DIY isolation platform (Apartment dweller lifesaver)

[Randy]

Been building a small home studio over the last few weeks. Now stuff squared away but I knew having an e-kit was essential but would have some hurdles.

Anyway, long story short, I ended up with a Roland TD-1K for the small footprint, Roland quality and decent support. I've had that for about two months, I'm loving it but my downstairs neighbors started mentioning mentioning that they could hear the thumping, so it was time for some isolation.

There's a few of these builds on YouTube. A couple of the specifics of mine I improvised. The main theme is plywood on tennis balls and a rug on top. In my particular case, I used 3/4" MDF (seems to deaden sound better than solid ply), and I added a foam mat (like you use in your workshop) between the MDF and the rug.

I needed a 4'x4' square and couldn't fit a full sized sheet in my car, so I got two 2'x4' sheets. I was worried about having to tether them together to keep them from sliding apart but the tennis balls are so grippy that there's no way they'll move.

Makes a huge difference. Super quiet. Floor doesn't even creak when you jump on it.

Forgive the potato cam pics but they give you the idea.

 

[Randy]

Update to this. Didn't have an especially advanced way of doing this but decided to show how much vibration the platform is eating.

My options for an app were kinda limited because I needed something that records for a set amount of time and had a delay so that I had time to move the phone after I hit the start button.

Both charts are playing the same beat. Sustained double kicks ~160 bpm and hitting pretty hard.

This first chart is with the phone sitting on TOP of the platform on the edge near my right kick pedal.



Second chart is the phone placed in pretty much the exact same spot in relation to the kick pedal but on the floor UNDERNEATH the platform.



Pretty huge difference. Vibration under the platform is near zero, so you can imagine how much noise it cuts out through a floor, insulation and ceiling into the room below.

 

[tedtan]

Based on those pics, that looks like a significant improvement.

 

[Sumsar]

NICE! Might consider suggesting this to my drummer, which recently moved to an e-kit at home for easy of practice and just using samples for recordings.

Important question though: what does the neighbour say? Can they even hear you play?

 

[Randy]

NICE! Might consider suggesting this to my drummer, which recently moved to an e-kit at home for easy of practice and just using samples for recordings.

Important question though: what does the neighbour say? Can they even hear you play?

Haven't had a single complaint or even mention of it. Haven't asked, to avoid stirring anything up, but the results I'm getting in the same room look like they should be effectively silent down below.

Forgot to include any prices but the basic breakdown

2'x4'x3/4" MDF x 2 = ~$25
4'x5' Indoor/outdoor rug = ~$20
18 Pack of name brand tennis balls = $14
4'x4' Antifatigue pad = ~$9
Total $68ish?

 

[nightlight]

Haven't had a single complaint or even mention of it. Haven't asked, to avoid stirring anything up, but the results I'm getting in the same room look like they should be effectively silent down below.

Forgot to include any prices but the basic breakdown

2'x4'x3/4" MDF x 2 = ~$25
4'x5' Indoor/outdoor rug = ~$20
18 Pack of name brand tennis balls = $14
4'x4' Antifatigue pad = ~$9
Total $68ish?

Nice, clean build. I'd love to try something like this at my apartment. The whole room shakes every time I hit the bass pad, and while I have understanding neighbours, it would be nice to completely kill the sound like those graphs you posted.

 

[Randy]

Nice, clean build. I'd love to try something like this at my apartment. The whole room shakes every time I hit the bass pad, and while I have understanding neighbours, it would be nice to completely kill the sound like those graphs you posted.

Follow-up on this one.

I eventually DID hear something from my neighbors about playing. The good news is that the platform still pretty much killed any vibration from the kit through the floor. What they were still hearing was, believe it or not, the sound of the sticks hitting the heads and frame/shell themselves and echoing down the hall. Not perfect but still a huge improvement.

I'd imagine mesh heads (I'm using rubber) and better technique would make a difference there.

 

[nightlight]

Follow-up on this one.

I eventually DID hear something from my neighbors about playing. The good news is that the platform still pretty much killed any vibration from the kit through the floor. What they were still hearing was, believe it or not, the sound of the sticks hitting the heads and frame/shell themselves and echoing down the hall. Not perfect but still a huge improvement.

I'd imagine mesh heads (I'm using rubber) and better technique would make a difference there.

Your findings are similar to what I've read by other people who also built these kinds of risers.

Really, there's no way to completely kill the sound while playing e-drums, since it's a kinetic activity and even with mesh heads like on my kit, there's a thwacking and thudding sound all the time.

But this is really about being a good neighbour (reducing the noise as opposed to doing nothing). I manage to get away with it in my apartments, because there are a whole lot of musicians in the complex playing piano, violins and even e-drums.

Despite that, I wish I had the woodworking skills to build one of these. A great way to take care of the kick at least.

I did some noise reduction with my guitar amps, that was one thing I did get complaints about Bought a drum iso booth and put my cabs inside, it reduces perceived volume by about 50%, so I can get away with my 100 watters at 10 and 11 o'clock on the master volume.