What makes a good rehearsal studio?

[JTUK]

Free coffee and tea..with fresh milk. A clean and tidy kitchen and decent loos.

If it has all that, it is likely the guy will have a decent P.A , clad room with decent amps, and basic playback and recording facilities.
And room to park 5 or 6 cars.per room.

[Silvia Bluejay]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1347305393' post='1799167']
Naaaaah!

This is the best rehearsal room I've ever seen:


[/quote]

Two of those - er - ladies have very weird tits.

[paul_5]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1347307271' post='1799203']
Two of those - er - ladies have very weird tits.
[/quote]

Just 2? I'm no expert but they ain't pretty titties!

[paul_5]

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1347303859' post='1799139']
There is also some question over what gear is necessary : combos don't appear to be popular, but another post quite reasonably ponders the wisdom a 4 x 12 guitar rig in a small rehearsal space! Would an AC30/Fender twin type amp etc cut it perhaps?
[/quote]

AC30? still too much for a rehearsal room and expensive to maintain once the indie bands have abused it. Obviously you want to offer reasonable kit or bands won't come in though. Have you heard the Orange Tiny Terror through a 2x12"? brilliant. It'll keep up with most bands volume wise too.

[Silvia Bluejay]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1347307633' post='1799214']
Just 2? I'm no expert but they ain't pretty titties!
[/quote]

LOL we're going OT but yes, I agree, but I didn't want to appear too critical

[ahpook]

[Chris2112]

It seems a lot of rehearsal spaces are just tatty dumps with a few crap amps and a wrecked drum kit in them! And some people have the cheek to charge for them too...

[BILL POSTERS]

[size=5][sub]Parking and useable gear is a must, and reasonably clean and not smelly.[/sub][/size]

[size=5][sub]Theres one in Brum, wont mention the name, but parking can be a pain, the Bass gear was probably good once, but its old and knackered, and one particular room smelled like a sewer. I have heard the same tale about a Rat jumping out of the Bass Drum a few times from different people, I dont believe its quite that bad, but you get the point. Theres a few rooms though, so maybe the bands I was with just got the bad ones.[/sub][/size]

[size=5][sub]Also, heating and a fan, theyre usually in old buildings, so too hot in summer and bloody cold in winter. One place I been to wouldnt let us use the Calor heater for more than the first half hour - Calr Gas ? Never went back there. As for kids trashing the place/gear. CCTV and kkeping an eye on them should help.[/sub][/size]

[barkin]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1347307833' post='1799217']
AC30? still too much for a rehearsal room
[/quote]

+1

As somebody else said recently elsewhere on this forum, an AC30 can kill small animals at 50 paces ! You simply don't need that sort of volume in a rehearsal room...not to mention the initial outlay and ongoing costs, which would be better spent elsewhere...IMO.

I also like to see a couple of comfy chairs, and a small desk to sit at and write stuff down.

P'raps I'm just getting old...

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 16, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[51m0n]

One point that no one has raised yet, that totally change the way you can rehearse is the room acoustic.

If you want to be known as a truly great place to rehearse, rather than a room with a kit and a couple of amps (however nicely turned out) you can relatively easily score a huge win over all the other rehearsal studios by building your rehearsal spaces with the acoustic in mind, and the adding some suitable acoustic material (ie some DIY basstraps and absorbers/diffusers and a cloud) to make the room easier for the musicians to hear themselves in.

Remember the better the acoustic the quietter the bands will tend to rehearse since they wont start a war to be able to hear themselves, the volume arms race just wont be as much of an issue.

The smaller the room (and the lower the ceiling) the harder it is to get the acoustic to work well (especially the bass end). You dont need to go mental but non-parallel walls, decent bass traps a couple of broadband absorbers per wall and a couple of clouds off the ceiling will make a huge difference to the acoustic (honestly, completely immense difference), and also make your rehearsal space look like a full on studio ( = worth more in the eyes of the customer).

It will also mean that any two track recording taken in there will sound immensely better! (cheaper recording facilities required then)

Should have added that to the things I dont like about Monster, the rooms are a tad small and they arent acoustically sorted. Still the nicest place to rehearse in Brighton, but could be amazing with those changes IMO...

As for how to get the best sound insulation you can out of partition walls, the BBC have done the research for you:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1995_06.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1995_07.shtml

Not to be confused with sorting out the acoustic in the space, this is about seperation between rooms, and short of seperate concrete slabs (see Trevor's Circle Studios build topic) walls built like this, on simple floating floors (hint - tennis balls are great at seperation) with a high mass ceiling will give you the best possible seperation for your money. You need seperate rooms within rooms and high mass for acoustic seperation.

Edited September 11, 2012 by 51m0n

[bremen]

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1347303859' post='1799139']
Clearly, the smaller you go per room, the more rooms you can squeeze in, but what is the optimum for a 4 piece band for example : 5m x 5m? Larger?

[/quote]

A different shape. Square rooms are harder to make sound good (cubes are even worse).

Also: what 5imon just said. A lot of people 'treat' rooms by damping all the highs and ignoring the low frequencies. This makes them sound worse than as if nothing's been done. Bass traps make a huge, complete, immense, enormous, wonderful difference.

