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Demand for practise rooms?


HeinzHines

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How high is the demand for a decent practise space in and near Aberdeen?

Would you go to somewhere near Aberdeen that had space for, for example, 4/5 rooms for resident bands (Ie: 100 a month, 3 days a week for you + storage and alternate Sundays shared with another band) a few more rooms, equipped with decent rigs for about 10 an hour. And maybe a live room capable of doing decent demos at about 100 for 4 tracks?

Something i have been toying with for an idea. Feedback and ideas would be nice.

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I'll probably get crucified for these thoughts, but...

Going by the simple logic that outside Aberdeen = effort, then you probably wouldn't see much trade (apart from local-to-the-area-in-question bands - that Oceanrock Studios guy seemed to do well dealing with local school bands) from people in Aberdeen for 10 an hour types - if you think about the added perceived hassle of getting to the place, combined with a fear of the unknown, you'd probably struggle to draw any trade away from the existing market in that respect.

Perhaps a more dynamic pricing policy could work - especially if you combined it with online checking of prices. If you think about how airlines price their fares, making practice rooms available for as little as 1/hour could really hurt the competition - okay, people might not be convinced to try the studio out at 10 an hour, but they could be tempted into giving a shot at 1/hour at some unsocialable time (like 9am). In theory, it would be better to have the rooms being used than them not being used at all, so you'd make more money from 1/hour (and selling drinks/etc to them) than them not being there at all.

Would the 100/month come with amps/etc, or would people be expected to use their own equipment?

Hope you do go ahead with this idea though :)

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How high is the demand for a decent practise space in and near Aberdeen?

Would you go to somewhere near Aberdeen that had space for, for example, 4/5 rooms for resident bands (Ie: 100 a month, 3 days a week for you + storage and alternate Sundays shared with another band) a few more rooms, equipped with decent rigs for about 10 an hour. And maybe a live room capable of doing decent demos at about 100 for 4 tracks?

Something i have been toying with for an idea. Feedback and ideas would be nice.

I think resident bands would be very good, and being able to safely leave gear set up there would be something I'd be interested in.

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I think this would be a good idea if it was marketed correctly. The only trouble I see for you would be competition. It is very easy for bands just to go to the foyer (bang in the centre of aberdeen) for like 6/hour.

Captain Toms of course is of better quality too, and isn't that much more expensive.

The one I think people will be looking to go to now is the transition sports center at the beach. They are opening two practice rooms fully set up with amps etc. Think it's going to be a good price too. I'd certinaly go there, sounds bright and fresh and something new for people bored of the other two.

I'd definatly support any new practice/recording centre and hope that others would too, but if it's out side town with no reputation, I'd be worried for its success.

x

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I'd be interested in a resident room that you could leave your gear in definitely. Don't think travelling is a problem as long as we're talking say Stonehaven or Inverurie kind of distances if it was a decent setup.

Not sure how many bands would make use of 3 nights a week though, but I guess it's about the same price as a night a week at Toms/Musical Vision (practiced there for the first time the other week and it's ace) so you don't HAVE to use them and it's nice to have the flexibility if you've got an important gig coming up.

I think a lot of the more serious bands in the area would be interested, just look how popular the rooms down at shore porters where. Although hopefully the people who may use this are more respectful of their cohabitants equipment than some of the bands that were there.

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nah cloud.

i think hines is looking at bands who are not schoolies, i.e. established bands who are worth their salt and put lots of time, money and effort into their band and who play regularly in and out of aberdeen. Those who have their own equipment, transport and use it for practice anyway. Id never use anything else but my own gear at practice.

im sure bands like ten easy wishes, copy ha ho, pvh, fiction/action, the upstarts/hijacks, contra, wsbb et al would jump at the chance

these are the people who would willingly travel 30 mins to get to practice.

im looking at a similar thing down here

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How high is the demand for a decent practise space in and near Aberdeen?

