Mustachian musicians - Where to find studio/rehearsal spaces?

[aldrimer]

Hi guys!

I'm a musician - I play several instruments and produce music as a hobby, as well as a part time job. However, finding a place where it's possible to practice loud instruments (I play the drum set...) and/or set up a studio for mixing and recording purposes is proving to be a pain. I live in Norway, so rent prices are generally really high. I found some monthly rehearsal spaces / studios in my city, but they go for a higher monthly rent than the room I currently live in (!). Now, I can technically afford it, but... FIRE is a higher priority than a fancy studio at the moment.

Do you guys have any suggestions to alternative places to look for rehearsal rooms? I'm trying to be creative in my search, and I will keep on looking, but I would love to hear suggestions from all the mustachian musicians out there and your setup! Thanks :)

[Telecaster]

You have to be extremely creative.  Sometimes a commercial building, especially and owner-occupied building, will have a unit or two that aren't occupied.   Maybe the unit is in the basement level, partially unfinished, or otherwise not a great space.  Maybe the landlord has future plans for that space but hasn't gotten around to it yet. That kind of thing.  Very possibly those types of spaces won't be advertised, so you have to ask around to find them.   But if they are advertised it will be as office space or storage space, not studio space.     

Other types of spaces are advertised as warehouse or workshop spaces.  My last band space was in a facility that rented secure rooms to companies for document storage.  We found out about it because one of our guys was looking for document storage for his company.  He looked at the place, asked if it would be okay for bands, and the manager agreed.   

[englishteacheralex]

I have no personal experience with this, but I started a thread once asking for cost-effective ways to use self-storage units, and one of the consistent things people said was that musicians will often rent storage units as rehearsal spaces. I'm not sure if this would work--seems like many self-storage warehouse owners might be opposed to this as a use of their units. But it might be worth making some phone calls to find out.

[aldrimer]

Great ideas, guys! Thank you! I will call around and see what I can find! :)