ilovefuzz.com

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:I wish we could "practice like we play live", but our rehearsal room is long and skinny and it's just impossible. So we have the drums at one end, the guitar and bass at the other facing the drums, and the singer stands in the middle and goes deaf.

Thats a terrible sounding arrangement though. Do you really not have room for the three amps behind the drummer? I've set up that way many times in about as wide of a space as the drummer sets up. Theoretically you only need 7 feet for two standard width guitar cabs and a standard width bass cab and you say you have 12 feet of wall behind the drummer.

Everyone should be wearing ear plugs to improve clarity and protect hearing IMO.

Wait, amps behind the drummer? I'm confused. Where would we stand? We don't put the amps behind the drummer when we play live anyways. Our amps are about even with the drummer, facing out. The drummer hears us via monitors.

Our room is a very long, very skinny rectangle. I doubt it's 12 feet wide. Probably more like 10.

And I was kidding about the "going deaf" part. We don't really practice that loud. Just barely loud enough to hear things over the drums.

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:I wish we could "practice like we play live", but our rehearsal room is long and skinny and it's just impossible. So we have the drums at one end, the guitar and bass at the other facing the drums, and the singer stands in the middle and goes deaf.

Thats a terrible sounding arrangement though. Do you really not have room for the three amps behind the drummer? I've set up that way many times in about as wide of a space as the drummer sets up. Theoretically you only need 7 feet for two standard width guitar cabs and a standard width bass cab and you say you have 12 feet of wall behind the drummer.

Everyone should be wearing ear plugs to improve clarity and protect hearing IMO.

Wait, amps behind the drummer? I'm confused. Where would we stand? We don't put the amps behind the drummer when we play live anyways. Our amps are about even with the drummer, facing out. The drummer hears us via monitors.

Our room is a very long, very skinny rectangle. I doubt it's 12 feet wide. Probably more like 10.

And I was kidding about the "going deaf" part. We don't really practice that loud. Just barely loud enough to hear things over the drums.

Do you use monitors when you practice? If not then amps behind the drummer is closest to that sound for the drummer. You would stand in front of the drummer facing your amps if you like or away from your amps like a show. 10 feet should still be enough to place amps behind the drummer. Playing from opposite sides of the room facing each other makes for a very messy sound.

I don't see the weight in this "practicing like you play live" suggestion. The rooms you play in live will never be like the room you practice in and those live rooms will never be like each other, either.
You should practice in a setup that allows everyone to hear everything. Practicing like you play live defeats this, which in turn is defeating the point of practicing.

Muff_Diver wrote:I don't see the weight in this "practicing like you play live" suggestion. The rooms you play in live will never be like the room you practice in and those live rooms will never be like each other, either.
You should practice in a setup that allows everyone to hear everything. Practicing like you play live defeats this, which in turn is defeating the point of practicing.

My reasoning is thus:

Since no two rooms are alike, its good to treat your ears as close mics for what is immediately in your space when you perform. For me that is the hihat and the snare. The bass player and other guitar are on the other side of the stage and I usually cant hear them well enough to reference their parts during a show. I also generally play small spaces and houses when on tour. Rarely are monitors or significant PA reinforcement an element.

So practicing like we play live means I get used to being tight with the drums that I can hear most clearly and the other dudes get tight with what they hear most clearly. Its worked well for every band I've ever been in.

It also depends on what you mean by 'practice.' I think this is a good method for practicing sets for tour or shows. It may be less ideal when you're writing and want to hear everyone clearly.

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:I wish we could "practice like we play live", but our rehearsal room is long and skinny and it's just impossible. So we have the drums at one end, the guitar and bass at the other facing the drums, and the singer stands in the middle and goes deaf.

Thats a terrible sounding arrangement though. Do you really not have room for the three amps behind the drummer? I've set up that way many times in about as wide of a space as the drummer sets up. Theoretically you only need 7 feet for two standard width guitar cabs and a standard width bass cab and you say you have 12 feet of wall behind the drummer.

Everyone should be wearing ear plugs to improve clarity and protect hearing IMO.

Wait, amps behind the drummer? I'm confused. Where would we stand? We don't put the amps behind the drummer when we play live anyways. Our amps are about even with the drummer, facing out. The drummer hears us via monitors.

Our room is a very long, very skinny rectangle. I doubt it's 12 feet wide. Probably more like 10.

And I was kidding about the "going deaf" part. We don't really practice that loud. Just barely loud enough to hear things over the drums.

Do you use monitors when you practice? If not then amps behind the drummer is closest to that sound for the drummer. You would stand in front of the drummer facing your amps if you like or away from your amps like a show. 10 feet should still be enough to place amps behind the drummer. Playing from opposite sides of the room facing each other makes for a very messy sound.

Well I personally don't really want to get too close to the drums, because that certainly will make me deaf. I mean, I guess we could get super-long cables or something, but then I wouldn't be able to ever adjust anything on my amp. I don't know about you guys, but I change settings on my amp all the time.

whoismarykelly wrote: My reasoning is thus:

Since no two rooms are alike, its good to treat your ears as close mics for what is immediately in your space when you perform. For me that is the hihat and the snare. The bass player and other guitar are on the other side of the stage and I usually cant hear them well enough to reference their parts during a show. I also generally play small spaces and houses when on tour. Rarely are monitors or significant PA reinforcement an element.

