Rehearsal space as recording space

[sport11rocks]

Hi, I've been lurking around here for a while and this is my first post. I've been turning my condo into a project studio over the past few months with the invention of doing just production stuff and overdubs, lately I've been getting offers to record some bands, but it would impossible to record them at my place because of the loudness issue with drums.

I was think of putting together a mobile recording rig and setting up to record at an hourly rehearsal space, then moving back to my studio for overdubs and mixing. Does anyone have any experience doing this or know of any place in the greater Los Angeles area that they would recommend I look into. I've looked into a couple place place but they seem to all be a mixed bag since noise for other bands is always an issue. Or is this an extremely bad idea and I need to figure something else out? Thanks.

[ssaudio]

I've been doing this for years for basic demos and preproduction and it works very well, especially with the kit available today.
It all depends what you want to spend, but even something like a MOTU 828 with an ADAT 8 channel pre and another 8 channel pre into it's line ins will give you 18 mic channels all down 1 Firewire cable into a laptop. So, with a good set of cans and a pile of mics/DIs/stands/clips you can do some great work - in other words, there's no need to break the bank just for testing the waters.

[yumdrum]

I just did this very thing two days ago. The studio that was owned by a friend of mine was a rehearsal/recording facility. Not engineered for recording but a decent sound none the less. The key was that it did not share the space with other music spaces, it was just the one room. So no chance of bleed.
Brought my gear in two racks. Used a Furman HA-6A headphone amp with six sets of headphones.
Worked great and I'm now in the mix. I used the room because my booth was not happening for the drum sound.
Very happy with the results, highly recommend it.

[ScumBum]

Originally Posted by sport11rocks

Hi, I've been lurking around here for a while and this is my first post. I've been turning my condo into a project studio over the past few months with the invention of doing just production stuff and overdubs, lately I've been getting offers to record some bands, but it would impossible to record them at my place because of the loudness issue with drums.

I was think of putting together a mobile recording rig and setting up to record at an hourly rehearsal space, then moving back to my studio for overdubs and mixing. Does anyone have any experience doing this or know of any place in the greater Los Angeles area that they would recommend I look into. I've looked into a couple place place but they seem to all be a mixed bag since noise for other bands is always an issue. Or is this an extremely bad idea and I need to figure something else out? Thanks.

I think its a great idea , kind of what I already do . I have a mobile rig and go where the music is .

I suggest using a lot of dynamic mics , like SM7 on vocals and lots of 57s every where .

you'll be recording in some bad sounding rooms and dynamics are the best at
rejecting the unwanted room reflections and outside noise .

Get a system down to record the whole band at the same time like a live show .

You can also record the quiet stuff , like acoustic guitar , vocals , later since its not a full band just one or two guys , at your house or at their house .

[sport11rocks]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll start getting my stuff together as soon as possible and look for a space.