Room acoustics problem

jcook

New member
Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to post for this type of question but here goes.

My band has a rehersal space that doubles as a small recording studio we use to record ourselves. The room has three parts: The main rehersal space which is about 30 x 30 with a cathedral ceiling, a small ISO room that we use for our control room, and a bathroom.

Our problem in the rehersal space is that we can't hear each other play. Its loud enough, but all we hear is noise, no distinguishable notes. It seems to me that the problem isn't a sound level problem but a sound quality / excessive reverb problem.

We have two guitarists, and bassist, and a drummer. When one guitarist and a drummer plays, it sounds ok although even when the drummer plays alone its kind of reverby which may be good for recording but not for live playing. When two guitarists play with the drummer, all we hear is noise, we cant hear notes. When the bassist is added to the mix, its complete mud; No one can tell what each other is playing. One amp is a Crate Blue voodoo w/ 4x12 cab, the other is a mesa triple rectifier w/ 4x12 cab. We have to get LOUD even to hear ourselves over the drummer and we're gonna blow our ear drums out.

I'm not sure if its the high ceiling that is the problem, or maybe where we are placing our equipment. I've tried multiple positions for everything. We've tried placing the amps facing the drummer on each side, facing away from the drummer towards the guitarists on each side, and also trying both amps on the same side the drummer. We've also tried placing a big rug along a flat wall in the back of the room behind the drummer, and facing the amps towards it.

On each side the room maybe about 4 - 5 feet from the floor the walls go up at about 45 degree angles until they meet the ceiling. The ceiling is probably 25 feet high. Unfortunately i don't have the exact dimensions of the room.

If anyone has any thoughts about how we could solve the (what seems to be a) reverb problem, or any adive about what the problem could be, I would appreciate it!

Thanks!
 
The first major problem is having dimensions of 30 x 30. Squares are bad. You could make some portable gobos out of rigid fiberglas and a wood frame. Place these around the perimeter of where your gear is setup to make sort of an enclosure. That would help alot. How about some furniture. Big ole ugly couches would suck up some reflections.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I'm going to try and measure the exact dimensions of the room to see if it is a square. Even if it is, are those 45 degree angled walls helping or hurting the sound?
 
jcook said:
Thanks for the reply.

I'm going to try and measure the exact dimensions of the room to see if it is a square. Even if it is, are those 45 degree angled walls helping or hurting the sound?

You would need more precise measurements and someone who knows more about it than me. I am just going by the fact that if its a big empty room, there's going to be all kinds of reverb/echo. My band practices in a large warehouse. But it's a furniture store and there is always lots of couches and bed matresses lying around.
 
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