THERE'S lots of news about live music venues and festivals, but not so much about the rehearsal rooms where young bands practice. They range from a multitude of gritty basements and bomb shelters to more professional studios. Nie Xin visits down and dirty digs.

Struggling indie and underground musicians, especially campus bands, typically rehearse in dark, shabby and messy rooms and Shanghai has its share of basement warrens and converted bomb shelters.

Some rehearsal rooms are tucked away in obscure places, reached by walking through restaurant kitchens to get to the basement stairs. The smell of mildew, cooking and toilets is not unfamiliar. Because of low fees, many rehearsal rooms are located in shabby neighborhoods.

Ten years ago, some rehearsal rooms nailed quilts to the walls in place of sound insulation and conditions were quite primitive.

As city's music scene has developed over the past 10 years, however, the number of rehearsal rooms has increased and some are quite professional, with professional equipment, insulation, air-conditioning and hourly fees.

This is the busiest season for music and music festivals, so there's increasing demand for rehearsal rooms.

By and large, they remain fairly gritty, but that's where young musicians nurture their dreams.

The Shelter, which opened around 10 years ago on Yuping Road S., is generally considered to have been the first in Shanghai, built in a converted air-raid shelter. Almost all the underground bands and indie musicians in Shanghai have rehearsed here.

It had around 15 small rooms; quilts were nailed to the walls for sound installation. There was electricity but no instruments were provided and there was no sound system. It was gritty and noisy.

It closed three years ago.

"No matter how things have changed, the rehearsal room is a good place to feel the atmosphere of young bands in the city," says Tang Yiqun (known as Maya), the guitarist of Momo, a four-piece female rock band founded in 2003. "The passion for music can be felt from the beating of drums and sweat in the closed basement."

Dark, untidy room

Momo recently performed at the Midi Festival and now they are busy at live houses. When there's an upcoming performance, they usually gather in a rehearsal room twice a week and play for three hours.

Rock0093, now in an improved space on Quxi Road, is the preferred practice room for Momo and many young bands. It's a famous studio in the basement of a Cantonese restaurant, but it's not easy to find even with the address.

A small sign on the door reads "Rock0093" (93 Lingling Rd was the original location). To get there, visitors must go through the back of the kitchen to reach the narrow old stairs to the basement. It contains six rooms where six bands can practice at the same time.

It's dark, untidy and filled with strange smells from the kitchen but the price is right, especially for campus musicians. Rock0093 charges Momo 60 yuan (US$9.77) per hour.

Four-piece campus band Paper Tiger, formed a year ago, has changed practice rooms several times. Now they rehearse at Lao Zhou music studio on Zhaojiabang Road.

"In winter I had a skin rash because of the bad, humid air in a basement room," says drummer Hu Haopu. "The environment, price and location are all factors but it's hard to find one that's perfect."

The price of a rehearsal room in Shanghai ranges from 30 yuan to 100 yuan per hour. The standard price is 150 yuan for three hours.

Lao Zhou is less than 20 square meters, but it's got proper insulation, equipment and a sound system. Hu from Paper Tiger calls it "pretty good," noting that apartments in the neighborhood are rented to many farmers who moved to the city.

"We are not complaining about that. When we meet them returning exhausted from a long day's work, we really feel their tough lives," says Paper Tiger vocalist Cotton.

"Our passion for music and the fun we have getting together are the most important thing. Compared with that, conditions in the rehearsal room seem quite trivial," he adds.

Gang Gang used to be the guitarist for local band Verjuice, which was formed 10 years ago, and he now owns a live house, TZ House (Chinese name "In a Flash") on Zhenning Road in Jing'an District.

He says he was one of the first people using rehearsal rooms in Shanghai and remembers The Shelter with nostalgia.

"I still remember The Shelter used to be located behind a construction site. To get there you had to first cross the site by stepping over rocks and avoiding sharp pieces of steel on the ground," he recalls.

It had around 15 rooms, the biggest 15 square meters and the smallest less than 10. It was rustic.

"At peak times, 15 bands were rehearsing at the same time and the extremely loud music could scare away all passersby," says Gang Gang. "It seemed that the sound of music covered the smell of bad surroundings."

When Momo was formed in 2003, there were very few rehearsal rooms and conditions were very bad, says Tang from Momo. "Now you have more options, but the messy part hasn't changed a lot."

Momo also rehearses in the basement of Mao Livehouse in Red Town creative hub on Huaihai Road W., where they meet many friends.

"Here you are not just renting a place to practice, but a community that knows you and has dreams like yours," Tang says.

Rehearsal rooms now usually provide instruments such as electric guitars, keyboards, drums and other instruments. Some rehearsal room owners are also band members and will help musicians out by providing equipment, letting them store their equipment if they use the space regularly and helping them to network.

"Owners either have their own band or at least they are music lovers, pursuing music more than money," says Ke Lin, co-owner of Beneyard, a rehearsal space in a Jing'an District neighborhood.

It's run by five young men, who all once founded bands in Shanghai. Today they call themselves just "music players." They met in a musical instruments store and came up with the idea of opening a rehearsal room. All have regular jobs and they take turns running the studio.

"All of us have band experience and now we hope to provide a place for young people to play music. We're not in it for money," says Ke.