Making band practice sound better

[TylerDrums109]

So when my band is down in my granddads relatively small basement and we all have out amps up at 5 or 6 to be heard over the drums the sound of everything tends to get less defined...im no longer hearing two guitars playing as much as i am hearing a bunch of noise overloading my ears....any solutions to this?..i want to hear our music as it sounds...not as a bunch of noise

[Yonce N Mild]

First thing you need to do is turn down. I know it sounds counter intuitive but it's true. Turn everybody's amp down about 50% and go from there.
Tell the drummer to play a little lighter. You can only be so loud in a small room before it just turns into noise. A little acoustic treatment helps too.

I had this argument for months with my band. We play in small room in a basement. Drums 2 guitars, bass, keys and vocals.
I kept telling them to turn down. Every one of them said "I have to be this loud to hear myself over the drums, I can barely hear myself as it is"
I finally convinced them to turn down. Holy crap we can hear the vocals now and the drums aren't too loud at all! I can make it through our set twice because I'm not screaming at the top of my lungs to be heard.

The other thing that helped significantly was some blankets on the walls. We got a ton of high end reflections that just turned into a horrible ringing/hissing sound. The blankets made a big difference.
3 of the 4 walls were concrete block. If the basement is drywalled blankets probably won't be as much of an improvement for you guys as it was for us.

[Gear_Junky]

this has always been a problem.

as a guitarist i would suggest placing the amps higher and standing right next to them (like monitors) - so you can turn down, but still hear yourself.

the bass amp needs to be EQ'd for the room - so it's loud and audible, but not too boomy or muddy. I don't like the sound of most cheap and mid-level bass amps and I can't afford a tube bass amp, so I use a cheap copy of Tech 21 SansAmp Bass DI made by Behringer - BDI21. It's like a preamp with EQ and drive knobs, so I set the bass amp flat, run the bass through the BDI21 into the amp (or even amp's FX loop "return") and use the EQ controls on the preamp to shape the sound. works great. it's only a $30 box. it can even be used to DI the bass into PA with good results.

[Yonce N Mild]

Originally Posted by Gear_Junky

as a guitarist i would suggest placing the amps higher and standing right next to them (like monitors) - so you can turn down, but still hear yourself.

Yes! Forgot that one. Great suggestion!

[TelePaul]

Originally Posted by Yonce N Mild

First thing you need to do is turn down. I know it sounds counter intuitive but it's true. Turn everybody's amp down about 50% and go from there..

so true!!!!!!!

[Zaphod B]

It's also pretty cheap to build isolation panels for the drummer to keep the noise down. Drum kits are incredibly loud in small spaces, and it's understandable that the drummer doesn't want to break out the brushes if you are playing metal.

Anyway, like everyone esle has said, lowering the overall volume is the key.

[ggunn]

First off, your drummer has to lighten up.

You can alleviate some of the problem by putting him in a corner and padding the two walls behind him. Blankets are good; mattresses are better. Make sure he's on carpet - three or four thicknesses will help. The old egg crate ceiling trick helps a lot with high frequency bounce. I also made an 8' X 8' wooden framework, covered it with carpet, and suspended it over the drummer's spot by chains from the ceiling, that helped, too. Make sure any concrete surfaces are padded; I carpeted the whole floor of my garage studio for free with carpet I got from friends who were recarpeting rooms in their houses.

But still, the drummer must lighten up; you can only do so much with room treatment.

[Yonce N Mild]

My drummer has claimed that learning to play a little quieter has actually helped his playing quite a bit. I agree that his playing is much more dynamic now.

[Gear_Junky]

Originally Posted by Yonce N Mild

My drummer has claimed that learning to play a little quieter has actually helped his playing quite a bit. I agree that his playing is much more dynamic now.

that's very true, but you won't get every drummer to admit that

if only they realized that lightening up would spare their energies.

[cnix]

We use our in-ears ALL the time, practice and live. It has opened us up to a whole new world, music. Before that, each electric player (2 of them) thought the world revolved around them and their instrument, and they were not gonna turn down. The only way I know to get the electric guitar player to turn his amp down is to give him...sheet music!!

[stevieb]

Ask your drummer to try something like bamboo sticks. I am not a drummer, so I am not sure what they are called, but I understand they have the feel of hard sticks, and allow a drummer to wail a bit and still tone it down. He might find he likes the tone for some playing out, too.

[twsknight]

As everyone's said, turning down is the key. If possible I'd reccommend going into a rehearsal space at least once, to hear what you'll sound like in a bigger space.

I remember my first proper bands first proper gig. We'd been practicing in loads of different spaces, and we knew we were ready to gig, but unitl you hear your band coming through monitors in a big space and have that energy of being on stage, you'll never really know quite how good you sound. It's amazing what space and monitoring can do for your sound and your confidence.

[Doink]

What kind of music do you play and with what kind of amps? If this is any kind of metal or other high gain situation, 2 common "mistakes" that a lot of people make are too much distortion and not enough mid range.

I know tons of distortion and scooped mids sounds really cool at low volumes when you're by yourself, but in a loud situation it turns into unintelligible static like noise.

You should also work with the other guitar player on your EQ settings, and find 2 contrasting tones, that way you'll each sit in your own areas of the frequency spectrum.

[elenore19]

Ear plugs as well. If it hasn't been mentioned, I skimmed the other posts, but didn't really read thoroughly. Don't have time today, sorry.
Anyways.
I find that ear plugs help pick out things better. And also, just tell your drummer to play quiet, seriously, get the song down and everything then let him play loud about every 4th time you run the song or something. Let him get his fill, then play quieter the other times to get everything tight and everything.

Just a thought. The other thing I saw mentioned, the whole raise the amp thing, sounds like a good idea to me as well.


-Elliot

[Dani Pace]

Everyone has to realize that playing with intensity and playing loud are not the same thing. The best thing my band ever did was to work out an acoustic set, no amps, all acoustic. Everyone learned to LISTEN to everyone else. Our drummer developed a style of playing very softly, yet with the same intensity that he had been using at higher volumes. This helped us so much that now we only play slightly louder (than acoustic volume) when we play electric.

Our biggest problem was hearing the vocals. Dropping the volume not only allows us to hear the vocals but lets us talk to each other while we are playing, this is especialy helpful when learning new materal.

Now even when we go out to play we play pretty softly and let the PA provide any volume we need in larger places. We can play the same songs in small clubs or blast it out for a larger venue without blowing our ears in the process.