Describe your practice space

Ed

Ed

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For a few years I have been threatening to build a large shed in our yard that would be fully insulated, outfitted with heating and cooling, internet access, and anything else I can think of for use as a practice place. I could also use the space for writing. In the interim I have been using out guest bedroom, or as my son calls it - the saxophone room, for practice and instrument storage. It's great having my own space but the downside is that it shares walls with my sons room and the master bedroom so late night practicing isn't possible.

What's everyone else do for a practice space?
 
I turned my mother-in-law apartment (walkout basement) into a music studio complete with piano, drums, bass, computer, amps & speakers. There also a bar and bedroom.

I use my library (third floor) for sax quartets and right now looking around I have six saxes and four clarinets on stands, two music stands, a Thomas organ, and a piano. (It's a mini version of Jay Easton's office)

People are amazed when they see the setup as there are guitars, pianos and organs on every floor of the house. But I don't buy boats, second houses, vacation property and the like.

That said, I have three to four bands practicing out of the music studio in any given week and a guy who comes Wednesday to do five hours of lessons with some of my sax buddies. He's installed a terabyte of music that he calls up to show his students (including Suzy and me) how this pro plays outside of the changes or that song was played in a swing rather than Latin beat.

Additionally I have file cabinets full of music for quartets, ensembles, and big bands. The book for the WJE has over 200 songs in it. The Dissonance has over 100 charts in their book so far. And the Professor Gadget sax quartet has over 50 charts in their book. Suzy is the librarian and has probably spent 100s of hours labeling and filing things away.

It's been a labor of luv that started five years ago.
 
I just retire to the bedroom (there's no "master" bedroom here - just the one) and noodle for 1/2 to 1 hour. The best acoustics are, however, in the bathroom. No stand - I pack up when done.

When on vacation in the mountains, I practice outside. Cows, sheep or goats nearby are attracted by traditionals, indifferent re classical music and walk away when I play Klez or Jazz.
 
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tictactux said:
I just retire to the bedroom (there's no "master" bedroom here - just the one) and noodle for 1/2 to 1 hour. The best acoustics are, however, in the bathroom. No stand - I pack up when done.
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Luv the reverb I get in the hallway. I try not to play there too much as I start thinking I a pretty good player pretty fast. :emoji_rolling_eyes:
 
I'm fortunate to live in an older (built in 1910) house with thick stucco exterior walls, and plaster & lath walls inside. It really knocks the sound down. I've got a basement studio that is about 26'x16'. My bandmates leave their practice amps here, and the drummer leaves his back-up kit as well, so rehearsal is plug and play. We can have a rocking rehearsal, and you can barely hear it directly outside, although it is a little loud in the living room directly overhead. Practicing my horns is no problem - I can even do it while my wife is asleep, although the dogs start howling when I practice altissmo.

I covered the cinder block walls with 1.5" foam panels, then used 1"x8" tongue and groove boards as paneling. It makes for a nice warm sound without a lot of reverb. Before I installed the wall covering, I re-wired the place with a dedicated 20 amp circuit, and ran 6 pair mic cables, and 2 pair speaker cables from each wall back to a central point where the mixer is. My soldering skills stink, so I haven't terminated all the ends yet, but when I do, we will be able to rehearse without a mess of cables across the floor. One of the hardest things was getting rid of the vibration noises from my hot water heating pipes. They seem to be tuned in G. I had the bass player come over with his gig amp and pound out some low Gs while I figured out where things were rattling. Some wood wedges and foam pipe covers took care of that problem. I would still like to improve the lighting. The ceiling is only 79", so for now I have 4 foot fluorescent fixtures, but they do introduce some buzz in the PA. I've been watching for a sale on track lighting. I'm also looking for a better wall mount storage solution for CDs and tapes. I have some basic plastic things I bought at Walmart, but the media starts rattling when the volume goes up. My other pending project is to put down some thick pile all weather carpet. Right now I've got some old throw rugs scattered about. The down side of that is breaking everything down and moving it out - that's probably an all day project by itself.

I've got a corner desk with my PC arranging / recording set-up, and lots of built in shelves in the hallway just outside to hold instruments, PA gear and accessories. It's also just a few steps to a half stairway up to the side door - makes for easy loading.
 
