Yes, with a clear split between what the room can capture and what it cannot. A North Hollywood rehearsal studio is built to contain a loud band rather than to record one, so you bring a mobile rig, monitor on headphones because there is no control room, and treat any room sound as a bonus. North Hollywood is a district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, about three miles from my room in Burbank, and its rehearsal spaces are some of the easiest rooms in the area to load a full band into.
What is a North Hollywood rehearsal studio built for?
Containing volume while a band plays at full level. The lockout and hourly rooms clustered around the NoHo Arts District exist so a band can rehearse loud without a noise complaint, which is part of why the district is described as holding the largest concentration of music recording venues west of the Mississippi. The walls are heavy and the doors seal, so a kit at 110 dB stays inside. The treatment is tuned to stop the room ringing while five people play loud, which usually means heavy absorption and a short, dead sound with no real low-end control. That suits a rehearsal. On a recording it sounds flat, so the room hands you isolation from the outside and asks you to bring the acoustics with you.
How is North Hollywood different from Burbank for a session?
They sit in two different jurisdictions, which matters the moment you record. North Hollywood is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, so it runs on Los Angeles rules and Los Angeles traffic. Burbank, about three miles east, is its own incorporated city with its own noise ordinance and its own police. For a loud tracking day that gap is real: a complex zoned and built for amplified music absorbs a volume that a Burbank residential unit cannot. The drive between them is ten to fifteen minutes up Lankershim or Vineland, so the pattern I use is to track the loud parts in a NoHo room and carry the files back to Burbank, the same handoff I describe in what comes back to Burbank.
How do you monitor with no control room?
On closed-back headphones fed by a cue mix. A rehearsal space has no separate control room, so you and the band share the room where speakers would sit, and open playback would bleed into every microphone. I run a separate cue mix to closed-back cans for each player, more of their own part and the click and less of everyone else, and I listen on the same headphones at the interface rather than trust a room I have not measured. An interface with at least four outputs, or a small headphone amp, handles the sends. The one speaker that stays off is mine.
How do you deal with bleed in one live room?
Plan for it, and keep the part of it that helps. With a full band in one dead room every microphone hears the others, and the fix starts with placement and directional mics before any gobo goes up (Sound On Sound on working with mic bleed). I face the amps away from the drums, point the null of each cardioid mic at the loudest neighbour, and DI the bass and any keys so at least those arrive clean. Gobos around the kit break the direct path, though the sound still arrives by reflection a few milliseconds later, so I watch the phase between the close mics and anything open. A little spill is what makes a live band sound like one, and it can be kept on purpose (bleed used deliberately), so I am after enough separation to fix a part later, and no more than that.
What about the noise floor and the HVAC?
Turn the air handling off during takes and keep an eye on the clock. Rehearsal rooms run loud air conditioning because bands throw off heat, and that HVAC can sit at a 50 dB noise floor a quiet intro will expose. I kill the air during a take and run it between takes, and I keep takes short so the room does not turn into an oven with five people and amps in it. A buzzing fridge, or a dimmer hum on the lights, is worth five minutes with a flashlight before the first take, because those print into every open microphone and no plugin lifts them cleanly afterward.
What do you track there and what waits for Burbank?
Track the parts that need the whole band in a room at once: the drums, the bass, and the interplay of the rhythm section, plus a scratch vocal for feel. The rhythm takes are the keepers and the scratch vocal is a guide. Overdubs, the lead vocal and anything delicate wait for the controlled room, the same division I use when I track drums in NoHo or Van Nuys and finish in Burbank. Back home I comp the takes, replace the scratch, cut the lead against a treated wall, and mix where I can trust the low end. The point of the rehearsal room is one honest take of the band playing together, and the detailed work happens later in the quiet room.
Frequently asked
Is North Hollywood a separate city from Los Angeles? No. North Hollywood is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley. Burbank, next to it, is a separate incorporated city with its own noise ordinance, which is why a loud session lands more easily in a NoHo rehearsal room than in a Burbank residential unit.
Can you get a usable recording in a rehearsal room? Yes for the rhythm section played live, if you bring your own mics, interface and headphones and monitor without speakers. The room gives isolation and easy load-in; you supply the capture and the acoustics, and you finish the detailed parts in a controlled room.
How far is North Hollywood from Burbank? About three miles, or ten to fifteen minutes up Lankershim or Vineland. North Hollywood station is also the end of the Metro B Line subway, so the area is easy to reach without a car.
If you are booking a room for a live session
Tell me the band, the room, and what you want to keep from the day. What comes back is a plan for mics, headphone feeds and what to track live against what to save for the controlled room, with the records behind it at /credits. Background and contact at /about.