Conference napalm::guitar

    What do bands look for when renting rehearsal space in terms of
    	access, 
    	security, 
    	size, 
    	height,
    	facilities (heat/ac/elect), 
    	appearance, 
    	neighbors, 
   	parking,
    	acoustic treatment, 
    	and any other considerations?
    
    What are the priorities?
    
    How much do people pay for such things?
    
    What would cause you to pay more....or less?
    
    What would make a space unacceptable?
    
    
    
    thanx
    kpb
    

    	O.K. I spelled survey wrong. It doesn't make me a BAD person.
    
    
    
    I became a drummer to do that!!!  ;-)
    
    
    kpb

    kpb, don't worry about it.  I take chit all the time in here for
    bad spelling, and I'm a drummer too.
    
    GONZO

    The band I'm with now has a space that we rent for $175/month.
    It's roughly 600sqft, and had concrete floors, and drywall.
    
    The previous tenents (thanks Greg!) had tacked up old acoustic
    ceiling tiles for treatment.  It was a little 'dead' in there, so 
    we tore it down and made a checkboard out of it, and left the ceiling
    finished with drywall.
    
    There is no heat, other than residual from the offices upstairs.
    We have electricity, but if we run a couple heaters, we'll pop the
    circuit.  One day we'll get the guy to re-wire for us...
    
    We put in a lot of work to make it very liveable (appearance wise).
    After we tore some of the tiles down, we slapped on some paint and
    made into a black-n-white check board, the drummer painted a mural
    and naturally, we have a lot of playboy memorabilia on the walls. :-)
    We alsso built risers in there to keep our gear off the floor and
    for stage diving practice.  :-)
    
    The doors are steel, and are secure.  I wouldn't leave my gear at
    a place that wasn't secure regardless of the price.  Also, the cops
    coming by all the time to tell us to shut down would be a show stopper.
     
    FWIW tho, we are under a bunch of offices.  One lady came down about a
    year ago and said they were having their annual meeting and wondered if
    a case of Henry Weinharts Dark would make use take a break for an hour.
    :-)  She was very cool.  She's since been back with her daughter to 
    listen.
    
    All in all, we split the rent five ways, so it's affordable, secure,
    and NO COPS!  
    
    Oh - fyi,
    There are currently 5 bands in the building (with seperate spaces), 
    and everyone gets along well...  The owner is loading his pockets!
    
    Hope this helps some.
    
    jc

    Having spent some time in Coop's old space myself (my old "band"
    practiced in that same room for well over a year), I'll mention a
    couple of other advantages that particular place had.
    
    It has outside access with parking right in front of the doors, so you
    don't have to lug your gear a long way, or up and down stairs or
    anything.  
    
    It has access to a bathroom, upstairs in the office section of the
    building.  They never seemed to mind us using them and we always tried
    not to make a mess.
    
    We never had the power problems Coop seems to have (guess there's
    something to be said for a non-rack amp, huh?), and ran a little
    electric heater pretty much constantly in the wintertime.   I'm very
    thin and chill easily and my (already poor) playing goes downhill
    rapidly if my hands are cold. It's reasonably well insulated and would
    stay warm for quite awhile, as long as the doors stayed shut. 
    
    The electricity is included in the room rent.
    
    No close neighbors.  It's in the basement of an office building, but is
    open on that side of the building (hense the parking lot level access),
    so it's reasonably soundproof from the other side of the building,
    where the closest houses are.  The door side faces toward a large
    vacant lot next to a major street, so noise isn't a problem in that
    direction even if you open the doors.
    
    There are stores and food places within easy walking distance.  Phones
    available there as well.  Personally, I liked the fact that there was
    no phone in the practice place, but I don't think it would have been a
    problem if we'd wanted to have one installed.
    
    The only down things that I ever saw about that place was that, while
    the exterior doors were pretty secure (steel doors with deadbolts),
    there's an interior door (that leads into a hallway shared by the other
    bands practice rooms that has stairs at either end leading upstairs)
    that wasn't as secure.  The room was broken into once while we were
    there from that interior door, which didn't have a deadbolt.  After
    that we stuck a large hunk of wood (4x4) from the doorknob to the
    floor.  The door was a heavy solid wood door, so a deadbolt on it would
    have improved the security substantially.  That and the one concrete
    (exterior) wall that would seep water when there was a lot of rain. 
       
    And the smelly carpet that we had in there...but that was our fault.
    :-)
    
    Greg

    Carpet is still there (and some in my van) that's been steamed cleaned.
    Thanks dood!
    :-)
    
    Oh, and the 4x4 is still there also.
    
    jc

    Thanx for the replies...
    
    Do you / did you pay for the electricity, or is it included in the
    rent?
    
    kpb

    It's included.  Good thing.   :-)
    
    jc

>    Oh, and the 4x4 is still there also.
    
    You can thank Casper for that one.  I did "customize" it with a saw so
    that it fit a little better though...
    
    Greg

    
    My band is practicing at a facility in Clinton.  The DUNN & CO.
    building right off RT 70.
    
    The rooms are rather small (12X18) for 200.00 a month, but the security
    is great, the walls and ceiling are done in 'soundboard'.  It has
    plenty of outlets (electricity included).   The only restriction to 
    playing is no 9am to 5pm on weekdays, because it is also in an office
    building.  
    
    Ron.
    

    GOOD INFO!!! Thanx!!
    
    Anyone else out there renting space, useta rent space, wish they had a
    band so they could justify renting space?????
    
    I'll tell you why I ask. I'm trying to buy a building in north/central
    Mass (OK, the Fitchburg/Leominster area) to house my studio. There is
    enough space in the building for rehearsal rooms. This is kinda a
    market survey/reality check. Any information I can get from this note
    will help me figure out if this is something I am willing to "bet the
    farm" on. 
    
    I am under the impression that there are lots of bands, musicians, 
    instructors, etc...  that need good space at reasonable rates. If so,
    I need to define "good space" as well as "reasonable rates" (that's
    reasonable for me too ;-)
    
    If my impression is wrong...hey, let me know!
    
    
    thanx
    kpb 

    Does anyone know of a good, secure practice place in Worcester
    (preferably north Worc) for rent OTHER THAN on Webster St.
    
    Thanks.
    
    					Steve

    Wasn't Union music renting out space?
    
    Edd

    It's been a while since there's been any discussion on this. I'm
    practicing with six other musicians about once a week these days in a
    very small room in someones house. We're looking into renting some
    practice space and I don't have a clue as to how to go about it.
    Somewhere within striking distance of Route 2 between Acton and
    Fitchburg would be ideal. I've heard about a barn in Littleton which
    rents out some practice space but I heard the price is $200 a month
    which seems high to me. Anyone have any ideas about how to go about
    finding practice space ?
    
    thanks,
    
    Mark

    Hmm - sounds like a BARGAIN to me!  Can you leave your stuff?  Is it
    secure??
    

    Sorry, I don't have any first hand knowledge about the place. I'll try
    to find out more this weekend. I'd be surprised if it was heated so
    wouldn't be inclined to leave any gear there even if it was secure.
    
    Mark