Liverpool musicians launch Sort Rehearsal Rooms with £50k startup investment

Two Liverpool music professionals have established their own business venture with five-figure funding from loans provider MSIF.

Lee Mitchell and Alexandros Brits launched Sort Rehearsal Rooms with a £50k investment from MSIF in the form of two £25k startup loans.

Located in the city’s Baltic Triangle area, Sort Rehearsal Rooms is a new facility for artists looking to rehearse, record or store music equipment.

Musicians Lee and Alex both have backgrounds in the industry; Lee as a tour manager and Alex as a producer.

In launching Sort Rehearsal Rooms, their mission is to support local musicians by offering a professional rehearsal space at an accessible price.

The facility houses six purpose-built soundproof pods, with five functioning as rehearsal rooms and the other as a recording studio and teaching space.

The Baltic Triangle building chosen for the business features a flat loading ramp to ease the process of moving equipment. Lee and Alex said theirs is the only Liverpool studio to offer this functionality.

Lee Mitchell said: “Sort is a great space for musicians to utilise, and we’ve already received a good number of new clients and enquiries in the seven weeks we’ve been open.

“It’s great to provide a professional space for these bands and be a part of helping them to achieve everything they’re capable of.”

He continued: “Without the loan from MSIF we simply wouldn’t have Sort Rehearsal Rooms. We’d reached our limit on our own funding, but MSIF’s belief in us allowed us to create our vision. They were a great help when taking us through the funding process.

“The space we’ve created has been built ready for expansion. In the future we’re planning to build more pods on top of the ones we’ve already created and expand our storage solutions with more cages.”

MSIF investment manager Steve Hitchen commented: “Lee and Alex have both been great to work with.

“Their knowledge, involvement and success within the music industry is apparent, and this has led to the creation of a really good business model.”

Steve added: “They’ve introduced a unique product to Liverpool, something very fitting with the ever growing music scene of Liverpool. I look forward to working with them further and following how their business develops over the coming years.”