How to silence Rock Band drums

Is there some product / hack / technique to minimize the noise from hitting the drum with the stick? Or alternatively, are there drum sets designed with minimal noise in mind? Because I find that the sound of drumming can easily drown out the song unless the game volume is cranked waaaay up.

I've found this very interesting thread which discusses that, suggesting coating the stick heads with rubber, gluing mouse pads or cork to the drum surface, etc.. I've also seen some product(s) from Ion that claim to be low-noise, but I don't really know what that means.

Has anyone succeeded in silencing their drum set? What method would you recommend?

Jeff Atwood wrote a post about this very subject.

If you really want to reduce drum noise, you need to place something on the drum heads themselves. I experimented with a bunch of materials until finally arriving on one that really worked — thin mouse pads.

The post covers what materials you need and how to go about quieting your drum heads.

I've managed to semi-silence some Rock Band drums by placing some tube socks on the heads. It reduces the sound made from banging, yet I didn't feel more resistance from the drums when hitting them (I didn't need to hit them harder in order for the note to be played).

I've been using the Rock Band Drum Silencers, They are okay at reducing noise and reverb hits. I did buy the rubber tip sticks, but I ended up not using them.They felt cheap when playing with them.

Rock Band Drum Silencers: http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Band-Drum-Silencers-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B0016KGNOA/ref=sr_1_55?ie=UTF8&qid=1323467028&sr=8-55

Rock Band sticks with rubber tips: http://www.amazon.com/Rockband-Rubber-Drum-Sticks-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B001ELSSU8/ref=dp_cp_ob_vg_title_4