any good band practice spaces???

[AKMartin]

You get good equipment

I don't know. A few of their guitar amps sound pretty awful, and the PA in Room 4 just doesn't work properly.

The staff are all pretty decent though (if a little sarcastic sometimes...) and there's plenty of space to jump around, which is the one thing that the Foyer lacks.

AKM

[threeornothing]

Those Laney Amps are the biggest pieces of shit I've ever played through...and I've played through some pretty shit amps in my time.....

I love the excuses people try and make for them too

[WeirdAl]

A quick spy on the web into the rehearsal rooms of other cities suggests Aberdeen is

A. Overpriced!!!!!! Cannot stress this enough

B. Cutting corners using shitty rooms

C. Cutting corners using shitty equipment

Its a shame....

I cannot begin to say how much I agree with this statement. I was until recently at uni in Glasgow and we used to have band practices in a place called Berkely's. 16 for 3 hours on weekdays before 6 and 25 for for 3 hrs after 6 and at weekends using top of the range equipment in rooms that were almost too nice. Aberdeen's practice rooms are almost embarrasing in comparison.

[David]

tried going to the foyer once, booked it the week before (on wednesday or thursday for the following monday) and was sent an email on the day we were going that staff holidays meant they wouldnt be open that late (until 8, but when youve been there since its opened, fair enough)

it was only by chance i checked my email that morning before leaving (was waiting for another email) otherwise i would have ended up carting a guitar and bass around uni all day (not fun) to turn up with nobody there, or at best find out halfway through the day. fair enough they cancel the booking under the circumstances, but the notice was piss poor, for email i would at least expect a couple of days notice, not on the actual day - i check my email fairly often (a couple times a day when on at various times) and i was lucky to catch it in time. plus the fact they had my phone number from the online form, i had no missed calls...

fair enough the circumstances, and booking online, but we did it in advance and it was pretty damn annoying being stopped on the day

one bad experience there really, i am sure they go without a hitch virtually all the rest of the time

luckily i managed to book toms for the same time/day so didnt have to bother rescheduling or whatnot with the other guys

toms is alright, but nothing special, the guitar amps i think are horrible, and try and take mine if i can so i dont have to use them... the guys there do vary between being excellent and being a bit of an arse too though

we did try exile once too, alright, but nothing too special, partly due to a retarded drummer (there are cymbals there, but they are horrible, so take your own, which he didnt and spent the time complaining) and not particularly nice amps, lots of space and a nice enough place though

thats my experience, a few years of using toms, and one failed attempt at the foyer, intending trying the loc up (if i can get through on the phone, every try has rung out) and the place near mounthooly to see what they are like

David

[Guest bluesxman]

Room 4 at Tom's is grim. But i've never had any problems with the staff at all.

Why is the Foyer 25 and under only that's shite....

[Chris]

Why is the Foyer 25 and under only that's shite....

because it's a charity set up to help young people.

[The Milner]

we now have a new permenant phone divert from the lok up to my moblie, so there will always be someone there from now on, if by chance you dont get through leave a message on the answer phone and i will get back to you as soon as i get it.

cheers

[threeornothing]

Try bringing your own amps. We bring some... and you can store them there if you practise there all the time.

I've carted my marshall stack on the bus once' date=' which is one time far too many....:|

We practice at Paul Samats lock up, we get more bang for the buck than we would at Toms, its a safer place to store our gear, and the bigger room sounds a bit more decent (its still a bit stoney-sounding, but no way near as boomy as the roms at toms) its also cool for leaving my recording gear all hooked up and dropping in when we have an idea....

Ideally, I'd practice at home, in my old band the bass player stayed in a semi detatched cottage in Upper Cotburn (near Turriff) the building was really old (and cheap as fuck rent if I remember, 100 a month) and we could play as loud as possible in one of the downstair bedrooms, and you could sit at watch TV at the usual level in the living room with no disturbance. His next door neighbours never complained once in almost 10 years of him being there.....

Who knows where I can get a similar priced cottage!

