Funkifized said:
Sheesh man, it's his own practice kit, he can do whatever he wants to it. It's not as if he's gonna lug it to performances and play on newspaper-stuffed drums.
Well, Funkifized, I think you got me wrong here. He does have an e-kit for practicing on. And stuffing his Artstar with newspapers will make them feel no better than those rubberpads/meshheads on the e-kit (which, incidentally, is what he's trying to avoid doing, no one likes playing on rubber pads all day eh.

)
If someone needs to practice silently, I can see why he would want to do that. But Justin is looking to purchase cymbals and new heads too, don't tell me he has to stuff the newly headed drums with newspapers and duct tape his cymbals?
Anyway, my apologies if I come off as a jackass, I meant all this in benign goodwill, Justin is a great drummer and a fellow drummer who I share an acquaintance with, but this is his first acoustic drumset and I believe it's only right to let him know it's not possible to have his drums resonate and sing out well at a soft volume. Drums are plainly loud, I'm sure any drummer can testify to that. :lol:
Admittedly I'm too obstinate in my opinions on muffling, but I for one prefer practicing silently on an e-kit which has perfect sounding drums going through my headphones rather than practicing on drums so stuffed they sound no different from cardboard boxes.