Complaint about drum kit.

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

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12 Dec 2005
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So I've been playing the drums again now for about 2 weeks. I have been playing with silencing pads and to be honest they aren't that loud at all with the pads on.

Some sad ******* around here has decided to complain about the noise. I think it's unfair considering I don't play before 12 or after 6.

Is there anything else I can do to silence the kit? I feel gutted because if I play again they'll probabaly just complain again. I was really getting into it aswell, there's always one sad **** that has to ruin it.

I only have a cheap 2nd hand CB Kit. I think I'd only get £70 for it, and for a 2nd hand electric kit I recon I'm looking at atleast £250.

Gutted! :(
 
I don't think there's anything you can really do to silence it any further than you have. Silencing pads reduce the noise by a huge amount.

Electric kits aren't all that quiet either - whilst you lose a lot of the noise, you're still hitting fundamentally hard objects fast and hard. Everyone in the house knows when I'm playing mine anyway.

Some people are just idiots - we had the radio on at 3pm last Saturday and windows open and someone came round and complained, they just don't seem to understand that it's your right to enjoy yourself as long as you don't take things too far, and 'some noise' doesn't count as taking things too far.

Unless they complain to environmental health (takes ages), there's nothing they can do though - so you could just keep playing and see what happens.
 
They made a complaint to the housing association we're rented with - Beth Johnson. So I think they might be able to do something.
 
I've been playing drums for around 18 years, (since I was 10) I used to play in the house and we had great neighbours who also owned a piano and Saxaphone. Our house was semi detached to theirs so we sort of had a mutual agreement.

Nowadays i've kind of accepted that its an absolute racket to other people, so I drag my gear down to a local rehearsal room and pay £6 an hour to practice in a soundproof room. Whilst I understand you want to play - playing drums is possibly one of the loudest things you can do and is a sure fire way to annoy your neighbours.

As far as 'complaining' goes, it only needs one person to complain and unless your landlord/whatever takes separate action - its normally down to the council, they'll ask the offended party to record times and dates of the noise, usually followed later by the council monitoring the noise with recording equipment.. You can then be fined and told to stop - or not, depending on the decision, in which case you can appeal and take it to court....

I only know this because as I speak i've got a room full of council recording equipment for a neighbours cockerel that i've complained about! :)
 
Maybe if I bought a better quality set of silencing pads they might be quiter, using a cheap Ebay set at the moment.

I might continue as normal, if I get another complaint I'd just try and sell the kit.

I still don't understand how they can complain with silencers on though, they're so much quieter I'm suprised next door can hear them let alone anyone else..
 
I'd definitely recommend an electric kit - they are a good alternative if the sound is too much for some people. And you can keep your acoustic kit for gigs if you are in a band.

I know it's definitely not the same (In comparison) - but it's really the only way I can see you continuing to drum :(
 
I think I'll just get rid of this kit, and then save up for an electric. I'd love to know who made the complaint, I really would!
 
First of all - stuff 'em! You're already limiting yourself to the most social hours of the day, between midday and 6pm, and you've taken steps to silence the drum kit as much as possible.

Second of all (because I'm nice!) would be to try and soundproof the room as much as possible. If it's a dedicated music/drum room, try hanging some heavy curtain fabric on cheapo curtain poles across the walls - this will stop a fair amount more noise leaking out. Always practice with the windows closed, try putting a fan in the room if it gets too stuffy.

Thirdly - I would continue (after taking as many anti-noise precautions as possible) to be as much of an annoyance to next door as possible.

Sorry, but going straight behind your back to the housing association?!?! If a chap was to knock on my door, and say "really sorry mate, but I work nights so don't wake up until 3pm, could you try not to practice before then?" then I'd apologise profusely, and make sure not to start until the time he's requested.

As the chap has decided to remain anonymous and go straight behind your back - stuff him. I'd be utterly flabberghasted if a silenced drum kit in a closed, and sound-deadened room makes enough noise to cause any visiting council official alarm in the middle of the day (after 11pm is another matter), so keep playing. It's most decidedly NOT illegal to play the drums, and nobody should be forced into giving up or selling their kit because some busybody's got nothing better to complain about.