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[Guest bluesxman]

because it's a charity set up to help young people.

But they charge to use the rehearsal facilities, yes? So where does the charity bit align with the charge to use facilities? I'm confused....

[Chi 666]

yip room 4 is a fucker. we practiced at musical dreams last night and its pretty decent. ok priced

(10/12 an hour) .

and the cymbals are quite good, and you dont have to rent them!!!! (fuckin toms)

[threeornothing]

But they charge to use the rehearsal facilities' date=' yes? So where does the charity bit align with the charge to use facilities? I'm confused....[/quote']

The foyer isn't primarily a musical rehearsal room studio, they do a lot of other stuff. I've only been there a few times when it opened, I didn't have to pay back then. I presume they charge to help raise funds towards the more worthwhile services they offer?

Anyway....I'm sure the average age of some of the bands there exceeds 25 a bit!

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[Guest bluesxman]

The foyer isn't primarily a musical rehearsal room studio' date=' they do a lot of other stuff. I've only been there a few times when it opened, I didn't have to pay back then. I presume they charge to help raise funds towards the more worthwhile services they offer?

Anyway....I'm sure the average age of some of the bands there exceeds 25 a bit!

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That's why the age limit confuses me - surely an old git like me's money can help fund someone younger's cause...ah well.

[framheim]

That's why the age limit confuses me - surely an old git like me's money can help fund someone younger's cause...ah well.

yea but they only have one room and it would be a bit rubbish if it was constantly booked by older people in bands do the detriment of young bands. if people in your band are under 25 you can practice there i think. it doesn't have to be everyone is under 25 though i could be wrong.

the money helps pay for the music facilities i guess and for the wages of those who run it. i'm sure they're also keen to hear from anyone who'd like to volunteer some time to help the running of the place(looking after bands who rehearse there that kind of thing) with all the perks that might have(free rehearsals and maybe recording).

[Daniel]

But they charge to use the rehearsal facilities' date=' yes? So where does the charity bit align with the charge to use facilities? I'm confused....[/quote']

their a bit cheeper that the other places i know, its facilities for the kids to use

[Guest bluesxman]

yea but they only have one room and it would be a bit rubbish if it was constantly booked by older people in bands do the detriment of young bands.

Ah Ok, didn't realise one room only. Fair 'nuff.

[Steve_Start]

We've just taken over the running of our practise space, the lock up round the corner from exile on the main road, weve got 7 bands in, 1 for each day, but we might have space for more during the daytime cos most bands only use evenings. If any1 needs a space for during the wk days (say morning -about 6pm) give me a shout.. I'll give u tha lowdown!

Stephanio69@aol.com

[<T>]

We practice at Musical Dreams which is located underneath Atmosphere Sound And Lighting on Nelson Street. They also provide recording and tuition if you need it. give Andy Phillips a call on 01224 639800 or 07946 854 511.

Mike

this place is decent as fuck!!! ive been at toms for like 4 or 5 years now, used exile a couple of times aswell, but recently started a new band, and the keyboard player happens to be one of the owners for musical dreams. weve had ONE practice there, and i can safely say it is better than toms and exile. there are only two rooms, so they dont have thr capacity to beat toms on that, but the sound is unbeatable. i think a lot of the experienced bands out there shelling out for toms should seriously consider checking out musical dreams. u will not be dissapointed

[Cloud]

But they charge to use the rehearsal facilities' date=' yes? So where does the charity bit align with the charge to use facilities? I'm confused....[/quote']

I guess that the principle is that it's there to ease access into music, not to give free access. I also guess that any profit from the rehearsal studio (with all the tales of wrecked equipment there, they'd be lucky to make anything) would be used to fund other stuff - like organising free seminars/etc.

I can see two sides of the payment argument really - one side of me thinks that it's a bit off that they charge for the room, the other part thinks that if they didn't charge, it probably wouldn't exist. I guess it depends on your definition of "charity".

