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Short version: 2 guitars bass drums vocals, 20 sq metres. Go.

We're doing the whole changing drummers thing, so while our old drummer has removed his kit and we don't yet have a new drummer I thought it might be a good time to work out the "optimal" way to arrange a rehearsal room. I guess our room is about 4x5 metres, maybe slightly larger. Dunno. Concrete, with sound deadening crap on the walls. Pretty crap sounding room but what can you do. We've previously had the drums at one end, all the amps at the other (facing the drums) and all non drummers stand in the middle. PA off to the left side, one speaker near the string instrumentalists, the other near the drummer, mic off to the right side.

There is relatively little thought as to how it ended up this way. It just did.

But if we had the chance to actually think about it, how would you arrange things? I don't give a crap about "rehearse like you do play live" because we've always rehearsed like this and we've always kicked ass live, so I don't see a correlation there in our case. I guess the factors that are interesting are creating a relatively good "mix" for all dudes, and minimising unwanted feedback in amps and mics and stuff, and keeping things space efficient.

Any thoughts?

Metres aren't real distance. He's talking about 65 square feet, or 13 by 16.


will write a real response here momentarily.

Play loud.

Make a circle with your amps surrounding the drummer.

I did that for a friend's "installation" a few years ago when I was drumming, it was cool.

Fuck the audience.
Just kidding.

My last space was just slightly bigger than yours and we put the drums in one of the back corners
and then everyone else set up in a semicircle facing the drums.
We were a 4 piece and one of the guitar players sang so we didn't have to leave extra room for a singer.
Also, no one else in the band needed/cared to hear the vocals so we just pointed the shitty PA speaker
at the singer so he could bask in his own glory.

Generally, a good starting point is arranging your sound sources into some kind of Kabbalistic tetragram.

D.o.S. wrote:Metres aren't real distance. He's talking about 65 square feet, or 13 by 16.


will write a real response here momentarily.

thanks for translating


Does everyone set up in a live configuration or so that they can see each other to work out songs?

So, so far the go is sacred geometry, unplug the pa and turn everything up?

Any other suggestions, just for you know, shits and giggles?

goroth wrote:So, so far the go is sacred geometry, unplug the pa and turn everything up?

Any other suggestions, just for you know, shits and giggles?

I always try to set up rehearsal space to as close to a live configuration as possible, unless you are writing material.
Even then we pretty much stayed in live configuration.
Was always lucky enough to have big spaces, old barns and an old church
I think the PA is important, if you don't write and rehears with some vocals your instruments won't serve the good of the songs

regarding the pa, i would suggest using close monitors for the singer(s). that should provide a good measure of feedback control and flexibility in how you configure your setup. we set up with the drums in the middle of the long wall of the rectangular room, with amps fanned out in a v configuration on each side of the drums. the pa speakers are placed sideways close to a recording mic in the middle of the opposite long wall. then we use vocal monitors near each singer. we point the vocal mics sideways towards the short walls and stand a bit off to the side. we get good recording results and can hear ourselves quite well. here's a rough view:

i thought i remembered seeing this:

viewtopic.php?f=149&t=16889

The live setup is a solid idea regardless of whether you 'need' it to play well live. It gives everyone perspective on what you'll be hearing live based on where you stand. You may think you'll never need this until you play somewhere where all you can hear is the snare and hi hat where you're standing and then you're fucked if you're used to relying on the bass or other guitar. You can also then stand back and face the drummer during writing and everyone can hear everyone else.

Other than that I suggest drums in a corner and everyone else in a semi-circle around that facing in with enough space to stand and move around. PA speakers in another corner to avoid feedback as needed.

+9000 on "practice like you play live" wherever possible, arrangements, spacing, etc.

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.

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.