If you're like me and live in an apartment, you understand that playing the Rock Band drums can be difficult.  The noise made by beating the skins, requires one to turn up the volume of the game.  This can really be a problem if you have thin walls or its late at night.

I decided there must be a way to remedy the situation, and after much trial and error, my brother and I have come up with a solution. 

There are a number of threads that have started on websites about this very problem, but I feel what we have come up with, works best, and will cost you next to nothing. When addressing the problem, we first thought about using practice pads.  But at $12.99 for one, and considering we would need four and still have to cut them to pieces, we figured there must be a better alternative.  So a quick trip to Michael's, and we were ready to begin. First, a list of supplies: Four sheets of 9" x 12" self-adhesive foam rubber, any color Four sheets of 9" x 12" self-adhesive felt, one in each of the following colors: red, blue, green and yellow A cutting board or other protective device, such as heavy weight cardboard One circle cutter (We used this one)

You could use a compass and scissors, but I highly recommend purchasing a circle cutter of some kind, as you will be much happier with the results.

Step 1 - Cut a test circle

Using some plain paper, set and lock the circle cutter at right around 7".  Cut a test circle from paper, and test its fit on one of the drum pads. 

The circle should fit easily onto the pad, but should cover as much as possible.  It may take you several circles of paper to get the size just right, but be sure to spend the time on this step.

A little bit of color on the outside is fine.  Because of the thickness of the material used, a small gap is acceptable.

Step 2 - Cut foam and felt 

Now, that you have the size set on the circle cutter, repeat the procedure on the pieces of foam and felt.  Be sure to cut them with the adhesive side down.

Step 3 - Apply felt to foam circle

Carefully remove the backing from the felt circle

Lay the felt adhesive side up, and place the foam, adhesive side up on top of it.  Be sure to carefully line this up.

Using your hands or a rolling pin, apply pressure to ensure an good seal between the two pieces.

Step 4 - Appy the pad 

Remove backing from foam pad, and apply disc to pad.  The pad may need some convincing, but should fit snugly inside the lip on the drum.

That's it.  Simple, and effective.  The foam rubber helps to soften the strike of the drum stick, while the felt pad helps to deaden the snap of the stick against the foam rubber.  The pad does nothing to affect the sensitivity of the controller because it is applied directly to the pad, and although the foam rubber adhesive backing is quite sticky, it can still be removed without any damage to the original surface.  I opted for multi-color felt to replicate the ring color on the drums, but you could easily substitute black if you choose.

Now if I could just find away to deaden the bass pedal, my neighbors would be much happier.

Edit: I have some ideas for quieting the bass pedal.  I hope to find a solution yet this week.  Thanks to DaveWhittle for posting this video, showing how the mod works.  For demonstration purposes, the green pad in this video has not been modded.

Readers have left 20 comments.

 1. Untitled
DaverJ, Registered

Great mod, thanks for the details and location of where to find the items.

My only comment is that the depth of the blade on the circle cutter you mention doesn't cut all the way through the foam rubber or felt. It makes a great guide to getting a perfect round shape, so I just finished the job with an x-acto knife.

So you might want to mention this in the story and include a knife as one of the tools needed?

I also agree that getting the size right with paper first is crucial... after 3 tries on paper my pads fit perfectly.

 Posted 2007-11-28 16:21:10

 2. Untitled
dcstamm, Registered

Thanks for the info... this was really stressing me as I actually like my downstairs neighbors. I did it all in about 20 minutes last night an am /very/ pleased with the results.

I used black felt instead (I will send a picture to the author shortly) and I set the cutting circle to 6 1/2 inches for the foam rubber and 6 5/8 inches (one extra tick on the cutter mentioned above). This hides the rougher edges on the foam and make it look better. These settings leave the colored rings visible and only cover the gray area.

In response to the comment above about the circle cutter's depth. I simply bore down and turned the circle cutter around the circle repeatedly and it worked quite well.

I recommend that you use only the 'gripper foot' and not the covered pivot needle.

I think it came out looking like stock, it was easy and cheap, and makes a huge difference. I'm surprised that they don't sell it this way.

http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0180shrinkqj3.jpg


Edited By: SuperGuido
Reason: To fix image and link.

 Posted 2007-11-30 10:24:44

 3. Untitled
jojobob, Registered

Does this have any positive or negative effect on the rebound of the stick when playing? It would be great if this mod made the pads a little bouncier in addition to noise reduction.

 Posted 2007-12-01 12:08:54

 4. Untitled
trapper700, Registered

is foam rubber the same as just foam? I dropped by michael's earlier today and the sales floor people said they didn't carry foam rubber, just foam.

 Posted 2007-12-01 15:53:22

 5. Untitled
CigDangle, Super Administrator

I would say there is little to no effect on the bounce.

 Posted 2007-12-02 00:17:41

 6. Untitled
sedcseg, Registered

what is the thickness of the foam? would 3/32 inch work?

 Posted 2007-12-04 17:29:09

 7. Untitled
CigDangle, Super Administrator

I used 2mm foam (0.08 inches). 3/32 is around 0.09 inches, so I would assume it would work fine. Good luck and let me know how it works for you.

 Posted 2007-12-04 21:42:38

 8. Untitled
kalib231, Registered

i found just push harder on the cutter and u can get the cut maby go around one or more times.
use a knife if u got a tiny bit to cut
i dont know i some how think it makes my wrist hurt now form playing? like i fell it dosnt read and hafe to hit harder cause i miss sometimes but idk i allways miss sometimes.
make sure u dont use a baby tap's anymore when u hit the pad
also u can make a outter ring for the drum so if u miss u dont make noise hurt ur drums or ur sticks
and take a little piece of foam rubber and put it on ur foot pettal for more grip

 Posted 2007-12-06 00:39:14

 9. Untitled
juliep_027@yahoo.com, Registered

Thanks for the advice. After going to the local art & craft store and finding out they didn't have anymore self-adhesive foam, I went the swamp meet (flea market) and purchased 2 black neoprene waist trimmers for $3. You can make 6 circle pads out of each waist trimmer. I made 8 circles because I doubled it up... making it a lot thicker. I believe 6mm. I believe the neoprene is better. It's almost like a real drum pad, which I have but wasn't willing to cut them. I used spray adhesive to glue the two pads together. Then I was going to use the spray adhesive on the drums but I have new drums on the way from EA so I used color coordinated rubberbands in an X pattern over each drum and it works out just great. You can probably find the waist trimmers at a local 99plus store if you don't have a swampmeet or flea market. They well them on ebay for $3 but you have to pay for shipping.

 Posted 2007-12-08 18:20:31

 10. Untitled
SuperGuido, Super Administrator

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. CigDangle you must be seriously flattered at this point as 100 different versions of your idea have now sprung up. The funny thing about that site above is that all the 'press' they link to is actually about your mod including the video. I guess there will be enough people to buy them that they will make some money off of it.

 Posted 2007-12-11 04:37:29

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