Forming a Band on a Budget: How to Save Money

• January 4, 2017
• Bands

Forming a band on purpose with a budget is hard enough. Assuming the budget is small or nothing, there are still some easy and affordable things to help you get your band started.

First, you need decent musicians. It all comes down to having a common interest. It’s likely you have a few friends in your neighborhood who play as well or on the same level as you. The hope is that you have friends who are as passionate as you are about making music. The collective talents and resources of the team may be enough to pull off a suitable setup. One guy might have a couple of microphones, another might have a small PA head and speakers, while another a basement not being used.

Any band member hopeful who isn’t willing to share the load either isn’t the member you need or may just need some more persuasion.

The Space - Forming a Band

Most bands don’t have the luxury of renting a room at SIR or some other rehearsal hall. For the uninitiated, SIR (Studio Instrument Rentals) is a building full of rooms equipped with very nice PA gear. There are stages already set up and ready to go. Cities like Nashville, Los Angeles, and New York have them. There are similar setups in other cities. These rooms fetch about $75 an hour for their rooms and more if you require an engineer.

The next best option would be a church or some club that doesn’t open for business in the morning hours. There’s usually a decent PA in both places. If these aren’t available, think about using your garage or basement or find a friend who is extremely generous with his. You’ll likely have to soundproof the walls, floor, and doors with some used carpet or blankets so you don’t have the neighbors calling the police. Some musicians have rented storage units and done the same. Truly any space that offers air and power would work as long as you can soundproof it. Solving problems like this is just part of the fun in forming a band. 

The Sound System - Forming a Band

In a small rehearsal room, you really don’t need a system for concert sound. You only need enough channels to amplify vocals and acoustic instruments. Drums, bass guitar through a bass amp, and electric guitars through an amp can all remain without a mic. Mic your vocals and plug your keyboards and acoustic instruments into the PA head. An 8-channel head could get you by and $300 at a local pawn shop will get you one those.

Shure SM 58s and 57s are great microphones and are very affordable. Sometimes they even go on sale for $75 or so. Whatever mics you can come up with will do. Mic stands, microphones, and cables can all be picked up at your local pawn shop or music store affordably. Also, check the local county shoppers.

People often put this kind of gear up for grabs at a cheap price. If you’re lucky enough to have a budget for a PA, you’ll need to do your homework and get the best bang for your buck. Guitar Center, Sweetwater, and other big stores often offer package deals that’ll set you right up.

Make a list of all the instruments and vocals in the band and leave room on the PA head for an mp3 player, cd player or other audio source for listening to the songs you’re learning. Make room for growth too. Don’t go less than an 8 channel head or mixer. A 12 or 16 channel head gives you room to grow or maybe even mic a few drums and mix the bass guitar in with a direct box. A few direct boxes would be nice to add to the list for sure. This allows you to run the bass or keyboard through their amp and into the PA too.

The Instruments - Forming a Band

If your dreams have already taken shape, you probably have a good guitar, keyboard, or drum kit etc. In case you’re starting from scratch, great sound starts with great tone, so you’ll want to start with some good instruments and amps. Great tone is found in both cheap and expensive gear, so find your sound and be frugal.

Tube amps are generally more expensive and harder to maintain, but they can produce the best tone. Line Six amp modeling and similar companies, though, are making it cheaper and easier than ever to obtain great tone. Although you want to have the good instruments, there’s nothing wrong with starting off a little cheap. After all, cheap drums can be tuned and made to sound good and a cheap bass guitar can be fine-tuned to sound better than it’s worth. New strings and a good setup can make about any guitar better.

Keyboards can sound pretty cheesy if you don’t have a decent one, but nowadays you can link a keyboard to your laptop with USB and use great keyboard sounds from software fairly cheaply. Still, there are plenty of used keyboards at your local pawn shop. Just make sure you plug it up and check every key and the sounds to be sure it performs properly.

You don’t have to have the top-of-the-line guitars and amps to sound good when you're just forming a band. There’s a lot you can do with cheap gear if you just EQ things right and make the most of what you have. The right place in the room and the right EQ can soften any unpleasantness coming from a solid state amp or bad speaker cab. Rollin off or turning down highs and mids can also make a big difference until you can do better.

Word of advice: Don’t run up your parents’ credit card or take out a loan thinking you’re gonna get a gig and pay it all off in a few months. You might get that gig, but it might take longer to get your band together and fine-tuned enough to do a job. It’d be better for everyone in the band to have a day job so everyone can contribute equally to the needs of the band. It’s a drag when one or two people pull the load and the others just seem to mooch. When you do get a first gig, take at least an extra portion and set it aside for gear or band needs. If there are four band members, just split the money five ways. That means a $500 gig is broken down to $100 for each man and then $100 is placed in a band account for future gear or travel etc. You will certainly find that starting a band is a labor of love until you can sustain your needs gigging. Even then, it continues to be a labor of love simply because there are always needs and rarely enough money to cover them. Keep the faith and be smart.

For a few other tips and tricks on how to form a band, check out this earlier piece we wrote.

If you’re thinking about forming a band or you’re already in one, you may want to think about adding Pro Lessons to your bag of tricks. Our experienced guitar instructors offer lessons at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. We even have song tutorials from the guys who originally wrote the music. Check out how you can sign up for our affordable plans by clicking on the link below.