Vanbrugh Rocks: Garage Practice Space Membership ADD-ON gives additional access to our fully equipped band practice space, with drum kit, electronic piano, PA, guitar and bass amps and leads - all in a heated and ventilated sound absorbent space.

You can pay for access each Semester or get a discount for the whole year by paying for the annual add-on.

By paying this small addition, you will also be invited to sign up for subsidised studio recording training sessions - get signed off to hire the studio and record your own bands or make a bit of money working as a sound technician or record producer.  Bands can also get free recording, since our apprentice technicians need someone to practice on!

Joining The College Music Scheme

All students and staff at the University of York are invited to sign up for FREE membership of The Colleges' Music Program: our program of musical events, activities, mentoring and workshops.  This was set up to provide creative and skills development opportunities as part of the Colleges broad wellbeing program. So whether you are an economist who wants to be a rock star or an archaeologist who wants to compose, or a chemist who wants to create dance music, we have something for you.

To see more of what we are doing, go to the College Music Scheme website.

You can pay for each Semester individually or get a discount for the whole year by paying for the annual add-on. Students: £10 a semester and £5 for the Summer Vacation period or £20 for the year. Staff: £25 a semester/summer vacation period or £60 for the year.

Vanbrugh Rocks Instrument Lending Library: If you are borrowing an instrument valued over £500 for us to replace then we usually charge £5 a week. 

Some of the instruments in this catagory included: Double Bass, Cello, some of the more valuable guitars, saxophones etc.

To see a full list of instruments, go to the Vanbrugh Rocks Instrument Lending Library website.

Please DO NOT purchase this until you have signed out the instrument and been sent a request to pay via this method.  Refunds are hard to do!

How to pay:

When you return an instrument we will count up how many weeks you have had the instrument and send you a link to this page asking you to pay the number of week owed.

If there are repairs to be made to the instrument we may also ask you to make an additional payment.

If you have had an instrument out for 5 weeks then we give you 1 week free - 5 weeks for the price of 4!

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected] before you make a payment.

Vanbrugh Rocks: Instrument Lending Library ADD-ON gives access to borrowing a variety of instruments, whether for personal practice and learning, or for using in recordings, or for gigs.  Instruments valued under £500 can be borrowed for FREE; over £500 for £5/week.   

You can pay for access each Semester or get a discount for the whole year by paying for the annual add-on.

To see a full list of instruments, go to the Vanbrugh College Music website.  If you have a specific instrument in mind, we recommend contacting the College Music Team at [email protected] prior to purchasing membership so that we can be sure that the instrument you want is available for you.

Joining The College Music Scheme

All students and staff at the University of York are invited to sign up for FREE membership of the College Music Scheme: our program of musical events, activities, mentoring and workshops.  This was set up to provide creative and skills development opportunities as part of the Colleges broad wellbeing program. So whether you are an economist who wants to be a rock star or an archaeologist who wants to compose, or a chemist who wants to create dance music, we have something for you.

Sign up for Free here: College Music Scheme Sign-Up Form

You can pay for each Semester individually or get a discount for the whole year by paying for the annual add-on. Students: £10 a semester and £5 for the Summer Vacation period or £20 for the year. Staff: £20 a semester/summer vacation period or £60 for the year. 

Studio Training Course: Please read carefully

PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE UNTIL YOU HAVE SIGNED UP TO A SESSION/COURSE AND BEEN SENT A REQUEST TO PAY.

The Garage Band Practice Space has a recording studio attached that you can hire BUT you need to get signed off by our staff in order to use this facility.  Our recording studio uses a Mackie 16 track desk and Reaper is the mixing software that the University has licensed for all students and staff. 

• For experienced sound engineers, we run single "Fast Track" sign-off sessions, to introduce you to the specifics of the Garage Recording Studio as well as the rules of use. After which you can hire the studio to record yourself, record your own band, or maybe even earn some money recording other bands! Depending on how much advice or support you want, this session may last only 45 minutes but we allow 3 hours. Garage Members Free; Non-members £5. 
• For those who have used recording studios before and have some experience but need to get some practical experience, you can advance straight to the "Practical Session" which is a 6 hour session, practising recording a band, including learning to set up and take down equipment, recording various instruments including drums. Garage Members £5; Non-members £10. 
• For complete beginners we run a 3 hours introduction session where you will learn about the basics of recording, how the equipment works. We recommend that all students new to studio recording start off this session, before advancing to the practical session. Garage Members Free; Non-members £5. 
• When students feel confident enough to record by themselves, they can request a sign-off session. We will organise a band (or you can arrange with a band you know) for a 6 hour recording session where you will be responsible for the recording, under supervision.  We usually try to do this in pairs so you have a buddy to work with.  If our tutor is happy that you can confidently run the studio then you will get a course sign-off certificate and can then hire the facility. Garage Members £10; Non-members £15. 
• You can pay for each session individually or sign up for a full course.  If you sign up for a full course then you can attend as many practical sessions and have as many goes at the sign-off session as we have spaces available without paying any additional costs, so if you want to pursue this to the end, then this is the more economical option. Garage Members £15; Non-Members £25.