how do you practice the drums at home,without getting the noise police come knocking?

[thereformant]

The silencer pads damp the cymbals a bit but the rest of the drums are still pretty loud even with them on, plus be prepared to go through a fair few on the snare.

[daveyh]

Just get an acoustic kit and play it.

There is no law that says you can't create some noise.

As long as you are sensible and explain the situation to them, they have no grounds for a complaint.

This.

Whilst you shouldn't be playing Moby Dick at 2am, neither can your neighbours dictate what you do in your own home. It's all about being reasonable, and accepting any potential compromise.

A call to environmental health won't do you any harm for the official line as councils have differing policies regarding noise.

[Grunfeld.]

One of the things that really stresses people is not so much the noise itself but not knowing how long it's going to go on for. Think of waiting for a train and not knowing how long the delay is going to be.

One way of heading off complaints, and making neighbours actually feel OK about your practise is to drop around a note saying roughly when you're gonna be practising and include an assurance that it won't last for longer than say an hour. When they know the drums will stop at 7pm they can tolerate it.

[jim_branning]

i am not a drummer myself (i play guitar very badly).
i would love to get some drums one day and try and learn how to play them.BUT i live real close to neighbours.if i tried playing a drum kit at home,i would get complaints about the noise.
am just wondering how you practice the drums if you have no place you can go to play your drums/if you live right next to neighbours. do you have to resort to electronic drum pads e.t.c
thanks in advance and good drumming to you all

we use a mini kit, 18" kick-drum. seems to work for home rehearsals.After all you are just rehearsing/writing, no need for power and volume.