PIRATE.COM - Rehearsal Studios Avis 

A bit impersonal and most of the owners are resident in Hong Kong (China) and Singapore (tax reasons). Studio is okay until something goes wrong, at which point you are forced to interact with an AI chatbot via WhatsApp, phone or webpage. Fire alarm was sounding when we arrived for our session (everything is monitored remotely, down in South Africa--have to keep costs low!). The alarm carried on for over one hour, and ultimately there was NO INSPECTION on site into the cause, just instructions provided via WhatsApp to another customer who deactivated the alarm themselves. This is a HUGE fire safety issue. Pirate is just a tragedy waiting to happen; best avoided, sorry.

I have been using Pirate Studios for approximately eight years now. I initially started at the North Greenwich location and later moved to Dalston Junction.

However, over the past few months, I’ve experienced recurring issues with my bookings. On one occasion, my entire booking was cancelled while I was already en route, and I was forced to book a studio in Camden — which is not easily accessible, for your information.

At the Camden location, I encountered problems with recording. After spending 15 minutes on the phone with support, I was informed that this particular site still uses a recording link instead of the app. This wasn’t communicated anywhere — how would anyone know?

Most recently, I booked a three-hour session to record some important sets. Unfortunately, I spent an hour and a half texting on WhatsApp the support team due to technical issues. The new app was going offline repeatedly, and it failed to detect any sound — it was a complete nightmare.

Even after being moved to a different room, the issue persisted. I’d like to clarify that the problem is not with my phone, as I have successfully recorded many sets using the previous link-based system. However, this new app has been a terrible experience.

As someone who suffers from anxiety, the stress of the situation deeply affected me. I was left shaking and in no state to enjoy or perform my mix properly. I had no choice but to request a refund and cancel the remainder of the booking.

Unfortunately, I will no longer be using Pirate Studios for professional recordings. I will have to resort to using my laptop at home — although I can’t play as loud there, at least I have some control over the environment.

Sara was an absolute doll and everyone else that helped us. Couldn’t recommend further

They call a locksmith company and after when we finish the jobs they refuze to pay £264
Very unprofessional stuff

Die Preise sind viel zu hoch und die Seite ist generell verbuggt ich hatte 12 mal versucht meine ak gegen eine usps zu traden und immer stand bei der usps das sie nicht verfügbar seit! Echt ein Saftladen

***Horrible customer support and lost £250 - beware***

Having been a regular user of Pirate Studios for a number of years I was shocked to find out that our bands rehearsal was cancelled for "attempting to tamper with CCTV", and £250 had been taken from my bank account. Attempts to contact support to resolve the situation were met with a flippant and rude response that also resulted in myself being banned from using Pirate rehearsal rooms, purely because I had sent an email to their "Security" department (I was explicitly told in the 1st email from them I was not banned provided the £250 charge was successful)

With such a claim as serious as what has been levied against us there has not been any proof of it occurring and we cannot seem to take this to anyone else in the company.

General problems you may encounter in these rooms:

- Missing cables for Amps, Mics etc.
- Shoddy drum kits with bodge job repairs (hi-hat pedals being held together with tape)
- Non functioning AC in rooms that have no windows
- Mismatched amplifiers for intended purpose (pairing a tiny bass amp in rooms with drum kits and much more powerful guitar amps)
- Broken equipment that has not been replaced in the room, such as microphones, PA channels
- Equipment different from what is stated for the room on website, sometimes resulting in vastly different gear that is not suitable

Avoid Pirate Studios and go to a real rehearsal room ran by people who are actually present and don't try to commit daylight robbery - they are happy to take money from musicians pockets if they think they can get away with it

The assistant was so helpful , skillful and kind ! We are so pleased !

