MusicJournoRehearse in a studio you bums
September 11th 2006 10:07
This is a cheesy 'How to' guide I was asked to write once for a zine a few years ago, I thought some of it might be applicable for any young 'uns in bands who are reading this
Okay, so the neighbour’s screaming at you with all the fury of a middle-aged Mongolian tyrant and the cops have just turned up on your doorstep. “I told you this would happen”, your mother nags once again. You turn to your mates, bemused and bewildered, you just wanna jam…
And so, like many bands before you, you need to find somewhere to practice (AKA rehearse, jam, show off to your band mates, etc, etc). If you’re lucky, someone’s parents will have access to a hall or basement somewhere, however, if you’re like most of us you’ll probably have to bite the proverbial lead-encased projectile and go to a professional rehearsal studio. Now, a brief history lesson…
Back in the old days of Penrith there was Adrift, a wallowing frat-house of a place where bands went to ‘rehearse’ (with varying levels of alcohol consumption). However, Adrift met it’s inevitable and tragic demise a couple of years ago, and so, if you lived in Penrith, you had to travel to the nearest practice studio. This ‘nearby’ studio would most likely have been in Windsor, Mt Druitt or Blacktown, all of which were (and are) reputable establishments, each imbued with a strange smell that Adrift lacked, the smell of cleanliness…
Then along came Symphonic Sound Studios, the saviour of Penrith bands, based in Jamison – smack band in the middle of Penrith. If you live in Penrith and have to find a place to practice this will be it, there’s nowhere closer.
For the majority of you reading this, you probably don’t live in Penrith. You can go to Zen Studios in St. Peters… they’re pretty professional and have everything you could possibly need under the one roof.
The pros of going to a rehearsal studio rather than your garage or lounge room is that you’ll be provided with extra mikes and mike-stands, as well as a decent P.A. to play through. The cons are that you have to pay and can only play for a certain amount of time, but if you didn’t realize that you’re probably not functioning properly in society anyway and I take my hat off to you for being able to read. The price of a rehearsal studio isn’t that much, around about 50 bucks for 3 hours, which equals roughly fifteen dollars or so per band member, depending on how big your band is and how many people in it are willing to pay (you stingy bastards…). Okay, this is really starting to sound like a fact sheet for a lifestyle program now so I’ll just finish up by saying that you really should be practicing in a rehearsal studio anyway. It’ll guide your band towards sounding better, it’ll help you make contacts with other bands who practice at these places, and, basically, practice is good.
In the garage, shortly about to be kicked out...
Okay, so the neighbour’s screaming at you with all the fury of a middle-aged Mongolian tyrant and the cops have just turned up on your doorstep. “I told you this would happen”, your mother nags once again. You turn to your mates, bemused and bewildered, you just wanna jam…
And so, like many bands before you, you need to find somewhere to practice (AKA rehearse, jam, show off to your band mates, etc, etc). If you’re lucky, someone’s parents will have access to a hall or basement somewhere, however, if you’re like most of us you’ll probably have to bite the proverbial lead-encased projectile and go to a professional rehearsal studio. Now, a brief history lesson…
Back in the old days of Penrith there was Adrift, a wallowing frat-house of a place where bands went to ‘rehearse’ (with varying levels of alcohol consumption). However, Adrift met it’s inevitable and tragic demise a couple of years ago, and so, if you lived in Penrith, you had to travel to the nearest practice studio. This ‘nearby’ studio would most likely have been in Windsor, Mt Druitt or Blacktown, all of which were (and are) reputable establishments, each imbued with a strange smell that Adrift lacked, the smell of cleanliness…
Then along came Symphonic Sound Studios, the saviour of Penrith bands, based in Jamison – smack band in the middle of Penrith. If you live in Penrith and have to find a place to practice this will be it, there’s nowhere closer.
For the majority of you reading this, you probably don’t live in Penrith. You can go to Zen Studios in St. Peters… they’re pretty professional and have everything you could possibly need under the one roof.
The pros of going to a rehearsal studio rather than your garage or lounge room is that you’ll be provided with extra mikes and mike-stands, as well as a decent P.A. to play through. The cons are that you have to pay and can only play for a certain amount of time, but if you didn’t realize that you’re probably not functioning properly in society anyway and I take my hat off to you for being able to read. The price of a rehearsal studio isn’t that much, around about 50 bucks for 3 hours, which equals roughly fifteen dollars or so per band member, depending on how big your band is and how many people in it are willing to pay (you stingy bastards…). Okay, this is really starting to sound like a fact sheet for a lifestyle program now so I’ll just finish up by saying that you really should be practicing in a rehearsal studio anyway. It’ll guide your band towards sounding better, it’ll help you make contacts with other bands who practice at these places, and, basically, practice is good.
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