Show-Off Your Practice Studio (idea, newb alert...)

[Rampant]

Rampant, I really like the clean lines of that setup. It is a good practice area and has a touch of art.

Thanks strum

Smallest room in the house - and dominated by the wardrobe that stores all my uniforms and makes the space even smaller...
There's just enough space to make it feel not cramped - keeping it uncluttered is a necessity and keeps the space relaxing I'm thinking that the next gear purchase will be a Vox VT30 - it's small enough to fit in the space where the Crate sits now. There is a slim gap beside the wardrobe where I stuff books and stuff - my plan is to put four narrow full depth shelves there to store all my books and accesories

I also have another practice room... My acoustic hangs on the wall in my bedroom, where I can just grab it and sit on the bed and noodle whenever there's not enough time to settle down and switch on the amp etc...

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Main area with computer for recording with Toneport, drawers for storage or music, cables, etc.

Keyboard and son's amph. Son's amph may move over by mine and be replaced with a guitar rack, or I may put the rack near where my C-30 is sitting. Guitar hangers could go on wall to left or right of keyboard up on the wall, or up above the C-30.

TV hutch with stereo that I plan to use for playback, and maybe PA work while recording or playing with tracks I am working on.

Closer view of computer/recording/workstation area.

Yeeeeehaaaahhhhh!!!! Well, here is the work in progress! Pretty much set up, though the speakers up in the corners will get replaced, and I am still figuring out where I am going to store guitars. I may build a rack like the one someone posted recently, or put a couple hangers on the wall, or keep them in the closet on the other side of the room. I would like to have them out, but this room is also, and perhaps mainly, a family rec room during the day, so I am not completely comfortable with them exposed. A rack over between the keyboard and TV hutch might serve. I will put some sort of humidifier in the room as well. Here is another view of the one angle in daylight, just because I like the sunflowers. :AOK:

Hints or suggestions from those more seasoned at setting up such an area would be most appreciated. So far, no undue noise issues, even with lights on.

 

[deeaa]

Hey Steve,

Wow that's a really nice looking place, really dig the furniture too, quite stylish. And ample room, not just for the amphs that's gotta be bigger than our practice space for 2 bands.

Thoughts: I'd hang only guitars that have a flat neck joint like Fenders; I'd never hang a tilt-neck guitar. Small as the upward pressure is on the neck, over a long period of time it will have a small effect. Acoustics are OK as they weigh next to nothing, but a heavy LP etc. hung by a neck...would not do constantly.

Also I thought of reflections...looks like a lot of windows there...I'd consider some heavy curtains to remove extra reverberation etc. when wanted.

Mine is in the basement with a tiny window and all surfaces uneven wood, large sofa and soft armchairs, walls full of bookcases etc. and I'd still like to have some curtains there to kill that extra room ambience from my recordings, particularly when doing vocals. Plus a noise screen for my computer...it's mostly passive cooled but still the harddisks whirr etc.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks Deeaa! That furniture, except for the chair and TV hutch, is old stuff from my wife's childhood. Works great though and fits the room just fine! Provides lots of storage too. I do not get to use the whole room for music though, just this perimeter. The interior of the room will have a couch and seat, coffee table, maybe a foosball table, and other family things. I had to stand up for my wall space a bit earlier today when some of my wife's girlfriends came over and had ideas for the room. But the perimeter is still a good amount of space, and I can leave my things there now, not have to hide them away as I did when I used a corner of my wife's office area. Her office moved across the house now.

With the windows, and not much furniture in the room yet (we need to save up and find a good cheap couch, etc.), there is sound reflection, and I notice things sound different than they did when the room was smaller. Right now, it is a big box with not much on the walls, or soft furniture to soak up some bouncing sound. Will work on that as I go. Thanks for the suggestions. And speaking of reflections:

 

[deeaa]

Yeah sometimes reflections can be good. I once recorded an acoustic piece in the bathroom; very nice lively sense of space. But sometimes you don't want 'em thats for sure

 

[wingsdad]

steve,
If you're gonna hang 'em, be sure to mount the hangers as far away from the airflow from heat & ac registers as possible, and located so that they're not targets for direct sunlight. Also, soem will advise to try to locate them on interior walls, but that's getting pretty overboard. I have 6 hangers on the exterior wall of my room, but the wall's something like 10" thick and heavily insulated. If the wall doesn't feel cold to the touch in the dead of winter, it's probably just fine.

 

[just strum]

Steve, is that the new addition?

 

[deeaa]

steve,
If you're gonna hang 'em, be sure to mount the hangers as far away from the airflow from heat & ac registers as possible, and located so that they're not targets for direct sunlight. Also, soem will advise to try to locate them on interior walls, but that's getting pretty overboard. I have 6 hangers on the exterior wall of my room, but the wall's something like 10" thick and heavily insulated. If the wall doesn't feel cold to the touch in the dead of winter, it's probably just fine.

