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RE: Practice

Amrawco — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:34:59 GMT

We share a rehearsal space with another band in an old meat packing plant turned into office space. There are 4 other local bands in the building at any given time. Its pretty scarey at night when i go in there alone...i feel like Jason from friday the 13th is just around the corner befor i turn the lights on.

Is there anywhere in your area that can be rented?..perhaps with another band you know where you can all share the expense?. Im in an 8 piece horn band so between us and Ghostship our rent is cheap. Are there any larger storage spaces in your vacinity that you can use for rehearsal?. Surely there must be somewhere you can let it rip.

RE: Practice

Krispy Kirk — Mon, 25 May 2009 08:09:42 GMT

You need to point out that there are three distinct "band environments". One is the studio where everything is perfection. This is NOT where you go to work out songs, it is the final destination. Before you get there, you have to get a live sound in front of an audience. Again, don't go there until you have learned your material and have it down cold. The starting point is the practice room. This is where it all begins. You are at this stage. Sound quality doesn't matter here, neither does looks, or how you set your gear up. I say, make EVERYBODY plug in to a board and monitor a mix on headphones. Get a disinterested friend to twiddle the dials rather than a band member. Make the mix fair and balanced. And then [b]work on your material. [/b]

Nobody cares about the guitarist's new effects or his "tone" at band practice. Leave that stuff at home.

RE: Practice

Unrealityshow — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:47:35 GMT

So brought up the head phone deal, and the guys weren't into it, due to the fact that they're not at all into pluging direct in. Something about sacrificing their tone. Any way to get through to tone chasers?

RE: Practice

Unrealityshow — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:14:53 GMT

Thanks for the sugestions, honestly have tryed most of those, with no success. We've been doing the electronic thing, but without the head phones, so everything the bassist hears is rubber pad. I'll try out the head phone box, evedently wasn't thinking.

RE: Practice

Krispy Kirk — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:58:03 GMT

Full band practices are nearly impossible to pull off in your typical suburban bedroom community. Here are some alternatives:

Find somebody with a basement.
Rotate practice to different band member's houses to keep the cops guessing.
Ask a club owner if you can practice on stage during the day when the place is empty (I was once in a band that actually got away with this).
Rent a storage unit and turn it into a studio/rehearsal space.
Get an electronic kit. Patch everybody into a board. Feed the output to a headphone distribution box. Make everybody wear phones. It works.
Stop rehearsing. Wing it. Plenty of bands have made it up on the spot. If you have enough talent, maybe you can too.
Rehearse set lists at the gig site a few hours before the gig. If the material is simple, and everybody did their homework, this might be all you need.

Good luck!

RE: Practice

Olimpass — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:31:06 GMT

One place we practice is in a pole barn in the country which we can crank out anytime.

Another in a garage and also a basement.

The garage usually attracts five-o, depending on the neighbors and or your music.

RE: Practice

Unrealityshow — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:21:21 GMT

Unfortunatly, we don't play quiet. But we've never played past five p.m., or before noon.

RE: Practice

ET — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:03:35 GMT

Play quietly. It works for me.

If playing at low volume is impossible, then there's nothing you can do unless you have a sound proof room. In the neighborhoods I've lived in, if the neighbors hear the music, but it's in the "backround," so to speak, then they don't mind and they never have complained. But, if it is to the point that they hear the music blaring, then that is usually upsetting to them. Plus, I never play after 8:30 PM in case there are people who go to bed early.

Practice

Unrealityshow — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:02:36 GMT

So, I seem to live in a very conservitive comunity, because every time my band mates get together to practice, the five-0 seem to quickly show up. I'm just wondering how all y'all get to practice on a real drum set, with out pissing off neighbors.