Death Metal Bands at the Rehearsal Space

mrthirsty

Junior Member
Hi I run a working cover band and rent a monthly rehearsal space for our practices I also use it for my own drumset workouts. These rooms are 10' x 20' and have the usual amout of sound bleed from other bands which is no big deal until the death metal band shows up. It's pretty obvious the drummer is micing both bass drums and running them through one or more sub woofers with the rest of the band turning up their volume to keep up. It's so loud the floor literally shakes when they are playing which leads to my rehearsals being cut short because we can't hear ourselves think. I've asked the band if they could turn down but pretty much get the response just deal with it, no co-opeation from the studio manager either all he cares about is that everyone pays their rent.

I just want to know is it really necessary for death metal drummers and bands to rehearse at this kind of volume? Maybe there is something I'm missing here, I had to leave my last rehearsal space because of a different death metal band doing the same thing, now it looks like I have to look for something else again.

Anyone else had this problem??
 
there's a band like that across the hall from us at our rehearsal space. when they get going the walls shake! i like to lean against the wall to get a nice back massage!

they are loud for sure, but once we start playing i can't hear them anymore, so it's not too much of a problem.
 
Soundproofing is a major factor in our decision as to where to practice because some of our songs are played at low volume with me playing brushes and feathering the bass drum.

We tried a rehearsal space that was conveniently located and had a good PA, but we could hear the booming from the neighbouring rooms when we played our quieter songs. So we only played there one time. Now we drive a bit further away to a rehearsal space with better sound proofing.

I appreciate that loud bands want to enjoy themselves but I haven't come across any who are interested in compromise so that others can also enjoy themselves. I guess that's the old rock'n'roll attitude - if your music manages to annoy some old fogeys it's a bonus lol

A lot of studios were built before death metal became popular, and many rehearsal spaces have not adapted to the new scene due to the cost of renovations. It means that if they have a couple of really loud bands coming in regularly then the studios will only be good for other loud bands.

Hopefully new studios will keep the changing musical landscape in mind when they build.
 
in a way though i'm a little sympathetic to the death metal guys. they're paying for a room where they can be as loud as they want. that's a major reason to get a practice space in the first place.
 
in a way though i'm a little sympathetic to the death metal guys. they're paying for a room where they can be as loud as they want. that's a major reason to get a practice space in the first place.

For sure. They are paying for space and definitley are entitled to play at volumes suitable to their genre. But, is micing up the kit for rehearsal a touch of overkill though? Surely this is unnecessary?
 
I've been playing death metal for 18 years and never found it necessary. A guy I know triggers his bass drums and toms during practice and really blares out everything else. I guess his band mates never complained, or if they did, it fell on deaf ears.
 
You guys don't play extreme metal so you don't get it. Guitarist "lock in" to the blast beat by sound and FEEL. It governs their tempo by syncing up their fast twitch muscles to the sound of the bass drums and the thump they feel in their chest. It's like a giant metronome. My old guitarist in my old groove thrash band could never play to a click track but he could play perfectly in tempo once he heard my triggered kicks. For the practice guys, i'd get them triggers for the bass drum and then an in-ear monitoring system, that way, everyone could turn down a notch.
 
diosdude makes a good point.

A lot of metal is very fast and busy. The instrument a death metal drummer plays is typically a combination of an acoustic drum kit, mics/triggers, and a PA system (not just the drums themselves).

You just can't hear or feel the fast double kick playing without wearing in-ears or running it through a PA.

Come to think of it, I don't know why more metal bands (or loud bands of any genre) don't practice with in-ears or headphones. It's not that expensive to set something like up in your rehearsal space nowadays and the sound is even clearer than a PA system.

Your singer/screamer and guitar players can also hear themselves much more easily.

There is also the benefit to your ears and of course your neighbors' ears when you can bring down the total outside volume a bit.

But when it comes down to it, these guys are paying for a place to be as loud as they want to be. If the owner is cool with it, you need to either deal with it or find another place that doesn't have death metal or has better soundproofing.
 
I guess his band mates never complained, or if they did, it fell on deaf ears.

LOL! Perfect :)

Diosdude said:
You guys don't play extreme metal so you don't get it.

Dios, I suspect most of us get it more than you'd imagine. Contrary to appearances, even I was young once, and back then most rockers simply HAD TO play loud. No choice. And I'll bet that a decent percentage have all been through the phase of telling our many noise complainants to go and get fornicated.

The idea of reducing volume at the time was unthinkable. The music wouldn't gel. It wouldn't have the vibe. Truth was, we only had control over our instruments at high volume.

The same dynamics repeat between generations over and over, even though each new generation believes they are somehow unique. There was a time when Stravinsky was considered to be extreme and intrusive. So it goes. Sure, they aren't exactly the same, but the basic dynamics keep repeating themselves.

I agree that bands hire rooms so they can play at their preferred volume. It would seem wrong for studio owners to tell a band to turn down just because the studios were inadequately soundproofed. That's the studio's problem.

However, if a studio's main business was with less loud bands and they couldn't afford to renovate to improve the soundproofing, it would be reasonable for them to refuse to hire rooms to death metal bands. Otherwise they'd lose their main clientele.

I'd say maybe half of the bands that rehearse in our studio complex are death metal - we often hear death growls coming through to the reception area when we arrive. Thankfully, the soundproofing between rooms is very good. It's still audible but not overpowering.
 
I've heard all kinds of bands playing loudly enough to feel from a next-door rehearsal room, so I don't think it's just the DM guys responsible for this. It's true to say that this is really the main point of a rehearsal space...

