Need advice on small home studio/practice room

[Etienne]

I have a 15x22 room where I have my amps, guitars, bass, drum and keyboards. I have a couple of microphone stands and stuff. We gather with friends on week ends to jam, nothing serious. A good setup would make things fun for sure!!

I'm looking to hook things together, so we can vocals and keyboards. In addition, I'd like to hook up my iphone and practice with Guitar Pro, play some tracks. I have no recording requirements.

We previously used my friends console with speakers but that thing was huge and overkill. He took his stuff back to do gigs.

I am looking for a configuration which can work well with the drum. It can get pretty loud in a room of that size!

Any comments, advice ?

Etienne

 

[PatF]

You need a small mixer. But want enough channels to leave things hooked up.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ProFX12v2

And some powered speakers.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EKX12P

My drummer friend has the 32 ch Mackie and the 15" EV's with a sub. It is an awesome rehearsal P.A. You may be able to save some money looking for used stuff. even passive speakers with a rack power amp. I would stick with the trusted names like EV, Mackie, JBL, Carvin, Yamaha, etc.
8ch minimum / 1000 watts minimum.

 

[sytharnia1560]

so are you basically looking at getting everyone at the same volume (thats kind of how it sounds)? then a PA (so mixer and speakers) is what you want (but is very much overkill for the room you have), plus a few goodish mic's. Mic guitar/s and Bass (don't let the Bass player go directly into the PA (which they tend to want to so they don't have to folk out for an amp). Keys are ok going into the PA

But you will also need to try and isolate the drums (which will be tough in a small room)..so first make sure they are on carpet, try to dampen the walls around them and ideally you you would want something in front of them that goes from floor height to about waist height.


But there are a few things to consider before buying a PA...

How is the room constructed (so any carpet etc)?

How do you guys "set up" the gear? what tends to happen when people jam is they almost put their gear either in a circle (so its just constant battering of the ears) or they spread it out to much and stand in front of their amp (so they hear themselves and fuck all else). First thing to do is put the drums as close to one of the walls then have the amps level with the edges of the kit but in front of it

 

[Etienne]

so are you basically looking at getting everyone at the same volume (thats kind of how it sounds)? then a PA (so mixer and speakers) is what you want (but is very much overkill for the room you have), plus a few goodish mic's. Mic guitar/s and Bass (don't let the Bass player go directly into the PA (which they tend to want to so they don't have to folk out for an amp). Keys are ok going into the PA

But you will also need to try and isolate the drums (which will be tough in a small room)..so first make sure they are on carpet, try to dampen the walls around them and ideally you you would want something in front of them that goes from floor height to about waist height.


But there are a few things to consider before buying a PA...

How is the room constructed (so any carpet etc)?

How do you guys "set up" the gear? what tends to happen when people jam is they almost put their gear either in a circle (so its just constant battering of the ears) or they spread it out to much and stand in front of their amp (so they hear themselves and fuck all else). First thing to do is put the drums as close to one of the walls then have the amps level with the edges of the kit but in front of it

Yes one of my goals is to control volume. The drum is really a problem, a loud rimshot in a room of that size is aweful. I try as much as I can to politely tell drummers to be careful, avoid rimshots etc. One of our drummer friend was using ear muffs, this is not allowed anymore!

We use amps for guitars and bass. Everybody stands in the middle of the room. The amps are at ground level, the back agaisnt the wall, blowing in the middle of the room. On the opposite side of the room in the corner the drum is facing the center as well. The floor is vinyl, and the drum is sitting on carpet.

The room is actually my garage basement:

2013 - Maison (21) by Etienne Bégin, on Flickr

Any recommendations are welcome!

 

[rottingcorpse]

Plexi amp isolators or used/old cubical walls (laid on their sides so they are not so tall) around the drums and sound deadening on the wall behind them. This really works well if the bass drum is triggered, then you can control its level in the room at the mixer. Also helps those drummers with weak feet. For me, I have serious issues with drummers who hit the crash hard when I am too close to it. I would love to have plexi walls around the mounted toms and cymbals, but open at the bottom around the bass drums. Better yet, I love a drum robot that only does what I program it to do, doesn't make noise between songs, doesn't drink my liquor, and doesn't bring its girlfriend around. A man can dream, right?

I have always hated having my cab at shin level. I want my top cab blowing in my face. This can cause volume issues since you don't need a lot of volume to hear yourself, but others won't hear you as well. Perfect excuse to run two heads, top and bottom. Any excuse to run two amps works for me. You can also use a cab stand to both raise it and lean it back a bit.

 

[Etienne]

I will definitely look into plexi glass and insulation behind the drum!

I also hate to have so many cables laying around Can`t just everything work with bluetooth

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

I spent close to a G on this foam shit. Does little to nothing. Looks cool though.

What really helped? Moving blankets, suspended from the ceiling. My drummer is loud.
That's why we have that small POS Gretsch kit as well, to keep the volume down.
Moving blankets? Harbor Frieght got ya fucking back.
I bought an eyelet punch kit there too and suspended the blankets with 3m hooks the go through the eyelets.

If you can do it, do this. This is where the mixer goes. Hate cables all over the place.

1 PA speaker jack

AC is a must with dirty musicians hanging out in the Summer

And some lights, to give the effect that we are playing out. Since we never play out.

 

[CaseyCor]

I would spend some money on dampening and acoustically treating the room before you buy PA equipment. Getting the room sounding good will make it easier to build a PA system.

 

[Etienne]

billsbigego, must be fun to hang out at your place!!!

 

[HilltopExplosion]

billsbigego, must be fun to hang out at your place!!!

+1... Quite the set up ya have there, dig the disco ball

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

billsbigego, must be fun to hang out at your place!!!

+1... Quite the set up ya have there, dig the disco ball

I told my wife, if I ever have the cash to build a music room, I'm getting a disco ball. She's like "you wouldn't dare."

 

[HilltopExplosion]

billsbigego, must be fun to hang out at your place!!!

+1... Quite the set up ya have there, dig the disco ball

I told my wife, if I ever have the cash to build a music room, I'm getting a disco ball. She's like "you wouldn't dare."

I dig it! I would too!

 

[155]

ill second the moving blankets they work and put them on the ceiling if you can too, they are cheap and effective