Are you part of a band or a play and want a place where you could rehearse without compromising on the audio quality? Practicing with other musicians is fun and is also critical if you want to give a flawless performance on stage. However, most bands (unless they are making good money) may not have access to the best rehearsal room for their music practice. Here’s how to configure your room for the best music practice session; we also take a look at few more options.
What is a Music Rehearsal Space?
A music rehearsal space is a room (or number of rooms in the case of a professional studio) dedicated to music-making. Its designed in a way so as to keep sound inside and unwanted sound out.
Rehearsal spaces are used by musicians, ensembles and bands for rehearsing. Spare rooms, makeshift rooms and shared areas such as halls and community centers, professional studios are some of the options available to musicians for rehearsing.
“We’re smart enough and clever enough to give each other room to live in, to have respect for each other’s personalities,” –John Lewis, pianist, Modern Jazz Quartet
Hire a Music Studio for Rent
Want a bigger space or better equipped place? You can consider hiring a music practice room in a professional studio. There are many studios that offer practice rooms of various sizes and equipped with different kind of live/recording gear.
You can use the facilities at these studios for rehearsals (be it small or large band set ups), tour preparation, for pre-production.
Convert a Spare Room Into a Music Practice Room
Here’s how to effectively convert your spare room into a rehearsal-ready space.
Today, you don’t need a big budget to have an effective setup, how much ever small or simple it might be.
For your money, you can definitely expect top class audio quality and processing capabilities, and don’t let the small size of your room / garage hold you back from creating a fully equipped practice space.
You can easily get your room rehearsal-ready with these compact but powerful speakers, mics and recorders, without sacrificing your tone.
Here’s how to outfit a practice space of any size.
Powered Speakers
Using PA speakers during a practice session gives you a better understanding of how your band will sound when you play live. Detailed enough for low volumes, but powerful enough for your next gig, active speakers like these have power amps built right into them. And since active, powered loudspeakers eliminate the need for bulky outboard power amps and the additional cables that come with them, they’re a perfect fit for your small practice space. Read more on Active and Powered Loudspeakers
Mixers with Effects
Finding the right levels for everyone during a practice session is crucial for perfecting your sound. By running your band through a mixer, you can establish a balance that works best for everyone, and assure that no one instrument overpowers the others. All of these mixers have built-in effects, so you can enhance vocals or instruments with reverb, delay, chorus, etc. without adding pedals and outboard gear. Some small mixers even have a USB output — handy for recording a mix straight to your laptop. Read more on Stereo Mixers
Dynamic Microphones
With their rugged design, tight pickup pattern, and ability to handle loud vocals and instruments, dynamic microphones are a must-have for any practice space. For singers, drummers, and acoustic instrument players, a versatile dynamic microphone is essential in assuring their sound is represented in the rest of the mix. Read more on Handheld Dynamic Microphones
Direct Input Boxes
Swap your amp for a direct box and avoid the bouncing wall of sound that happens when you crank an amp up in a small room. With your guitar, bass, or keyboard connected to the PA via one of these D.I. boxes, you can skip the hassle of getting your amp stack in the back of your car or on the bus every week. Direct boxes are small enough to fit inside your backpack, but a must-have tool for reinforcing your sound whether you’re rehearsing or playing a show. Read more on Direct Boxes (DI)
Mobile Recorders
Whether you’re noodling at home or jamming at the practice space, keep track of every experiment with one of these extremely portable mobile recorders. No setup would be complete without a way to share new progressions, review the music you’ve just written, and even lay down quick demos. Each of these recorders has a line input so you can capture a feed directly from the mixer. The Zoom H4n even lets you record with both XLR inputs at the bottom of the device plus the built-in stereo microphones at the same time. Read more on Portable Media Recorders
So go ahead and create a fully set up practice space, where your band can have fun.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
Leave a Reply