Oh, I would have thought the bass drums would be triggering samples rather than just mic'd up...they're all at the triggering these days. Shocking! Unless they can produce clear, strong even strokes without them too, in which case that's a valid sonic choice (but still a bit of a shame, I think).

There does come a point, though, where volume doesn't help anybody. Not very professional.
 
It does help to rehearse the way you would perform. My beef with high volume is not whether another band is making it but when people I play with don't balance themselves with everybody else. In unmic'd situations my playing suffers dramatically if I am forced to have to play as loud as I can.

I would say you sort of have to go with the flow on other loud tenants in your rehearsal building. Ask them if they rehearse at regular times so that maybe you guys can change your schedule and avoid having to hear them.
 
Hi I run a working cover band and rent a monthly rehearsal space for our practices I also use it for my own drumset workouts. These rooms are 10' x 20' and have the usual amout of sound bleed from other bands which is no big deal until the death metal band shows up. It's pretty obvious the drummer is micing both bass drums and running them through one or more sub woofers with the rest of the band turning up their volume to keep up. It's so loud the floor literally shakes when they are playing which leads to my rehearsals being cut short because we can't hear ourselves think. I've asked the band if they could turn down but pretty much get the response just deal with it, no co-opeation from the studio manager either all he cares about is that everyone pays their rent.

I just want to know is it really necessary for death metal drummers and bands to rehearse at this kind of volume? Maybe there is something I'm missing here, I had to leave my last rehearsal space because of a different death metal band doing the same thing, now it looks like I have to look for something else again.

Anyone else had this problem??

I think you know pretty well thats NOT necessary, but it is metal, and most death metal bands are full of players that above all things, probably dont have that much experience as musos onstage and dont get to rehearse anywhere else.

Ive been in metal bands since I was 16 and Im now 34 - Im very familiar with the metal scene, and guys like this will always tell you its "how it has to be played", but put it down to inexperience. In a few years theyll understand that more productive jams start with lower volumes.
 
I think you know pretty well thats NOT necessary, but it is metal, and most death metal bands are full of players that above all things, probably dont have that much experience as musos onstage and dont get to rehearse anywhere else.

Ive been in metal bands since I was 16 and Im now 34 - Im very familiar with the metal scene, and guys like this will always tell you its "how it has to be played", but put it down to inexperience. In a few years theyll understand that more productive jams start with lower volumes.

This ^.

I was going to add that I wondered if they were really death metal or moreso metalcore or deathcore -- in my own rehearsal space, there are some loud bands, but there's one deathcore band that is far, far louder than any other band there (and some of the pop/rock bands are easily louder than my metal bands). Loud triggered drums, and they practice the same breakdown for hours at a time.

It's worth noting that it's almost certainly the guitar players that drive this volume race, which is one of the reasons the drums are being put through the PA. Especially among younger bands, wall-of-sound guitar tones with no mids are extremely popular, which really exacerbates the classic "guitar player keeps turning up" problem, since they can't hear the detail in their playing even at a high volume unless they palm mute.

Another indicative sign is that I scored a cracked Zildjian A custom projection crash from the garbage outside their room. (Also, why are so many bands like this full of kids with ridiculously expensive gear I could never afford? I got a peek in their room once and saw a brand new Ampeg SVT and 8x10 cab, boutique full-stacks, etc.)
 
It's meant to be played loud. I guess that's half the point of it. Also I agree with others that if they're paying the rent and the managers happy with it there's not much you can do. They have their right to play loud if they wish. They may argue that there's a soul band or something next door that they can hear between songs that puts them off their METAL. It may be a huge inconvenience to them.... who knows ?

That said, on a more serious note, I can guarantee when it comes to gigging time they'll be asked to turn down onstage by the sound engineer. They may as well learn to cope turning down now to lessen the shock of it!

That is unless they're playing large established venues where the PA/monitors can handle it and not many can at entry level. (Not here in London anyway). When I say handle I mean a PA that can place the vocals comfortably on top of it also.
 
Thanks for the advice guys! These guys just recently moved in and have been getting lots of complaints from the other bands also. I guess the soundproofing here can't deal with miced drums, in the past you never really came across this.

It was interesting to note when I went to talk to them I saw the guitar player wearing headphone hearing protection and the entire kit was miced being run through 2 18" Mackie Subwoofers.

Oh well you live and learn, if I have to move I'l be sure to find out if there are bands doing the same thing. This volume is just too way over the top.
 
As a guitarist, I have to blame the guitar players. They are marketed at until they belive a 100w full stack is the only option for amplification, which needs to be turned up to skin-bruising level to operate properly. They then scoop out all the midrange frequencies, coincidentally where the audible range of a guitar normally resides. They then turn up to organ-rupturing levels because they can't hear. By the tine they can hear themselves, they can't hear anybody else, and start comp[laining that the other guys need to turn up as well. Repeat until one or more bandmates have died from concussions.

Ironically, with the triggered drums, extreme metal could be played at the same volume as a bluegrass band, with <5w guitar amps, and a subway sized PA.
 
I don't think it has anything to do with being death metal.

Years ago a band I was in had the same issue. We were a loud prog-metal band, but the band down the hall was even louder to the point we couldn't hear ourselves. They weren't death metal at all, just they had a much louder PA than anyone else in the building, and for what ever reason, felt the need to have it at full blast every time.

As mentioned, they're paying their rent for the right to play as loud as they want.
If the manager won't resolve the issue or come up with a compromise, I'd say look for another rehearsal spot.
 
What we did to solve the problem was to rent an office space instead of a rehearsal space. It worked out to be the same price. We are limited to playing after 6p.m. but after that there is nobody in the building and no neighbors to call the cops on us. Plus there are 3 bars within a block from us lol.
 
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