Drums in a terraced house

Herbalus

I've read all the threads about neighbours from hell making a load of noise, and I appreciate how degrading it must be to your quality of life, but;

I'm a drummer. I've also just moved into a terraced house. Before anyone starts going on about how inconsiderate I am, I don't intend to set up the drums because it would royally p*** off the neighbours. I also have electronic pad drums, which are acoustically audible but not loud, so I can survive without the big drums, although forcing a drummer to use electronic drums is like forcing somebody who likes music to use tinny laptop speakers, or forcing Delia Smith to eat cold McDonalds. Not great.

My question is, what is reasonable in terms of noise for a terraced house? Occupants can't live in fear that neighbours will hear them, and are permitted to use the house for normal activities within reasonable hours. Does drumming come into this? It's a 'normal' (for a musician) use of a house for maybe 20 minutes per day between 6-8pm.

Oh and I can't afford a detached house. Next time maybe

inatdeepend

There is no specific definition of what is 'unreasonable'. As a guide :

http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/article/23004/Noise-pollution

The decent thing to do would be to tell your neighbours in advance.

pinkshoes

It wouldnt bother me providing I knew when you were practicing in advance so i could make arrangements to go out or be loud myself.

Just speak to your neighbours and try to come to an arrangement.

I lived in a semi and play trumpet...

fairy_lights

If your neighbours work during the day then that would probably be the best time for drum practice - you can't disturb them with the noise if they're not at home.
Failing that, I would go and knock on the door and introduce yourself and tell them to let you know if you're making too much noise.
Could you get some sort of sound proofing for your drum room?

kwmlondon

How about those soft sticks? I worked with a drummer who used them and it meant that we could rehearse in a garage without needing earplugs! From memory they were like a bunch of small sticks bound together and yielded when they hit the skin or cymbal and made a much quieter noise, but gave most of the feel of playing regularly.

Also, closing the windows and hanging a duvet up against the wall helps a lot.

Explain to your neighbours what you're trying to do and ask them to let you know if any of the actions you take actually work.

Good luck!

rosie383

Definitely speak to your neighbours on both sides. As others have said it's good to talk to them. It could be that they are shift workers who do nights. Or childmind a grandchild who has their nap bewtween 2-4pm. You won't know until you ask. I wouldn't mind my neighbour playing drums as long as it wasn't when my dh was trying to sleep after night shift and especially if I knew that it wouldn't go on for hours.

Pixie5740

20 minutes a day of drumming wouldn't necessarily bother me if I knew it was coming. Sometimes the worst thing about noise is not knowing how long it's going to go on for. So go round and introduce yourself to your new neighbours and come up with a time to practice that suits all of you.


You could also look at soundproofing the room you practice in. A drummer friend of mine did it and it seems to work rather well.

quidsy

I would try soundproofing the room as much as possible & restricting the playing to daytime hours & no more than 1 hr at a time. this is what the neighbor who connects to our house does, he let us know on moving in that he would be practicing for an hour a day & that he planned to do it between 5-6pm & was this time an issue. It wasn't & apart from low level noise it doesn't affect us at all but he did use egg carton type soundproofing on the connecting wall of the room he was drumming in.

LEJC

We used to have a neighbour abot 3 houses away who played the drums....he used to practice for about 15 mins every other night...used to play usually before 6.30 if possible and it never really caused an issue as this was the time when most people were not having "quiet time" in the area....


I guess its a case of picking your time and sticking to it...I would say that the earlier times might be better than leaving it too late in the evening.
We have a piano in our house and always used to try and ensure that practice was done before 7pm each evening to allow people quiet enjoyment of their evenings.

KiKi

I had an upstairs neighbour who was a drummer. He came over to tell me that he had drums, but that he would only play for 20 minutes at the most, and only once on weekday afternoons, never at weekends.

I was fine with that - firstly because it showed he was considerate, and secondly because I knew that when he started playing, it would finish in 20 minutes, so I didn't live in dread wondering 'how long will this go on for'?

Speak to your neighbours with a proposed approach and make sure they know they can come and speak to you if it's a problem, such as if they work shifts and will be sleeping every afternoon, for example.

HTH!
KiKi

theartfullodger

After divorcing 1st wife I gave one son a drum kit for Xmas...