If you are looking for how to soundproof a drum room, we got you covered. In terms of priorities, here are the steps to take to soundproof a drum room, starting from the most important:

1. Soundproof the walls and ceiling FIRST
2. Add rubber floor underlayment to the subflooring
3. Soundproof and seal around the doors and windows
4. Add wall panels to the walls

Step 1: Soundproof the Walls and ceilings

One of the ways you can measure how well a wall blocks sound is through something called an STC rating. Contractors aren’t particularly concerned with soundproofing when building houses so a typical wall in a residential home has an STC rating of about 30-34. It does the job but you can definitely hear when the TV is too loud. For your drum room, you want to get the STC rating over 60. So we’ll be doing a little more than stapling egg cartons to the wall (which for the record, don’t do squat).

Sound is nothing more than vibrations, and vibrations need a conduit to keep moving. As they travel through any medium (even air particles!), friction kicks in and they start to dissipate. Which is why you can hear someone jumping on the floor above you but not someone two floors up. So the ideal drum room… is a room within a room. This sounds ridiculous, but it’s actually easier than you think because you can accomplish a good bit of this without literally building a new wall. if you're wondering how to soundproof interior walls, you should start by adding another layer of drywall and ‘decoupling’ it from your original structure, you will make it harder for sound to travel farther into your home.

To do this install RSIC (resilient sound isolation clips) with a 25 gauge aluminum hat channel to the studs in the walls and ceiling. On top of that add ⅝” drywall. This is thicker than your typical drywall and much better for party wall construction and ceiling soundproofing. Seal up any edges and gaps with acoustic caulk. From here you can further improve your soundproofing by adding an additional layer of ⅝” drywall with Green Glue backing. Green Glue a flexible soundproof polymer that also acts as a decoupler between your two layers of drywall, improving performance.

Once you’ve finished with the drywall, look for every air gap in the room. Check between the drywall and the floor, around outlets, vents, pipes - we even recommend running your hand across the walls and feeling for air. Sound moves like water, it will flow to the weakest point and go straight through. Once you’ve identified these points, seal them up with acoustic caulk to create the best possible soundproof walls.

For things like vents that can’t be permanently sealed, we recommend creating a removable cover. Try adding mass loaded vinyl to a cut piece of plywood or a soundproof panel for a simple, effective solution that you can easily remove when you’re done drumming.

Step 2: Add An Underlayment to the flOOR

Due to the impact noise we talked about earlier, learning how to soundproof a floor is absolutely key to your drum room, especially if you aren’t on the ground floor. Add a rubber underlayment across the entire floor and then install new flooring on top. This should increase the STC rating of your floor by 15 - 20 points. In addition you can install heavy carpeting and lay out heavy rugs for extra sound absorption. Be sure to use a rubber mat underneath your drum kit. This will help prevent impact noise where it starts and will also keep your drum kit in place.

Step 3: Add density and close air gaps on the DOORS AND WINDOWS

These are the absolute biggest weak points in any soundproofing project. Hopefully you’ve found a space with limited entryways. Now let’s get to work on sealing them up. First, check your door to see if it’s hollow - this is standard in most homes. Replace any hollow core doors with a solid core door. Next you’ll need to attack the gaps all around the door. A Door Seal kit is great for this. The kit is made up of 3 adjustable seals for the top and sides of the door, and 1 bottom seal. When the door is shut and the kit is installed, the bottom seal will release to apply pressure to the floor and turn any solid core door into a soundproof door. You can apply Fantastic Frame window inserts to create soundproof windows by completely sealing the opening as well as an added bonus of thermal insulation. Depending on the size, number, and construction of your windows you may need to take it a step further by hanging a soundproof blanket that completely covers your window. Remember that sound waves are looking for gaps, so a blanket will be great for absorption if hanging off the wall, but not so much as a barrier.

You also have the option to explore custom soundproof windows and soundproof doors specially designed to have a high STC rating, however we really only recommend this to people who need professional-level studios.

Step 4: Add Acoustical treatments For your drum room

Now that you’ve tackled soundproofing, let’s work on acoustics. It’s important that you focus on sound absorption and not just soundproofing. If you only soundproof your room, but don’t do any acoustic treatment you’ll end not being able to hear anything and just blow yourself out of the room. If you’ve effectively soundproofed the room, that means you’ve sealed all the leaks, so the sound has nowhere to go. If the sound has nowhere to go it will be even louder than it was before in your drum room.

Drums are special, even in the world of soundproofing. While the steps you would take to soundproof other music rooms are similar, drums are a completely different beast. Normally when we offer tips, we suggest good, better, and best options - for drum rooms, there is only the best option. Here’s why drums can be more difficult than other instruments to provide soundproof a room for;

Drums are loud. Like, really loud. Other instruments can either be volume controlled by an amp like a guitar or just played softer like a piano. Drums really require full impact to be played and recorded properly, which brings us to our next point…

Drums rely on impact. Impact noise, or structure noise, is sound that occurs as a result of one object “impacting” another and the vibrations being radiated through the object. Basically the sounds you hear from your ceiling of people running or furniture moving is defined as impact noise. To play drums you literally have to bang on them. That vibration passes through the instrument into the floor and radiates out. You don’t have that issue with something like a violin, unless you’re playing a raucous Irish fiddle and can’t help your feet.

Drums produce low frequencies. Because of the way low frequency sound moves, the sound waves perpetuate for much longer and are more difficult to block or absorb. Think of thunder. You can only hear the loud crack or bang of thunder when you’re near the storm, but the low rumble it produces can be heard for miles. This is the key when it comes to acoustics. Most music rooms implement acoustic foam which is usually a pretty great sound absorption product. However acoustic foam is the least effective option for absorbing low frequencies, which means it’s not a great choice for drum rooms. .

Because of these unique factors, there is no ‘halfway’ soundproofing a drum room. It’s all or nothing. But no worries, as long as you’re committed, so are we. Let’s get into designing the perfect drum room for you.

The ideal space for drummers would be a recording studio in the middle of a farm, or a floating room 100 feet off the ground. But since those are a little less than realistic, try to get as close to it as you can. Here’s a checklist that will help you carve out the right space for your jam sessions.

• Ground floor so there’s no one below you to disturb.
• High ceilings (ideally 12 feet or more). A kick drum creates over a 30 foot wavelength that hits the floor and the ceiling first. So the further away you can put the nearest surface the better.
• Clear surfaces. You’ll need to add material to all 6 surfaces of a room (walls, ceiling, and floor), so use a space that is either empty or can easily be added to and modified.
• Few doors and windows, if any. Doors and windows are always the biggest sound gap in any room. Trying to create a drum room in a space with multiple large windows will be extremely difficult.
• Away from rooms where people spend time like the living area, bedroom, or office.

Chances are you won’t be able to check all these boxes 100%, but do your best. Our favorite spaces for drum rooms are basements, garages, and detached sheds. These areas are on the ground floor, usually somewhat isolated, and often unfinished making it easier to install soundproofing materials. Once you’ve picked a spot, it’s time to get to work.