How to get good rehersal sound?

[MrLee]

dont know if this is the right place to post this but..

Our problem is that our sound is ok, but kinda muddy when we practice. It is hard to hear everybody.

We practice in my drummers living room (nice big room), pretty dry sound. The drummer has a really nice and expencive drum kit, nicely tuned and great sound (dont remember the brand). Problem with his new dobble bassdrums is that they are a bit "boomy". the bassist have a sucky behringer 1x10 amp, but it sounds ok when added a second laney 1x10 cab. the other guitarist has a 5150 2 only + Jackson RR, his sound is REALLY hard to hear even at LOUD volums (REALLY muddy sound) I think it has something to do with sloppy playing and lack of a TS. I play a dual recto + ESP KH2 + TS 9 = ok sound, everybody hears me, could be more distinct though..
for vocals we use a pretty good mixer (dont remember brand, but it SLAYS the behringer eurodesk) and a big speaker (vocals sounds good).

vocal could have been louder, but at our extreme loud volum we fear feedback.

could somebody give us some help to get a bit clearer sound on a lower volum?

 

[abyssofdreams]

more mids/treble and less bass on the guitars, a TS can help but it's not mandatory, be careful not to thin it out too much.
take out some mids on the bass.
boomy bassdrum = put in some pillows or something else that dampens the sound
is the snare loud enough? in most cases it's more important for everybody to hear the snare...
how "loud" are the settings on the amps?
how big is the room? where did you place the cabs? where does everybody stand in the room?
However, the biggest mud-factor is the playing... as you said yourself...
everything above may increase clarity but as long as you don't play together...

 

[abyssofdreams]

oh yeah and (good) new strings on muddy guitars can make such a big difference, I'm amazed each time I change them...
what are you tuned to? Lower tuning = harder to get a tight/clear sound
and the picks....pickups, how you play, where you hit the strings...
there's a heap shitload of things that come into play...

 

[greyskull]

i hate to use caps but.... OI!!! MATE!!! TURN DOWN!

seriously, the best way to clean up your practice sound, is to turn down,oh and arrange your setup so you practice like you're on stage

 

[smy1]

Greyskull nailed it here! The good thing about playing less loud in the practice room is that you don't have to play super loud on stage. So your sound will be better live!

Try to:

- reduce gain
- reduce volume A LOT
- make everyone wear these 20Euro filtered earplugs

This should get you a good sound.

Forget about the Tubescreamer. No one needs that stuff for live playing, especially not for rehearsals ...

 

[2012]

It's already been said. Just turn down the volume and tell the drummer to take it easy on the cymbals.

A set of custom molded earplugs is an INVESTMENT in your future as a musician.

 

[Jackal_Strain]

Yeah Sindre. Turn down. I finally managed to convince both guitar players and the bassist in my band to turn down. and guess what? Not only do we sound better. We play tighter as well. Now the drummer doesn't have to hit that hard to be heard and can concentrate on keeping time and play correctly.

 

[Flat Fifth Fury]

With my last two band projects we set up the room like we do live. Then we put a stereo mic pair on the drums and all the guitars had a direct box/cab sim. The amps were essentially as low as we could get them so as not to have mic bleed. We then put all the lines into a multichannel headphone mixer and then each player wore headphones during rehearsal. The end result was that everyone could hear themselves and it was easy to record our practices and analyze our performances. Not to mention to find out what sounds did and didn't work.

 

[MrLee]

shit! thanks for all the feedback!

The room is about 30m2, all the cabs are placed towards the drummer in a half circle kinda.. he does not complain about the sound
we did move around in the room to find the best spots, it help a bit, bass on guitars are almost 0.
using EMG 81 (me), crappy ducan design (other guitarist).
5150 is on like 12 o`clock (maybe more), dual rec the same (thats REALLY loud!)

You all have been a great help! will try all the things you said!

ps. before the drummer got his new kit, we practiced with amps, bass, vocal REALLY low to his Roland TD-12 kit! That was actually the best sound we ever had on rehersal!

 

[MrLee]

With my last two band projects we set up the room like we do live. Then we put a stereo mic pair on the drums and all the guitars had a direct box/cab sim. The amps were essentially as low as we could get them so as not to have mic bleed. We then put all the lines into a multichannel headphone mixer and then each player wore headphones during rehearsal. The end result was that everyone could hear themselves and it was easy to record our practices and analyze our performances. Not to mention to find out what sounds did and didn't work.

GREAT TIP! will try this also!