I've been using Pirate at Wembley since 2020 but I've now had to stop. They cancelled my booking on Monday Feb 17 at 11.00am. I was informed on the preceding Saturday night (Feb 15) by text. No specific reason given - just a blithe "We're sorry, but sometimes things change" message. This is the THIRD time this has happened. They did the exact same thing on May 6 2023 and again on Feb 6 2024 and now Feb 15 2025. They even have an option on their dropdown menu when you are giving a reason for claiming your refund: "Pirate cancelled your session". Either they have no concept of what it entails to get four working musicians timetabled to be in the same place at the same time. Or they simply don't care. Either way they are clearly not in command of their business model. Luckily, we were able to get a last-minute booking at The Arch studio in Stamford Brook where they provided a room at less-than-24-hours notice with better equipment for about the same price. It's not as convenient as Pirate, but my band will be rehearsing at The Arch in future. That's enough of Pirate for me.

Play button was dodgy hardly worked properly, decks were in terrible condition and staff were extremely rude. I like pirate however this has completely changed my outlook

I booked a recording session in Notting Hill, UK as I wanted to record vocals with my condenser mic. I could hear: people talking, drums and bass coming from some other session, doors opening and closing, trains passing by! It's one thing to say that rooms are not treated but this is quite similar to the situation in my living room.
I wouldn't call this a "recording studio" as there is nothing you can effectively record in there.

I had an issue, but it was sorted quite swiftly, we were back up and running in no time. best studio going about for djs

Bristol… Yesterday we Set up gear / fired everything up to find One speaker in PA was giving out huge distortion…. Then turned up guitar amp up to volume and the cabinet was F**ked, farting all over the place..
Overall the sound was abysmal…
I made a complaint this morning only to be told nothing can be done as we should have reported it at the time and we would have been moved to another room...
There are no staff in the building so we would have had to wait for them to arrive and then waste another hour breaking down and resetting drums again..
By then we would have had 2 hours rehearsal time left.. which would include 30 mins breaking down drums AGAIN and packing them up..!
Customer service appalling just like the equipment provided…!!!!

The problem is lighting u cant see what you are doing with the amps and pa also when i arrived the drum kit wasnt set up so had to spend 10 mins trying to set it up not great ...

Car park scam and Lack of equipment, first visit there, No visible screen in reception or signage about parking, and security man never mentioned it, got a £60 fine, also was told a full kit was in the room, when we turned up there were no symbols. total waste of time and got a £60 fine, I don't recommend using at all.

Staff was very helpful with my situation great as always

Arrived at 6pm to the Earlsfield studio. We had no power in the room. Took me 25mins to get through to someone on the online support, where they told me a fuse had blown and they couldn't move us to another studio. "Really sorry about that" and said they don't have any technicians to fix anything in the evenings.

They also told me the room we were in hadn't been used since the previous night and that because whoever was in there before didn't report the blown fuse the technicians didn't bother checking the room all day. Then the technicians went home before we arrived and we were left with a faulty room. So basically its their customers fault for not reporting, apparently not their fault for being lazy and not maintaining the rooms so the next customer isnt left at a loss.

They only just about refunded the money for the session after an hour and a half of back and forth and taking it to management. And we were then offered a slot at notting hill at 9pm, and considering the band members had come from all over the place outsid eof London that was of course not an option. They left us with nothing to do but turn around and go home which was an hour plus journey. Completely wasted our time, plus the time it took to actually get through to them and then battle them for compensation. Joke of a service, dont risk your time and money with them.

Private and affordable. A great space to work and explore ideas and record ✨ no other place like pirate.

Great set up, good service, highly recommended, for a session

Equipment issues were endless (Leicester Pirate Studios).

I was not expecting much, and I was right. However the idea of Pirate Studios is great but on this scale its almost impossible to make it work. The Studio(?) I booked stank of OB, fried chicken and sweat... the controller keyboard was really small - 2 Octave mini keys.... and the bin was full. I had to leave the door open for the first hour. It was an interesting experience. Basically you get what your pay for? yeah! But don't let that stop you, just make sure you bring your own controller and air freshener.