For bands in Cardiff looking for rehearsal space, equipment hire, affordable but high quality…read morerecording facilities, or storage space for their own equipment, Musicbox offers a comprehensive range of services and facilities. Bands such as Lost Prophets and Los Campesinos rehearse there regularly, apparently. They're probably best known for the six band practice rooms (with air con) available from as little as £5 per hour during off peak periods (10am-6pm) with a single person discount, and up to £11 per hour during peak period (6pm until midnight). Bands can also book out rooms for a whole day from about £110 - although they have a special all-day Saturday deal for £50 at the moment. The smaller Cardiff Rehearsal Rooms in Roath are cheaper (with 3 hour sessions from £20) but have fewer rooms. Musicbox also offers high quality recording facilities and have experienced engineers and producers on hand to help bands get the best sound - plus their equipment hire is useful if some of your kit gets broken just before a gig! Word gets around quickly on Cardiff's local music scene, so reputation is everything with a business like this - and Musicbox seems to have built up a good one, and offers genuinely good value for money.

I've ended up rehearsing in most of the rehearsal studios in Cardiff at one point or another in my…read morelife, and I can safely say Musicbox is the pick of the bunch. Time was, before it went bankrupt and suddenly closed down, Clearline was the place to go; it had big enough rooms for all kinds of bands, equipment to rent if you needed it for the evening and opening times that suited the slightly nocturnal among us. And Musicbox is just like Clearline except, you know, moreso.... Sessions are booked in three hour blocks, with blocks going for £30 for the session. They open from 10am to midnight for their main practice spaces, which consist of six colour coded rooms each big enough to fit a thirteen piece band in with enough room for spectators. Musicbox is the tops, and the big Welsh bands seem to agree. My Chemical Romance, Los Campesinos and lostprophets are semi-regular visitors to the place and you'll often see them unloading their gear as you're entering.

I recorded an EP here not long ago and found the service here to be top notch. We recorded with the…read moreengineer here - Lyn Price and we got a decent price for the 3 days recording time we had. I've found that often, recording studios want to get as much money out of you as possible but we never felt that here and we crammed alot of work into the 3 days. There's good equipment there if you need a different sound for a particular song and the software used to record was amazing. I'd highly recommend Red Rock Studios because they made me sound good, and that's not easy!

I like Manic Studios a lot. Having played in various bands for the last 9 years I've been to many a…read moregrubby rehearsal room, charging high rates because they know you don't have too much choice if you need a space to jam. Manic is fairly new and they've got some of the best equipment available to rent that I've seen in a rehearsal space. Normally rehearsal rooms provide the musical equivalent of the spare PE kit at school but Manic have decent equipment. The rooms are large, with big fans in to keep you cool if you're of a more energetic ilk. The guys who work here are decent and they will make the bands tea and coffee free of charge just for practising there. The prices vary between £7 and £10 per hour depending on what time of day and which day of the week you need. I've never recorded there but there are samples of the quality on their website if you're looking.

Nigel and the team are excellent. The studios are clean well kept with excellent equipment. It is…read morethe best rehearsal studio set up Special Brew have used and the cups of tea that regularly turn up during the sessions are very much appreciated. Highly recommended

Warwick Hall is an old warehouse planted at the back of Whitchurch Road. You'll have to go down a…read morecouple of back alleys to find it, and there's very little room for cars to park, drive or turn around, but somehow they've managed to turn this place into a serviceable recording studio and rehearsal space for the bands of Cardiff. It's run by two brothers who have managed to make it into one of the more known rehearsal studios in the area by offering very reasonable rates for the time and by catering to the many local car-less student bands that spring up during university terms. The recording facilities are cheap too, but they give a fair sound for what you'll end up paying, mixing and mastering the recording being thrown in with the price. The inside is a little bit grubby, looking a bit like a recording studio from a Dickens' novel. If you can get past that though, this place has everything you need for your burgeoning band to get started.

This is a fantastic facility to have just outside of Cardiff. As part of the Media Center, housing…read moreITV Wales and other major media names, the studio is just right for small, musical endeavors. Run by a BAFTA award winning composer and arranger and his partner in crime, a well qualified and experienced sound technician, there is a wealth of expertise available. And what is best is that as much as it is run by specialists, it is a really friendly and down to earth environment. I've never seen so much shiny equipment, and there are facilities for recording, mixing and syncing with film and video. The main studio is fully equipped with some state of the art instruments, as well as some fantastic vintage gear. If you're looking for somewhere to record you next album then this would be a great place to start your search!

