HowTo Muff Your Acoustic Kit(Low Cost/Retaining Feel/Touch/Sound-Avoid Complains

Yes, the main idea behind the tontine thing is to reduce the noise level and it did a hell of a good job for me. I would say about 40% reduction in noise.
I've never tried an edrums kit so I can't say weather it is way off from the real thing or not but I assume that an edrum kit would really help for ppl like me who only have time to practice at night.

All in all, this is a pretty darn good and cheap way to reduce the noise level of an acoustic set.
 
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On the opposite side of the spectrum....those who practices on an acoustic kit (tontine filled or not) will find it extremely easy to play on an e-kit....if fact, you might feel that you play better on an e-kit!
 
To a certain extend e-kit is after all an e-kit. If the tontine method can achieve acoustic feel without making too much noise then its a win win situation. Like i say i am a acoustic drums kinda guy so e-kits are not my cup of tea... I have never practice on e-kits in my life and no intentions to do so. I finally upgraded to my dream kit Pearl reference.:mrgreen:

As for the bro that mention practicing on e-kits for couple of yrs n feels weird behind an acoustic drums... I think the reason is that e-kits sound are generated through trigger. As long as your drumstick touches the mesh it will trigger the sound therefore you do not need to hit as hard as require for the acoustic drums. As such your feel and touch when playing the acoustic drums are not there. Maybe you can try playing your e-kit with the same feel n intensity like you will on an acoustic kit. Unless u have intentions to switch to acoustic kit now otherwise try to relate the acoustic feel on your e-kit when u practice.

Bro alvinthedrummer... we have met b4 long time ago... Nick's son 1mth celebration at his parents house... hahaha...
Just for discussion purpose and no hard feelings, question to u... i agree to a certain extend that e-kits is after all an e-kit. But i would like to bring a point across is that when we practice our rudiments, we usually do it on a pillow or practice pads and we are able to execute our strokes on acoustic kit and never go soft on it. Having said, i thought we suppose to play drums in a relax manner and not whacking or forcing it? Having started my drumming many many years ago in a military school band... I personally still struggled sometimes to play relax leh... haha!

Back to the topic, like i mentioned above, executing the same intensity on an e-kit like we do on an acoustic kit will it not be the same? E-kits are trigger driven therefore guys may practice without thinking or make reference to the acoustic feel needed. If practicing e-kit and making reference to an acoustic kit i believe can still develop the feel and touch, right? This question i believe will benefit those guys that are already on e-kits and to change to acoustic kit will cost them a lot n doesn't make economic sense or their environment doesn't allow them to do so. But having said, of coz nothing compares to playing on an acoustic kit itself.

Cheers... P
 
No hard feelings. Purely pointing out the main point of stuffing kit with tontine as it seemed to have strayed. Are you the nick's church drummer? I think I remember.

The point of discussion is to be able to practice on an acoustic kit and yet not piss off your neighbours. Nothing to do with sound quality. You said it yourself, nothing beats playing on an acoustic kit, so why spend the extra money on an e-kit that is secondary, "feel" wise?

And about practicing on pillows and practice pads....it is really for situations where playing on a drum kit is not possible. If its possible, the drum kit is where you should be doing most of your practice. Many students who spend 0 hours a week on an acoustic kit but spend hours on the pads and pillows have problems when they come to the drum set. It is purely an observation I have made. I have students who faced these problems only to solve it after finally purchasing just a snare drum and spending just minutes a day on it vs the hours they used to put in on pads & pillows. Other things like playing accent & ghost-note studies proved to be a huge problem too. This is also true on e-drums. The velocity layers now span across about 120 layers....but that is still very different from the dynamics you can get from a snare drum. You may think that you have referenced it well but most of the time its pretty surprising when you get on a snare after days on an e-kit.

Also, most beginners have minimal time to practice. So, if the practice is made as effortless as possible, the better! Imagine having to always put a significant amount of your focus on trying to reference your practice to an acoustic kit...that's a real waste of your brain juice. Every little bit of your focus should be maximized on dealing with the days practice, especially when you have limited time.

Bottom line is....if you want to be a all around drummer, then practice right. If you want to be an e-kit drummer, then by all means, buy an e-kit.

Finally, this is a real-life problem which MANY have faced.....and no matter how much we want to believe that e-kits might be a solution or try our best to convince ourselves that it is true...it is not. Real people are complaining and suffering the results of e-kit playing and real people are gaining good results from tontine stuffed acoustic kits....
 
