Location can be more important than what the rehearsal space has to offer. What should you consider when finding a music practice room?
Some rehearsal spaces are better equipped than others. Your practice room will have a significant effect on the quality of your rehearsals. Clearly, the best option would be a professional rehearsal space, but the nearest one might be a hundred miles away. So what do you do instead in finding a music practice room?
Firstly, consider the requirements for a rehearsal space. The primary requirement is that you need to be able to make as much noise as you like. However, it is possible to rehearse effectively and keep the decibels down. But for fine-tuning your performance, you need to be able to play at performance levels. So, if you're going to play loud, you'll need a soundproofed practice room, right? Wrong!
One alternative is to find a practice room remote from anyone who is likely to be bothered by noise — a farm outbuilding, for example, but any building that is well away from people is a likely option.
Another solution is to find a practice room that is noisy already, where the sound of your band won't make much of a difference. The classic case is that of the converted railway arch. If people don't mind the noise of the trains, then they probably won't mind the noise of your band.
The back rooms of pubs/bars, private homes and garages can also often be found doubling up as a music practice room. They remain unsuitable, poorly equipped and inaccessible, possibly with the added annoyance of any number of the following:
Bad parking
Poor acoustics
No refreshments
No storage facilities
Cold, draughty and damp
An atmosphere at odds with fostering talent
Dangerous electrics, poor lighting and bad fire precautions
Complaints from neighbours of noise pollution
Poor access to networking, training and progression routes to develop skills
Sense of isolation and limited opportunities for social and business exchange
Once your band has decided to move from using a private space to a professional music rehearsal space, it is a step in to taking your music seriously. Not least because it will cost money.
The major problem with rehearsals anywhere outside your home is moving your gear and setting up. Don't look at this as a problem. Look at this as another part of your rehearsal. Remember, when you get that first gig you are going to have to go through all this too. You might as well figure a way to do it quickly so you can get on to the sound check in good time for your performance.
What many musicians look for in a rehearsal space is first and foremost that it is easy to park. A rehearsal space without adequate parking space is a pain. Location is important too, near a main road, near the city centre and with ground floor load in. Parking is also an important factor to entice customers to use a particular space, as obviously there's a lot of kit to shift.
Colin Hartley at Lansdown Studios said: "We are right by the train station in Cheltenham so we have bands with members who travel from Birmingham and Bristol...as well as others who come by car from Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Cheltenham and even Rugby... we're very well located if not in the most salubrious of buildings..."
Band members may live far away from one another. Some members may not want to drive far to avoid traffic and congestion. So what is a fair distance to expect members to travel? By finding a rehearsal space that is equal drive time and central for everyone is fair. If you can’t find a rehearsal space with a location fair for every band member, then at least make it fair for the majority.
"The shortest and most usual is the local town," continued Colin, "the furthest has been about 2½ hours away... the most regular distanced user travels 1½ hours by car each way.... We have about 45 bands using the place regularly with four rooms available."
If band members live near one another, and the selection of rehearsal space is limited, simply jump in the same vehicle and commute to the best rehearsal space you can find. Ideally it should be near a major road. You don’t want to make your commute more difficult by having to zig zag down backroads to get to your practice room. Don’t be afraid to travel and to find somewhere better.
Using a music rehearsal space on a regular basis can help you to develop links to other areas of the music economy such as promoters, sound engineers and instrument repairers. However, it may not be possible to find or rent somewhere convenient in which case you will need to find a suitable alternative.
There is no need to go in to debt when using a practice room. The first place to look is your garage or basement space. Sometimes parents or grandparents won't have a problem with this as long as you don't play late and try your best to not annoy the neighbours.
If you have to rent, look for cheap. You don't necessarily need a professional practice room, you need a place to set up and spend time getting your sound right. Many musicians just want the basics and not bothered if the carpets are a bit threadbare. It's more rock & roll anyway. Mini-storage on the outskirts of town might be appropriate. How about your local pub or club too?
Friends who have property may have an old barn you could use. Maybe someone you know has an office or warehouse space not in use in the evenings or at weekends.
If you are going to school (especially college) or are part of a church you probably have access to a number of rooms. Anything is better than nothing, as long as you have lights and an electrical socket or two. You'll never know if you don't ask.
It pays to be on good terms with any local service operators that may have useful rooms - youth centres, schools, venues and such like, all of which tend to be used for only part of the day and so are potentially accessible at other times.
