Basement sound quality

[Crowbar]

Howdy Folks,
I'm looking for any insight on sound quality in home jam rooms. I mean the garages and basements where we often set up and play. I play in my basement and I have a nice little collection of gear. Got PA and drumset, a nice place for the gang to meet.

I have the same old problem, getting vocal mikes to be loud and clear. You know how it is, once the mic is loud enough to hear it feeds back. So we roll off the EQ till the feedback stops and now it sounds flat, like a CB radio. Frustrating because now I'm getting some better singers over. Right now I'm running a mid 90's Peavey XR600 head {the slant six of PA systems!} into its two 15 inch woof cabinets. The cabs are on the floor, one of them facing right into the bottom of the staircase to discourage feedback. Sure SM mics.

I know my ultimate goal of acheiving studio quality sound in my basement is not realilistic. We're probebly just too loud in too small a space. But I want to ask what everybody eles is doing. So,

How good a sound do you get in your room?
Can eveyone hear each other?
You get the same mic problems I do?
Does fancy modern gear help?
Anyone use foam padding/eggcrates to any effect?
Do you play loud?
Thanks

[bkd_guitarist]

You can play loud and still retain clarity and minimize feedback, if you apply some acoustic treatments to your room. You don't necessarily have to spend a ton of money, but it does take some research to determine what treatments to use and how to apply them. FYI, egg crates and foam padding will not help much. This forum is one of the better resources I'm aware of on this subject:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

[loudboy]

1. Try using al the same make/mdel vocal mics.

2. Get a used 31-band EQ to patch in. The one in the Peavey realy isn't designed for feedback control, just overall tone shaping.

3. Get the cabs up in the air, where the audience would be - pointing back at you guys.

[puls]

Use no or very little reverb. Too much reverb will cause feedback real quick, especially in a small space full of reflective surfaces at high volume.

jwp

[cram]

you likely have a square or rectangular room (I do as well).
Treat corners with bass trapping -rigid fiber glass cut in triangles and stacked in the corners are the best.

Building your own is the most cost effective.
I've done it with success at home.

+1 on the johnlsayers site. You could find my build thread there.
I'd read up on that site - I've spent hours upon hours reading on that forum. There are some great folks there that will help you find what you're looking for if you put the time in to do research.

[The Golden Boy]

3. Get the cabs up in the air, where the audience would be - pointing back at you guys.

That's the easiest answer. If the mic is pointing at the speaker, it's going to feed back.

We've got our vocal cabs about a little north of chest high. Any live mics are pointed away from the direction of the speakers.

[frankiestarr]

In my experience, basement rehersals always work out better when you don't get loud....We use small amps, and a small PA speaker or two, and keep it down so we can communicate and talk /correct things as we play.

[doctorx]

I use the a Beringer feedback controller. That and an eq on both mains and monitors for tweaking. I just use the monitor system at home and it works great. I get good sound even in a small room like my practice room.

[Chuck King]

A sure way to get the vocals more clear is to bring down the noise from everything else, and one way we've discovered to do that is by putting amps ACROSS the room from the people playing through them, pointed at the face of the player. When amps are behind people pointed at the back of their knees, they need to be louder to be heard, which just increases the general noise level in the room. When everyone can hear him- or herself playing clearly, there's less need for lots and lots of volume. This goes hand-in-hand with frankiestarr's suggestion of smaller amps. If the amp is pointed at the player, you don't need as much amp to be heard.

I'll also echo the suggestion of a 31-band graphic EQ. You need something like that to address feedback in a monitor situation.