Vic Firth Drum Mute Prepack with Mutes Sized 12, 13, 14, 16, 22", Hi-Hat & 2 Cymbal Mutes

I bought my first set of drums recently, a very loud Premier set. I was rather nervous about playing them in my condo-- even though the units next door on both sides were empty, I really didn't want to upset anyone. I began looking around for a product that would allow me to learn to play without being loud enough to disturb anyone a room or more away.I decided to try this Vic Firth pack, and I'm very glad I did.First, lets get through the potential negatives: There will obviously still be some noise, as there has to be enough volume to allow you to hear the difference in tone between the drums. I'd say the noise reduction is 75% to 80% on the toms and bass, 90-95% on the cymbals (80-90 on high-hat), and 60% on the snare (unless you disable the snare mechanism, then it's the same reduction as the toms). This is perfectly acceptable to me, as it really is difficult to hear the drums being played 2 or more rooms away and even though they're still audible from a room away, even the lightest sleeper would still be able to fall asleep.There is slightly less stick response, which is impossible to get around. I actually view this as a positive as I imagine everyone who uses this product will be using it to practice, and having less bounce forces you to focus on your technique a little bit more.Finally, I can imagine that the product will start to wear down after a while. It's inevitable with anything to do with drums. I imagine that intense drumming and heavy hitting will wear them down in 6-9 months (especially the snare), but standard drummers will probably get a lot more use out of them.Everything else about this product is absolutely fantastic. They're supremely easy to install, they look great, they're big enough on the cymbals to not have to worry about missing, and they fit all their respective drums perfectly. The noise reduction is better than what I was expecting, and they still allow you to hear the various tones of the respective drums, which is very important.I would definitely buy this product again.

I was surprized at how much these pads were able to control the volume of my set. The construction is good, and they have held up to 200hrs + of practice and show no signs of tearing or thining. They also seem to 'stick' to the toms (somewhat angled) and I've never had an issue with them sliding off. The bass drum is muted ok, but can still be a bit thumpy outside a practice room. I fixed this extra padding in the drum and a sock on the beater. The only other thing that is not really muted is a high hat chirp (but a closed HH is muted fine). I was able to mute the HH 'chirps' a bit more by cutting out a piece of cardboard (1/4" wider than the HH cymbal) and placing it between the top and bottom cymbals (which didn't affect the feel as much as I thought it would). Overall, these are much much cheaper than an electric set and much much better.

These pads are very much like mouse pad material. They fit my Tama Imperial Stars just fine. They dampen the sound substantially, maybe 80-90%. They surpress high tones almost completely but the low tones persist. So others in the house will be able to hear thuds a room or two away, but neighbors in the house next door won't have any cause for complaint.The sound is definitely different. All the drums sound as if they've been tuned down to a much lower pitch. The snare mute is my least favorite, and I've stopped using it. Instead, I'm just using a standard square mouse pad on the snare -- but striking the actual drum head. That provides just about as much damping and has a truer sound. The kick drum mute sounds best -- it brings the volume way down and it still sounds like a kick drum. The cymbal mutes are okay, but I don't use them much as the cymbal sound doesn't carry too much into my next door neighbors' houses. For full cymbal muting, play on the pad. For a better sound with much less muting, put the pad on but play on the cymbal.The feel is also definitely different. If you're a four-on-the-floor heavy hitter, you might not mind. But you won't get nearly as much stick bounce off these pads as off the drum head. Also, there's a bit of "grab" you'll feel if you don't hit straight on. I feel this as I move around the toms quickly. So they're not probably not best for working on that jazz solo, but for practicing pattens and basic fills, these pads will do the trick.

They are awesome at reducing the sound, so you can practice with reduced sound. Really nice to play the drums without having to wear ear protection for a few minutes. They do smell a bit, but that is because of the material, and it goes away fairly quickly. If you play them for a bit, you get used to the feel and can groove like there are no worries there. I love them. I am even buying a couple extra to dampen a couple of other pieces in my set so that I can strike all the toms and both crash cymbals. Get them if you want to play your set without changing heads, and play quietly whenever you want.

I bought these to keep from disturbing other people in the house. They absolutely muffle the sound to pretty much nothing, so I can now play in peace without disturbing anyone else. The only thing I noticed is the snare sound, but if I release the snare chain then the snare sound is muted. They pretty much completely mute sound. Works exactly as advertised.

I read the comments about the smell, but I figured it was probably no big deal so I went ahead and bought them. Well, these things positively reek. It's not the smell of a rubber doormat or whatever - it's a powerful stench from another planet that will completely envelope your drum kit. I felt like I needed to wear a HAZMAT suit to play drums. They left a permanent stench on the head of my snare and I guess I'll have to replace it.As for the sound reduction, these work pretty well - but if you have a sensitive nose (or maybe you're concerned about whatever kind of fumes are off-gassing from these things) I would just try to play quieter.