It’s great to play your drums au naturel, but sometimes you need to be quiet. Neighbors, roommates, and families exist. It’s also easier to play along with music or a metronome even if you’re not worried about disturbing anyone.
TL;DR – mutes are the cheapest, easiest effective option for quiet playing. They change the feel a small but acceptable amount. Brand doesn’t really matter, but read on for details.
The Other Options
Sweetwater has a good overview of the options for quieter drumming: Lighter sticks, rutes, gels, or muffling rings are nice for changing the timbre of your drums, but minimally effective for lowering the volume. Mesh heads are very quiet, and there are also mutes that go inside the drums. Either of those options require completely removing the head, so you can’t quickly switch to playing full volume. I’d consider that unacceptable unless you never plan to play at full volume or you have a second set of drums. Low-volume cymbals are easy to swap out for regular cymbals, but they’re considerably more expensive than mutes. Electronic drums or triggers are even more expensive, and you’re entering a whole different world from acoustic drums. Then there’s the ultimate pain and expense – soundproofing the room.
Back to Mutes!
This review primarily covers Evans SoundOff and Tama Soft Sound Rings and Beaters. I also mention mutes from Vic Firth, Ahead, and Sound Percussion Labs. For hands-on reviews of the latter 3 brands, check out Drum Silent.
If I ever get a hold of a decibel meter, I will include some stats on actual sound reduction! In the meantime, know that any mutes will significantly reduce the volume. But what about playability, ease of use, cost, etc.? Are some mutes better than others or is this a price-driven commodity? (Spoiler: they’re mostly the same, but I’ll cover the particulars of each brand.)
Snare and tom mutes
The snare and tom mutes of most brands are essentially identical discs of dense foam rubber. They’re cheap, durable, and effective. Most mutes cover the whole drumhead and are about 6 mm thick. The tone of the drum still comes through; the mutes don’t make all your drums sound the same. They come in a variety of sizes covering all standard drum sizes, and you can buy them in packs for common drumset configurations. You’ll likely end up needing to buy a few more a la carte to cover your whole kit. For a basic 5-piece kit (snare, kick, 3 toms) with cymbals (hi-hat, ride, 2 crashes), expect to pay $80 to $110 for one of the above-mentioned name brands. There are cheaper generic brands on Amazon, but they are lower quality.
The mutes are easy to put on and take off; they simply lay on top of the drumhead held in place by the rim. However, they can pop off unintentionally if hit hard enough, especially if your toms are at a steep angle. That can be fixed with a simple piece of tape, but it’s an annoyance if you frequently want to take them off.
The feel of foam rubber is a little squishy and less responsive than drumheads. That is, they have less rebound and require slightly more effort to play. Personally, I find the difference minimal and more than acceptable for the reduction in volume. Like all foam rubber products, they can be a little stinky when new, but it will fade with time. Mutes should last many years if you don’t abuse them.
How About a Hole?
Tama Soft Sound Rings are a little different. They’re foam rubber discs with a big hole cut in the middle so you’re hitting the drumhead rather than the mute. It’s not as quiet as full-head mutes, but if you’re able to make a little more noise, I think it sounds and feels more satisfying. I also like that it forces you to aim better – if you get used to hitting smaller targets, you’ll have better sound on unmuted drums, too! However, the mutes can pop off the drums more easily, and if you’re not good at hitting the smaller targets, you’ll probably get frustrated with catching your sticks on the edges.
For whatever reason, Tama’s mutes cost more than other brands. I recommend buying a cheaper brand and cutting the holes yourself! It’s easy to do with a plate or other hard, round template. Some of my old SoundOff mutes were finally starting to wear through after 20+ years, so I decided to give holes a try. No regrets! Foam mutes are cheap enough that you could have intact and hole-y sets for different occasions, or mix and match.
Bass drum mute
The design of bass drum (a.k.a., “kick”) mutes varies between brands. Ahead, Vic Firth, and Sound Percussion Labs use a thick, soft foam disc that covers the whole head, with a patch of foam rubber covering the beater strike area. They cut out a small area of foam so the pedal drive chain doesn’t rub, and they’re (optionally) held in place with various cords and hooks, or Velcro. They’re often only available for 22″ drums, which is by far the most common bass drum size, but obviously doesn’t fit for everyone.
A notable exception is SoundOff, which has a drum key-operated adjustable metal bar (similar to the drive shaft on a double pedal) recessed into the foam. It attaches with clamps to both sides of the drum hoop ranging from 16″-26″. The clamps have rubber pads to prevent scratching the hoop. The bars are long enough to allow offset placement for double pedals, at least on a 22″ kick. Other reviewers have opined the design is not durable enough – I haven’t had mine long enough to say, but it seems fine as long as you ensure the mute is pushed up against the head. I recommend stepping firmly on the pedal to hold it in place with the beater while tightening the clamps. The bar seems decently heavy duty, but it’s possible it could loosen or break after repeated pummeling. I also worry about the shell’s bearing edge if the clamps are pushed up against it, so make sure the clamps aren’t quite touching the drumhead. It’s not nearly as easy to take on and off as the tom/snare mutes. I don’t like that it requires a drum key; Evans should at least provide thumb screws for the hoop clamps. You’ll probably only need to adjust the bar length once, so it’s fine if those use drum key screws.
