Here’s our list of Melbourne’s best rehearsal studios, because starting a band is one of everyone’s resolutions every year.
If you’re a Melburnian, you’ve picked the right place to begin your musical career. Our scene is jam-packed with great venues, people, and studios, and Melbourne’s best rehearsal studios are some of the best in Australia.
Today we’re diving into some of Melbourne’s best rehearsal studios so you can practice that new hit single, jam with some mates, or just to kill some time messing around on your instrument.
In true Melbourne fashion, there’s something for all types of musos, whether you want to practice your Mozart piece for your exam while enjoying a craft brew, or get chosen to appear in some killer studio band nights, you’ll find something right up your alley in this definitive list.
Check out our in-depth profiles on many of Melbourne rehearsal studios here.
Bakehouse Studios
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– Address: 27-29 Hoddle Street, Richmond
– Bookings: [email protected]
When you’ve got a rehearsal space that has been described by the legendary Elvis Costello as ‘one of the best practice studios in the world’, it should come as no surprise that it’s a vintage styled space where the walls ooze creative mojo.
The Bakehouse has more rooms than you can shake a stick at, each with a distinct style, so you can choose a room that matches you. To name a few, there’s the Glam room, which features a massive 80’s hair metal vibe, the Metal room which feels like you’re walking into a dingy dive bar, or the Book room, which is a chilled space perfect for acoustic performers.
With rooms of all sizes and catering to different budgets, Bakehouse went through a major refurbishment last year to equip their studios with brand new mixing desks and power amps.
Be prepared to feel the aura of famous faces that have graced the Bakehouse Studio rooms in years past, from Courtney Barnett to The Avalanches to Tones and I.
Backline Studios
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– Address: 2/321 Arden St, Kensington
– Bookings: Online
Nestled away in the often-quiet and sparsely populated streets of Kensington, Backline Studio’s a great joint to work on your music without bugging anyone living in close proximity, unlike many other spots within the city. So you can blast you death metal riff without worrying about getting a noise violation.
There’s three rehearsal rooms on offer, the Purple Room, which is the most popular of the pack, because all you need to do it show up with your instruments – there’s a fully stocked, state of the art backline ready for you to use. Then there’s the Green Room and Orange Room, which have the bare bones of a backline, so if you want to bring more of your own stuff, this is the spot for you.
They’ve got a great online booking calendar here where you can get a visual representation of the day to day and check out who else has booked the rooms.
Wick Rehearsal Studios
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– Address: 23-25 Leslie Street, Brunswick
– Bookings: Online
Wick Rehearsal Studios is one of the biggest on this list, this spot is a 15 room, state of the art rehearsal space. Each room has been acoustically designed, treated, and engineered for optimum sound quality and minimal noise bleed, while also being individually climate controlled and ventilated, so it’s ideal for whatever type of music you’re practicing.
All rooms come standard with professional stereo PA systems with 16/24/32 channel mixing consoles, enabling full multi-track recording of your rehearsal. Now you can capture the magic before that new riff slips away.
To really make sure you can craft some great music at their spot, the Wick features a licensed space where you can grab a barista made latte, a tap beer, or anything from their selection of beverages and snacks, helping to get the energy back up so you can work through.
You can book in one of their 15 rooms for a five hour session, and prices start at $55. Check out a rundown of Wick’s rooms, equipment, prices, and book in your session here.
Pony Rehearsal Studios
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– Address: 3 / 37-41 Hallam South Road, Hallam and 5 / 9 Hi-Tech Place, Rowville
– Bookings: 9702 3244
The Pony’s truly a hidden gem, it’s packing 11 studios over two locations in Melbourne’s Southeast. Offering clean and quality sounding rooms at affordable prices, each room features a 8 Channel Mixing Console, EQ, and Professional PA Speakers.
There’s also extensive backline options to choose from including drums, guitar and bass amplifiers alongside keyboards and cymbals. Or if you need to load in your own backline, Pony specifies a ‘flat and easy load-in’ so you can spend less time setting up and more time playing.
If you’re looking for an update for your instrument too, Pony’s got a great on-site store where you can grab a new axe or two. On top of that, there’s also a handy accessory shop attached, in case you need essentials like strings, a tuner, or even a snack!
Their spacious rooms are great for whatever type of music you’re playing, and are big enough to fit up to 6 members of your band comfortably. Perhaps most important of all, Pony also offers Free Wi-Fi for all room users, so you can look up that Guitar Tab for that song you forgot without wasting your data.
Kindred Studios
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– Address: 212A Whitehall Street, Yarraville
– Bookings: Online
Complete with PA, stands and microphones as standard, all the rooms at Kindred are carpeted, and temperature controlled so you can rehearse in comfort.
In what seems to be a standard across studios in this list, Kindred also offer a bunch of music gear essentials at their in-house shop, and a cafe on site, slinging some great food and killer coffee.
In a world with clever marketing, sometimes venues are made to look much more appealing than they are, but Kindred remedies this by offering a free tour of the grounds so you know you’ll be heading to the right place.
Kindred focuses on creative integration, so bands have photo, video and dance studios all at their fingertips, making the area great for collaborative projects, each of which can be booked in here.