So practicing like we play live means I get used to being tight with the drums that I can hear most clearly and the other dudes get tight with what they hear most clearly. Its worked well for every band I've ever been in.

It also depends on what you mean by 'practice.' I think this is a good method for practicing sets for tour or shows. It may be less ideal when you're writing and want to hear everyone clearly.

We come from very similar if not identical performing worlds. Haven't played with any of your bands before, but fb suggests we know a lot of the same people.
Shouldn't everyone be tight with the drums though since the drums are what determines/maintains the beat/groove/whatever you call it? In which case, it still seems self defeating to practice spread out. If the bass and drums are tight, but the guitar(s) is doing its own thing its all gonna sound like shit in the end-no matter how tight the bass and drums are.

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:I wish we could "practice like we play live", but our rehearsal room is long and skinny and it's just impossible. So we have the drums at one end, the guitar and bass at the other facing the drums, and the singer stands in the middle and goes deaf.

Thats a terrible sounding arrangement though. Do you really not have room for the three amps behind the drummer? I've set up that way many times in about as wide of a space as the drummer sets up. Theoretically you only need 7 feet for two standard width guitar cabs and a standard width bass cab and you say you have 12 feet of wall behind the drummer.

Everyone should be wearing ear plugs to improve clarity and protect hearing IMO.

Wait, amps behind the drummer? I'm confused. Where would we stand? We don't put the amps behind the drummer when we play live anyways. Our amps are about even with the drummer, facing out. The drummer hears us via monitors.

Our room is a very long, very skinny rectangle. I doubt it's 12 feet wide. Probably more like 10.

And I was kidding about the "going deaf" part. We don't really practice that loud. Just barely loud enough to hear things over the drums.

Do you use monitors when you practice? If not then amps behind the drummer is closest to that sound for the drummer. You would stand in front of the drummer facing your amps if you like or away from your amps like a show. 10 feet should still be enough to place amps behind the drummer. Playing from opposite sides of the room facing each other makes for a very messy sound.

Well I personally don't really want to get too close to the drums, because that certainly will make me deaf. I mean, I guess we could get super-long cables or something, but then I wouldn't be able to ever adjust anything on my amp. I don't know about you guys, but I change settings on my amp all the time.

Do whatever works for you really. As long as you like what you hear and you're comfortable in practice it doesn't matter if what you do is completely different from any other band. I just suggest keeping in mind what resources you have at shows (monitors, in-ears, what you can hear naturally...) and pay attention to those things in practice so you aren't referencing something you wont hear live to get cues in practice.

Muff_Diver wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote: My reasoning is thus:

Since no two rooms are alike, its good to treat your ears as close mics for what is immediately in your space when you perform. For me that is the hihat and the snare. The bass player and other guitar are on the other side of the stage and I usually cant hear them well enough to reference their parts during a show. I also generally play small spaces and houses when on tour. Rarely are monitors or significant PA reinforcement an element.

So practicing like we play live means I get used to being tight with the drums that I can hear most clearly and the other dudes get tight with what they hear most clearly. Its worked well for every band I've ever been in.

It also depends on what you mean by 'practice.' I think this is a good method for practicing sets for tour or shows. It may be less ideal when you're writing and want to hear everyone clearly.

We come from very similar if not identical performing worlds. Haven't played with any of your bands before, but fb suggests we know a lot of the same people.
Shouldn't everyone be tight with the drums though since the drums are what determines/maintains the beat/groove/whatever you call it? In which case, it still seems self defeating to practice spread out. If the bass and drums are tight, but the guitar(s) is doing its own thing its all gonna sound like shit in the end-no matter how tight the bass and drums are.

Are you in Baltimore?

I agree that everyone should be tight with the drums. Hopefully the drummer is tight on his own. All I'm saying is that I have played in many bands where we practiced so everyone could hear everything perfectly and then at a show another player couldn't hear anything but drums and only then realized that he took cues from people he wasn't able to hear easily on stage that night. These are the things you dont realize until its too late if you never consider them early on.

Maybe a better idea is to change your practice setup regularly so everyone becomes flexible.

whoismarykelly wrote:
Are you in Baltimore?

I agree that everyone should be tight with the drums. Hopefully the drummer is tight on his own. All I'm saying is that I have played in many bands where we practiced so everyone could hear everything perfectly and then at a show another player couldn't hear anything but drums and only then realized that he took cues from people he wasn't able to hear easily on stage that night. These are the things you dont realize until its too late if you never consider them early on.

Maybe a better idea is to change your practice setup regularly so everyone becomes flexible.

Im originally from Harrisburg but live in philly now. Used to play Baltimore a lot but haven't for a few months. I'm the drummer haha so hopefully I am tight.
I get where you're coming from, especially given that its a solution to a real problem you've had. If it works it works-cant argue with that.

