dinorocker
New member
Hi, I am not sure whether there is a section on this board that handles queries like this, so choose the Newbies section just to avoid trampling on toes. 
Among other things, I help small bands around my area get their acts together, and a fairly common issue has been one of rehearsal/jam rooms, or rather, how to get the sound right.
Recently, I decided to create one right in my own basement, to both play around with ideas, as well as let friends come and jam when they feel like it.
The basement is a fairly large one, and is logically divided into quadrants - each about 12' x 12', 8' high. Of these, I snarfed one quadrant, and divided it off from the rest of the basement using heavy curtains on two sides, enclosing the quadrant. The curtains, combined with some thick throw rugs on the floor, reduce reverberation considerably, giving an *almost* dead space. This allows the band to play at much lower volumes than they would have to if they were fighting with echoes and other acoustic issues. That's a good thing, because despite forgiving neighbours and a wife who is very understanding, we don't want to upset anyone. So far it has worked great.
I have a small mixer (a Behringer 1204FX), which feeds into a 100W amp, with a single 12" speaker in the cabinet. This handles mics (I picked up a bunch of Samson R11s) and keyboards. Bass has its own amp and speaker, and I have a couple of guitar amps around as well. The cheap practice drumkit is in one corner, and padded down to oblivion. The main vocals mic is diagonally across the room from the speakers, with its back to the speakers, to maximise the cardiod effect and cut down feedback.
You can see pictures of this setup here: http://wearephenom.com/pix/20051215/
The issue is that despite all the deadening, the sound tends to be terrible. Or rather, it isn't bad, but vocals invariably get drowned out - not in terms of volume, but (I suspect) frequencies.
Things are reasonably OK if, for example, only drums, bass and vocals are on. The vocalist can hear himself, and the bass and drums. Throw the keyboard into the mix, and despite major tweaking of the low, mid and high frequencies, the vocalist totally disappears - first the reverb added to his channel (else he has pitching problems) becomes inaudible, and finally his voice just disappears. When the guitar comes in, we have enough mud to build a dam with. The issue is not with the band, which is very tight (see http://wearephenom.com/unbound).
Clearly, deadening the area alone isn't enough. EQing should help solve the problem, but it isn't. Maybe I should just dump the speakers altogether and get everyone on monitor cans? That would feel a bit weird, and I'd rather avoid that.
Any suggestions from people here on what one could do? Experiences, solutions that worked?
Thanks in advance!
Among other things, I help small bands around my area get their acts together, and a fairly common issue has been one of rehearsal/jam rooms, or rather, how to get the sound right.
Recently, I decided to create one right in my own basement, to both play around with ideas, as well as let friends come and jam when they feel like it.
The basement is a fairly large one, and is logically divided into quadrants - each about 12' x 12', 8' high. Of these, I snarfed one quadrant, and divided it off from the rest of the basement using heavy curtains on two sides, enclosing the quadrant. The curtains, combined with some thick throw rugs on the floor, reduce reverberation considerably, giving an *almost* dead space. This allows the band to play at much lower volumes than they would have to if they were fighting with echoes and other acoustic issues. That's a good thing, because despite forgiving neighbours and a wife who is very understanding, we don't want to upset anyone. So far it has worked great.
I have a small mixer (a Behringer 1204FX), which feeds into a 100W amp, with a single 12" speaker in the cabinet. This handles mics (I picked up a bunch of Samson R11s) and keyboards. Bass has its own amp and speaker, and I have a couple of guitar amps around as well. The cheap practice drumkit is in one corner, and padded down to oblivion. The main vocals mic is diagonally across the room from the speakers, with its back to the speakers, to maximise the cardiod effect and cut down feedback.
You can see pictures of this setup here: http://wearephenom.com/pix/20051215/
The issue is that despite all the deadening, the sound tends to be terrible. Or rather, it isn't bad, but vocals invariably get drowned out - not in terms of volume, but (I suspect) frequencies.
Things are reasonably OK if, for example, only drums, bass and vocals are on. The vocalist can hear himself, and the bass and drums. Throw the keyboard into the mix, and despite major tweaking of the low, mid and high frequencies, the vocalist totally disappears - first the reverb added to his channel (else he has pitching problems) becomes inaudible, and finally his voice just disappears. When the guitar comes in, we have enough mud to build a dam with. The issue is not with the band, which is very tight (see http://wearephenom.com/unbound).
Clearly, deadening the area alone isn't enough. EQing should help solve the problem, but it isn't. Maybe I should just dump the speakers altogether and get everyone on monitor cans? That would feel a bit weird, and I'd rather avoid that.
Any suggestions from people here on what one could do? Experiences, solutions that worked?
Thanks in advance!