[Jim Stax]

Cheeeeaaarity

But they charge to use the rehearsal facilities' date=' yes? So where does the charity bit align with the charge to use facilities? I'm confused....[/quote']

Charitable status is a complex set up these days and does not mean that all things are free. Charities are subsidised and funded but still require to trade which will attempt raise the percentage of costs not met by the core funding... A fine balancing act indeed.

Jim

[Compuphonic]

Is it essential to have the rehersal space in town ? What about Dyce or Altens as a rehersal location ?

And how much is a fair price to pay ? What standard of equipment do you expect to get for that ?

Oh and how many of the current spaces have public liability insurance ?

Just doing the sums on how big a market there is in Aberdeen for a decent setup...

[Cloud]

I think it makes sense to have the facilities in a central location - ie, no more than one bus ride away. There might be demand for a high quality, cheap rehearsal space (we're speaking cheaper and better than the existing ones, which might be difficult to do) - but unless you can offer something to drag people to Dyce/Altens/etc, I don't think they'd bite.

A fair price to pay? I think it depends on the quality of the place - but a good benchmark would be going by what the lok-up offers. 6-8 would be reasonable for a small room with battered equipment, 10-12 for a place that has a big room, decent PA and a maintained kit, with anything over 12 being a highly versatile, high quality place.

I would guess that all the existing places have public liability insurance.

I don't think there's much of a market to be honest - from what I've seen and heard, people are demanding cheap rehearsal space with flexibility as opposed to high end places. There's hardly any professional (as in full time) bands here - so they're unlikely to be able to afford the costs of a high end place.

My recommendation would be to leave it, unless you can offer something significantly different to the existing places.

Ultimately though, the best thing you can do is go out and research it - but again, the success of the Foyer shows that people are more interested in price than what it offers - unless it's something special for not much extra (the lok-up being a good example).

edit : I should add that both ends of the market seem to be catered for - the per hour and per day side of things.

[Guest Mr Blastcap]

i want a shed

[Lazy Gun]

this place is decent as fuck!!! ive been at toms for like 4 or 5 years now' date=' used exile a couple of times aswell, but recently started a new band, and the keyboard player happens to be one of the owners for musical dreams. weve had ONE practice there, and i can safely say it is better than toms and exile. there are only two rooms, so they dont have thr capacity to beat toms on that, but the sound is unbeatable. i think a lot of the experienced bands out there shelling out for toms should seriously consider checking out musical dreams. u will not be dissapointed[/quote']

Was there last night and it was shit hot, think we'll use it all the time now, Cheers!!

[Paulscoconutass]

Does anyone have any spare nights for regularly practicing on a weekly basis? Or are any bands in that position willing to go halfs on fortnightly practices?

We used to use Ben Timpsons lock-up and were one of the few bands who actually followed the rules about keeping the place tidy and not fucking around with other people's equipment but when someone else took it over we were left in the dark. Just desperate to get a regular practice on the go but don't like being charged 28 for 2 hours.

[Free Korps]

Never used practise rooms regulary in aberdeen before August 2002 when we moved to manchester, but there as you can imagine we had choice & price on our side. we ended up using the same practise place as Elbow, Longview, etc. prices start from 20 for four hours, and there were plenty of rooms to get a regular slot sorted.

first of all well done to captain toms for realising that aberdeen had no facilities to offer the numerous bands that probably had to make do with garages & bedrooms. but coming back to his prices was a shock, four hours for 56 is certainly a massive difference even if you are only practising one night a week (but we could practise for twice that in mcr & still have 16 leftover!).

anyway it's good to see that there are a few alternatives opened up since i came back to aberdeen, prices still not great but if you can get away with charging 14 per hour & still get the same number of bands through the door then why change?

I think it says a lot that in theory if aberdeen became over-ran with hundreds of drummers without noise proof bedrooms/garages then toms would only be charging them 7 per hour to practise, I'd like to see that happen, they can obviously live off of 7 per hour but it's easy to charge bands double. suppose it encourages a 3-piece band to get an extra guitarist & back-up singer & keyboard player,etc, not to add to the quality of the music, but to reduce the cost for each band member to practise!!!