I think you need to look into an electronic drum pad kit? You cannot isolate rock-and-roll drums from a downstairs apartment. It doesn't matter what you stick on the floor. It's all one gigantic resonant diaphragm. Unless you're ready to purchase an apartment building so that you can make some major structural changes, you're screwed. So you're not a millionaire and cannot afford to tell your observers & downstairs tenants they have 30 days to move out? Instead you'll soon receive a 30 day notice yourself, which I think will upset your parents? So look into those nice practice pad like drum kits, that offer electronic triggers. Then you can have the biggest & baddest drum sound of anyone you know. A small price to pay & play. Keep the real drums for your live gig's. That is unless you get spoiled with the far easier setup & quality sound of a beautifully sampled kit?

Having real drums is only important if you like recording real drums. And if you're the best at it? Recording them that is. I got so many great recordings of so many great drummers, I got my own sample library I can create. I've never bothered. I like recording real drums. But not in apartments. But in compartments. Besides, I don't like recording any snare drum that costs less than $300. You're better off using a sample.

Or you can play your drum kit like a little church mousy? Shush.
Ms. Remy Ann David

Its not a real set, its a Roland V-drums set. Basically the nicest thing you can get for not recording acoustic drums. What makes the noise below is mainly the pedals for the bass drum trigger and hi hats. I've thought about a table top trigger, but have you ever tried to play one of those things? Its like playing guitar on a keyboard, its unnatural and you can't do anything fancy with it.

Mckey wrote: Its not a real set, its a Roland V-drums set. Basically the nicest thing you can get for not recording acoustic drums. What makes the noise below is mainly the pedals for the bass drum trigger and hi hats. I've thought about a table top trigger, but have you ever tried to play one of those things? Its like playing guitar on a keyboard, its unnatural and you can't do anything fancy with it.

There is a very nice material called sorbothane company is here http://www.sorbothane.com/

It is not cheap but it does a great job of dampening any vibrations. We use it under our microphones when we do opera recordings. The company if very good about answering questions and can advise you of what you need and the thickness andt he DUROMETER setting you will need. They have a great informational PDF at this web address http://www.sorbothane.com/PDF/StandardProduct.pdf.

I think it is exactly what you need for the problem you are describing.

Best of luck!

Sorbothane...looks interesting.

I was just going to suggest some of those thick interlocking industrial rubber mats on the floor, with some padded carpeted-on-top plywood set on those, with the drums on all that?

Kapt.Krunch

"...and the noise from the drums is amp'd down to the floor below.", "What makes the noise below is mainly the pedals for the bass drum trigger and hi hats."

MAN, are you stomping the k-rap out of those pedals or what!!!

No not really, in fact I've adjusted my style a bit to get them softer, but its still the worst part of it. Hey Thomas, thanks a million man, that stuff looks perfect! And Kapt, I've actually thought about that, that has a chance to work as well I think, atleast now I've got some options! Thanks a lot guys!

The sorbothane looks interesting. I was going to say that the floor must be pretty noisy in general. A rubber may under a 4X8 sheet of MDF under a carpet might be in order even if you do the sorbothane as well.