When you're starting out and playing by yourself, it's no big deal. But when you get a band together and you're actually trying to learn songs it gets a little tougher.
Sometimes, the biggest challenge for rehearsing a band isn't getting the group together...it's having a place to do it.
Park It
Countless bands and musicians have launched (and ended) their careers in the garage. In fact, playing in a garage is almost a requirement before you can really call yourself a musician.
The upside is you've got some room and it's usually free. The downside is that garages are anything but sound proof. And forget about putting styrofoam, fiberglass, egg cartons or anything else silly on the garage door to "sound proof" it....it doesn't work. Why? Garage doors are meant to move, and when things move, they retransmit sound. If you're trying to control the sound getting out, your only real choice is to built a wall inside the garage door. Unfortunately, that then precludes parking a car in there.
And we won't talk about the climate considerations if you're a Texas band trying to do this during the months of June through September.
Rent It
More and more pay-by-the-hour rehearsal places are popping up, at least here in the Austin area. Some Guitar Centers are starting to have rehearsal space attached to them (we got the first in the state in Round Rock). The GC rooms are really nice....complete drums and amp back line, and PA. Just bring your instruments and plug in. It's also air conditioned / heated as well (which is something your garage is likely lacking). But, that comes at a price...$18 an hour around here. If you're going to go this route, you need to have your rehearsal planned out (unless you're just going to jam for song ideas).
Other places are not quite as fancy, but aren't as expensive. There's another studio in Round Rock owned by a good friend of mine (Austin To Boston) that has several rehearsal rooms attached to it (and you can rent the big studio to rehearse in if he's not recording). Something like that goes for around $30 for 3 hours. However, you'll need to bring your amps and drums. Rooms like this come with a small PA.
You Got Me Locked Out
Along the lines of renting a room by the hour is the "lock-out". This is basically a monthly rental of a rehearsal space. You can leave your stuff set-up and jam whenever you want. But, you're typically looking at $400 a month minimum. A lot of bands in the area will split a lock-out with another band or two. That works as long as there's someone from each band in charge of coordinating with the others on when everyone is going to use the room.
Look At All This Storage...
Yep...sometimes you can actually rent a storage unit and rehearse in it. Obviously, there needs to be some electricity, and you need to talk to the owner and let 'em know what you're planning on doing. Some places are cool with it...others not so much.
I went this route for a few years with a band back in the 80's. Yeah, it's was kind of like the garage (no heat / AC), but it worked well. There was an outlet right outside our unit. We hung a couple of florescent lights in there and we were good to go. I believe we had a 10x20 (and were about to expand to a 20 x 20 when things ground to halt). It served the purpose...we learned a lot of songs in the "Metal Shop" as we called it.
High Tech Approach
In-ear and headphone monitor systems have come a long way in the last 10 years...to the point that you can rehearse with next to no volume if you want to. With the advent of guitar amp modelers (like the Line 6 POD) and mixers with fairly extensive monitor mix options, it's practical to get your rehearsal in under headphones. If your drummer has an electronic set, you won't make any noise except for vocals. (Caution: I know a screamo band in Austin that rehearsed like this but still had the cops show up at their house. Turns out that a neighbor called...but not because of the noise. She thought someone was getting beat up!).
OK...you knew we had to get a little technical, so here goes. The AUX outputs on most mixers will drive a set of headphones to a moderate volume. You'll just need a mono to stereo adapter so that the sound comes out of both earphones.
Where Does This Wire Go?
One of the disadvantages of using a mixer for headphone practice is that it's not always really straight forward on how to hook up. You need to have a thorough understanding of the signal flow through the mixer to make that work correctly.
The slickest piece of rehearsal gear I've seen in a long time is a device called a Jam Hub.
They've taken most of the complexity out of the wiring and signal routing and given everyone in the band the ability to create their own mix. One of their models even has on-board recording for capturing and critiquing your rehearsals. You can get into a system like this starting at about $300. If you rehearse regularly and pay by the hour, you'll recoup that money pretty quick.
Of Course, There's Always....
Yeah, this isn't very "rock-n-roll" of me to say, but nonetheless practicing quietly is an option and will give you a very different prospective of what's going on.
Lately, The Rhythm Dawgs have been rehearsing in my home studio. I've got 2 combo guitar amps and a small bass amp that we plug into. The drummer brings his kick, snare, and high hat. We stuff a towel in the front port on his kick and lay another one over his snare. He plays with power rods, and we're able to sing without a PA or monitors of any kind.
Doing that, there is no hiding anything. We've worked kinks out of songs that we've been playing "wrong" for years doing this.
Now, does that mean we're done with full-on electric rehearsals? Nope. We find that the low level rehearsals are great for brushing up on stuff that we haven't played in a while , but for learning new material having a full-on electric rehearsal still seems to be the way to go.
Really? You Need That?
It has always been an endless source of amusement for me to see bands squeeze 2 Marshall full stacks, an Ampeg SVT, and 10 piece drum kit into a 10' x 10' room and expect to get anything done. Yeah, I went through the volume thing (and I'm paying for it now), and maybe that's another "right of passage". Perhaps it's just the geezer in me coming out, but unless you're renting an aircraft carrier for a full technical rehearsal anyone who shows up for rehearsal with a full concert system needs a swift kick to the jewels and sent home to think about their poor decisions. Seriously...if all your band has going for it is volume than just skip rehearsal and get your gig at Headhunter's in Austin (recently named "Worst Club in the US" by Bar Rescue)...you'll fit right in.
Now that we've talked about the "where", next week let's talk about the "how". I've been in bands where we can rehearse for 3 hours and come out with 5 new songs. I've been in others whether the only thing we could show for an afternoon's work was 12 empty beer cans (not that that's always a bad thing). We'll talk about optimizing your rehearsal time next week.
Until then, keep the meters out of the red!
Ken
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