Apologies for the rant - but I've a lot of experience with neighbours and my saxophone, and nothing's coming between me and my music!
 
Hmm, I guess the kick drum is going to give out plenty give out plenty of 80Hz, which is hard to stop, even if your walls are very thick!

I'd be tempted to get a cheap SPL meter in order to see how much noise you're actually making, I think you may be able to get away with 110db but don't take my word as gospel...
 
Thanks for that Timbob. It really has made me feel a bit better. Becuase I was so angry about the complaint I very nearly took all the pads off and I had a massive urge to play VERY loud. Thankfully I held my self back! Haha

The drum kit is in a large shed at the bottom of the garden so I think it'd be hard to soundproof without spending a lot of money.

I would have much prefered it if the person it was 'affecting' came round and had a word with me because it would have made the situation much better.

I have a very good idea who it is though, a 35 stone woman with about 25 kids who think she owns the street. Rant over!
 
I just remembered actually, the first 2-3 days I had the kid I wasn't playing with silencers on. Maybe this could be when the complaint was made.
 
TDenic said:
I just remembered actually, the first 2-3 days I had the kid I wasn't playing with silencers on. Maybe this could be when the complaint was made.
Click to expand...
This is a possibility - Continue playing with the silencers on and see if you get another complaint :p
 
Marky said:
This is a possibility - Continue playing with the silencers on and see if you get another complaint :p
Click to expand...

Will do! I can call the housing association tomorrow though and ask them when the complaint was made. Maybe this would give me more of an idication.
 
TDenic said:
Will do! I can call the housing association tomorrow though and ask them when the complaint was made. Maybe this would give me more of an idication.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about it - ringing them about it will only bring it to the top of their "to do" pile again.

Just keep on playing. Practising a musical instrument ISN'T illegal, and nobody doing so (within reasonable volume levels - i.e. not playing through a Marshall stack cranked to 11 in a block of flats at 2am) should be made to feel they're doing anything wrong.

As a peripatetic, and soon to be secondary school classroom music teacher, it's something I feel rather strongly about!!
 
My garden backs on to a little house thats converted into a flat. Probabaly a total of 4 people in there so they will probabaly be able to hear the kit, but I really don't think it'd be loud to them as it isn't loud to me.

I live in a bad part of town and they aren't the best people anyway, arguing and fighting every night so I doubt it's them!

I'm defo going to continue to play though, I aren't going to let them come between my only hobby!
 
I bought a set of Roland V Drums in 2004 and they were ideal for practice as you could just plug your headphones into the main box.

I sold them a couple of years back as I started playing in a band again and went back to an acoustic kit and I wasn't really using them.

If you want to practice in the house without neighbours complaining, it is the best compromise.

It is worth 250-300 quid to get that.
 
I spoke to my other neighbours again earlier and they're still insisting it wasn't them and they're still saying they aren't bothered by the drums.

An electric kit would be an option as soon as I can afford.
 
Strange situation. I called up the housing association today and they didn't find any logged complaints for my address. The only thing I can think it'd be now is, the whole street has inspections every 2 days on there gardens to make sure everything is in order. They're quite strict in that regard so everything has to be tidy and look nice otherwise you get a telling off!

So I think the inspector probabaly heard my drum kit without the pads on and went back to the office to tell the manager.
 
But surely then if it's not residents complaining they have no grounds to stop you playing? But as you say that wasn't with pads so maybe with pads it's fine.

At my old house in Cheltenham I played my kit with silencers on my own, but sometimes the whole band used to come and rehearse....in a normal size garage :D drum kit, keyboard, bass, 2 guitars and a singer. Lets say it's was quite packed :p

Had a couple of complaints (read banging on the garage door by the angry neighbour) but on the whole it wasn't too bad. It was mainly someone who worked nights so tried not to play too much/loud. Thing is we had nothing to do during school/college holidays, so we played music :)
 
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