Plz help with my rehearsal room setup

[Bullitt5135]

I've been working on getting my basement set up as a rehearsal space, and we finally had our first jam yesterday. We should have spent more time setting things up, but instead we just sort of got things powered up and started playing. Not surprisingly, we had the common issue of feedback and vocals not being loud enough.

I'd love to hear some suggestions on how to improve the set-up. I've attached a schematic:
(A) is how we had it set up
(B) is maybe how I'd do it different next time

The room is carpeted, and I've hung two heavy moving blankets on the 24' wall as well as around the drum kit. Volume was comfortable, but the mix needs help. The mixer & wedges are only being used for the three vocal mics. Guitar/bass cabs are not mic'd into the mixer, and I doubt they will be anytime soon (budget constraints). I could probably afford a better EQ if absolutely necessary.


Gear:
500W 2x12 bass rig
2x10 Guitar Amp (not too powerful)
4x12 Guitar half-stack w/powerful tube amp
6 Channel Carvin mixer with 2x100W outputs & a built-in 9 band EQ
2 15" Kustom floor monitors (wedges)
2 Shure SM58 mics + 1 Sennheiser mic
Personnel: Rhythm Guitar/Main Vox; Lead Guitar/Back Vox; Bass, Drums, Backing Vox.

Another thought was to put my bass cab back next to the drum kit, next to the workshop door. I tried it before rehearsal, and the snare drum buzzed like crazy. Additionally, the drummer was having trouble hearing the guitar and vocals, so perhaps a powered monitor next to the kit is in order?

I should add that I am complete newb and have no experiece working the equipment. Fortunately, a couple of the other guys know their way around for the most part.

 

[testing1two]

In terms of feedback reduction, here are a few basic tips:

1. try to position your monitors directly behind the microphones since mics tend to reject sound from the rear.
2. A 31 band equalizer on the monitor mix will allow you to pull out specific frequencies that tend to feed back in your rehearsal space without making drastic changes to the sound like the built-in 9 band your mixer has. This will give you more headroom (i.e. more volume before feedback)
3. Correct gain structure is very important

A couple of other things to consider:

• In such a small space with live drums and instrumentation, you should all be very careful to protect your hearing. This means musicians ear plugs or in-ear monitoring.
• I believe in the old saying "you play like you practice" so I recommend setting up your rehearsal room to mimic how you would set up on a performance stage.

 

[littlepope]

One thing I noticed is where the bass player's speaker is located. In or near a corner. This tends to make the bass sound boomy at certain freqs. Every one of course has to be heard hopefully w/high-fidelity. You may be ok at lower sound levels with 12' speakers. I used to own a Kustom 250 (black tuck & roll) with a 215 cabinet. It was very boomy near corners. One action to help this out was to lay it down sideways.

So keep in mind:
1. Balance in sound, can everyone hear??
2. Legible sound integrity. Get a test tone cd, use it to tune your room with the 31 band eq mentioned.
3. Get familiar (if u are interested) in your feed freqs of that room and your band. Clubs, halls & outdoor concerts are different.
4. Have a nice day and pleasant night!!

 

[baba]

In terms of feedback reduction, here are a few basic tips:

1. try to position your monitors directly behind the microphones since mics tend to reject sound from the rear.

1. 
   
   
   Along similar lines, you can put the monitors almost side by side in the middle and point the left one up to 45 degrees left and the right up to 45 degrees right. Don't do the opposite if you cluster in the center like this.

 

[Never_grew_up]

Do the floor wedges have stand mounts in them? If so you might want to get them up off the floor and more at face/ear level. If you go with a setup like B but group the vocal mics a little close together and put the wedges (on stands) more at the top & bottom of the room you should be ok. Obviously all the amp levels should be as low as you can go while still cvering the drum kit.