Sound Hall Studios opens in Henrico as community music hub: 'Hang out in the band room again'

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Sound Hall Studios, a new community music hub for musicians of all skill levels, held its grand opening Saturday at along Parham Road, across from J.R. Tucker High School, in Henrico.

Co-founders Shannon Loy and Chris Davis, both music industry veterans, developed the concept over the past five years with a simple goal — recreate the feeling of the school band room for adult musicians.

"Every school I've went to, the band room is a hub," Davis said. "And once you leave school, that kind of goes away. So we're trying to bring that back for all of us adults who are musicians and looking to hang out in the band room again."

Loy said watching the first band play on opening day made the vision feel real.

"It was neat to see the very first band really take off this morning and start playing, and it just, it was amazing. As humans, we just need to have the ability to be creative and be ourselves and explore the things that we're interested in," Loy said.

The facility features 10 studios ranging in size from small piano lesson-focused rooms to large studios that can accommodate bands of seven or eight people. A performance hall on site will be available for rent by large groups in the future.

"We wanted to come up with a community hub for musicians to come in and be able to meet other musicians, to collaborate, uh, rehearse," Loy said.

Sound Hall Studios also rents and sells used instruments on site. Loy said the next phase of the facility will add recording capabilities so musicians can take advantage of recording themselves on location.

The space is housed in a repurposed office building that one grand opening attendee noted had a previous life as a pediatrician's office.

"This is such an innovative way to repurpose an office space," the attendee said. "Twenty-five years ago I was here getting pediatrician visits. So to think that this is now something that other generations are going to benefit from, from an arts perspective, I think it's just so beautiful."

For one musician at the grand opening, the new studio fills a long-needed void.

"There's finally a space where there's people who will be like-minded, like me, you know, people who enjoy music, and it's a space to practice and a space to be alone developing your talent," the musician said.

Loy said Sound Hall Studios is open to musicians of all ages.

"It doesn't matter how old you are; if you're a teenager, 12, 14, all the way up to an 80-year-old," Loy said. "You're here to just enjoy it, and just seeing all those pieces come together was just for me, it was pure magic and it brought me a big smile on my face."

Sound Hall Studios is located at 2821 N. Parham Road. Hours are Monday through Friday from noon to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The studio is closed on Sundays.