Man, you have thin walls Mine are almost 20" and every window triple glassed... there's more than 3 inches of wood paneling already, at least 8 inches of two-by four frames in layers, each filled with 4 inches of fiberglass wool insulation...then the windbreakers and the siding supports and then the exterior wall...I think the garage walls however are only about 16 inches though. But it's a cold space.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Yes Strum, it is part of the re-model. I am going to trot out some other pics in another thread sometime. I am not sure how thick our exterior walls are, but now I will check as I am curious. It is well insulated, and the glass is all energy efficient standard stuff. I am not sure it is triple pane though. Pretty much all walls in that room are exterior, and there is a lot of sun. So I am leaning against hanging all the guitars, and maybe have just a hook or two for ease of access, on walls that do not get direct sun, and/or get or build a rack like the one some posted about here a few weeks ago. Like I said, it is a multi purpose room.

The closet where I stick my guitars in cases has sliding doors. I may stick a humidifier in there like Wingsdad did. I am not sure about trying to humidify the whole room.

 

[just strum]

Steve,

The room looks good. The answer may be buried in this thread, but what are the dimensions of the room?

 

[ibanezjunkie]

SVL, the second pic in your first post...

your wah seems to be going for a walk!

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Strum, it is about 17' by 24'. 17' across from the desk to the TV corner of the room, then 24' to the north. The north end has an exterior entry and walk way to a "mud" area where we have hooks and cubbies to stow your mittens, hat, gloves, helmets etc. Then moving south, there will be a game table like a foosball table, and a soft tip dart board, then couch chair coffee table etc. in front of the fire place you see a part of, then the southern perimeter that I shot the pics of. We have no basement and did not have a rec room or play room of any kind, other than a landing that is constantly coated in legos, so with my mother in law moving in, it will be a space for a bit of personal freedom. It is separated past the connecting north wall by a hall way and bathroom from any bedrooms so noise won't be too much of an issue that way, and it flows through patio style doors into a dining area, so I can block noise from the rest of the house. Not blocked enough to keep up with a drummer in there and not wake everyone up, but at least play a little. Very exciting!

 

[rylanmartin]

I have several rooms in my basement that I use for jamming, teaching, and practicing. Here's my man-cave:

 

[sunvalleylaw]

ugg, uggg, Ally Oop ! That is quite a man cave! :AOK

 

[mainestratman]

I need a cable rack.. or cable wall... lol

 

[MAXIFUNK]

I will take a pic of my family room practice space tonight and post it then.

 

[Tig]

Update of my modest bedroom "studio"...
2 new Squiers and the uber cool and comfy bike frame stool.

 

[Katastrophe]

Tig, you gotta show that Reverend some love, man! It looks all neglected, back in the corner and all.

BTW, I love the pickguard on the Strat. Really looks good with the sunburst finish.

 

[Katastrophe]

Rylan, could you tell me more about the LP Junior lookin' guitar with "Talent" on the headstock? Looks pretty cool, as do all your gitfiddles.

 

[Monkus]

Cool spaces, great collection of guits. I'll post mine soon !

 

[kidsmoke]

no doubt, lots of eye candy, but what I love is the rear triangle stool!! THAT is cool:AOK

 

[rylanmartin]

Rylan, could you tell me more about the LP Junior lookin' guitar with "Talent" on the headstock? Looks pretty cool, as do all your gitfiddles.

It's a Gibson Baldwin Talent Les Paul. If one was to google it, they'd come across this ad:

http://www.overstock.com/Gifts-Flowers/Gibson-Baldwin-Talent-Electric-LP-Guitar/2565795/product.html

I bought it for 20 bucks from the local classifieds. The bridge was bent up and the electronics were useless. I ordered a new bridge, knobs, pots, tuners, a p90 pickup and input jack off of guitar fetish and set out to copy the original Gibson idea.

The frets were pretty bad too, so I filed down the sharp edges and evened out the lay of the whole board and it plays not bad. It looks super cool, feels all right. All in all it was about an $90 investment. I even have a few gold "Gibson" decals sitting around if I felt like a blatant plagiarism.

I've always wanted a LP junior, but never wanted to shell out the money for what was intended by Gibson to be a "student" guitar...so I feel in my case, this one is more authentic to the original purpose.

 

[mainestratman]

I'll post some pix from this coming Sunday during practice.

 

[MichaelE]

 

[mainestratman]

LOVE the reel to reel. Very classy.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Beautiful room, Michael E!

 

[MichaelE]

Thanks guys. Don't know how I missed this thread from last year. I just saw it this morning.

The Kurzweil and my floor pedals are out of view, and I have a new Yamaha MM8 coming in another week or so. I just replaced the el-cheapo On-Stage mic stand with a König & Meyer that came yesterday. Talk about tank-like construction.