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Saxhound you sound like another really invested musician! :D

I have to remember to loosen the chains underneath the snare drum too when our quartet plays or we have a sax sectional. That can also rattle like crazy. Fortunately the pearl drums I have has a lever for that.
 
Gandalfe said:
I have to remember to loosen the chains underneath the snare drum too when our quartet plays or we have a sax sectional. That can also rattle like crazy. Fortunately the pearl drums I have has a lever for that.
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Yes, loosening the snares is a must - especially for long tones practice. The bass drum also has a big floppy pillow inside to soak up the sound. I have forbidden the drummer from ever bringing his piccolo snare!
 
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Since my divorce I'm in an appartment building so my livingroom is my practiceroom. I try to play mostly between 16.00 and 18.30 because I don't want to disturb my neighbours too much.
One or two nights a week I go to our Bigband practice room, because there I can play at some higher volumes. Somehow with playing at home I still try to play a bit softer, not always great for working on good breath support etc.

In the evenings my practiceroom is the same but then I have an E-s@x wrapped around my tenor. Not perfect but better than not playing.
 
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I've been thinking about heading up the road to the local community college and seeing if I can use one of their practice rooms. It's only about 10 minutes from my house.

I think I may have a room in my house that I can play in and that keeps the sound from going all over the upstairs. The only downside is that it's a decent sized bathroom :emoji_rage:
 
I enjoy going to the practice room. It is always fully equiped with a small PA etc so I can bring along some backings or do a small recording if I want to.
With bandpractice I'm always an hour or more early so I can shed a bit. Sometimes our drummer and bass player show up and then we can have a kind of jamsession.

I recently joined a group of friends playing in a band. They met in a local pub and found out about all of them playing something. They formed a band for fun, playing some R&B, covers and standards. It's only playing together every sundaymorning with a few gigs a year in the pub just for friends and family.
Rehearsels are at the guitarists home. Great room below with a small PA system set up etc. That would be something nice to have at home.
 
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I have a chair in my room with a stand in front of it. That is what I do...

Although usually I take the stand in the living room and practice in there instead. My room is too hot, and the space is too cramped, my room is messy, and it drives me insane.
 
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I took down a wall between two large and unused, adjoining bedrooms in my house, and made a large music room for both practice, and storage/display of my instruments etc.

I've yet to soundproof the room etc., but it is really unnecessary as I live on a couple of hundred acres, which keeps the neighbors at a very friendly distance. I would be even happier if they lived a few hundred more from me.;)
 
My practice room/studio looks very much like my sleeping quarters. :emoji_smile: Wait a minute, it IS the same room!

I've just got a section of it setup with a computer, BIAB, digital recording gear, a ton of fakebooks and a Manhasset music stand. It's more than adequate. I just don't spend enough time with the horns. :-(
 
I don't have a practice room.

One of my favorite places to practice was in the sousaphone storage room in my high school. Yes, many, many years ago. I loved the acoustics.

For me, I'd probably want a practice room that has only musical stuff so I'm not distracted.
 
My practice room is a catastrophe. It's small and cluttered. When I have to get out one of my larger horns , it may take 15 minutes of rearranging everything. It serves as a practice room, shop, recording studio and instrument storage room. The only thing I can do efficiently is select instruments and remove them to go to a gig.
 
I am fortunate enough to have a nice space to practice.

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Our house is a basement entry style, and my studio and office are on the ground level. My studio is what was intended to be the family room in the house. The only drawback is that it is smaller than the studio I had in our old place, so I can no longer have all my horns out.

It's really nice and cozy with a built in oak wall unit and gas fireplace. My decor is 50's and 60's, and my 60's couch is actually nothing more than the holding area for my bass sax.

The house used to below to a guy who owned a kitchen cabinet company. So he built all the built-in oak wall units in the family room. His office was in house as well, so my office is really nice with built-in oak cabinets, counter tops, and under-cabinet lighting. The office is off the studio. So everything is contained in a nice, neat area.
 
@metbysax: I like the avatar. You do know that the more posts you have, your title will change, right?

Or, of course, I could be bribed to change the title ....

:-D
 
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