Practice studio equipment arrangement???

[cyguitar]

In our practice studio we stand in a semi-circle facing the drummer, with the amps pointed toward the middle of the circle. The PA speakers are on each side of the drummer but elevated, and facing us. We sometimes get feedback from the vocal mic's. Should we practice like if we were playing a gig? I.E. the amps all lined up on either side of the drummer, and us standing out in front.

[TNJ]

May not work for you, as I dont know instruments, room layout, etc.
But, here is how we do it:

First pic is my corner. The guitar amps face head on and are to the left of the pic. The other guitarist stands right where I stood to take this pic. We both face left and get full frontal from our amps.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w186/jato07/P1000689.jpg

At the bottom of this pic, there is an EV Eliminator cab on the floor facing the lead singer, who stands approximately slightly to the right of the center of this pic. The guitars/drums are wide left of this shot.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w186/jato07/P1000686-1.jpg

Lead singer is wide right of this shot, on the other side of the 'wall of amps'. Again this pic was taken over by my little corner. To the right of the big Bogner cab, is a 2nd EV Eliminator cab facing towards the guitarists/bassist. The amp rig just to the left of the drum kit is the bass rig.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w186/jato07/P1000685.jpg

The kitties are playing peacefully, unaware of the sonic mayhem that will shortly commence! :D

Hope this helps...we have no feedback issues, and everybody hears everything fine.

S.
j

[drfrankencopter]

Position the PA monitors so they point into the nulls of your vocal mics. Without knowing the make/model (and thus the pattern) of your mics, I can't make any recommendations there. Looks like a 58, but is it beta (super cardiod), or just a regular one (cardiod).

You should consider some treatment on the walls behind where your mics are...reflections off the wall are going to go straight into the address side of the mic. Even a very narrow pattern won't help you there. Get a homemade fiberglass absorber where you've got your guitars hanging....hell, build the guitar hangers into it. That will help.

Cheers

Kris

[loudboy]

Setup like you do on stage.

It helps the vibe and lets you get used to playing that way.

It also allows you to tweak volume levels and amp placement, so you can allow everyone to hear everyone else, w/o overwhelming the monitors, when you gig.

This will have a TREMENDOUS effect on your live sound.

[Jeffj]

I like to setup in a semi-circle sitting down to work out chords, arrangements, parts, etc. at very low volume. Then setup as you would for a gig to be able to use some volume, etc. Just my preference.

[Tone_Terrific]

Have a vocal speaker faced at each singer (facing the spkr). if you need more speakers get monitors. Setup stage-like if you have room, but it's better not to as it makes it a bit more difficult to hear one another and drives up level, imo, unless you need the practice of doing it that way.