[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Make everybody get thick wool coats, then hang them along the walls as sound absorption material. Boom, two birds.



In-ear monitors aren't an option?

Well, I'm not so secretly hoping we can get stuff loud enough without feedback. Next step would be to try an automated notch filter dealie. Then we look at in-ear, or just rent an hourly place once a week.

Apart from the added complexity and cost, with in-ear there's the worry we're getting too far away from what's actually heard at a show. Even the notch filter is giving the band leader the heebies.


The coat idea isn't too shabby.

[Spheric Harlot]

With a set-up like yours, I'm not sure I'd want to perform without a dedicated in-ear setup anyway.

[subego]

For live shows, if we're running our own sound, we don't have any monitors.

The band consistently complains about this yet somehow manages every time.

[subego]

Rehearsals have begun!

No drums yet, so smooth sailing so far.

We've dubbed the place "the coach".

[subego]

We're considering the all important decision of what beer to stock in the fridge.

The two beers I'll go out of my way to drink are Three Floyds Zombie Dust and Nitro Milk Stout. The NMS isn't for everyone, so my selection is going to be the Zombie Dust (assuming I can get it), which isn't for everyone either, but I don't give AF. I need nominees for the second beer we'll stock. Something which will appeal to as many palates as possible.

The nominees will no doubt need to undergo an extensive testing process.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Newcastle Brown? Whale's Tail Pale Ale? Sam Adams Boston Lager? Killian's Red? Negra Modelo? Harp? Bud?

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is our Summer garage beer, it's great for sipping and talking.

[subego]

My last Bud story befits the thread.

Took a bunch of really good shrooms, but had shit weed to settle the stomach, and was with someone who thought "this needs Peruvian, and a trip to a punker bar!"

I'm smart enough not to do the blow, but end up at the punker bar, all I can get is a Bud.

15 minutes later I go outside, find a corner, and hurl my shrooms out.

I'm never touching one again on principle.

[subego]

As for the others...

I love Newcastle, and like SNPA a lot, but figure I should go non-ale because of the Zombie Dust.

Sam Adams is always a good call, but I'm thinking we want something a touch less heavy.

That leaves us Killian's, Harp, and the Modelo. Time for a trip.

[subego]

I feel the Modelo is closest to what I'm looking for.

Relatively watery but not sucktastic. Dos Equis... Rolling Rock...

Really, I'm just looking for an excuse to drink beer.

[subego]

I'm liking the Harp!

I've decided to not go six-packs, and just have a few of each selection which makes the cut.

My man hooked me up with Zombie Dust (it's hidden in back, you have to ask). With this new, and quite brilliant, plan I get to put in some Milk Nitro. Some Harp...

I'll have to mull what to try next. Still looking to fill out the lighter end of things.

[reader50]

You've got that dank, cold basement. Plenty of room for beer stock, to keep the fridge full.

[subego]

I'd need to design a cage, or that's asking too much restraint of the college students in the main building.

[subego]

First day with drums... seems okay on the outside. It's actually the inside which is more of a problem, where it sounds like it's a tin can.

I keep on forgetting to snap pics.

[subego]

Here's the outside...



You can see how low it is compared to a "regular" coach house with space for coaches.

The ceiling on the ground floor is higher than this picture indicates (it's sunk below the curb), but it's less than 6' high.

[subego]

It's beginning to look like an actual rehearsal space.

[subego]

So far...

Zombie Dust - 2
Harp - 0

[Cap'n Tightpants]

With a name like Zombie Dust, who wouldn't prefer that?

[subego]

They do seem to understand marketing.

[subego]

Zombie Dust - 4
Milk Stout - 2
Harp - 0

Harp is on the ropes.

[subego]

Refrigerator status is green.

[andi*pandi]

more tea and red bull than beer, I see.

how goes recording?

[subego]

The dark mass on the bottom right is our beer stock of 9 bottles. It's pretty much cleaned out after every rehearsal at this point. They're even drinking the Harp.


Recording has been shoved to a very distant back burner.

Priority one has been to rebuild the band. An album's no good without a band to promote it, and we had signed up for a big deal gig about a year ago. We absolutely, positively refuse to be the band who has a rep for cancelling gigs, so that was another factor compelling us to rebuild.

As of a few days ago, we seem to have signed on the last two vital players, so we're onto the phase of molding that into usable product.

As obnoxious as it sounds, once this is done we're still probably going to keep the mixing on the back burner.

Problem one is the space is too small to be both a mixing studio and a big band rehearsal space at the same time.

More importantly however, is how the album fits into our overall strategy. Our "ace in the hole" is we can make good video product. Recorded music for us is an excuse to make music videos.

The band leader has a couple demo albums already in the can. It makes a lot more sense to pick the best tracks from those and move into the video realm rather than spend months and months finishing it just to get to the a point where we can spend months and months producing videos.

[subego]

Two drink related notes.

Up top is a bottle of Raspberry lambic, which is good, and two bottles of moscato, which is disgusting.

In a similar vein, am I the only one who thinks Red Bull tastes like battery acid?

[subego]

I'm in a lull as things wind back up to speed, and the space still pretty much looks like a random collection of chairs and music stands, but this part is mildly interesting.



The ultra-compact, beating heart of the studio.

Mixer, mic "closet", cable modem, Time Capsule, Hue bridge, "expendables", and one shelf left over for future expansion.

I set up one of the channels on the mixer with a Bluetooth input, so I can listen to Pandora while I'm working, or the band leader can play whatever during rehearsals.

Amazed the mixer packs 16 channels in such a small space. Our 16 channel analog board is a beast. I'm still a little worried about the comparative reliability. Nothing bad has happened yet, but nervous it will flame-out during a live show.

[reader50]

It's good you put serial numbers on the shelves. If anyone steals them, they'll have trouble fencing 'em.

