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Concrete rehearsal space is too LOUD! Suggestions?

Wil_Couch

Wil_Couch

Guest
Mar 12, 2013
162
4
www.reverbnation.com
#1
*I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post/ask this, but seems to be the closest option. Mods, feel free to move if need be.*

I'm pretty fortunate to have access to two different, free spaces that I/my bands can rehearse in. They are both nearly identical in dimensions and construction (actually connected to each other). Only real difference is that 1 is unheated, and has 2 garage doors. They other is heated, no garage doors. We'll call #1 the "Garage" and #2 the "Warehouse". Each are roughly 25'x50', with 20'+ metal ceilings, cement floors, cinder walls. In other words, an acoustic nightmare.

So, I've been playing in the Warehouse with my 3/4 piece acoustic americana/folk/country band for over a year with no real issues. The acoustic guitars actually get a bit lost in such a big space without any amplification. The banjo sounds like it running through a full stack cranked to 12, but, it's a banjo...

Last week my Indie/rock band rehearsed in the warehouse for the first time. We will likely move to the Garage once the weather is warmer, in the interest of space, as the Warehouse is actually used as, well... a Warehouse. As you can imagine, it was LOUD! Actually, even though most of the night the volume was a bit high for my liking, loud isn't the correct term. I'm more concerned with how bouncy the rooms are. I'm sure that, at the same volume, in a "good" room, there would have been no issues, but playing in a giant cement and metal box makes for a pretty bouncy/messy sound.

So, question is, is there anything we can do to the amps/pa to help settle/deaden the sound and reduce all the crazy noise refraction? Boxes? Baffles? Blankets? Speaker/amp/PA direction/location? Modifying the room itself is not really an option. We experimented with volume settings quite a bit, and, even at fairly low volume, the sound was still very bouncy.

We're all very experienced musicians, and no one plays the "turn it up so I can hear over the _____ player game." Line up goes something like this:

Joe: Lead singer, keys, occasional guitar. Roland 500w key amp, Tele through Marshall 212 combo. Volume set relatively low.

Chris: Lead guitar, occasional synth. LP copy (hot pups) through Fender 112 something combo.

Steve: Drums. Uses electronic kit for rehearsal, through PA

Wil: Bass, through BG250

PA: Old, ghetto Peavey speaker boxes powered by an old ghetto Crate PA. It works.

photo1_zpsd62e69a9.jpg


The Garage. Yes, it was a mess when I took the pic.
photo2_zps00471038.jpg
 
#2
it's as simple as acoustic foam on the walls.
two or three inch thick acoustic foam you can purchase on eBay at a very reasonable price would do the trick.
probably under a hundred bucks.
spread it out, don't place it all in one spot.
I think it's "foam by mail" is the guy on Ebay. don't buy it from one of the regular music stores online you'll get ripped off.
I've done about 10 rehearsal spaces and a half a dozen Studios with this foam, it works great.
 
#3
Rug remnants will work, too. Often free at retailers if you ask. Treat one surface fully before you start treating a second surface. The walls are high enough that you won't be able to cover them w/o serious work (and a bucket lift), so cover the floor completely except for the drain. It will make a big difference.
 
#4
it's good training to adjust your collective volumes to suit this room as it is.
a gig down the road may be in a place exactly like this space, and it'll be harsh going if you don't have a handle on how to approach it... this is a great opportunity to learn the art of Quiet intensity- play with both accuracy and abandon, but at a volume that works in this refractive concrete box. if you can make great music in there, you can likely master any environment.
 
#5
Here's an easy one for you.

You can make baffles/absorbers for not a lot of money.

Essentially this woud be a wooden, rectangular frame, with insulation in the middle and fabric wrapped around the whole thing to hold the insulation in the frame. Then if you put a couple of bars across the bottom you can attach casters to it. Make a few of these and you can roll them around and minimize unwanted reflections from bouncing off the walls. They could also be used as sort of a vocal booth if you wanted to. From the side the would look like an upside down "T" with the horizontal being where the casters are and the vertical being the panal (as seen from the narrow end)
 
#6
The drummer's already on an electronic kit. In this sort of space, I'd mic the guitar amps, DI the bass or mic the bass amp, and run drums and keys into the mixer.

Send the mixer auxes into a headphone amp, and voila!—custom headphone/IEM mixes for everyone. Adjust your own monitoring volume and mix to taste.
 
#11
forget carpet unless you mount it in a hills and valley pattern. You'll just kill everything above about 12k making it wound like poop in different way but the mids will still be bouncing around as happily as ever.

As far as eggcrate foam, think long and hard about "not getting ripped off" by buying furniture grade foam. One of the reasons acoustical foam costs more is the process of fire treating and certification. If it was in your house and you want to die from the toxins in the smoke, fair enough but this is your or someone else's commercial space. If you want a hint of what happens when non fire treated foam burns, google "Station nightclub fire".

Mugre
 

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