Est. 2025 — Gosport, Hampshire

Rehearse. Record. Release. Repeat.

Rehearsal, recording, mixing and mastering under one roof. Rooms that sound right, gear that just works, and a professional behind the desk who actually listens.

RehearseFrom £35 / 2hr
RecordFrom £375/day
Mix/MasterFrom £150/track
Book a session
01The Studio

Room to be loud. Space to be heard.

Hot Cat Studios is a rehearsal room, recording studio and mix room in Gosport, five minutes from the Portsmouth ferry. Two rooms, a full backline, and someone behind the desk who cares what comes out of them.

At Hot Cat Studios, bands rehearse, records get made, and the two feed each other. What the studio earns goes straight back into the rooms and the gear rather than out of the door, so it keeps getting better without anyone having to wait for it. Covers band getting tight for a wedding, or tracking your first EP — same room, same attention to detail.

2Rooms
7Days a week
24hrMix turnaround
2Mix revisions
02The Rooms

Two rooms. No compromises.

The live room at Hot Cat Studios: drum kit on the riser against a reclaimed timber wall, guitar and bass backline either side.

The Live Room

Rehearse & Track

4.4 × 6.8 × 2.8 m  —  30 m² floor

A room, not a box. Full backline, drum riser and a ceiling high enough to let your songs breathe.

The Hot Cat Studios control room: mixing desk centred beneath the screen, monitors and house guitars either side.

The Control Room

Mix & Produce

4.9 × 3.4 × 2.5 m  —  17 m² floor

Nearfield-monitored and honest.

An engineer at the mixing desk in the Hot Cat Studios control room, a session open across the monitor.
Sessions tracked, mixed and mastered in-house.
An armchair beside a rack of house guitars against the slatted timber wall at Hot Cat Studios.
House guitars and a quiet corner to write in.
03What We Do

No hidden extras. Ever.

Every price below includes the backline, the PA, the mics, the tea — and on recording days, the engineer's setup time before you arrive. Recording is priced by the song or by the day, never by the hour, so the clock never decides when a take is finished. Book more than one song and the price per song comes down from there.

Want to hear it first? A few of the records made in these rooms —

Hear everything we’ve worked on — the full showcase →

01

Rehearsal

Two and three hour blocks in the live room. Backline, PA, mics, stands and mixing desk included. Bring your own cables, and your own snare and cymbals — or hire ours for £7.50.

£35 /2hr£47 / 3hr — save £5.50
02

Recording

For bands who already know what the songs are. We mic them up, get good sounds and capture them properly — you direct, we engineer. A day runs roughly nine to five, and we aren’t strict about it.

£375 /day
03

Production Package

Pre-production, two studio days, mix and master in one price, plus three hours of rehearsal per song to tighten up beforehand. This is us shaping the record with you, not just capturing it. Extra days at £275. Book more than one song and the first is £850, every one after £700.

£850 /song2 days, mix, master & 3hrs rehearsal
04

Mix & Master

Send us your stems from anywhere. Two rounds of revisions included, and a master that holds up next to anything else in the playlist.

From £150 /track
05

PA Hire

A 600w PA, 16-channel mixer, four mics, stands and all the cables, out the door for the weekend. Enough for a function room, a small hall or a party.

£120 /hire
04On The Floor

The full list, so you don’t have to email and ask.

The Rehearsal Kit List

  • Tama Superstar Hyperdrive kit
    Kit breakdown
    • 22" kick
    • 12" rack tom
    • 14" floor tom
    • 16" floor tom
    • 14" snare *
    • hi-hat stand with clutch
    • left crash stand (with tom arm)
    • right crash stand
    • ride stand
    • assortment of cymbals *
  • Ashdown OriginAL bass amp
  • Ashdown MAG 410T Deep 4×10 bass cab
  • Peavey Bravo 112
  • Fender FM212R
  • Fender Champion 100
  • Marshall MG250DFX
  • Marshall MG50DFX
  • Vox AC30VR
  • Alto Professional TX315 PA speakers
  • Behringer Xenyx X2222 USB mixer
  • 4× Behringer Ultravoice XM1800S
  • Large drum riser
  • 4× microphone stands
  • 2× music stands
  • 2× keyboard stands
  • Sofas and seating
  • 4× 5m XLR cables

