Banana Row

It’s been a while since anybody has reviewed Banana Row, and in that time, I think there’s been an upgrade of equipment. We were very impressed with what was available.
In terms of service, the guy at the front desk didn’t seem too interested, simply greeting us with a hello and then telling us which practice room was ours. And that was that. If you’re coming to do a practice session, you do kind of want to get straight to it. So, this didn’t bother us at all. — It was the practice space, equipment and cost per hour which was important to us.
It was £9 an hour for a duo. The cost goes up dependent on the number of people because the room is bigger. We would usually practice at home during the day but my current schedule doesn’t allow this so often, and we were cautious of bothering neighbours in the evening. Obviously, if you’re a big loud band you just can’t practice at home so places like Banana Row are a necessity. Also, the rooms are all soundproofed with that funny black foam on the walls which magically keeps all the noise in. — We didn’t hear a peep from any other bands!
We will definitely be using Banana Row more often as it was great to have piece of mind when practicing. And as a weekly thing, it isn’t too costly.

I’ve used this studio a number of times while playing in Edinburgh, and have always found everything to be decent, if overpriced. The equipment is of decent quality and well maintained — amps are generally modern Marshall, Trace Elliot or Ampeg — while the PA systems are generally of good quality. The rooms are clean and well soundproofed, but are generally much too small to expect very good acoustics if you are playing at high volume.
For what you are getting, however, this studio is somewhat overpriced — up to £10 per hour — and you are generally charged by the hour.
Essentially, everything works well, and as long as you don’t mind run-​of-​the-​mill equipment, the gear is fine. Just don’t expect great acoustics!

This popular yet overpriced studio is staple for Edinburgh band’s, and although quite central I think it is quite overrated. I just think that there should be better equipment and nicer sounding rooms for the price that you have to pay.
It’s also pretty annoying how you have to book the room for three hours at peak time even if you only want to rehearse for two. It’s just too expensive when you’re a penniless musician.

Being a beginner to the whole music scene, I was quite intimidated by the prospect of booking rehearsal space for lessons. However, the guys here are really laid back aboutwell, everything! and genuinely pleased to help out, and they go out of their way to make everything as easy as possible for you.
As well as having a whole range of equipment you can rent out, they also sell all the basics like sticks, clutches, earphones and the like on site, which is very useful if you get there and discover you’ve forgotten something! Their rates are very reasonable — you can book one of their smaller rooms for £6 p/​h for one or two people, or £12 p/​h for one of their band-​sized rehearsal rooms.
They also have a full suite of custom-​built editing equipment, and you can rent out their recording studio and sound engineer for £35 p/​h once you feel you’ve had enough practice!

An ideal spot for bands to get together and do some jamming! The place offers 3 fully professional rehersal rooms (plus an extra one when you are learning) equiped with drum kits, amplifiers, speakers, mixers. If you lack some stuff you can borrow it for additional minimal cost. Prices are: £6 p/​h if you practice alone or £12 p/​h for the whole band. Nice atmosphere but you need to book a room in advace since it’s one of the best such studio’s in the city. As for a musician I can say that it is a perfect place just to spend some quality time with your band-​mates!