Compared to the simple foam mutes from its competitors, the SoundOff kick mute seems overengineered and more likely to have problems. That said, it’s not a piece of junk. If you have a kick size other than 22″, you’ll be happy it exists.
The main problem with all kick mutes is the thickness of it shortens the stroke length of the pedal beater. That might not be a dealbreaker, but it can be annoying. You could change the beater angle on your pedal to compensate, but that’s an annoying adjustment if you often remove the mute, and it’s still not exactly the same as not having the mute. (You can’t change the basic geometry of the problem!) And it almost goes without saying, the feel of the mute is a little squishier than a plain drumhead.
How About Another Idea?
Tama again came up with a different solution. Rather than putting foam on the head, they put foam on the pedal beater. It’s easy to swap pedal beaters, and it solves the stroke length problem, but it’s still not perfect. The foam is, of course, squishy compared to a normal felt beater. It’s louder than other kick mutes – but also more satisfying. (You can add more muffling inside the kick, too.) The shaft of the foam beaters is slightly thicker than the stock Iron Cobra beaters (at least on my 20-year-old model), which means switching them requires a few more turns of the screw. But the main problem is they don’t strike the head flat and the angle isn’t adjustable, causing uneven wear of the foam. It could eventually dent the head, too. Mind you, this is on a Tama pedal and a Tama drum, so it seems shortsighted. They come in 2 sizes: half width (as pictured below) for double pedals, and full width. I have to imagine the full width beater wears better. They’re about the same price as any new beaters from Tama, but that’s expensive compared to other foam mutes. The half width are about $30 a piece (and you’ll need 2!) or almost $40 for full width.
The redemption is that it should be possible to scrape the old foam off and replace it. Maybe with a denser foam and also with an angled surface to compensate. The shaft and plastic part of the beater should last forever.
I like the Tama beaters more than other kick mutes. The kick is the least-loud drum, but can still be the most problematic for roommates and neighbors.
Crash Cymbal Mutes
Like the snare/tom mutes, cymbal mutes are practically identical from most brands. They’re all made of the same foam rubber, and they’re all shaped kind of like a keyhole covering the bell and flaring out toward the edge. The flare width varies by brand; SoundOff is on the skinnier side.
Crash cymbal mutes are usually one-size-fits-most. SoundOff is best suited for 17″ cymbals. They’re a bit large for cymbals 16″ or smaller, though they do have a second, offset hole to accommodate (and it’s easy to make a hole yourself anywhere you want). They’re a bit small for cymbals 18″ or larger, leaving the edge exposed, which makes it harder to stay on the mute and keep the volume down. Regardless of cymbal size, when hit hard they will allow the cymbal to ring for a brief moment while they flop off the surface, then choke any further sound. They are made to be hit in that one spot of coverage, but you can also rotate them to the side if you prefer to hit the cymbal directly for more metallic contact sound. The foam rubber doesn’t really allow for hitting the cymbal bell, or at least makes it more difficult and doesn’t sound like a bell. Some generic brands don’t cover the bell, which may be appealing, but they likely are of lesser quality and can only be purchased as part of a set.
Hi-hat and Ride Mutes
Most brands use the same foam rubber design for hi-hat and ride mutes. That means quite a bit of area is left uncovered on a ride. It also means the bell is covered, which is more problematic for a ride than a crash. On hi-hats, it means you can still get some sizzle when they’re partially opened. Some brands include a round mute to put inside the hi-hats for the bottom cymbal, which will deaden the sizzle.
SoundOff hi-hat and ride mutes are completely different, made from a rubber sheet that crosses the full diameter of the cymbal with flaps that fit snugly over the edges. Therefore, these mutes can only be used on the cymbal size they’re designed for: 14″ for hi-hats, and 20″ and 22″ for rides (two separate sizes, not one that fits either size ride). I’m not sure why they don’t make these in more sizes; someone must’ve decided they’re not good for crashes. There is a large hole for the bell so you can hit it, unlike the crash mutes. The hi-hat mute goes only on the top cymbal; the bottom does not need a mute because the rubber flaps mostly stop them from touching. That also nearly eliminates any sizzle, for better or worse.
The rubber flap design is pretty clever; it absolutely will not come off the cymbal by accident and it’s very effective at muting the hi-hats and ride – arguably too effective, but that depends on how quiet you need to be. They make the cymbals feel kind of dead, especially the ride bell. There is no momentarily unmuted sound when struck like the crash mutes. You can play on the bare cymbal to get a louder metallic sound, if desired. If you tend to play with a swish motion that causes rotation, or if you have a cymbal felt that is uneven, the mutes will rotate with the cymbal, which can be annoying. They are extremely durable, just like foam rubber. I’ve had mine for many years. They can be a little oily when brand new, but that will wear off. They’re rolled up for shipping, so it takes some time for them to relax.
I’ve had SoundOff mutes since the 1990s, back when they were made by HQ Percussion. They were bought by D’Addario in 2004 and rebranded as Evans, but kept the SoundOff product name. Except for the kick, hi-hat, and ride mutes – which were originally more like what other brands still sell – SoundOff mutes purchased today are practically identical to the ones from decades ago. The design has withstood the test of time!
Symbols & Cymbals 