Muffin Mufflers


Cymbals are loud and all, but let's be honest, drums can be loud, too. Let's just explore a few different ways you can get your drums sounding quieter.

1) You can hit them softer.


It's genius. Yet nobody does it. You could be a hipster! You can start a new trend of playing softer because no one else seems to be giving it a fair try. "Yeah, but I don't have that kind of control." - if that is your genuine response, let me ask you: Is that kind of control something you can develop? or something people are just born with? If "control" is something you can develop, (it is) then that's something you should practice if you want to have it.

Something that helps me play softer when I need to is mixing. While I'm playing, I listen to what I'm hearing (the band and myself) and I'll mix my playing to the volume that sounds good with everything else I hear. And then I take note of how hard I'm hitting and stay close to that for the rest of the set.

2) Muffle them.


Compare a short noise with a long noise. The longer one lasts longer. There's more noise with the longer one. The short noise has less noise than the long noise. You see what I'm saying? Just a bunch of noise noise noise noise! Shorter sounds will sound quieter and be more bearable than longer sounds. Muffling your drums can help you sound quieter because it will sound shorter. You can use moon gels, gaff tape, old drum heads, wallets, newspaper, toilet papers, towels, t-shirts, muffins - you name it. If it fits on the drum, it's a muffler. You can get pretty creative with how you muffle your drums!

3) Use your head. 


- your drumhead. I don't want to get into different types of drumheads here. However, tuning your drums lower can help your drums sound less intrusive. A great example is the tuning of your snare. If it's tuned up pretty high, it sounds like it's in your face. If it's tuned lower, it hits you more in your chest. I think the same can apply to your toms and kick.

4) Break out the thin sticks.


All things being equal, thicker sticks will sound louder than thinner sticks. Sticks used in marching band are pretty thick because they're trying to be heard from across the field. This is probably not what you're trying to do. So do the opposite! Your sound won't carry as far with thinner sticks.




Have any other ideas of how you can sound quieter? Leave a comment!

Comments

  1. Unknown7/18/2019 9:26 pm

    in the old days long ago before electronic drums were good you only had one choice if pplaying in a worhship service and that was to learn to play soft and I mean whisper quiet. I used to use a small bass drum(18x16) to keep from rocking the house too much and smaller toms. I used small thin crash that required barely anything to sound like a full crash. In the end these tricks are great but ultimately you have to practice touch and feel to play all dynamic ranges. Playing soft, fast and with a groove/feel is not easy

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