Summary: Vibration control of structures is confronted with many problems like the proper selection of modelling methods, controllability and observability of models, model size and model reduction methods. In this paper a practical procedure is proposed to overcome technical problems of structure control due to a large model size. Firstly, an accurate numerical model is derived by using the finite element method. This model is verified by modal analysis experiments. Secondly, a new model reduction procedure is proposed to reduce considerably the full order model. This reduction makes the reduced order model controllable and observable. In a further step, a controller is designed based on the verified reduced order model. Finally, a real-time control system is set up. The controlled and uncontrolled impulse responses at the free tip of the cantilever beam with active constrained layer damping treatments are compared both in time domain and frequency domain. The results clearly show the efficiency of the proposed procedure. The procedure proposed in this paper can be extended towards more complex structures.