Would you go to somewhere near Aberdeen that had space for, for example, 4/5 rooms for resident bands (Ie: 100 a month, 3 days a week for you + storage and alternate Sundays shared with another band) a few more rooms, equipped with decent rigs for about 10 an hour. And maybe a live room capable of doing decent demos at about 100 for 4 tracks?

Something i have been toying with for an idea. Feedback and ideas would be nice.

I think you've got to offer something that others don't, and letting bands store their gear is probably the road you want to go down for that. Lockable storage which only they have access to for resident bands, communal storage that only you or whoever is looking after the place has access to for bands using the fully equipped rooms.

Since you're looking to be out of town you really need to make sure that most bands can get there in one vehicle if possible otherwise you'll really cut down on your potential customer base, so I think storage is a must really.

I'd think carefully about equipped rooms, not only will you have the initial capital outlay for the equipment, but there's the maintenance costs as well. I'd estimate that maintenance alone will cost you around 1-2 per hour used on average, reskinning drums, replacing drum hardware because a lot of people think that slackening it properly before adjusting it is not necessary, revalving amps, reconing cabs, replacing pots, blown horns on the PA, it all adds up.

That's what I'd be thinking about if I was going to do something similar anyway, food for thought.

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is he not talking about induvidual rooms? where bands use their own gear?

maybe 5 rooms is a lot though, maybe be and idea to start smaller (if poss) and if demand increases follow suit

i would never go down the red tape route of supplying gear for others to abuse. their own drumkits, they keep the arrangements between themselves etc

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is he not talking about induvidual rooms? where bands use their own gear?

maybe 5 rooms is a lot though, maybe be and idea to start smaller (if poss) and if demand increases follow suit

i would never go down the red tape route of supplying gear for others to abuse. their own drumkits, they keep the arrangements between themselves etc

He said 4 or 5 residents rooms and a couple of other rooms with equipment charged at an hourly rate. So it's a mix of both.

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What about security / insurance etc? This is something I don't think was ever considered too well at previous lock up type places...some fuckers with a transit van could clear the place out if it was unmanned.

Thats said, I'd be interested....especially at 100 a month. (Looking for a home for my new pro tools rig)

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is he not talking about induvidual rooms? where bands use their own gear?

maybe 5 rooms is a lot though, maybe be and idea to start smaller (if poss) and if demand increases follow suit

Does that not involve spending more money when it could be cheaper to start large in the first place? Of course, it all depends what he has in mind, but if you have to move premises once you fill up, there's always going to be hassle associated with such a move.

i would never go down the red tape route of supplying gear for others to abuse. their own drumkits, they keep the arrangements between themselves etc

Could be fatal to cut off another potential source of income though, especially as with rooms alone, you might not manage to make enough profit on rooms let for 200 a month when you consider that you'd need to make 30,000 a year just to be able to have someone constantly manning it without considering any other expenses.

The other thing that I'd think about would be whether or not you could charge enough to make a profit - thinking logically...

5 rooms at 200 a month gives you 12000 over the year. Say 5 rooms, 10 an hour, with an average of 8 hours use a day (realistic? I dunno...) gives you roughly 150,000 a year..so you'd be looking at about 160k a year. I don't know if rehearsal rooms would be subject to VAT, but if so, you'd be then at about 130,000 turnover - before any sort of expenses. If you say 6 an hour for a wage for someone to man the place during opening hours, then (assumng 8am-10pm opening hours, eveyr day) - then you're at around 100,000 left before any other expenses.

Viable? Absiolutely no idea.

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i dont think hines is a position to commit to running at a loss for a year or so before he gets up to 90% occupancy and 8 hours a day, in the sticks.

personal rooms = great idea

personal rooms means less labour, less management, bands are self sufficient. it helps bands and it helps hines. we would also see a dramatic improvement in the quality of bands from the area.

hines can then concentrate on tour, tour booking, band driving, banging young sluts, red stripez and all of the other things associated with being a rockstar of the highest order

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we'd be interested in a residental room but as none of us have transport or in fact a drivers licence then getting to one outside of aberdeen is tricky. tis a good idea though even if it just went down the lockable storage root. though i have to say we're very happy with musical vision but the grand aim has to be your own space where you can use your own equipment.