Other

  • Ground-floor load-in
  • Free on-site parking
  • Free tea and coffee
  • Free wifi
  • Sofas and seating
  • Gear storage for regulars
  • Cables and stands
Recording (21)
  • ADAM T7V pair
  • Mac Mini M4
  • 2× Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (ADAT, 16 channel)
  • Furman power conditioner
  • Behringer X-Touch control surfaces
  • M-Audio 49-key controller keyboard
  • Slate ML-1A
  • Slate ML-2 (pair)
  • AKG C414 Gold (matched pair)
  • Aston Spirit (pair)
  • AKG C451 B
  • beyerdynamic TG D58 (pair)
  • Shure SM58 (trio)
  • AKG D125
  • Shure Unidyne III 545 (pair)
  • Sennheiser e902
  • t.bone EM 800 (pair)
  • t.bone BD 500 Beta
  • t.bone SC 140 (pair)
  • Sennheiser MEG 14-40 B
  • Neural DSP Quad Cortex
Instruments (17)
  • Nylon-string classical
  • Fender dreadnought steel-string acoustic
  • Ibanez 12-string acoustic
  • Gretsch Jim Dandy parlour acoustic
  • Encore dreadnought acoustic (Nashville tuning)
  • Sire Marcus Miller 5-string jazz bass
  • Sire Larry Carlton T7TM Thinline (P90)
  • PRS SE Custom
  • Fender Deluxe Stratocaster (push button)
  • Squier Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster
  • Squier Classic Vibe 60s Jazzmaster
  • 12-string electric
  • 7-string electric
  • Mandolin
  • Banjo ukulele
  • Lap steel
  • Assortment of percussion
Software & plugins (39)
  • Logic Pro X
  • Black Salt Audio Silencer
  • Celemony Melodyne
  • Slate Digital Complete Access
  • Harrison Audio Complete
  • SSL Complete
  • FabFilter Total Bundle
  • GGD Studio Cabs Zilla
  • iZotope Ozone 11 Advanced
  • iZotope RX 12 Advanced
  • Native Instruments Komplete 15 Ultimate
  • Neural DSP Cory Wong X
  • Neural DSP Misha Mansoor X
  • Neural DSP Plini X
  • Neural DSP Tone King Imperial MKII
  • Neural DSP Parallax
  • Nudist Audio Nudistort
  • oeksound soothe2
  • oeksound spiff
  • Soundtoys Bundle
  • Relab LX480
  • Antares Harmony Engine 4
  • Soundtheory Gullfoss
  • Positive Grid BIAS FX 2
  • SIR Audio Tools StandardCLIP
  • Slate Trigger 2
  • Valhalla DSP ValhallaRoom
  • Valhalla DSP ValhallaVintageVerb
  • Waves Bass Rider
  • Waves CLA-2A
  • Waves CLA-3A
  • Waves CLA-76
  • Waves IR-L / IR-1
  • Waves MV2
  • Waves S1
  • imagiro Shearwater
  • S.K.Y Studios SKY Keys
  • Xfer Records Serum 2
  • XLN Audio Addictive Keys

* Snare and cymbals are a paid add-on — £7.50, bookable with your session.

05Word Of Mouth

“Sam at Hot Cat was incredible. Not only did he turn the mixes/masters around quickly at a high quality, but also helped with plenty of production elements and his guitar/bass wizardry. Couldn’t recommend more.”

— Nick Magenta, London · 2026

“Hot Cat Studios is my go-to for all my bands. Reasonable pricing, good equipment and a great room.”

— Nathan, Gematria, Gosport · 2026

“Sam creates a welcoming and creative space, ensuring the best sound and equipment are provided for your session. He is always keen to talk, share his knowledge of the industry, and help push you and your music forward.”

