Rehersal Space Setup

A

adam79

New member
I'm trying to.figure out the best setup for my equipment in my rehersal space. Its a recragular room. Any opinions on whether I should set everything up against the longer wall...Drums in the middle, bass n guitar amps on either side of drums and pa speakers on the outside. Or drums against the back smaller wall w/ amps n speakers placed around the drums. I'm thinking that putting everything against the long wall would work best. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam
 
Having owned a commercial rehearsal studio, here's my advice.
Put all the gear on the back short wall. Put the PA speakers on the opposite side facing you.

Just like a recording room, it's always desireable to fire the speakers down the length. With the pa speakers facing you, everyone will hear the singer.

Of course it's your room and you'll find what works best for you.
:D
 
RFR said:
Having owned a commercial rehearsal studio, here's my advice.
Put all the gear on the back short wall. Put the PA speakers on the opposite side facing you.

Just like a recording room, it's always desireable to fire the speakers down the length. With the pa speakers facing you, everyone will hear the singer.

Of course it's your room and you'll find what works best for you.
:D
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yup, what he says.
 
Rehearse like you perform, with wedges. Mains are for the audience, which you don't have. The farther the speakers the louder the reflected sound is relative to the direct sound, which reduces clarity and increases the likelihood of feedback.
 
Boulder, You're talking in a pro situation with a good size room. :D

I'd be willing to bet seeing that the question was asked that this is a novice band in a smallish room.

For a small room my method is fine.
No need to mic anything except vocals.

This gives the opportunity for the band to get stage volumes and mix levels right.
Most small venues (dive bars) aren't gonna mic anything anyway. These are the typical places a starting band would be playing at.

I had six rooms with 50 bands a week coming in. Room sizes ranged from 12 × 15 to 15× 20 The largest rooms had some wedges as well. Never had any issues wirh flying monitors on the other side of the room.
 
The space dimensions are 21 L x 15 W x 8.75 H.

So you guys are recommending placing the PA speakers facing the drums and amps at the other end of the room, right? The reason that I was thinking about setting up my equipment against the long wall is because I have a couch, cocktail table, end tables, etc on the other side of the room (long wall) and it would work better, aesthetically speaking. Unless the sound quality is drastically better with the equipment against the short walls I'll go with this setup. I'll try out both ways. I mainly care that everything can be heard. I don't have the money to start investing in acoustical treatments, but I might have to figure out something since the room is just drywall, concrete floors and a drop ceiling. I'm definitely gonna grab some cheap rugs.

Thanks for all the help,
-Adam
 
RFR said:
Boulder, You're talking in a pro situation with a good size room.
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No, I'm talking about rehearsing for the gig, which is likely to be played through wedges on a cramped stage with a low ceiling and an untreated back wall. Better to learn how to deal with it before the show rather than during it.
 
Seen plenty a bar gig with not a wedge in sight.:D

But..... seen plenty of bands without a good 'on stage insrument mix' because they expected to be miced and/or they never learned how to get a good balance amongst themselves.
:D
Now for a dedicated serious band, it might be a good idea to get it's own PA including wedges.
 
Is 15' wide enough for 2-gits' bass and drums? Maybe, just barely. We just did one on a 12x12 stage- one guitar amp was on top the bass cab. Enough depth, but tight on the width.

One way to look at it is across the short wall, allows you to use the depth to let each player get a little bit away from their amps -always a good thing. (The farther the better shot at hearing what they're actually sounding like. Unlike the micro-huge' vision you get of your tone up close.)
And everyone hears the mix of each other's a bit better.
 
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The problem with setting up a practice space in a way other than you have on stage is the players get used to looking at the oters for cues and hearing everything that way.
 
mjbphotos said:
The problem with setting up a practice space in a way other than you have on stage is the players get used to looking at the oters for cues and hearing everything that way.
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Right, you're not just learning the songs, you're learning the whole perfomance so you don't have too many things to think consciously about during the gig. If there aren't going to be wedges, fine, rehearse like that. But the only shows I see without them are either with IEMs or with the mains behind the band. Whatever the case, rehearse how you'll be playing.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Right, you're not just learning the songs, you're learning the whole perfomance so you don't have too many things to think consciously about during the gig. If there aren't going to be wedges, fine, rehearse like that. But the only shows I see without them are either with IEMs or with the mains behind the band. Whatever the case, rehearse how you'll be playing.
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Are the wedges you guys r referring to monitors? If so, i dont have the cash for those. Thanks again for the help.
 
adam79 said:
Are the wedges you guys r referring to monitors? If so, i dont have the cash for those. Thanks again for the help.
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Yes, stage monitors. In a small room you're pretty much out of luck when it comes to sound no matter what so not having stage monitors isn't going to make much difference. In general placing the speakers farther from the performers means they have to be louder, which means more of their sound gets back into the vocal mic making the vocals that much less clear.

If you're just practicing songs then do whatever works. If you're rehearsing for a show then it might be good to emulate the venue's configuration as well as you can. You could try putting your mains on the floor propped up at an angle to simulate a monitor. It's worth trying various configurations to see how your room works with each. Try putting the mains behind the band, a bit high so they're not blasting straight into the vocal mic. A low ceiling might not let them be high enough for that setup but it's a handy one for small spaces.
 
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