To find good quality players interested in similar music genres, it is likely they won’t be living next door or in the same town. After all, anyone working in the music industry will tell you much of their success is down to hard graft. And what drives all their hard work, is commitment.
First rehearsals
Let's suppose you have just formed a new band, taken on a new musician, or you have some new songs for the band to learn. You don't need to go to a 'proper' rehearsal studio at this stage — it's just travelling time and money wasted. You can do your first rehearsals just as effectively at home. Better, in fact.
One of the problems of rehearsing in a proper rehearsal studio is that the sound is just so damn loud. And in a small room, there's not a lot that can be done acoustically to remedy that. Trying to rehearse amidst loud and confused sound is difficult. It has to be done, though, because that's what your monitors are going to sound like on stage.
Equipment-wise, a small practice room needs a small vocal PA. A large professional practice room can have a full PA, but most rehearsals can work just fine on a small setup. There's one more feature that isn't at all common in music spaces — mirrors! How do you know that you look great to the audience if you don't know what you look like yourself? Mirrors may not be terribly good for acoustics, but the visual aspect of a performance is important.
But why does the sound have to be so loud in the rehearsal studio? Well, ask the question, 'Why does the singer need a PA?' Easy, to be heard against the guitars. 'Why do the guitarist and bassist need to turn their amps up so loud?' Easy, to be heard against the drummer. 'Why does the drummer have to be so loud?' Er...
What we can see from this is that if by some terrible chance the drummer went down with the mumps and couldn't attend rehearsals, the guitarist and bassist could bring some little practice amps, maybe with their favourite distortion/tube-sound pedals. The keyboard player can do likewise. And the singer doesn't need a microphone (acoustic guitars are good too).
This is the very best way to start rehearsals, either with new musicians or new songs. And when the drummer gets better, he or she can come along too and drum on a cushion. However you arrange it, rehearsing at acoustic levels is a fantastic way of working.
So there you are in the front room, relaxed amongst soft furnishings. You can speak in a normal tone of voice, rehearse your songs at pretty much the same level, and hear every detail of what you're doing. Working at acoustic levels is less tiring too. You can put all of your effort into the music, rather than bearing the brunt of a massive wall of sound.
The drummer is the foundation of the band. A band with a rubbish singer, a rubbish guitarist and bassist, a rubbish keyboard player, but a brilliant drummer, can sound fantastic. But no matter how brilliant the other musicians are, if the drummer isn't good, then the band will sound terrible.
Discipline
Rehearsing at acoustic levels early on can be more productive and less tiring, as you can hear detail more clearly and don't have to shout to be heard.
Rehearsals can be a great way of wasting a few hours and achieving little or nothing. There will have been moments of achievement: occasions when things came together suddenly and almost automatically. But what would it be like if the whole of your rehearsal time could be like that? Well, it can. All you need is a little bit of discipline.
Rehearse smartly
Turn up to your rehearsal knowing EXACTLY which songs you’ll be rehearsing. Know which version you’re covering (if we’re talking covers). Don’t deviate from the list and play the songs round and round until you are rehearsal ends. Yes, it may be tedious but the songs will only gel into a performance after you know them inside out, upside down, backwards, forwards and polarised.
Know your parts and your structure. Whether you’re playing rhythm, lead, drums or bass – practice your parts to the point that you can’t play them wrong. And again, don’t rely on cues. It all has to be thorough and automatic. Singers – it’s not a crime to use cheat sheets in a rehearsal so bring them with you!
Prepare your amp and effects settings, and tune your drums before arriving at the rehearsal studio. It’s fair to say you can adjust settings as you need to fit in with the band’s collective sound, but you need to have the basis of your tones set before you get to the studio.
Take snacks with you. Take water with you. If you can keep your breaks short, do so. Keep the personal chatter until the rehearsal’s over and you’re in the bar. Or meet up before the rehearsal starts.
Take any opportunities to video your rehearsals and listen back to critique yourself. Notice bits you’re not confident on or you’re not singing too well and spend your time focusing on the stuff you’re not so good at first. It’s easy to concentrate on the bit you play well – because you will naturally enjoy the ease of it – but it’s so much more important to work on the unconfident parts until they become confident parts.
If you think of your rehearsal time as just tightening up the sound of the band as a whole, you’ll get out gigging very quickly and if you’ve rehearsed properly and smartly – the band will quickly be successful.
References
Thanks to:
The Rehearsal Factory - Dylan Hennessey Music
Space Rehearsal & Recording
Lansdown Studios
The Ohm Rehearsal Space
Langlei Studios
Joanne Moldre
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