer play along with the music without needing singers around.
The kit has a music coach feature, a built-in game function, and an LCD screen that enables you to play the drums better from the onset.
Main features
Below are some of the key selling areas of this product:
- It offers premium sound content with 70 percussion voices, 50 play-along songs, and ten effect voices.
- The kit delivers a natural feel as it sounds and feels just like a conventional drum kit.
- Learning drums using this is interesting as it has a built-in game function like an LCD screen which gets you performing on the main stage.
Why we have chosen it
This kit has all you need to perfect your drumming skills. It is ultra-portable, which means you can move with it wherever you want to practice your drumming. The drum kit has a dedicated headphone output that allows you to practice privately without disturbing your family or next-door neighbours.
The drum kit is ideal for anyone who wants to become an expert in playing the drums. You may not need a physical coach to train you how to play, as it has a coach feature that will instruct you intuitively to perfect your drumming skills.
Read reviews
If you want to know whether this drum kit has been effective in perfecting the skills of aspiring drummers, read reviews. Also, you will know if they are ideal for playing in apartments or a quiet neighbourhood. Although the drum kit has excellent reviews, there are still some critical ones, but all give you a chance to draw a line between the pros and cons of the product.
Product description
This is a perfect all-in-one drumming solution for both adults and children. It is a versatile element that delivers quality drum sounds, a variety of percussion sounds and a wide range of orchestral sounds drawn from all over the world. The e-drum kit is battery powered with a simple design which makes it lightweight.
You can play the drum kit quietly as it has a volume control feature and headphone connection; hence, you can use your headphones when you need to practice privately. Also, you can reduce the volume so that you do not disrupt your neighbours’ peaceful moments.
Main features
The following forms the key selling points of this product:
- It is a versatile tool as well as portable. It has a lightweight instrument that weighs 4.2 kg, meaning you can move it anywhere.
- It has a volume control feature and headphones connections which gives you a space to practice quietly.
- It has eight touch-sensitive pads.
- The kit is equipped with 75 programs, 570 tonalities, ten programmable kits, and 32-way polyphony for an enhanced playing experience.
Why we have chosen it
This kit impressed us when we were looking for the best quiet drum kits. It is equipped with features that will allow you to play your music peacefully without any limitations. You will enjoy the experience as you can opt to use your headphones so that you do not annoy your family members or neighbours. Besides the headphones connection feature, a volume control feature allows you to regulate the sound levels.
This kit has many features that make it ideal for children and adults to perfect their drumming skills.
Read reviews
Reading reviews is part and parcel of shopping. Reviews give you different perspectives about a product. From these perspectives, you can determine whether you will need to purchase a particular product or you will need to look for other available options. This product has many reviews. Read all of them to get all sides of this product.
Product description
This e-drum has four adjustable mesh heads with velocity-sensitive pads. The RockJam electronic drum set has a USB and Aux input with mid and headphone Outputs. It comes with both hi-hat and bass pedals for an enhanced drumming experience. With the drum kit brain having 30 authentic drum kit voices and various demo songs, you can get the most out of this kit and play different rhythms as you wish.
It has a headphone and aux mode feature, which allows you to play privately and regulate the amount of sound escaping your house for a peaceful co-existent with your neighbours. The rubber toms and mute pads also help reduce the level of sound produced by the drum set.
Main features
Below are the key components of this drum kit:
- Easy and simple to assemble.
- Equipped with headphones, USB and Aux mode features.
- It has 30 authentic drum kit voices, giving you a lot of options.
- It is perfect for beginners.
Why we have chosen it
The e-drum kit does what it says. With this drum, you can do a lot of things privately and controllably. Our main focus in a drum kit was how quiet a drum kit could be while practising. This kit proved to be quite effective when it comes to noise reduction. It has USB, Aux, and headphones output modes, giving you full control over the sound your kit produces.
Other than volume control, other excellent features ensure you have a great drumming experience. We are very sure you are going to fall in love with this kit.
Read reviews
This product has several reviews from verified buyers and users. Some have given both pros and cons of this product while others have picked sides. Reviews will help you analyse the product performance and its shortcomings so that you can know whether the product will help you enjoy your playing experience.
