How to Make Electronic Drums Quieter (Kick, Pads, Floor and Room)

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An electronic kit is far quieter than an acoustic kit, but it is not silent, and the noise it does make travels in a way that surprises most people. The knock on the door usually comes from downstairs, not from the next room.

Almost all of it can be fixed. I put this guide together from manufacturer data, published measurements, retailer guides and owner reports. I have not measured these setups myself, so where I give a number, I say who published it.

First, know which noise you are fighting

There are two kinds of noise from an e-kit, and they need different fixes.

Airborne noise is the sound in the air: the tap of sticks on pads, the click of cymbal pads, the clack of the hi-hat pedal. It is fairly quiet and drops off fast through a wall or a closed door.

Impact noise is vibration that goes straight into the building: the kick beater hitting the pad, the hi-hat pedal hitting its base, and the rack shaking on the floor. It travels through floors and joists and comes out below you as a dull thump.

One published measurement shows the difference. DrumSpy measured a Donner DED-200 MAX played hard in a wood-frame house with a phone meter. The playing room read 79 dBA, the room next door 56 dBA, and the room directly below 78 dBA. That is one kit, one house and one phone meter, so treat the figures as rough, but the pattern matches what owners report: the wall took out more than 20 dB, and the floor took out almost nothing. My page on how loud electronic drums are collects the other published figures.

So if your complaint comes from below, focus on impact noise. If it comes from the next room or someone in the same room, focus on airborne noise. If you share walls rather than floors, can neighbors hear electronic drums explains what typically travels sideways.

The 12 fixes ranked by impact

The sections below follow this table, from the biggest effect to the smallest.

1. Float the whole kit on a riser

A riser is a platform that the whole kit sits on, with something soft between the platform and the floor. Done well, it decouples the kit from the building. The vibration from the kick, the hi-hat and the rack goes into the platform and is absorbed by the soft layer instead of the floor.

The classic DIY version, which MusicRadar describes, is two layers of board with tennis balls in between, so the platform floats on the balls. It is one of the most commonly recommended fixes for apartment drumming. Commercial options use the same idea with dense foam or rubber: MusicRadar mentions the Advanced Acoustics isolation kit, foam strips you fit under a platform you build yourself.

A few rules for a riser that actually works:

• Everything goes on it. The kick, hi-hat stand, rack and throne. If the throne is on the floor, your body still carries vibration down through it.
• It must be heavy enough. A thin, light platform bounces and passes vibration through.
• It must not touch the walls. Any hard contact with a wall creates a bridge for vibration.
• Load the soft layer properly. Too few tennis balls or too-soft foam lets the platform bottom out. Too many keeps it stiff.

The build itself is on a separate page: how to build a drum riser has materials and step-by-step instructions. If you would rather buy one, see the best drum risers.

2. Switch to a beaterless kick

The kick is the most common reason for a complaint, because every beat is a small hammer blow to the floor. Roland’s UK blog on silent practice puts it plainly: in close quarters, pedals cause the problems, and kick pedals more than hi-hat pedals.

A beaterless pedal reads your foot movement with a sensor instead of a beater hitting a pad, so there is far less impact. Roland gives two figures for its own pedals. It says the KT-10 kick trigger pedal is about 75 percent quieter in the playing room than a KD-9 kick pad played with a standard beater, and its UK blog gives 85 percent less noise for the KT-9 against the same KD-9 setup. Both are Roland’s own tests, measured in the room rather than downstairs, and Roland does not publish the decibel values behind them. Still, less impact at the pedal means less energy going into the floor.

Beginner kits like the Roland TD-02KV and Yamaha DTX402K come with beaterless kicks already. If your kit has a tower or pad, you can usually swap in a beaterless pedal, as long as your module accepts it. The trade-off is feel, and you cannot use a double pedal with it. I compare the options in kick tower vs kick pad.