Crosstown Soundstudio
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– Address: 3 Fink St, Preston
– Bookings: [email protected]
Crosstown Soundstudio’s seven rooms are perfect music writing spaces. Their sleek aesthetic limits disruptions, so you can really make sure you’re getting the most out of a visit.
Check out Google and encounter many stellar reviews, each of which laud the spacious studios, and the limited amount of noise bleeding from other rooms.They’ve got three rooms ready for you to use, the small being perfect for groups of 5, large fitting 10, and their premium room fitting many more. Dive into the prices here.
Their on-site recording studio has gained a lot of attention in recent times, it’s equipped with some better-than-standard tech, and when coupled with one of Australia’s best engineers Joshua Whitehead, you know your EP will end up sounding great.
Hydra Studios
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– Address: 18 Duffy Street, Burwood
– Bookings: 0417 000 397
Designed by registered and qualified acoustic engineers, the soundproofing at Hydra Studios will keep the metal band thrashing it out next door completely isolated from your solo rehearsal.
Each room is fitted with 2 state of the art HK Audio active 15” speakers, a brand new Mackie ProFX12 desk and a Yamaha MSR 400 active foldback speaker, as well as coming standard with microphones, leads and boom stands. To seal the deal, Hydra regularly organize gigs and events showcasing artists who rehearse with them, check out the shows that have been put on by Hydra here.
You won’t be spending an arm and a leg to practice here either, for a five-hour session, a band of four or more is only around $88, which is super cheap after it’s broken up between a group.
Frequency Rehearsal Studios
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– Address: 17/21 Eugene Terrace, Ringwood
– Bookings: SMS 0429 588 587
If you’re after a space a little bit closer to home, look no further than Frequency Studios, one of Ringwood’s premier rehearsal studios. Their spacious rooms feature some great equipment ready for you to write the next hit single.
If you’re looking for a backline, from an easy $25 per session, you can round out your sound with some state-of-the-art instrumentation. Check out room prices and availability over on their website here.
If you’re ready for the next step in the music making process, Frequency also offers a bunch of reasonably priced recording packages, like the $2860 EP Recording pack, which includes a 6-day session at the studio and one day of editing, mixing and mastering.
Soundpark Studios
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– Address: 10-16 St Georges Rd
– Bookings: 0425706382
Soundpark Studios brings the best of old school studios with the best of current technology. They’ve got four rooms on offer, each with a slightly different style and character, so everyone can get a different experience out of a rehearsal here.
Their backline is available for hire, and has some pretty bloody great stuff, like a Korg keyboard, Fender Jazzmaster, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
If you want to take the next step, Soundpark also has the capability for recordings, and artists can record in a few different ways, from on tape to ProTools. Visit here and you will have shared a space with some of Australia’s best musos like San Cisco and Dave Graney to name a few.
Lighting Lab
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– Address: 16 Clarice Rd, Box Hill South
– Bookings: 9898 7064
In what started as a lighting company for live music events, the Lighting Lab has gone from strength to strength in the live entertainment world, now being one of the most popular rehearsal spaces in Melbourne.
With decades of experience in all areas of the music industry, the team have created an amazing studio that’s had attention from some of Melbourne’s biggest groups, as they know what drives musicians in this day and age.
When creativity doesn’t strike, the Lighting Lab has a great lounge area, so you can enjoy a snack and try and come up with that bridge.
Three Phase Studios
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– Address: 8 Tinning Street, Brunswick
– Bookings: 9939 8896
You’ll find Three Phase Studios among the last few industrial buildings in Brunswick, their 11 rehearsal rooms are still standing strong with their high-powered PA systems, SM58’s, and most importantly, air conditioning, perfect for those sweaty breakdown moments.
Three Phase also features an expansive food and drink section in their rehearsal space, a café with a selection of teas, coffees and cakes, or if you’re enjoying a later studio session, there’s a fully licensed bar with craft brews, or spirits from local distillers. On Saturdays, Three Phase allows for private bookings of the entire studio, which features full bar service!
Their 11 rooms cover all types of needs, their small rooms are spacious enough to knock out some solo practice, or their large rooms are perfect for rehearsing performances or filming music videos. Check some images of the spaces and a map of the spot here.
Three Phase Rehearsal Studios is Melbourne’s most versatile new recording space
Castaway Podcast Studios
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– Address: 7 Easey St, Collingwood
– Bookings: Online
With the meteoric rise in podcasts over the last couple of years, we’ve seen an influx of cool studios and spaces for podcasters to get to work on their craft. There are three studios on offer at Castaway, each fully equipped with everything you need and more.
Or if you’re someone who bought some state-of-the-art equipment back in quarantine for some at-home recording, Castaway can still help you out with some virtual assistance, with their online remote recording studio. Their experienced producers and engineers work with you over zoom (or whatever service you prefer) and get the most out of your online recording.
These studios are used by some of Melbourne’s most well known podcasters, in the past, Castaway has seen Peter Helliar, Denise Scott, and Judith Lucy record their work.
Check out all the prices, room features, and much more over on Castaway’s website here.