Edited September 11, 2012 by bremen

[51m0n]

Do not have all the dimensions of the room equal!

That way a truly awful acoustic lies with terribly strong peaks and nulls in standing waves at various frequencies (dependant on the actual dimensions)...

This getting a decent sounding room is a tad tricky, but not by any means impossible.

Aim for something vaguely like this:-

Edited September 11, 2012 by 51m0n

[Cat Burrito]

For me soundproofing is a huge factor. We've had all acoustic rehearsals and it's a non starter if you have a really loud rock band playing nearby if it isn't properly soundproofed. Parking is good. A water cooler is good. Free tea and coffee is a nice touch and a good backline is great. Even after 25yrs of playing it still amazes me how disrespectful other players can be of kit that they are borrowing.

I'd add it's also nice if when booking they ask what you want and it's in the room. The number of times we're running around on our time trying to find a 3rd mic is not cool

[Conan]

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1347308664' post='1799235']

[/quote]

Aaaaw! My first ever bass amp! I used to love that old thing...

Edited September 11, 2012 by Conan

[rOB]

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1347361634' post='1799727']
I'd add it's also nice if when booking they ask what you want and it's in the room. The number of times we're running around on our time trying to find a 3rd mic is not cool [/quote]

Ooo yeah that'd be a really nice touch.

[RockfordStone]

for me it mostly comes down to price, and what you get for your money

ive been at studios which has sh*t gear, but then charges low prices, ive also seen places that have sh*t gear but charge stupid prices.

deals for block or regular bookings are always handy

[Huge Hands]

Two main things for me:

A decent tuck shop (often miss dinner to get there so Tunnock's World War II confectionery is a must)

Plenty of (unused) toilet paper in the bog. I mean paper for using, not loads that has been stuffed in there.

The rest I can usually deal with - even distorted poorly amps..

[gafbass02]

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1347308664' post='1799235']

[/quote]
Hahahahah instant flashback to grotty old rehearsal rooms, more so the black and silver predecessor to that hi tech later model!
They always had the knackered old folded cabs too!

Edited September 17, 2012 by gafbass02

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='gafbass02' timestamp='1347886952' post='1806119']
Hahahahah instant flashback to grotty old rehearsal rooms, more so the black and silver predecessor to that hi tech later model!
They always had the knackered old folded cabs too!
[/quote]

Used one of the older ones in a rehearsal rooms near Bilston only last year, I'd forgotten how bad they were.

[uke]

Berkeley in Glasgow, an 8x10 in "every" room and every band from your local pub rock outfit to Slash, Biffy Clyro, Beyonce, and every other major act passing through Glasgow for the last Twenty odd years! But also every amateur band in the room next door !
If you want to come up for a look, give me a shout!

[gapiro]

As mentioned above, a lot of important points have been covered.

One thing that Is crucial and that seems to be failing a few places around here is good quality earthing and wiring.
Failure to have a really good earthing (or seperate loops etc) means that you can get electrical noise through the wiring.... to the point where my bass amp has been playing guitar noises from the room next door.

I dont think getting "good gear" is a good idea. I'd suggest rugged gear. Like the Roland Cube Amps etc.

[TransistorBassMan]

This is my favourite studio [url="http://www.thejoint.org.uk/"]http://www.thejoint.org.uk/[/url]

And this the one I use most often [url="http://www.survivalstudios.co.uk/studios.php"]http://www.survivalstudios.co.uk/studios.php[/url]

Edited September 18, 2012 by TransistorBassMan

[CyberBass]

Few things to consider as an owner of. Music rehearsal and recording studio. No matter how good your clientele is, bands vary vastly and musical equipment likewise. I would suggest good lighting, good soundproofing, plenty of sockets. Good pa system, would recommend you stating pa as a vocal pa usage only, or you could get through tweeters and cones if bands overdrive the amps with synths and electronic drum kits etc.
Supply mid range backline. Equipment can get abused, no matter how reliable and honest your bands are, occassional hi jynx can and do happen. You will find out the bands that do the rounds of rehearsal studios, that other studios have barred, and dont be afraid to do this yourself!. Location, security and parking is important. Have a clearly stated cancellation policy in place. Studio bookings have seasonality trends, so allow for that in your budgeting. It's hard to make a living out of rehearsals alone, so would suggest that if you are looking at it as a career and or investment, you will more than likely have to think of bolt on's, such as rehearsal recordings or recording facility. Think out of the box to make it work, and network hard, word of mouth, reputation and get friendly with music instrument retailers, music venues etc.
Definately don't assume the business will come to you. I've been going 7 years and I've seen a few studios come and go in the time I've been going.
Good luck and enjoy, I haven't regretted going for it.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Fans.
All rehearsal rooms should have at least 2 fans.
And not the adoring groupie kind.
One for the drummer, and one for the rest of the band.
Just as good in the winter as in the summer.

Better parking, storage, access and security will encourage bands to bring their own gear, so you may not need to invest so heavily in amps for the rooms.
Naturally, you'll still need a drum kit and PA for each, though..