3. Put the pedals on an isolation board

An isolation board is a plate with rubber feet that sits under the kick and hi-hat pedals. The rubber absorbs vibration before it reaches the floor.

Roland’s NE-10 Noise Eater is the best-known one. Roland says it reduces noise and vibration traveling through the floor to rooms below by about 75 percent compared with playing the pedals without it. That is Roland’s test, with no conditions published. The NE-10 measures about 8.3 x 21.3 x 1.2 inches and weighs about 6 lb. It works on its own under the KD-9, KD-7 and FD-8. With bigger kick pads such as the KD-140 and KD-120, or a VH-13 or VH-11 hi-hat stand, Roland says to add NE-1 rubber feet under the stand legs as well.

An isolation board is a good middle step if you cannot build a full riser, or if the hi-hat pedal is the part that knocks.

4. Use headphones, and turn off the speakers

This sounds obvious, but check it first. Any amp or speaker plugged into the kit sends sound through the walls far more than the pads do. Unplug it for practice. MusicRadar’s quiet-practice guide makes the same point and recommends closed-back headphones.

Closed-back headphones block more of the pad noise from your own ears, so you are not tempted to turn up, and they leak less sound into the room. Our headphones guide lists closed-back models that suit drummers.

5. Move the kit to a better spot

Where the kit sits matters as much as what it sits on.

• Ground floor beats upper floor. A kit on a concrete slab, or above a basement you own, sends far less to neighbors than a kit on a wood floor above someone’s bedroom.
• Use an outside or load-bearing wall. Keep the kit off a shared party wall, and on a wood floor avoid the middle of the room, where the floor span flexes most. A spot near a load-bearing wall is usually stiffer. This depends heavily on your building, so test it.
• Think about the room underneath. Above a kitchen or a garage is better than above a bedroom.

To find the best spot, ask someone to stand in the room below while you play a simple beat in two or three positions. It takes ten minutes.

6. Use a soft beater

If you want to keep a real pedal, change the beater. MusicRadar lists two options: Roland’s KDB-200 practice beater, which has a foam coating and works on double pedals, and Tama’s BSQ10S soft sound beater, which has a large foam-treated head. A soft beater spreads the impact over more time, so less of a spike goes into the floor. It will not fix everything, but it is the cheapest kick upgrade.

7. Lay down a dense drum rug or mat

A rug is not a riser. A thin layer of fabric does not decouple anything, so it does much less for impact noise. But it still helps:

• It absorbs some of the impact from the kick and hi-hat pedals.
• It stops the kick and stands from creeping across a hard floor, so you are not hitting harder to chase a moving pedal.
• It soaks up a bit of airborne noise in the room.

Thicker and denser is better. If you want something between a rug and a riser, MusicRadar mentions Auralex’s HoverMat, a drum mat combined with mass-loaded vinyl, about 6 feet wide by 4 feet deep, and Auralex SheetBlok, mass-loaded vinyl sold by the roll that you can sandwich under a mat. These add weight and damping without building a platform. Our drum rug guide covers sizes and materials.

8. Go mesh on the drums

If your kit has rubber drum pads, they make a clear “thock” on every hit. Mesh heads make a softer tap. MusicRadar recommends swapping to mesh pads, especially the snare, and checking module compatibility first.

This mostly helps people in the same house, not the neighbors below. Our mesh vs rubber pads comparison goes into the details.

9. Quiet the cymbals and the hi-hat

On an all-mesh kit, the cymbal pads are often the loudest things your sticks hit, because most are rubber.

• Hit the cymbals lighter. A soft tap still triggers a full crash sound. Raise the cymbal sensitivity in the module if needed.
• Quieter cymbal pads. Roland’s Quiet Design cymbals use honeycomb rubber internals with a mesh outer skin, which is quieter than bare rubber.
• The hi-hat pedal. A small controller pedal clicks when you close it and taps the floor through its base. A real hi-hat stand on mid-range kits is heavier and sends more energy down when you stomp. Either way, put it on the same board or riser as the kick, and play the “chick” with a lighter foot. On an e-kit there is no need to stomp.