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote: Thats a terrible sounding arrangement though. Do you really not have room for the three amps behind the drummer? I've set up that way many times in about as wide of a space as the drummer sets up. Theoretically you only need 7 feet for two standard width guitar cabs and a standard width bass cab and you say you have 12 feet of wall behind the drummer.

Everyone should be wearing ear plugs to improve clarity and protect hearing IMO.

Wait, amps behind the drummer? I'm confused. Where would we stand? We don't put the amps behind the drummer when we play live anyways. Our amps are about even with the drummer, facing out. The drummer hears us via monitors.

Our room is a very long, very skinny rectangle. I doubt it's 12 feet wide. Probably more like 10.

And I was kidding about the "going deaf" part. We don't really practice that loud. Just barely loud enough to hear things over the drums.

Do you use monitors when you practice? If not then amps behind the drummer is closest to that sound for the drummer. You would stand in front of the drummer facing your amps if you like or away from your amps like a show. 10 feet should still be enough to place amps behind the drummer. Playing from opposite sides of the room facing each other makes for a very messy sound.

Well I personally don't really want to get too close to the drums, because that certainly will make me deaf. I mean, I guess we could get super-long cables or something, but then I wouldn't be able to ever adjust anything on my amp. I don't know about you guys, but I change settings on my amp all the time.

Do whatever works for you really. As long as you like what you hear and you're comfortable in practice it doesn't matter if what you do is completely different from any other band. I just suggest keeping in mind what resources you have at shows (monitors, in-ears, what you can hear naturally...) and pay attention to those things in practice so you aren't referencing something you wont hear live to get cues in practice.

Yeah, we bring our own PA/monitors/mains/subs to most gigs because we got sick of dealing with shitty house equipment. If we're playing a place with a pro rig then we'll use it. We don't crowd around the drums because our drummer plays really hard and loud and it just washes out all other sound. So we spread out whenever possible and run everything, including bass and guitar, through the monitors so we can all hear each other.

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:

whoismarykelly wrote: Thats a terrible sounding arrangement though. Do you really not have room for the three amps behind the drummer? I've set up that way many times in about as wide of a space as the drummer sets up. Theoretically you only need 7 feet for two standard width guitar cabs and a standard width bass cab and you say you have 12 feet of wall behind the drummer.

Everyone should be wearing ear plugs to improve clarity and protect hearing IMO.

Wait, amps behind the drummer? I'm confused. Where would we stand? We don't put the amps behind the drummer when we play live anyways. Our amps are about even with the drummer, facing out. The drummer hears us via monitors.

Our room is a very long, very skinny rectangle. I doubt it's 12 feet wide. Probably more like 10.

And I was kidding about the "going deaf" part. We don't really practice that loud. Just barely loud enough to hear things over the drums.

Do you use monitors when you practice? If not then amps behind the drummer is closest to that sound for the drummer. You would stand in front of the drummer facing your amps if you like or away from your amps like a show. 10 feet should still be enough to place amps behind the drummer. Playing from opposite sides of the room facing each other makes for a very messy sound.

Well I personally don't really want to get too close to the drums, because that certainly will make me deaf. I mean, I guess we could get super-long cables or something, but then I wouldn't be able to ever adjust anything on my amp. I don't know about you guys, but I change settings on my amp all the time.

Do whatever works for you really. As long as you like what you hear and you're comfortable in practice it doesn't matter if what you do is completely different from any other band. I just suggest keeping in mind what resources you have at shows (monitors, in-ears, what you can hear naturally...) and pay attention to those things in practice so you aren't referencing something you wont hear live to get cues in practice.

Yeah, we bring our own PA/monitors/mains/subs to most gigs because we got sick of dealing with shitty house equipment. If we're playing a place with a pro rig then we'll use it. We don't crowd around the drums because our drummer plays really hard and loud and it just washes out all other sound. So we spread out whenever possible and run everything, including bass and guitar, through the monitors so we can all hear each other.

That's a luxury I dont have. Honestly one I wouldn't want. I like the chaos of a show quite a bit more when I cant hear everything perfectly. On the rare occasion I have monitors and can hear everyone its unsettling and distracting.

whoismarykelly wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote: Yeah, we bring our own PA/monitors/mains/subs to most gigs because we got sick of dealing with shitty house equipment. If we're playing a place with a pro rig then we'll use it. We don't crowd around the drums because our drummer plays really hard and loud and it just washes out all other sound. So we spread out whenever possible and run everything, including bass and guitar, through the monitors so we can all hear each other.

That's a luxury I dont have. Honestly one I wouldn't want. I like the chaos of a show quite a bit more when I cant hear everything perfectly. On the rare occasion I have monitors and can hear everyone its unsettling and distracting.

In some contexts, I actually agree with you. But I'm speaking specifically about my covers band right now, and we really try to be as tight as possible to keep the bars happy.

For original shit, I like to play a lot more loose and rough and just see where it goes.

Live I only ever have kicks, snare and my vocals in the monitor. I can usually hear my own amp, and prefer that to having my guitar in the monitors but it doesn't matter if I can't hear myself, unless lighting is super dark and my muscle memory goes to shit. But in a rehearsal room I like to hear everyone if possible.