TubeNet

Posted: **Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:12 pm**

Dear Tubenet,

I have nothing to do for spring break, so I thought I'd renovate my practice space. I have about a 15x10x10 room to work with and a $300 budjet. The room has a piano, several chairs, and a small table (with china). I'd like to make the room more "friendly" for my tuba, and for recording. So my questions are: 1) What is you dream practice space(the sky is the limit!) 2) What does YOUR practice room look like. 3) What can I do with what I have.

Thanks,
Tyler

Posted: **Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:34 pm**

I like a live practice space and practice in the liveliest room in my home, which has bare hardwood flooring and plasterboard walls and ceiling. If I were you and it were possible, I'd remove any carpeting and heavy drapes.There are acoustical epoxy paints that will improve reverb, but they will only permit more high frequencies to return, not bass. The only way to do that would be to brace the walls further, probably by adding another layer of wallboard. You'd have to be a hell of a good DIY guy to do this on $300, but if you are real good at mudding, it could probably be done. I'd want a good heavy music stand and a good tuner that responds fast, like Dan Schultz has been talking about. Of course a comfy chair and a stand for my tuba if needed. A good tuba stand or piece of carpet to set the tuba on might help. A good place for my tuba music, easily accessible, too. I hope there's a nice window to look out of.

I'm interested in what others suggest.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:42 am**

You mentioned recording- do you have a mic and mic stand and recording device? I would start with that first with your $300.00
For me, I have a nice lateral file cabinet for easy access to my music (cheap on craigslist) along with a good chair and stand. Aside from that, it is up to you what you want to do acoustically. While it is nice to play in a boomy room, it is nice to hear what is going on without the room hiding things.
I have a practice/teaching room similar to your dimensions, although my ceiling is about a foot lower. I enjoy also having a computer and stereo system to play things back besides having my recording devices readily available.
Put up a before and after picture when you are done... time to contact HGTV

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2013 2:42 am**

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:13 am**

Don't underestimate the value of good decor. There's not a lot you can do in terms of acoustic treatment for $300, but you could paint the room, get a nice rug, get some comfy cushions for when you're frustrated and want to lie on the ground, get a potted plant or two, get some photo frames and post pictures of you with your parents (this will inspire you to do them proud), get some posters of artwork to inspire creativity, frame your diploma and photos of you playing the tuba that you like, frame photos of your favourite players, get a really good lighting system so the room is bright and energetic and makes you want to work.

Speaking personally I've spent a lot of money decorating my home studio but I think the investment has paid off in terms of productivity and taking pride in my career.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:08 pm**

Hey Tofu
Neat space and neat cars. Is the little red sports car an MG? My first car was an 69 MG midget and I took my horn with me to buy to see if it would fit in the passenger seat!! It did and I bought it.
ScottM

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:15 pm**

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2013 9:00 pm**

Since it hasn't been suggest yet, get a mirror. Any size mirror will work to see your face but a full length mirror is great for body posture.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2013 11:51 pm**

Could buy $300 worth of eggs and use the cartons to Macgyver some sound reduction on the walls.

I have no idea how well that actually works... probably not very well. But if you like eggs you haven't lost anything.

**For the record, I looked it up since I didn't actually know if it would even remotely work... don't actually try that...**

You could also invest in a Zoom recorder (all of them are good - if you can find the 'higher-end' models used, but the H1 is great too for under $100) as a start if you've never recorded much before. Mics are decent and it's pretty portable, doesn't require you to carry a whole set up around if you want to catch some basic recordings.

Again, very useful if you're just starting recording, it will force you to fool around with and learn some techniques like placement, and what to do once it's on the computer.

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:07 am**

http://www.auralex.com/c_sound_absorpti ... rption.asp" target="_blank

A few of these will help you tune up the sound.

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:33 am**

tofu wrote:

Well this didn't start out as a practice space. It was built to both restore and house my old car collection. It ended up having fantastic acoustics by accident. It is a large space (about 2250 sq. feet with polished poured color cement floor (so when car parts (engines/transmissions -stuff happens ) hit the floor the color stays the same so chips don't show. Painted wall board and a 24 foot high metal ceiling. It is the size of a small hall and for low brass it is just outstanding. My brass quintet and tuba quartet practice here. I've played in some great halls, but this place plays with the best of them. It has a commercial sprinkler system, burglar bars for the skylights, ceiling fans, heated and cooled, three different lighting systems and is wired to both the fire station and police dept. The 18 ft tall by 12 ft wide door makes it easy to haul instruments in and out (even BATs). The vehicle lift doesn't come into play much for practicing, but the scrub sink does come in handy for tuba cleaning. There is also a small office/break room and a washroom. It was designed to hold a dozen vehicles, but since I'm also using it for music rehearsals as well now, I keep a few of the cars in my house garages to make more space available for music. It is a few miles from my residence, so it is a handy place to escape to when things at the house are a little crazy. This did end up costing me a little more than $300 to do.