John Rea runs this fantastic recording studio out in the business park wilderness that is Culvers…read moreCross. Situated in the ITV Wales building, it shares its corridor space with the movers and groovers of the media scene. If you're a band, and you want to rehearse and record an EP, then John will be able to help you out for a reasonable fee. You can feel safe in the knowledge that you are in good hands here, as John is a BAFTA award winning composer. I don't know a lot about musical instruments, so am not going to pretend I do. What I saw was all very pretty and shiny, some of it was massively funky looking, in fact I feel a sudden urge to learn piano....

Great place with excellent facilities for musical theatre, auctions, functions, films and…read moreeverything else. Trying hard to provide an interesting and useable service in a tired valley town the facility is modern and impressive. They could perhaps do with better advertising of their performances as I always seem to hear of things after they have occurred which is frustrating and I cannot see them detailed on the internet anywhere. Centrally located within walking distance of a bus stop, 5 miles from the train station and lots of free parking nearby. Pubs and Takeaways in the local area with one or two of the pubs doing a decent meal - could do with tying up a deal with one of them for an after theatre menu.

The Met is a great place. Check out the web site http://www.the-met.co.uk for up to date listings…read moreof events, performances and activities

I went to see Rain Man here a few months ago featuring Oliver Chris and Neil Morrisey. As a…read moretheatre virgin as it were, I entered with much trepidation, unsure of what to expect. I was highly impressed. It's decorated quite lavishly in a pretty old-fashioned way. It certainly conformed to every imagining I had of what a theatre should look like inside and was in keeping with the history of the building, built in 1878. Onto the bar then! The service was quick and the drinks were reasonably priced. A surprise, as I thought I'd get stung for a drink here. A cool service they provided (I have no idea if this is standard fare or not) is that you could order drinks for the intermission, so when you come out, rather than waste any precious time queueing and paying, your drinks are there waiting for you with your name on! I thought this was brilliant. As nobody really wants to stand up in the middle of a tense scene and shuffle past an entire row, there was the expected mad rush for the bathrooms at the end of the performance but the toilets were adequately sized which was great. I'm not a big theatre person but I had a really enjoyabke night here and would definitely go back if something that took my fancy came to town.

The New Theatre is an old classic looking theatre that I always remember when visiting it on school…read moretrips to see what shows they had. I vaguely remember seeing 'The Hobbit' on stage and that was enjoyable. The New Theatre is one of the oldest buildings in Cardiff and still delivers shows for everybody. If I were to put a certain category of shows the New Theatre has it would be pantomimes. Everyone loves the pantomime and The New Theatre knows this, it has had shows like Aladin, Dick Whittington and a variety of other shows. It does have some drama plays too. I went to and see Romeo and Juliet with my girlfriend. However, this does bring me to mention a problem the auditorium has. We were sitting at the back of the stalls and unfortunately we had a giant pillar between our seats so we couldn't even see each other, this wasn't exactly the most romantic way to spend an evening watching Romeo and Juliet's final scenes and all I have to comfort me is a pillar. New Theatre I beg of you, please knock this pillar down. The New Theatre is an old classic theatre that still has a buzz when a performance starts. It may not have the most contemporary shows but it's brilliant for families. My only problem is that annoying pillar. Knock it down!

The Arts Centre showed a live RSC production of Love's Labour's Lost tonight and it was a lot of…read morefun. We sat on the balcony where the seats were arranged as in a theatre. Downstairs there were chairs grouped around tables and I saw people enjoying the Shakespeare while at the same time enjoying their wine. A little bar is on site selling spirits, wine and coffee. They might sell beer too but I never look for it so I can't remember seeing it. There was a cafe next to the bar but it was closed during the intermission, it looked cute though. It was my first time at the Arts Centre and I'll be going back now that I know what an impressive and diverse line up it has. There is a small car park across the road but we found parking on the street as it was after 6pm.

I would totally agree with the first review of this place. It's a really good place for…read moreentertainment in Pontardawe, something you'd expect to find in a large town or city. I've been lucky enough to see a few great acts there - Jo Brand was my favourite to see, she was hilarious. My husband has just been to see Fish (remember him? From Marillion??). There's always a good atmosphere whenever I've been there. They also show films there, usually weekly. These showings tend to be quite quiet, and it's cheaper than going to any other cinema around here. Well worth a visit - keep an eye on their website or ask to be added to their mailing list. For the more famous names, they sell out quite quickly, so book sooner rather than later!