10. Play lighter, and let the module do the work

Technique matters more than people think.

• Set the module so soft hits are full volume. Raise pad and kick sensitivity or change the velocity curve. Then you can play with less force and still hear a full sound.
• Practice at a lower intensity most of the time. Save hard playing for when it does not matter.
• Drop heavy double-bass practice at night. Fast kick patterns send the most energy into the floor.
• Keep the throne steady. A throne that rocks or scrapes adds its own noise. Felt or rubber feet help.

11. Change your sticks

Sticks are the cheapest fix for airborne noise. MusicRadar suggests Tama’s TCP20 silent tips, silicone covers that slide onto the stick tips and dull the attack, and Promark’s Hot Rods, bundled thin dowels that spread the impact, though they can break. Both change the feel, so some players use them only for late-night sessions. See drum sticks for electronic drums for more.

12. Talk to the neighbors

This is not gear, but it is often the fastest fix. Many complaints come from not knowing what the noise is or when it will stop. Introduce yourself, explain it is an electronic kit, agree on hours, and leave a phone number. You also get feedback on which of your fixes actually work.

What does not work

Some fixes get recommended a lot online but do little for e-drums.

• Acoustic foam panels on the walls. Foam treats echo inside a room. It does not block sound going through walls or floors.
• Egg crates or blankets on walls. Same problem as foam, with even less effect.
• A thin yoga mat under the kick. Too thin and too soft to decouple anything. A dense rug or isolation board does far more.
• Moving to a smaller room on the same floor. It does not help neighbors below, because the floor is still the path.

How to check that a fix actually worked

It is easy to buy three things at once and never know which one helped. A simple test routine saves money.

1. Pick a test pattern. Something you can repeat the same way every time, like one minute of a basic rock beat with a steady kick on every quarter note. Use the module’s metronome so the tempo stays the same.
2. Pick a listening spot. The room where the complaint comes from, usually directly below. Ask a friend or family member to stand in the same place each time.
3. Measure the same way. A free phone sound meter app is not lab-accurate, but with the same phone, the same spot and the same pattern, the before-and-after difference is useful.
4. Change one thing at a time. Test before the change, add one fix, test again. Then add the next fix.
5. Listen as well as measure. A phone meter reads overall level, and A-weighting plays down low bass. The thing neighbors notice is the low thump, so ask your listener whether the thump changed, not just whether it is quieter.

Do the test at a quiet time of day, with the TV off and windows closed. Background noise easily swamps the difference you are trying to hear.

A budget-friendly order of upgrades

If you start from a stock kit on a bare floor and money is tight, the free and cheap steps come first, even though they are lower in the impact table.

1. Free: headphones only, the best spot you can find, higher pad sensitivity and a lighter touch.
2. Cheap: a soft beater and silent tips for late-night practice.
3. Low to medium: a dense rug under the whole kit, with the throne on it too.
4. Medium: an isolation board under the pedals, or a beaterless kick pedal if your module supports one.
5. Medium, mostly time: a DIY floating riser.
6. Higher: mesh pads if your kit is rubber, then quieter cymbal pads.

Steps four and five do the heavy lifting for neighbors below. Step six is mostly for the people in your own home. If you are buying a new kit with quiet as the priority, look for a beaterless kick, mesh or silicone pads and quiet cymbal pads. Roland’s V-Drums Quiet Design kits, announced in October 2024, were built for this, and Roland claims about 75 percent less noise than a conventional electronic kit, without published decibel numbers. Our silent kit list covers the current options.

My take

Do not start with gadgets for the pads. Start with the kick and the floor. A beaterless kick or an isolation board, then a riser, is what fixes complaints from below. After that, mesh pads, softer cymbal playing and a closed door take care of the rest of the house.