Thats all I have to say about your setup, tofu

Although I feel like that could be rather distracting at times.
If that was my garage/rehearsal area, I'd be enjoying the cars, without too much

going on.

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:04 am**

Sharp7 wrote:Could buy $300 worth of eggs and use the cartons to Macgyver some sound reduction on the walls.

I have no idea how well that actually works... probably not very well. But if you like eggs you haven't lost anything.

**For the record, I looked it up since I didn't actually know if it would even remotely work... don't actually try that...

Fire Hazard, anyone???

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:22 am**

What works for me when I have a piece to master is I turn up early or stay late in the Bands rehearsal hall as I find an hour here is worth more than 2 at home.
I don't like my sound at home and there is great opposition to making changes to suit my hobby.
I live in a rural detached house so can also practice outdoors in the summer.

If you are lucky enough to have room you can customise I would second the recommendation for a mirror and a cheap way of changing the rooms acoutic response would be to hang curtains on all the walls and you can change the response to suit your needs
If you don't have a recorder get one they are great fun and can really re assure you or highlight problems.

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:10 pm**

MartyNeilan wrote:
Sharp7 wrote:Could buy $300 worth of eggs and use the cartons to Macgyver some sound reduction on the walls.

I have no idea how well that actually works... probably not very well. But if you like eggs you haven't lost anything.

**For the record, I looked it up since I didn't actually know if it would even remotely work... don't actually try that...
Fire Hazard, anyone???

Nah it's perfectly safe...

I didn't actually know if the myth about actual sound reduction was a myth or not...didn't really think about it before asking

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:48 pm**

YORK-aholic wrote:Our living room (where I practice when my wife isn't home) is about 12' x 30', has a flagstone floor, The 12' long walls are eight foot tall, and the ceiling slopes up from there to a 24' high beam. Of the long walls, one is almost all windows (you should have seen them putting in the new double pane windows 8' square above the sliding glass windows, then 8' triangular windows above that ) The other long wall is about 14' high and opens onto the loft master bedroom (which is all wood floors and wood paneling). The walls have drywall with wood paneling over them, the ceiling is 2x6 tongue and groove.

It is a seriously live, but pleasant space to play in. Plenty of reverb, but with the ceilings meeting the walls at roughly a 45 degree angle, there aren't any weird echos.

I love it, and love my wife for buying the house before ever meeting me Its one of the best rooms I've played in. I'd like to try to get a brass quintet and/or tuba quartet in sometime and see what it's like...

I have a similar situation (although we bought the house before I resumed playing music). We do have quartet practice in here, and it is wonderful...it has been known to put my partner to sleep on the couch, 8 feet away from where we're playing...course, she can sleep just about anywhere!

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:55 pm**

Sharp7 wrote:
MartyNeilan wrote:
Sharp7 wrote:Could buy $300 worth of eggs and use the cartons to Macgyver some sound reduction on the walls.

I have no idea how well that actually works... probably not very well. But if you like eggs you haven't lost anything.

**For the record, I looked it up since I didn't actually know if it would even remotely work... don't actually try that...
Fire Hazard, anyone???

Nah it's perfectly safe...

I didn't actually know if the myth about actual sound reduction was a myth or not...didn't really think about it before asking

That's what we (band members) did to the painted-concrete-block walls of our practice rooms when I was in high school -- brought in empty egg cartons from home each week (at our director's request). Didn't take long to get enough to do the job. Mind you, this was back when egg cartons were made of papier-mâché instead of plastic foam ... should still work, though (maybe even better). Worth a try!

Posted: **Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:35 am**

Posted: **Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:43 am**

Reading over what others have written, it seems some like a more reverberant space and some don't, but perhaps I'm misreading things. Certainly there comes a point when things are too live and you really can't hear what's actually happening, but, short of that, I enjoy some sound coming back at me and feel I can hear myself better that way. Taking a relatively small space such as the OP described and lining it with egg cartoons would deaden it too much for me. YMMV.

Posted: **Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:45 am**

bloke wrote:

This works pretty well about eight months out of the year...

...for driving the snakes out of state - Bloke the "St. Patrick of Tennessee"!

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