Reduce TapTap noise - for electric drum kit

[MarkG3]

Would using hot rods help reduce the stick noise on the hi hat and cymbals on my electric kit? I've tried using the rubber 'silent' tips and they don't make any change

Thanks

Edited October 14, 2015 by Mark_88MPH

[Dad3353]

Probably not; quite the opposite. The rods themselves make a sort of rustling noise. I've not got a pad set, but of what I've seen and heard, there's a minimum 'tap-tap' that is inevitable. The only 'silent' way would be with felt beaters, like tympani, but you'd not get a 'stick' feel with them. Is the noise too loud..? For whom, the player, or the family..? What's the [i]real [/i]problem..?

[MarkG3]

So far no one has complained about it, I just want to make sure I'm as quiet as possible. It's on the first floor of a house so no one underneath or next to the wall that it's against, next door is joined on the opposite wall. Has anyone have any experience with anything else?

[Dad3353]

You could lay some thin towelling over the area you're hitting; that'll deaden the 'tap-tap' quite well, but you may have to adjust the pad sensitivity to compensate. You could equally try to have as much soft furnishing around in the room you're playing in, and hang towelling or a rug on the wall that the set is against, to absorb the sound.
These frequencies don't travel far, and are quite readily trapped; typically it's the beating of the foot pedals that travel most, not the tap of the sticks. Once a neighbour becomes aware, though, even slight noises can become disturbing, just by the sheer repetition of the sound. Lucky you're not an author of best-sellers, with a Remington typewriter, eh..? Well done for being so considerate. Don't take up the saxophone, though.

[BigRedX]

IME stick noise is actually surprisingly loud. I used to rehearse with a band which had a drummer using an all electronic kit in my house and by the time we'd turned the overall music volume down to a neighbour-friendly level the noise of the sticks hitting the pads was drowning out the actual triggered drum sounds.

[xgsjx]

Chopsticks?

[Zenitram]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vic-Firth-American-Hickory-Drumsticks/dp/B0021VGPNW

They don't make much of a difference, to be honest, but that may be because they're so thick (they don't seem to make them in 7A).

[MarkG3]

Thanks everyone, I've ordered those sticks to see if they make any difference. I've put up spare carpet around the kit on the walls to hopefully absorb some of the sound

[MarkG3]

Any other ideas would be great too

[brensabre79]

I used to use a pair of hollow plastic 7A sticks for practice pads. I don't know if the'll make much difference, but they have a certain amount of 'give' in them (they bend) so absorb some of the impact. I cannot remeber what they were called though.

[Ian Savage]

The tappedy-tapping is pretty easily contained within the room, as a couple of people have already noted - to prevent it getting out I've had success with building a quasi-isolated 'drum riser' thing from layers of plywood, Rockwool and neoprene (cost about fifty quid and an afternoon's building, totally worth it in terms of not having to deal with shirty neighbours). Might be a little overkill for your needs, but if you're one of those who likes a bit of a DIY challenge i's actually quite good fun to do.

[Zenitram]

I have one of these and it is very good:

http://triggera.com/kick-pedal-trigger

[mike257]

I've read about people building themselves a little drum riser out of wood/foam/rockwool or seating something on halved tennis balls to isolate the vibration from the floor, won't reduce the perceived sound in the room for you but should stop it rattling through the walls to everyone above and below you!