— Hannah, For the Monks, Southampton
06Before You Book

Questions we get asked most.

What’s actually included in a rehearsal session?

Everything in the room: full backline, PA and mixing desk, microphones and stands. The kit is set up and ready but comes without breakables, so bring your own snare and cymbals — or hire ours for £7.50. Guitarists and bassists need to bring their own cables.

Can we leave gear here between sessions?

Yes — regular block-booking bands can store amps and cabs on site at no extra cost, subject to space. Ask when you book.

Do you record bands live, or track everything separately?

Both. Some bands want the energy of a live take with minimal overdubs; others want to build it piece by piece. We'll talk it through before the session so the day runs the way you want it to.

Do you do a deal on more than one song?

Yes, and it isn't only for EPs. Two songs, three, a run of singles — whatever you call it, booking more than one at a time costs less per song.

The first song is £850. Every song after that is £700. So three songs is £2,250 rather than £2,550, and five is £3,650 rather than £4,250. Six or more and we'll price the block as a whole — an album is a different job to a run of singles, and per-song maths stops making sense.

The reason is practical: most of the cost of the first song is getting there. Mics rigged, sounds dialled, session templates built, everyone settled. Song two starts from all of that already done, so it's genuinely cheaper for us to make — and the saving goes to you rather than into the margin.

The songs need to be one project with the dates booked together. Come back six months later and the rig has long since been pulled down, so the saving isn't there to pass on.

How much rehearsal comes with a recording project?

Three hours per song, and it's pooled rather than parcelled out — a three-song project gets nine hours to use however suits. One long pre-production day before you start, three separate blocks, or split around the tracking dates.

It's included because it works. A band that's tight before the red light goes on gets far more done in a day, and you'll be rehearsing in the live room on the same backline you're about to record on.

The hours are yours from the deposit until four weeks after your last studio day, subject to the room being free.

How long does a song take?

Most land in two studio days, which is what the Production Package covers. We agree the plan at pre-production, so you'll know what we're aiming for before we start — and if something is running longer than we expected, we'll talk about it before we get there rather than after.

If a song does need more, extra days are £275 rather than the usual £375 — so the longer a project runs, the better value it gets.

It's also why the package is worth taking over separate days. Two days booked on their own plus mixing and mastering comes to £900; the package is £850 and the rehearsal hours are on top of that.

How do I book and pay, and what's the cancellation policy?

Rehearsals go through Jammed and are paid by card when you book. Bookings close 24 hours before the session, and cancellations inside 48 hours aren't refunded — we plan the week around who's coming in, and a late drop-out is a room we can't fill.

Recording and production aren't booked through Jammed. Use Start a project to send us the outline, and we'll come back with dates and a quote.

Once you're happy, a 50% deposit fixes the dates — single days as well as full projects. We'll send an invoice with our bank details built in, so it's a couple of taps to pay. The balance is due before we hand the final files over. Your rehearsal hours open up the moment the deposit lands, so you can start prepping straight away.

If plans change the deposit moves to new dates rather than disappearing: 14 days' notice for a one or two song project, 28 days for anything larger. Inside that, or if the project stops altogether, we keep it — the days are blocked out and we can't fill them at short notice. Rehearsal hours you've already used come out of it as well.

Where exactly are you, and is there parking?

Unit A19, Sanderson Centre, Lees Lane, Gosport, PO12 3UL. Ground-floor load-in straight from the car park and free on-site parking. The car park gate is just down Moreland Road — come through there rather than trying the front.

07Book

Pick your slot.

Live availability, straight from our diary. Choose a room, a date and a length — you'll get confirmation by email without waiting on a reply from us.

Booking system unavailable

Email info@hotcatstudios.com and we'll sort you a slot.

Recording & songwriting projects

Tell us what you're making.

Production projects start with a pre-production meeting — what the songs need, how long it’ll take, what it’ll cost. If you just want a day with an engineer, say so and we’ll get you booked. Either way, send the outline and we’ll come back within 24 hours.