New rehearsal space needs equipment, advice v welcome

[aclarky]

Hi SOS,
new on here but a bit of advice would be appreciated if any thoughts come to mind..

I am a drummer, like to play a bit of guitar and keys and play in a 3 piece band folk / blues / rock stuff and mess around with ableton.

We live in Glasgow and in our house I have just (painstakingly) built a room inside a room with pretty standard sound proofing materials I think. Dealing with the old stone/brick walls/blocking the fireplace etc. Installing vent ducts to/from the MHRV, then built a room in a room with stud / redact clips and channel / 15mm sound block / tecsound SY100 / 15mm sound block and double fd60 door and laminated window / baffle boxes NOW plastered! Finally. Ever the optimist I though I would be able to do it in 1/2 the time. Anyway.

Very curious if it will work, I may not be able to play very late but I hope it attenuates to a decent extent..

The dimensions are 4mx4mx2.4mh. And the floor is polished concrete so pretty reflective acoustically.

Room treatment - it will have some bookshelves full of books on one side and some emergency medical kit which are basically big bags full of airways / lines / saline / dressings etc. I was just going to see what it was like but maybe you would advise treatment is always vital and so worth doing from the start? Some rooms I have seen have loads! Is there a rule of thumb? And Can I use batts of acoustic mineral wool wrapped in fabric. Clearly there isn't all that much room to play with..

The main reason I came on here was to ask about electronics however. Other than rented rehearsal rooms I have v little clue on the equipment side of things.

We will need a PA for the singer and ? DI keys; guitar and bass would have their own amps. I have a pair of Rocket KRK 6 but suspect this wouldn't cut the mustard and would just ruin them.

From a little looking about I thought I may need something like
12 channel analogue mixer - are cheap ones good enough for a practice room?
Power amp
12" PA speakers.

Recording isn't a big part of the equation BUT I was just given some nice SE drum mics and to be able to record really nice drums / percussion would be amazing - so this may affect the mixer choice?? But I also have a 8 channel USB interface so maybe I'd just put this straight into a mac.

I really hate bad sound quality and this is where I am getting a bit stuck with the PA. Can anyone recommend some models of speakers / amps I should look for 2nd hand. Yamaha / EV / Martin audio? Price - as always may be the killer, but I'd def prefer to buy slower but be happy with the result..

I read a good thread about the behringer headphone splitter so I may get one of those..

I feel like you may be able to save a few wrong turns so any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks SOS

[James Perrett]

I'd probably suggest looking at active PA speakers rather than passive speakers and amps. The Yamaha DXR range is often recommended and the ones that I've heard have been good. It is also worth looking at RCF and some of the other Italian brands.

[ef37a]

I suggest you spend a couple of nights trawling through the SoS reviews of active PA speakers.
From memory the 'line source' designs tend to deliver clearer vocal quality than the 12 or 15 inch 'bins'. As you read you will find comments such as "not quite studio monitor quality but not far off" for several products. Some of them the price of a very decent S/H Beamer but there are, iirc a few cheaper gems?

For guitar amps there is a guy called ICBM in Scotland on thefretboard forum who services the amps in a rehearsal room. He really knows his stuff.

Dave.

[Drew Stephenson]

A second 12-20 channel mixer should be affordable but I'd definitely back the suggestion for powered pa speakers. If you're not planning to put the bass through them then 10" or 12" are worth looking at.
I would definitely suggest getting some acoustic treatment sorted though. Simple rockwool panels wrapped in dustsheets with a basic wooden frame can be made cheaply and easily and will make it a much more pleasant room to play in.

[Sam Spoons]

A couple of Yamaha DXR10's is the most you'll need for keys and vocals and you should be able to pick them up for £400 each max (I've seen them as cheap as £250 for a single one) A Behringer Flow 8 will give you inputs for a couple of stereo keys and 4 mics if that's enough with decent (I believe) fx/reverbs.

Definitely go for Rockwool batts(RW3 is probably the best for this job) in a simple frame and cover with fabric, lots of DIY guide on the forums*. In my 4 x 4m room I have about 10 1200 x 600mm panels and will add a few more soon, they make a huge difference to the sound. I use the room for rehearsing and a bit of recording.

* https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... ara+fabric

[aclarky]

cool, active speakers it is, I'll have a look at the brands you've kindly suggested and see what comes up 2nd hand. Will get on the sound treatment. Thanks

[Sam Spoons]

Prior experience tells my that going cheap WRT active speakers is false economy so I'd suggest sticking with reputable brands. Yamaha have a 7 year warrantee on their mid range kit like the DXRs which gives a little extra confidence even when buying used.

[Dave Rowles]

I've been very happy with my Alto speakers. They are pretty good sounding for the money, though the Yamahas are better

Just thought I'd offer it up as a cheaper alternative.

Jealous of the sE drum mics. Really want a set!

If you're thinking of doing recording, then consider getting a mixer with direct outs and running those into the interface. Then you can use the mixer as a control system/monitor mixer making it easier to re-plug as needed.

[S2]

I'd probably suggest looking at active PA speakers rather than passive speakers and amps. The Yamaha DXR range is often recommended and the ones that I've heard have been good. It is also worth looking at RCF and some of the other Italian brands.

Without trying to hijack the thread, would you include DB Technology in that? I'm looking for one sub to supplement my PA (two RCF312A's) and the matching RCF sub - 705AS is around £850 or so and not much around s/h and I can't really justify that cost when we only use it around half the time. So I was looking at a 15 inch sub from DB which is cheaper (£450 or so) and was wondering if it was any good? I had it in my mind that DB did have some connection to RCF though I may have been mistaken.

[James Perrett]

I think RCF own dB Technology. I have a few dB Technology active speakers here and they've been mostly fine although the oldest pair have a few issues now (but they're probably at least 20 years old). However, I would say that their power output specs are somewhat optimistic when you actually look at the electronics.

[S2]

I think RCF own dB Technology. I have a few dB Technology active speakers here and they've been mostly fine although the oldest pair have a few issues now (but they're probably at least 20 years old). However, I would say that their power output specs are somewhat optimistic when you actually look at the electronics.

That's good information thank you.