The fridge seems understocked for musicians. Not enough alcohol, no condoms, nothing illegal. Stock some firecrackers at least, for those slow rehearsals.

[subego]

With the condoms, you're asked to improvise, like you will have to with the bed.

The low beer count is mainly due to there only being three people there at a time, maximum. In a month or so that beer will at least double, like I've had to double the wine.

Sadly, we do not have a marching dust line item in the budget.

Firecrackers aren't a bad idea. Or at least those little paper snaps you used to throw at people even though you weren't supposed to. "Dance mother****er... dance!"

[iMOTOR]

Obviously, the best place to store the condoms is the "Meat Keeper" tray.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Still looking for ear plugs? These are really great. I've used them every day for the last few weeks and can enthusiastically recommend them. Outside of custom-molded plugs, they're the best I've tried.

[subego]

Our violinist has a pair, and I picked some up on her recommendation.

For whatever reason, I like the Hearos better. I'd have to try them again to remember why.

[subego]

With less than a week before our first show with the new lineup, it now looks like an actual rehearsal space.

[ghporter]

It looks great. Comfortable and usable without being too big or too austere.

With tile and wooden flooring, I'd expect a lot of harsh echo. Do the (very nice!) rugs knock down the echo in the room?

[subego]

Thank you!

The rugs help a touch, but I'd say bodies help more. When there's 8 people in there it's not particularly harsh. Feedback is a major bitch, though, and even if it's tamed, there are so many mics you can't escape some ringing.

We're considering a feedback reducer, but would prefer not to be sticking more equipment in the chain if at all possible.

[ghporter]

Consider some DIY mic shields. Some people call them "mic gobos", because they resemble light gobo devices.

Use open-cell foam and make a cone or V to go around the head of the mic. The open side lets the musician/singer get sound in, but the foam blocks (some of) the sound from other directions.

The approach is cheap, and it uses material similar to DIY wind covers. It can't hurt...

[subego]

Hadn't thought of it! Excellent idea!

[reader50]

The room is too small, unless you can get permission to knock out the wall with the bedroom. Are wall hangings (or wall foam) an option?

With the echos all around you, I doubt mic shields would do much. Perhaps you could sell it to the owner that you're hanging Thanksgiving and/or Halloween trimmings. Then just forget to take them down.

[subego]

It's only sort of an echo problem.

When it's full of the ol' meatbags, the room itself sounds fine. The problem is the more mics we have open, the more sensitive the whole thing becomes to feedback.

There's this annoying middle ground where everything is turned down low enough there's no runaway feedback, but the mics start to "ring". It's the sound of them almost feeding back.

It's one of those things which likes not being there when we sound check, but then mysteriously appears when there's no time to fix it.

[subego]

We're recycling the fake newspaper gag. The band leader will be "reading" the paper, and have this facing out to the audience. I'm only sorta happy with it. The headline is too clean looking.

I may have posted it last time, but here's the same thing over again.



Right now, the insides are modern, and thus has color on every page. Hopefully I can find something black and white only, and in the right size, by Saturday.

[Laminar]

3024x4032?

[subego]

iPhone 7, yo.

[andi*pandi]

The kerning is off. If you are going for newsprint style, force justify and reduce leading. Pick a margin/grid and stick to it. Make picture full width of grid.

Also, MUSICIANS KILLED IN POLICE SHOOTOUT is better.

/journalism
/design

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

iPhone 7, yo.

RES has me spoiled for resizing the images to what's good for me. Here it's either too small because of the forum's static resizer, or waaaaay to freaking huge because it's the original resolution.

[subego]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

The kerning is off. If you are going for newsprint style, force justify and reduce leading. Pick a margin/grid and stick to it. Make picture full width of grid.

Also, MUSICIANS KILLED IN POLICE SHOOTOUT is better.

/journalism
/design

The "bad" kerning was intentional. Trying for an "old timey" feel.

I didn't write the headline. Different department.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

RES has me spoiled for resizing the images to what's good for me. Here it's either too small because of the forum's static resizer, or waaaaay to freaking huge because it's the original resolution.

I'm on a phone, so I can just zoom in on the resized image.

[andi*pandi]

old-timey is full justification, tight kerning, little white space, etc.

[subego]

Depends on which era.

Also, it's a tabloid.



Not to say it couldn't be improved on numerous fronts.

[subego]

Well, that show totally blew.

We were scheduled to go on after a more popular act, which was the worst idea ever. We complained about it months ago, but to no avail.

The (big) audience didn't exactly split after the main act, they got in an enormous line to get autographs and pictures. It heavily competed for focus.

They also ran late, and chewed 20 minutes of my setup time. We had to make the call to go as soon as possible or lose more audience, so the band didn't get lit. Just the singers.

The event planner, who's also the mayor, came and apologized to the whole group afterwards.

This isn't even getting into the part where I wrenched my knee minutes before I started to drive over (turned out okay, but nervewracking), dealing with my mom who came because she lives close (guilted the shit out of me for not seeing her more), and equipment failure (which I diligently tested the night before).


The one bright spot is we're going to keep up with the newspaper gag, so it will get redesigned and changed for each show.

The headline will be justified, but I'm not bitter, oh no no!

[subego]

Well, band 3.0 lasted for about 18 hours after that show, and then suffered from a rapid, unplanned disassembly. There were personalities we thought may not work, but went with anyways because we were contracted to do this show.

Wouldn't ya know it, turns out they didn't work.

Back to the drawing board.

[BadKosh]

Ever thought of a day job? LOL

[reader50]

I blame the fridge. It did need more interesting items in stock.

[subego]

Originally Posted by reader50 

I blame the fridge. It did need more interesting items in stock.

We got those grapes which look like cheetos, but it was too little, too late.