How to Soundproof a Drum Room: 5 Cheap Ways
Having a teenage son is a hard full-time job. That job becomes even harder when he hits some ideas out of curiosity.
For example, mine had a dream of becoming a famous drummer. That didn’t happen yet, but he taught us some things.
For example, he made us realize what we need in order to soundproof a drum room.
The noise was unbearable, and let’s be honest- no matter how good a drummer you are, it is somewhat noisy and possibly annoying for the person not involved in music.
Therefore, we needed fast solutions to our revolting son “problems” and we decided to soundproof his training drum room.
At first, I thought this will cost a fortune, but contrarily, we’ve done it with several hundreds of dollars.
So, let’s check some of the simplest ways of insulating drum room.
How to soundproof a drum room
1. Seal all the gaps
When I’m talking about the gaps, I mean literally everything.
Even the smallest of holes can release the noise, especially the one coming from the drums.
Drum noise is one of the hardest to deal with.
Therefore, you will need the irregular attention when soundproofing a drum room.
With that said, you will need to seal every single gap.
There can be gaps between the door and the door frame, between the door and the floor, gaps between the window and the window frame, and any other cracks in doors, windows, walls or wherever you find them.
- Deal with the gaps between the door and door frame
These gaps are sometimes the main reason for hearing the noise. They are tricky to spot, indeed.
Anyway, you can do it precautionary as well. Seal those gaps using some weatherstrip tape.
This weatherstrip tape is the most affordable variant for your door gap problem.
Once you close the door, you will notice the spots that need to be sealed.
There are some gaps between the door and doorframe that do not meet properly.
Add some of this self-adhesive tape to the needed parts and your problem will be solved.
Once done with this part, you know that there is the problem with the bottom of the door as well.
Adding a door sweep like this will help you seal the gap in between the door and the floor.
Door sweeps come in different sizes, and you can simply cut it in the size of your door in order to fit it properly.
- Deal with the gaps between the window frame and window itself
There can be gaps between the window frame and window as well.
When it comes to this one, you can also use weatherstrip tape.
With the same procedure as with doors, you will successfully seal the gaps on your window and potentially reduce the noise.
Once finished with the doors and windows, you will be left with a lot of tape.
It’s always around 40 ft long. You can use it afterword for any other door or window in your home.
2. Invest in some soundproofing of your doors and windows
Once finished with sealing the gaps, you are ready to add some actual soundproofing material to your doors and windows.
When it comes to doors, there are several solutions:
- Fiberglass blanket and flat fiberglass panels
Fiberglass is a well-known material used for soundproofing purposes.
When it comes to drum room, there is a lot of impact noise.
Fiberglass is popular as the material to deaden this type of noise.
Use fiberglass blankets to deaden the noise. It will reduce not only the level of noise but its reverberation as well.
Blankets are thick and you can hang them easily.
Simply put them above (using some screws, for example) and let them fall all over the doors. Make sure there is no space left behind.
They are extremely easy to clean and is an affordable solution.
Anyway, if your preferences are to attach something steadily on the doors, you might go with some fiberglass panels.
For this cause, you can use flat fiberglass panels.
True, they are a bit more expensive than acoustic panels, but they surely pay off.
Important note: Since you are dealing with impact noise, you don’t want some simple foam panels.
You need something specifically designed for impact noise.
Therefore, get these fiberglass panels and be sure that your problems will be solved (as far as doors concern).
Now, if we are talking about windows, there are some major changes that you can do.
First of all, there are soundproofing curtains.
They are large curtains, particularly designed for soundproofing purposes that will perfectly fit your drum room.
They run all the way from the ceiling down to the floor.
The best deal for you is to find the ones with eyelets that will help you attach them easily on the rod.
3. Soundproof room walls
The biggest investment is to soundproof your walls.
You should prepare yourself for certain effort investments, depending on the walls thickness.
This is a serious problem and will need some serious approach. You will either install the soundproofing material on your wall or inside it.
Whatever you decide, don’t go with the simple acoustic panels.
They might tell you that those are used for music studio purposes and that they can handle, but frankly, they are not quite good against impact noise.
If you want to do this right, you will avoid foam panels.
Now, if you decide to insulate by adding soundproofing material on your walls, which is the easier method, you will be able to do it within several hours.
On contrarily, adding some soundproofing materials on your walls might require days.
Preferably, you should add these materials to your construction when building walls, but if that’s not the case, you will need to remove the drywall.
After done so, you will need to insert the material between the joists if you’re using mineral wool boards.
Or you can simply put some mass loaded vinyl.
The better effect is when soundproofing material is added inside the walls, but the other option will do the job just fine as well.
Also, “inside the walls” method it’s kind of a permanent solution to the room and there will be no traces of additional editing to your walls.
What deserves mentioning are mineral wool boards. They need to be put in between the joists.
True, this one requires a lot of effort, and maybe a hand of a professional, but it’s truly worth when it comes to the peaceful environment.
For this method, you should preferably use resilient channels as well.
They will additionally reduce the noise- those annoying vibrations by fixing everything and making it much steadier.
Also, you can add some soundproofing to your walls’ outside.
For these purposes, you should take flat fiberglass panels that we previously mentioned in the “soundproofing doors” section.
4. Use Acrylic drum shields
Now, there is one of the simplest solutions to drum noise.
It’s called “acrylic drum shield”.
True, it’s the simplest, but one of the most expensive as well. It’s worth like the drum set at least.
There are some affordable drum shields on the Amazon that you should check out.
Although it will block the noise going into every direction, it won’t be as effective in blocking the noise from going upward.
This one is, arguably, the quietest way of blocking the noise in your drum room.
The other downside is that the musician can feel a bit entrapped.
5. Get a drum rug and place it underneath the drum set
Once you have soundproofed doors, walls and the windows, you need a final touch- a rug to hold your drums in place.
Since this is an instrument that produces a lot of vibrations, you should install it on the steadier ground with a carpet as it will decrease the echo in the room, prevent certain drum parts from interacting with the floor directly, and of course, protect the floor as drums may damage it.
Therefore, the drum rug is like a cherry on the top of the cake.
Use it once you have finished with these crucial methods (walls, doors, windows).
Final word on Soundproofing a Drum Room
All in all, when it comes to soundproofing a drum room, I would definitely try to figure out from where the noise comes firstly.
In most of the cases, filling some minor gaps can reduce the noise in half.
So, before some bigger investments, like building additional layers on your walls, or something similar, I recommend inspecting the whole room.
Even the tiniest of holes can produce a lot of noise.
The most important thing to remember is not to use regular methods of soundproofing.
So, foam panels are an absolute no when it comes to a drum room.
As we said, they are not the best solution for impact noise.
Hopefully, this article gave you some insight on how to soundproof drum room correctly.
You might also like: How to Soundproof a Gaming Room
How to Soundproof a Drum Room
Your son's drum practice disturbing you? Click here to learn how to soundproof a drum room and do it yourself using these CHEAP ways.
Instructions
- Seal All The Gaps
- Invest In Some Soundproofing Of Your Doors And Windows
- Soundproof Room Walls
- Use Acrylic Drum Shields
- Use Acrylic Drum ShieldsGet A Drum Rug And Place It Underneath The Drum Set