So I'm looking into an acoustic drum set, I have an electric kit now that I play in the garage, but it's not scratching that itch anymore. So my only real option is to pick up an outdoor shed and set up my back yard.

Any advice on this? Has anyone done this? How do the shells take the temps / humidity?

4/6/2010 8:17:46 PM

i think the lack of climate control and moisture/humidity in a shed cant be good for your set

4/6/2010 10:50:31 PM

Sounds like a bad idea for the drums.

4/6/2010 11:18:11 PM

how about you move your bed into the shed and put the drums in your room. problem solved

4/6/2010 11:20:28 PM

^^^

4/6/2010 11:33:41 PM

why not in the house?

4/6/2010 11:44:42 PM

i hope you don't have any neighbors

4/7/2010 12:22:09 AM

I never thought I'd say this, but boner jams is right.

4/7/2010 12:32:41 AM

unless it is a sub $200 set that is a piece of crap, a shed is a terrible idea.

4/7/2010 1:16:04 AM

Quote :

"how about you move your bed into the shed and put the drums in your room. problem solved"

My wife probably wouldn't like that too much.

Quote :

"why not in the house?"

Looks like I'll have to set up in the garage and use pads for keeping the noise down. I just figured I'd get more time if I was outside.

Quote :

"i hope you don't have any neighbors"

It's not like I'd be playing all hours of the night and not for hours on end anyway. My neighbors are pretty cool.

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

4/7/2010 6:30:14 AM

http://www.google.com/search?q=man+cave

4/7/2010 8:28:54 AM

^^ I'm in a similar situation. between the wife and the kid, I rarely get the opportunity to crank up my guitar amp and rock the fuck out.

4/7/2010 8:37:23 AM

Setting it up outside in a shed would be a horrible idea for a number of reasons -- many of which have already been posted.

On top of that, its a very d-bagish move... "My wife doesn't want me to bother her with the noise, so I want to set up a shed outside and bother my neighbors instead"

Regardless of whether your neighbors are "pretty cool" or not, I'm sure you would annoy the crap out of them in a fairly short period of time. Just my 2cents.

4/7/2010 9:20:04 AM

Someone near our neighborhood plays drums for like 3 hours a night 4 nights a week.

Seems like it, anyways.

4/7/2010 9:20:24 AM

Sometimes I can hear the drummers from the Athens Dr. high school band practicing when I get home from work. Usually it inspires me to go play my drums for like three hours. This happens approximately four nights a week.

[Edited on April 7, 2010 at 9:42 AM. Reason : l]

4/7/2010 9:42:11 AM

back at my old house, the guy 2 houses down played his drums in his garage every few nights. we all wanted to kill him. don't be that guy....

4/7/2010 10:06:40 AM

Quote :

"On top of that, its a very d-bagish move... "My wife doesn't want me to bother her with the noise, so I want to set up a shed outside and bother my neighbors instead" Regardless of whether your neighbors are "pretty cool" or not, I'm sure you would annoy the crap out of them in a fairly short period of time. Just my 2cents."

I don't know where you live but in my neighborhood it's not uncommon during the spring and summer for there to be lawnmowers and leaf blowers going, not to mention the guy up the street has been adding on to his house for like two years so there's always saws and hammers going on. As for my wife, nothing bothers her, I would prefer to be outside the house for my own benefit. In any case this thread is about the kit not the noise so if you need to troll head on over to chit chat.

As far as being that guy, I'm not. I've always been a decent person to live around when I've had a kit I've used pads to muffle the sound as much as possible and play during hours that are reasonable.



[Edited on April 7, 2010 at 10:50 AM. Reason : a]

4/7/2010 10:47:22 AM

oh, so you'd only be playing your drums when the sun is out and/or on the weekends?

never past sundown?


that's a totally different story, and your neighbors would have no reason to hate you

4/7/2010 10:50:01 AM

best thing to do as a drummer is buy a house with a basement and put up a bunch of sound attenuators and youre golden. Unfortunately that limits your house choice a lot in this area hah.

4/7/2010 11:07:04 AM

Definitely not trying to troll you, but you specifically asked:

Quote :

"Any advice on this? Has anyone done this?"

My advice -- don't do it. There is a big difference from someone mowing and doing general work during the day, compared to someone playing the drums in their back yard in a shed.

Since you've clarified your statement a bit more, and mention that you do actively attempt to muffle the sound as much as you can, I give kudos to you. I have lived near people in the past who have had garages that became their "music studio", I very much disliked every one of them -- but then again, they would be playing at 11pm or later and took no steps to reduce the noise.

With that being said -- having a shed set up outside, with no air conditioning, in the NC heat and humidity will not only be uncomfortable, it will damage your drums over time.

If you do decide to go ahead with it, I'd definitely recommend doing two things first:

1) Check with your neighbors to find out if any of them work 3rd shift and would be trying to sleep during the day while you play.

2) If you can run electricity to the shed, get a dehumidifier and make sure the shed is insulated well enough to protect your drums.

4/7/2010 11:07:58 AM

If you were already considering buying/building a shed, you could build a sound attenuated drum room to keep in your house using the same concept as a vocal booth that are used in studios. Some foam insulated metal panels lined with the pyramidal acoustic absorption foam. You're just going to want to make sure you build it over a register in your house or figure out a way to stub some AC into the box/room if you keep this in your garage



Vocal booth that this guy built for $1000.

I know that seems like a lot of space, but if you are already housing the drum setup open in the house/garage it wouldn't be a ton more room


[Edited on April 7, 2010 at 11:19 AM. Reason : ]

4/7/2010 11:10:49 AM

Quote :

"best thing to do as a drummer is buy a house with a basement and put up a bunch of sound attenuators and youre golden. Unfortunately that limits your house choice a lot in this area hah."

I have never had a problem playing drums in the house. Back in high school one of my neighbors mentioned that they could hear them in their bedroom when they were trying to sleep, but they never noticed it when they were up because there was always other noise around. Since then I've always cut the noise at 9 p.m. and it's never been a problem.

4/7/2010 11:29:59 AM

Yea I agree. I was just saying that because it sounded like he was trying to be able to "get more time" than having to cut off at 9 or whatever.

Along with that, my band has practiced in a bonus room above a garage in a subdivision for about 7 years and yea, during the day, you don't hear it except for maybe the neighbors yard outside directly next door on the garage side. I've never been in their house but I bet you can't hear it that well at all. We have always stopped at 10:00pm and never received a complaint.

4/7/2010 11:34:32 AM