Where does your band practice?

[redbandit599]

Hi all

I've seen some people on here mention their 'practice space', which sounds very professional, but it got me thinking.

Where do you guys get together to practice, we have our own vocal PA so can sometimes get in a couple of local village halls (when the WI aren't using them etc.)

We sometimes use rehearsal studios in Colchester, which do the job and I'm very glad that they are there, but they aren't an entirely pleasant experience (I'm sure that there is a sweaty punk band that preceeds all of our sessions here...) and have quite small rooms.

So, do any of you have any alternative arrangements? Is there some mysterious other option that I've never encountered? Is the mysterious 'practice space' just a bit of luck that one of the band has garage going spare or something?

Cheers!

Jason

[SpaceChick]

My band rehearsal areas have been a back of a shop, a church hall, a rugby club and a practice studio.

[Maude]

We rent the basement in an old office building in a nearby town, it costs £80 a month but the two bands I'm in and the drummers other band all share it so that's split three ways.
It's great because we can leave all the amps, PA, drums etc set up, just bring your instrument and plug in, and obviously we can rehearse as often as we like.

[bjelkeman]

Dedicated rehearsal space. One non-profit organisation that we all participate in rents the space from the council. Five rooms, about 25-30 sqm. (300 square foot) for three bands (two sets of drums), or slightly smaller for two bands. And a kitchen. Vocal PA installed and owned by the org. Five such rehearsal rooms, 12 bands. Alarmed and key access to all band members. Cheap, £40/band member /month. It's great.

Edited September 7, 2013 by bjelkeman

[discreet]

Using commercial rehearsal rooms at the moment, but I have a detached double garage full of junk that really needs to be cleared out and turned into a rehearsal space. I think Happy Jack did something similar, I must ask him how he did it and how much it cost.

It would certainly cut down on travelling time.

Edited September 7, 2013 by discreet

[redbandit599]

Wow, Stockholm sounds like the place to be! Bit of a trek from Essex though...

Maude, that basement sounds cool (and a bit like Fight Club...) how did you find it?

[xgsjx]

We have a regular weekly evening slot in one of the rooms in the local studio. It's a decent size with a decent PA. drummer brings his breakables & uses the kick & toms.
Guitarist use the supplied 1/2 stacks (which kinda irritates me as I think they should use the gear that they're gonna gig with) & there's a SWR 4x10 cab with a Peavey TNT sitting on top of it (I take my Markbass).
£22 split between 5 for 2 hours isn't bad.

[leschirons]

Fortunate enough to have permanently set-up rehearsal studio on the property so turn up, turn on, start playing.

[redbandit599]

Hi xgsjx (Nigel, I think isn't it?) Yep, that's pretty much what we can do, except weird shifts means that we can't have a regular practice night. Also the studios near us (although I'm very grateful they exist) have quite pokey rooms really. I agree, best and pereferable to practice with your own kit and actually this would make more space in these rooms. One of them has an 810 in it for Pete's sake!

Leschirons, that sounds ideal, even if I got the logs out of my shed I don't think we'd all squeeze in though .

Space chick, just clocked your rugby club venue, haven' tapped up sports clubs so that may be worth a try, cheers!

[Cat Burrito]

The drummer's place of work has a place called "the shed" and we can practice there. My other band spends a fortune in rehearsal studios but thankfully we don't rehearse that often

[the boy]

In my head........ There's only me left.

[Happy Jack]

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/149816-creating-my-own-rehearsal-space/page__hl__rehearsal%20space

[JapanAxe]

My bass player (yes I meant to say that!) has a large back room with a drum kit (with practice pads/dampers), about 5 amplifiers (including a lovely Torres), and studio monitors that we can sing through, so the 3 of us can just about get in there to rehearse. Setup time for drummer and me = 2 minutes, during which time the bass player makes us a brew. Oh and his neighbours through the party wall are old an deaf.

[Junkyard Rocket]

I practice at home, but the band gets together to rehearse once a week in a little studio in Croydon. Anyone using rehearsal time to practice gets a Paddington Bear hard stare from one or more of the other band members.

[4 Strings]

In a tiny Baptist church, our 'rent' is to perform for them twice a year.

[4 Strings]

[quote name='Junkyard Rocket' timestamp='1378596432' post='2202348']
I practice at home, but the band gets together to rehearse once a week in a little studio in Croydon. Anyone using rehearsal time to practice gets a Paddington Bear hard stare from one or more of the other band members.
[/quote]

Yes, amen to that! Learn the stuff as homework, rehearsal being to rehearse what you've learnt as a band.

[toneknob]

We mostly rehearse in the music room of a nearby girls school where one of the guys is a music tech, another has his kids there.

Which is great as it's free, has PA, drum kit and backline permanently set up, but we don't get much time each week so momentum is hard to build. We head to a local studio approx once a month to get a bit more done.

[merlin]

In the van! most arrangments are done this way,any changes to the songs done at the bar,hehe ,but once in a blue moon the local studios,todate one rehearsal in six months,but thats just us..

[lurksalot]

We use a community centre, £10 for the evening, bargain , and we only pay when we use it , but sundays are ours every time we want it .

[bobpalt]

Our drummer, bless him has converted one half of his double garage to use as a practice room. He has built a wall, put soundproofing in, and bought an electronic drum kit so we now all di into an old Yamaha digital mixer and out into individual headphone amps.Brilliant! No noise for the neighbours, no big amps cluttering up the space, with the added (and unexpected) bonus that being in what at first seems a tiny space means we can all interact with one another, pass drinks around and generally have a fun time when we practice. To be honest, I dont know why more bands dont use the headphone system. Its cheap, works really well and means you can fit into a really small space, as well as keeping the neighbours happy.

[Marvin]

My band practices in an small outbuilding at our drummer's Aunt's place. It's single skin brick and is bloody freezing in winter

The other band, the singer has quite a large house, so we practice in one of the small ground floor rooms that struggles to find a purpose...benefit is is that the drummer has an electric kit and there are no neighbours on that side of the house.

[Dad3353]

Our [s]chateau[/s] ruined cottage we call home has 4 parts; the 4th has been kitted out as our music room, for practising, rehearsals or recording. Modest, with sparse heating in winter, but, as drummer, heating is not required after a few minutes. Cost..? I don't understand. What cost..?

[mep]

Our singer's front room. We plug Into the desk and run it through the powered monitor. Drummer has an electronic kit so volume is controlled.

[redbandit599]

Electronic kits seem to be a good call.

I'm intrigued by this headphone/monitor approach though, does it just mean di ing guitars etc into a mixer and then splitting off headphones somehow?

If we could make that work somehow then I've potentially got a room or garage we could use (but not leave set up.) Assuming the drummer splashes on a electronic kit too!

Edited September 8, 2013 by redbandit599

[paulconnolly]

Originals band rehearse in the keyboard player's conservatory; covers band rehearses in a dedicated rehearsal space (Vulcan St.)