Thanks for the explanation... OK... E-kit guys... go spend some money and change your e-kit to acoustic ones... hahaha! kidding... but eventually it might just be the case!
I suppose ur view on the issues are more comprehensive as a tutors' point of view of which is very valid. Drummer always kana this problem... Not many neighbors appreciates hearing us banging on our drums everyday. Perhaps the government can implement to group all drummers in an estate!! Haha... kidding again...
Ya... nick church lummer... We didn't really talk the last time though...Wah bro... must find one day go la kopi and learn some stuff from u man! By e way... ur bassist is Roy Dragon ah??? U ask him whether he remembers me or not... Paul... St Pat's...
 
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Yup, its my best bud!! Haha...He plays bass in O2Q with me, Sax when we play jazz gigs, and guitar in small pop setup....he is insane! Ha...Ok, I'll ask him for you.

Also, e-kits makes quite abit of noise too....if you have crappy neighbours you'll run into problems too. I have a student who bought a TD-20...ran into problems with both neighbours on his left and below!! He practices quite a bit and apparently those guys couldn't deal with the constant "clicking" noise from the bass drum pad....eventually he had to get a platform built to isolate the drum kit from his walls and floor...Life is tough man....
 
When I first started out, all I knew was there were E-kits and real drums to choose from. Being naive and innocent at that time, naturally I chose the former and didn't really care much about the feel/bounce, as I just wanted something to practise on.

Now that I've discovered and learnt more and being more serious in my drumming, I truly realised the urgent and imperative need of having a real kit. And this is 1 of my 'missions' this holiday. Hehe. No more wasting time on E-kit (Come to think of it, I shouldn't have gone to Yamaha for lessons too...) I'm still planning my budget and deciding which kit to get. Thanks for the offers, Alvin.

Ok, don't mind me disgressing abit, is practising with metal sticks fine? Ocassionally I mean. Some claim it will strengthen the wrists for better actions especially when it comes to doubling on the toms?
 
BigBeN said:
When I first started out, all I knew was there were E-kits and real drums to choose from. Being naive and innocent at that time, naturally I chose the former and didn't really care much about the feel/bounce, as I just wanted something to practise on.

Now that I've discovered and learnt more and being more serious in my drumming, I truly realised the urgent and imperative need of having a real kit. And this is 1 of my 'missions' this holiday. Hehe. No more wasting time on E-kit (Come to think of it, I shouldn't have gone to Yamaha for lessons too...) I'm still planning my budget and deciding which kit to get. Thanks for the offers, Alvin.

Ok, don't mind me disgressing abit, is practising with metal sticks fine? Ocassionally I mean. Some claim it will strengthen the wrists for better actions especially when it comes to doubling on the toms?
Click to expand...

Bro... I will never approve the use of metal sticks on any acoustic drumkit man... U will basically kill ur acoustic kit man!!! If u use it to practice ur rudiments on a practice pad is fine. Having said, i really don't find it necessary to us metal sticks. Maybe like u say train the wrist power. But if u use normal sticks n put in lots of time to practice which is suppose to be the case then u should be as good. Maybe can buy heavier wooden sticks which u normally wouldn't use should be good enough... Metal sticks is definitely a NO NO... The bottom-line is practice practice practice... train your muscle memory...
 
hey guys one question to ask around how much volume of the drums are reduced by muffing with tontine? lets say will the tom be as soft as mesh?
 
It depends on how much you fill it up with. If you fill it up just before it touches the batter head, it could reduce volume up to about 60-70% depending on the skins you use too.
 
Will putting a thick carpet below the bass drum suffice in reducing the vibration/noise to the people below? Or does it have to be elevated?
 
Kazuki:- You can max it until it touches the batter head 100% but that defeats the purpose of practicing on an acoustic kit. I would leave at least 1/2" of gap between the skin and tontine so I can still feel some of the "flex" on the skin.

BigBen:- Unless if you use a foam underlay beneath a thick carpet....that might be possible for electronic kit....not acoustic kit tho
 
thanks! i kinda get what u mean now, the whole purpose is to still retain the REAL feel of acoustic = )

hmm wondering if i should upgrade my set for for that.. cause i am using rhythm traveller.. meaning the toms have no bottoms haha
 
Guys .. i 've shopped for a few places .. but i cant seem to find fibre packs !!!! where to buy ?? spotlight ???
 
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