I'm not s sure any drum/cymbal sound-deadening will help, especially for the guy downstairs -think of how you can't stand the guy above you (probably walks around up there like he has stumps and no feet). Acoustic drums and multi-level apartments really don't mix (others may have more luck/tolerent neighbors). A shame you can't naturally play them; nice-looking kit. Anyway, perhaps a small V-Drum kit will satisfy your drumming needs. Though, I imagine the kick pedal hitting the pad will resonate right through your floor.

Good Luck.

B

The answer is "no" -not for real drums. I lived in apartments for many a year, too. -NEVER played live drums in them. I knew there was no way. However, you might look into renting a practice space somewhere. Sometimes, if you go in on it with a few other musicians, you can split up the costs. You'll need to coordinate practice times.

The other option is to get an electronic kit for the apartment and play with headphones. Even then, you'll have to keep practice hours to reasonable hours.

It works both way. I was living in an apartment where some "cool dudes" with a big stereo moved in and started rattling the walls with tunes. I ended up confronting them and was going to rip their arms off and beat them to a pulp....because I needed to sleep! And that's what you'll run into living the apartment life. Nobody's there for the anonymity.

A drummer in an apartment is much like tennis shoes on a halibut.

Only one benifits and everyone else is acutely aware of the problem.

The only solution that I've ever seen that's truly made sense to all parties is the electronic kit. Practice that in the apartment and rehearse and gig with the acoustic.

I live in a regular single family home, but even at that playing my acoustic set would not be acceptable to the neighborhood. I have a little Roland HD-1 kit in the living room. Certainly it's capabilities are limited, but for practice it's really pretty good. I use an old laptop loaded with MP3s with an old stereo receiver for music source and, of course, wear headphones. Works great! It doesn't take much space and because it doesn't use a regular kick pedal (no beater striking a head) it might not bother you downstairs neighbor. You might find one at a reasonable price on ebay.

There is never a bad time to work on your brush technique, and I'm not making a joke here I'm being serious it can be a lot fun at a low volume and you can even get to enjoy some of the resonance of those beauties. Good luck!

^^^^^

+1 on that!

You might want to take the diplomatic approach and talk to your neigbors, maybe there could be a time slot that you could practice.

Thats a difficult situation that I am (was) all to familiar with. In my old townhouse, my adjoining neighbors both worked from home...ugh. In an apartment there is little you can do to deaden the sound. I resorted to buying those dampner pads you can place over drums and cymbals. They didnt feel great and they sounded worse - none of the character of the drum can shine through those bad boys, but no complaints from neighbors. Maybe try renting a practice space?

Good Luck!

Even if you could muffle them, you wouldn't like the sound of them, so might as well invest in either an electronic set or a practice pad set. They may even complain with those, as sometimes just the playing of a bass pedal slamming into a pad can reverberate through walls or floors.

That being said, that is a beautiful set, so I imagine with some creative thought you can find a place to play them.

Many years ago when I lived in an apartment, it was a brand new building, and it was only myself and a neighbor, she got a 52" giant screen, Remember those things, she was watching top gun, It honestly sounded like she and the TV where in my living room. I explained to her the loudness of the TV, it went on for a week so that weekend at 10:00Am I set my gretsch kit 14x26 bass 10x14 tom 16x16 and 16x18" floor toms kit up pointing right in her direction, and I proceeded to give her an hours worth of what she had given me all week, you know I never had a problem with her again, she told me, Well I guess I deserved that! I told her I also play guitar, and I had a Marshall SLP waiting for her??DOH