Stomping Soundproofing.

[urobolus]

Hi there, I'm really in need of assistance and I think I'm in the right place.

I'm renting an apartment and I'm going to be buying an electric drumset soon, so overal acoustic sound isn't what I'm worried about.  What I'm worried about is when I play, sometimes I play really heavy footed.  I'm worried about that stomping being transfered down into my down stairs neighbours ceiling... more like I know that is going to happen.

What I've been trying to think of, which I can't, is some sort of contraption I could build that would diffuse that stomping.  I was thinking of taking some thick plywood and raising it off the floor a couple inchs with some planks and leaving an empty space below where I'll be stomping.  Hopefully, it won't bow to much though.

The other idea I thought of is, since I work for a flooring distributor, is buying to commercial grade rubber pading that we carry and putting a bunch of layers of that on the ground and putting the drums on top of that.

I thought I'd come here because I'm sure someone has encountered this problem before.  Appreciate the help!

[urobolus]

Any ideas?

I've read some of the articles on the site, but it sounds like its for permenantly treating the entire floor.  I just need a small section for impact, not noise.

[joel]

Hi urobolus,

For small areas to treat mechanical vibration isolation there are vibration pads discussed at http://www.soundproofing.org/images/vibrationpads.htm#Vib  And many drummers have added 1" thick SSP Mat on top to absorb even more impact.  One of the vibration pads that has been used looks like this: http://www.soundproofing.org/images/vibpaddimple35.jpg  It's called the "dimple" pad.  For info on SSP Mat see http://www.soundproofing.org/sales/prices.html 

Joel