Vibration Damping 101: Make Your Bow Feel Smooth and Sound Great

If you've spent any time shooting a bow, chances are you've felt vibration in your shot. While excessive vibration can be a problem, a small amount is unavoidable—and can even be useful.

In this article, we’ll cover:

1. What causes vibration
   
   
2. How to diagnose it
   
   
3. How vibration affects your shot
   
   
4. How to control and reduce it
   
   

What Makes Your Bow Vibrate?

Vibration is created when energy is released as you shoot—specifically, when the string is released and the limbs snap forward.

Whether you're shooting a compound, Olympic recurve, barebow, or traditional setup, some level of vibration is always present.

While much of the energy goes into propelling the arrow forward, any leftover energy needs to be absorbed and dissipated by the rest of the bow system.

Diagnosing Vibration

There are several types of vibration you may feel during a shot. When working to reduce or eliminate vibration, being able to identify the specific type can help you take the right steps toward fixing it.

Harsh Vibration

A sharp, loud shock or “smack” that sounds and feels wrong.
Usually a sign that the bow is out of tune or that something is loose or improperly installed.
- This type of vibration is almost always bad and should be addressed immediately.

Rattling

Feels clunky and sounds like metal-on-metal or loose parts shaking.
Often caused by loose accessories, sight screws, or stabilizers that aren’t tightened down fully.
- This is also almost always bad and often easy to fix by checking all fasteners.

Buzzing

A high-frequency, rapid vibration—may sound like a bee or electrical hum.
Common causes include improperly mounted components or insufficient damping.
- In small amounts, this can be considered normal shot feedback, but excessive buzzing may need attention.

Resonance

A low-frequency, lingering vibration that continues after the shot.
Can be caused by tuning issues or not enough damping in the stabilizer system.
- Like buzzing, mild resonance can act as feedback—but too much can interfere with shot feel and follow-through.

Do You Need to Eliminate All Vibration?

While excessive vibration can definitely cause problems, some vibration is completely normal—and even useful. Every archer has a different tolerance and preference, and there’s no one-size-fits-all “perfect” amount.

Vibration becomes a problem when it:

• Causes physical discomfort (like elbow or wrist pain)
  
  

• Loosens components on your setup
  
  

• Is so loud or disruptive that it affects your focus—or bothers others on the line
  
  

• You just really don’t like the way your bow feels and sounds
  
  

If the vibration you feel doesn’t cause those issues, it may not need to be “fixed.” In fact, mild vibration can act as feedback, helping you tune into your shot.

Over time, many archers learn to read this feedback, noticing how their bow feels and sounds on a clean shot versus one with a form or timing error. That kind of insight can actually make you a better shooter.

Because feedback plays an important role in evaluating shot quality, you don’t need to eliminate every last trace of vibration. Just reduce it to the point where the bow feels comfortable, controlled, and consistent in your hands.

How to Control Vibration in Your Shot

Excessive vibration can be distracting—or downright annoying—but the good news is there are plenty of ways to improve the feel and sound of your bow.

Go through the tuning checklist below, and by the end, your bow should feel smoother, quieter, and more refined—or at the very least, show a major improvement.

Note: If you're using very inexpensive or poorly made components, no amount of tuning can fully fix bad vibration or rattling. Quality gear matters.

Step 1: Tune the Bow (Recurve-Focused)

If you're experiencing significant vibration, your first stop should be tuning. A well-tuned bow rarely produces excessive vibration, so this is the most important starting point.

Start with Brace Height

Brace height has one of the biggest impacts on sound and vibration.
Start at the low end of the manufacturer’s recommended range and shoot three arrows.
Add 2–3 twists to the string and repeat the process, comparing feel and sound each time.
Keep going until you no longer see improvement—then back off slightly to find the “sweet spot.”
Example: If you start at 8.25”, improve up to 8.75”, and then feel a drop in performance at 9.0”, that tells you 8.75” is likely ideal.

Check the Tiller

Tiller has less effect on harshness or sound, but it can reduce limb flutter during follow-through.
If your limbs flutter post-shot, try adjusting the top limb bolt by a quarter turn in either direction and see if the movement smooths out.

Bare Shaft Tuning

A full bare shaft tune is essential to align arrow spine with draw weight.
A mismatch here can result in poor feedback or inconsistent feel.
While a full guide is beyond this article, your bare shaft and fletched shafts should group together in the gold at 30 meters.

Step 2: Stabilizers and Dampers

Once tuning is dialed in, it's time to fine-tune the feel of your shot with stabilizers and dampers.

Stabilizers

Stabilizers have the biggest impact on feel and sound outside of the limbs and riser.
A high-quality stabilizer can dramatically reduce vibration and improve your control.
Check out this article for more info on choosing a stabilizer that is great for you!

Rubber Dampers

Rubber dampers like our EQ Rubber Damper are incredibly effective and affordable.
They can be attached to stabilizers or other parts of the bow (like limb bolts or riser mounting points).
 Start by adding one to each stabilizer—then experiment with other mounting points as needed.

Tungsten Damping Weights

Our Tungsten Damping Weights use micro tungsten particles to reduce vibration without decoupling the weights, preserving a tight, connected feel.
 They’re available in multiple configurations and can be mounted on stabilizers, in stabilizers, in risers, or anywhere with a threaded mount.

Limb Dampers (LimbSavers)

Though less popular today, LimbSavers still appear on bows at the highest level of competition. They're not the most effective option, but worth trying—especially if vibration seems to originate from the limbs.