Following careers that have taken them from school band rooms to The Tin Pan, a pair of music educators and industry vets are taking what they’ve learned over those years and putting it into a new rehearsal and performance hub for musicians of all kinds.
Shannon Loy and Chris Davis are opening Sound Hall Studios, a collection of rehearsal and performance spaces available for rent at 2821 N. Parham Road.
The 4,000-square-foot facility, in Suite 204 of the Parham Professional Park building across from J.R. Tucker High School, has been four years in the making for Loy, who as a performer and educator said she recognized a need for easily accessible and professionally managed spaces for new and aspiring musicians to learn an instrument, rehearse, and perform for an audience and with others.
“My journeys in all the music areas, and being a musician myself, have really shown me that musicians just enjoy and need a community,” said Loy, a classically trained clarinetist and jazz saxophonist who’s performed with the Richmond Pops Band and helped launch and promote The Tin Pan when the local restaurant and live music venue opened a decade ago.
“(Musicians) really thrive in an environment where you can collaborate, where you can be creative, you don’t have to be a professional,” Loy added. “There’s so many people out there that simply just want to play, and where do you find that resource?”
Loy and Davis are aiming to answer that question with Sound Hall Studios, which they’ve formed out of a former pediatrician’s office, working with Goochland-based contractor HomeMasons.
The facility totals 10 studios, each with a digital piano and audio-visual equipment, that are available for hourly rental and through memberships starting at $29 a month. The space will also include a dedicated recording studio and is centered by a larger gathering space for coworking and performances that can seat about 75 people.
Loy and Davis, who have both worked for national retail chain Music & Arts, said a goal with Sound Hall is to bring the rehearsal and performance side of music to the forefront, as opposed to lessons and rehearsal spaces relegated to the back of the larger and brighter retail showrooms.
“The traditional music store model is (the lessons are) in the back. The rooms are in the back corner, they’re these little tight rooms, you take your lessons, and what do you do? You don’t have recitals, you don’t perform,” Loy said. “It’s not the case for everyone, but it is the case in a lot of cases.”
Added Davis: “This space is not a retail-first space. This is a performance- and practice-first space. We do have retail; we’re going to have a small retail to support what’s going on. But if you’re looking to play 14 guitars to find the perfect one, that’s not us.”
Davis, who is an equity partner in the venture and serves as vice president and COO, studied music education at Longwood University and has an MBA from the College of William & Mary. He founded First Note Music Consulting, an advisory for music retailers looking to strengthen sales teams and revenue. He also represents Germantown Violin Co., a Maryland-based firm providing string instruments to schools across the country.
Loy, Sound Hall’s president and CEO, likewise has a bachelor’s in music education that she picked up from Towson University. She played tenor sax in the Richmond Pops in the late 2010s, around the same time she was helping with public relations and social media for The Tin Pan, having met co-owner Lisa Harrison during her time at Music & Arts. Loy has since launched her own social media marketing firm, The Social Ginger.
Loy said they’ve put in about $160,000 into renovating the space and furnishing it with new instruments and equipment, high-speed internet, and audio-visual technologies for virtual lessons and group sessions. She said the funding was provided through an SBA loan through M&T Bank, CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) funding, and equity from Davis and friends and family.
They leased the space in April from Park 64 LLC, an entity tied to Sanjay Mittal that purchased the building in 2022. Phuong Vo-Thornburg with Vancore Realty Group represented Sound Hall in the lease negotiations. Todd Buttner and Eric Hammond with Commonwealth Commercial Partners represented the landlord.
The larger gathering space, called The Hall, features a Yamaha grand piano provided by Jordan Kitt’s Music in Short Pump. The upright digital pianos in the studios are by Casio, for which Sound Hall is a wholesale distributor. Even the metal music stands, seen in many a school band room, are new.
“The thing that’s really important for Chris and I is having good quality equipment,” Loy said. “I feel like it’s been too long (that) musicians are like, ‘Here you go, just deal with what you’ve got.’ It’s a warehouse, it’s not air-conditioned, you don’t have juice, you’re in a storage unit practicing, you don’t have the best equipment, so it means a lot to us to have good equipment for people to come in and have a good experience.”
Rental rates have not been posted but will include options for individuals, teachers and groups, with discounted rates for students. Monthly memberships will also be provided, including for musicians and teachers who need a space for virtual rehearsals or classes.
“Our bread and butter is going to be getting independent contractors in here, teachers that want to teach their students,” Loy said.
A soft opening had been targeted for late June but is now scheduled for July 16 and 17 from noon to 6 p.m., followed by a grand opening July 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sound Hall will be open to the public, and walk-ins are welcome.
Sound Hall joins other performance and rehearsal spaces that have popped up in Richmond in recent years. Orbital Music Park, a practice space targeted to casual musicians, ran from 2019 to 2022 in a local warehouse and currently collaborates with live music venue Reveler. It’s looking to open a new space later this year, according to its website.