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Just to clarify, i havent even found anywhere that even comes close to being suitable! In early thinking stage at the moment, for people busting their business brain, i wouldnt really be looking at running the place to maximise profits etc....would be providing rooms to cover rents/costs leaving myself with a small studio and beer money for the week. Will be looking for places/doing sums when we get back from being proper rock stars this weekend, i do hope i can find somewhere/something suitable, should be good for everyone.

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Does that not involve spending more money when it could be cheaper to start large in the first place? Of course, it all depends what he has in mind, but if you have to move premises once you fill up, there's always going to be hassle associated with such a move.

Could be fatal to cut off another potential source of income though, especially as with rooms alone, you might not manage to make enough profit on rooms let for 200 a month when you consider that you'd need to make 30,000 a year just to be able to have someone constantly manning it without considering any other expenses.

The other thing that I'd think about would be whether or not you could charge enough to make a profit - thinking logically...

5 rooms at 200 a month gives you 12000 over the year. Say 5 rooms, 10 an hour, with an average of 8 hours use a day (realistic? I dunno...) gives you roughly 150,000 a year..so you'd be looking at about 160k a year. I don't know if rehearsal rooms would be subject to VAT, but if so, you'd be then at about 130,000 turnover - before any sort of expenses. If you say 6 an hour for a wage for someone to man the place during opening hours, then (assumng 8am-10pm opening hours, eveyr day) - then you're at around 100,000 left before any other expenses.

Viable? Absiolutely no idea.

If he charges 30 an hour, he could triple his money!

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I think setting up a place dedicated to practicing that does have residential rooms as well as rooms for 'one off' practices is a good idea. The residentials would definetly save the hassle of an attempt of contact with the council for an industrial unit. It'd also save the constant karting of gear back and forth from band members houses etc.

In regards to the 'one off' rooms; it's still a good idea. Whether you think you can compete with the competition considering location/price etc is your choice. It's always good for bands who don't have their own equipment. Such as mine. We take it seriously, we're just poor/unemployed/currently saving.

Basically if you get gear in these rooms where the drums don't sound like Heinz Baked Bean tins and amps that don't fizz like a freshly opened can of Coke (which in the other places has happened) a band that gives a crap about their sound will make the effort.

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How high is the demand for a decent practise space in and near Aberdeen?

Would you go to somewhere near Aberdeen that had space for, for example, 4/5 rooms for resident bands (Ie: 100 a month, 3 days a week for you + storage and alternate Sundays shared with another band) a few more rooms, equipped with decent rigs for about 10 an hour. And maybe a live room capable of doing decent demos at about 100 for 4 tracks?

Something i have been toying with for an idea. Feedback and ideas would be nice.

great idea

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i dont think hines is a position to commit to running at a loss for a year or so before he gets up to 90% occupancy and 8 hours a day, in the sticks.

Fair enough. That wasn't explained, so from the information given, I made a reasonable stab at understanding what was what - and I can make another reasonable stab on the basis of him having posted more. It's a discussion forum, if you don't like it, then don't post on here :)

]people busting their business brain' date=' i wouldnt really be looking at running the place to maximise profits etc....would be providing rooms to cover rents/costs leaving myself with a small studio and beer money for the week. [/quote']

It could be worth phoning up that Ean Emsile lot and asking them if they have anything suitable to rent - I know they're always advertising random stuff for lease and they might have something suitable for cheap. Business Rates are an absolute bastard though - but if you do find somewhere suitable, I think you can check them online for any particular property.

Good luck anyway, if I come across anything that might be of use, I'll let you know.

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