Absorb the impact of the bass drum pedal (electronic drum kit)

[brian trageskin]

a friend got an electronic drum kit, and the floor of his apartment is pretty thin. are there cheap solutions to isolate a floor? i read a few things here and there but most solutions are too expensive for him. thanks in advance!

[Hugh Mughnus]

maybe rubber matting? Like they do for home gyms. It's about an inch thick and has tiles that fit together like puzzle pieces.. it's relatively cheap. I'll look for a link

[iococoi]

http://www.sae.edu/reference_material/audio/pages/floors.htm

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-soundproof-studio-in-11-easy-steps/step8/Use-floating-floors-another-difficult-bit/

[brian trageskin]

thanks for those. i'm still checking out what would be the cheapest and easiest. some say that 4 car tires with a panel on top is enough. i wonder if that actually works.

[elusive4]

sorbothane.

adequately spec'd.

[J3FF3R00]

Density is the key.

Whatever the surface is, it needs to be more dense than thick.

The best is to layer surfaces too, like in a pro iso-booth.

It's usually a few alternating layers of sound foam, sandwiched between layers of dense rubber sheets, with possibly space in between the layers so the sound waves don't carry through the material.

 

In lieu of a pro budget, my thought would be, put a rug down, then put some kind of thick, flat rubber mat on top, then maybe even a thin piece is some sort of thin sheet rock, concrete or slate from Home Depot. Then another rug on top.

That way, the sound is being absorbed through multiple surfaces.

 

I'm sure getting that complicated may not even be necessary, but I bet it would help.

 

Density dude.

[LimpyLoo]

Wrap a t-shirt around the beater.

[J3FF3R00]

It's the floor. Being a drummer, I know exactly what you mean. The kicking vibrates the floor beneath your pedal.

 

Out of curiosity, I actually took it upon my own devices to go to Home Depot to see what solutions I could find on the cheap.

 

They have this stuff called Durock. Its essentially a cement particle board, similar to drywall. They sell it in sheets of 3' x 5' x 1/2" and it's only $9 a sheet.

 

Where they sell rugs by the foot, they also sell these dense rubber outdoor mats that are 3'x5' and made from recycled rubber. They are about $36 each.

 

They also sell this stuff called Blackjack for like 46¢ a foot. It's a thin kind of floating floor cushion foam.

 

They also sell 3'x5' rugs really cheap.

 

 

maybe rubber matting? Like they do for home gyms. It's about an inch thick and has tiles that fit together like puzzle pieces.. it's relatively cheap. I'll look for a link

Good call. They have this at HD too for around $20 a box.

 

I also found this stuff at HD. "Anti Fatigue interlocking mats". The brand is Best-Step.

$18 for 4 2'x2' (roughly 1/4" thick) mats.

 

I think if you got creative and layered a combination of any of this stuff, you could find your problems solved cleanly for under $50.

[elusive4]

if you don't want to deal with the mickey mouse soltuions: then http://www.sorbothane.com/design-guide.php

http://www.sorbothane.com/blog/technical-data/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbothane

[DerWaschbar]

I <3 you elusive .

[brian trageskin]

It's the floor. Being a drummer, I know exactly what you mean. The kicking vibrates the floor beneath your pedal.

 

Out of curiosity, I actually took it upon my own devices to go to Home Depot to see what solutions I could find on the cheap.

 

They have this stuff called Durock. Its essentially a cement particle board, similar to drywall. They sell it in sheets of 3' x 5' x 1/2" and it's only $9 a sheet.

 

Where they sell rugs by the foot, they also sell these dense rubber outdoor mats that are 3'x5' and made from recycled rubber. They are about $36 each.

 

They also sell this stuff called Blackjack for like 46¢ a foot. It's a thin kind of floating floor cushion foam.

 

They also sell 3'x5' rugs really cheap.

 

 

maybe rubber matting? Like they do for home gyms. It's about an inch thick and has tiles that fit together like puzzle pieces.. it's relatively cheap. I'll look for a link

Good call. They have this at HD too for around $20 a box.

 

I also found this stuff at HD. "Anti Fatigue interlocking mats". The brand is Best-Step.

$18 for 4 2'x2' (roughly 1/4" thick) mats.

 

I think if you got creative and layered a combination of any of this stuff, you could find your problems solved cleanly for under $50.

 

 

thanks for your effort dude.

 

also, sorbothane.

[brian trageskin]

elusive4, are you serious with sorbothane? i can't tell if you're kidding or not.

[elusive4]

it's a viable and effective material for mechanical/vibration damping:

[brian trageskin]

it's a viable and effective material for mechanical/vibration damping:

 

the video was pretty convincing. my friend chose to go for the sorbothane solution.

thanks a lot for the tip!