The People Behind Sound Hall Studios
Sound Hall Studios is built by people who love music and believe deeply in what this space can mean for our community. Meet the team.
Shannon Loy
CEO & President | Co-Founder
It all started with a marching band in a parade. Shannon was just a kid watching from the sidewalk when something clicked — the music, the movement, the spectacle of it all — and she was done for.
She joined band in 6th grade intending to play saxophone. Her teacher had other plans — clarinet it was. Shannon took to it completely. By high school she had picked up the tenor saxophone too, and suddenly she was fluent in both. Over thirty years later she still is. What followed was a music career that is genuinely difficult to summarize. Middle school band director. Private lesson instructor. Music retail professional. Ticket sales for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Director of PR at The Tin Pan — a music venue she helped launch from the ground up in Richmond. Tenor saxophonist with the Richmond Pops Band. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Scholar. And for more than a decade, founder and CEO of The Social Ginger, one of Richmond’s most respected social media marketing agencies. Shannon built Sound Hall Studios because she believed Central Virginia deserved a real home for musicians. She was right. And she has never been more excited about anything in her life.
Chris Davis
COO & Vice President | Co-Founder
Chris Davis has spent more than 26 years building relationships with musicians, music educators, and students across the mid-Atlantic region — and he still gets genuinely excited about helping someone find the right instrument.
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That enthusiasm is exactly why Shannon called him when it was time to build Sound Hall Studios. A music educator by training — with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Longwood University and an MBA from the College of William and Mary — Chris has deep roots in both the classroom and the music retail world. He has represented some of the most respected names in the industry and has made it his career to understand what musicians and music teachers actually need from the spaces and tools around them. When Shannon shared the vision for Sound Hall Studios, Chris believed in it from the very first conversation. He has been all in ever since — and the community is better for it.
Sam Harrison
Studio Experience Associate
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In high school Sam threw himself into everything band related. Marching band was not just something he participated in — it was something he led. He wanted to be the best player on the field, the one others looked to, the one constantly raising the bar. That drive followed him into college, where he found his true musical home in drum set work and fell hard for Big Band Jazz. It is the kind of music that gets into your bones, and for Sam, it never left.
It makes perfect sense that drums became his instrument. His dad was a drummer — so in a way the kit chose Sam before he ever had a chance to choose it. He has been playing ever since he was a kid and shows absolutely no signs of stopping. These days you can find him behind the kit every Sunday morning playing in a praise band at church, producing and making music whenever life allows, and teaching drum and percussion groups of all ages and levels. Helping others find their way in music, he says, warms his heart and soul. Spend five minutes with Sam and you will believe every word of it.
If there is one instrument Sam wishes he could add to his repertoire it is guitar. Versatile, expressive, and endlessly useful — it is the obvious next mountain to climb. He has not climbed it yet. But he did say “yet.”
His most memorable concert moment came as a young teenager at The Broadberry watching NO BS Brass. He was blown away — not just by the music, but by the connection each member had with one another on stage. That kind of chemistry between musicians stuck with him and you can see its influence in the way he approaches teaching and playing to this day.
One more thing you should probably know about Sam — he is a die-hard Philadelphia Sports fan. Proceed accordingly.
And his nomination for the Sound Hall Studios theme song? Not a song at all. The McDonald’s jingle. “Because when you’re at Sound Hall, you’re gonna be loving it.” We cannot argue with that.
Cameron Smith
Studio Experience Associate
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Sade played in the womb. Family musicians serenading the house during the holidays. A warm, music-filled world that wrapped around her from the very start. By the time she picked up her first instrument at age seven, music was not something new — it was simply the language she had always been speaking.
A family friend introduced her to piano, teaching her favorite songs one lesson at a time. But somewhere along the way a bass guitar appeared — and then an electric guitar — and something clicked in a way that piano alone never quite had. Stringed instruments became her sweet spot. Today Cameron is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist fluent in acoustic guitar, bass guitar, piano, and percussion. Four instruments. One person. Entirely on brand for someone who grew up surrounded by musicians from every direction.
She describes a smooth bass line and a fitting chord progression as feeling like a warm hug. Listen to that sentence and you will understand everything you need to know about how Cameron experiences music — not as something technical to be mastered, but as something deeply, genuinely felt.
These days Cameron is not just a listener or a player. She is on a record. The journey that started at seven years old with someone else’s favorite songs is now a journey entirely her own — and she is just getting started.
If there is one instrument she has not yet conquered but fully intends to, it is the alto saxophone. Shannon might have a thing or two to say about that.
Her most memorable concert experience came in 2014 at the Michael Jackson Experience tour. She describes being overwhelmed by the portrayal of MJ and watching his hits come back to life in front of thousands of people who clearly felt the same way she did. For someone who understands music as connection, it was the perfect show.
As for the Sound Hall Studios theme song — Cameron came prepared with not one but two nominations. Her primary pick is “Come Together” by The Internet — a track she says speaks volumes about basic human connection and delivers exactly the warm, flowing feeling that Sound Hall is all about. Her honorable mention is the old school classic “We Are One” by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly — smooth, connected, and undeniably right.
Two nominations. Both perfect. That is Cameron.
Jake Weeks
Studio Experience Associate / Production Manager
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There was often some pleasing auditory stimulation reverberating throughout the house. Some of his first core musical memories range from Paul Simon, Kieth Jarrett, Bill Evans and Miles Davis to Cat Stevens, Led Zeppelin, Jaco Pastorius and Jimi Hendrix. It was a language he loved and recognized.
Early on in Elementary School, Jake started exploring with the Clarinet, later transitioning to Saxophone. He loved Swing and Big Band during this era. The Moody Blues or Benny Goodman were both in rotation. As a teenager he discovered the Bass Guitar, and along with it greats like Charles Mingus, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke and Carol Kaye. As a teenager, the angsty voices of 90’s Grunge culminated Jake’s musical journey with the formation of a successful yet short-lived high school Ska/Funk/Punk band called “The Juice Mafia.”
Out of High School, Jake chose to go all in on his interests and enrolled at Omega Studios School of Recording Arts and Sciences where he discovered that the worlds of music and sound go much, much deeper. The interconnected sciences have been unraveling in his mind ever since. Since then, Jake had enjoyed a long and windy career through the world of Audio and Sound Production, from Studio Engineering and Concert Sound to Motion Pictures and TV Series.
The Low End chose him. Jake was drawn to what he saw as the intrinsic root of musical progression – the place where rhythm, melody, and harmony meet to become something more than a collection of intrinsic parts. Later in his studies, several of his theories were confirmed — when sped up, repeating patterns create pitch, and when slowed down, melodic patterns mirror the same. The Bass guitar has been in his repertoire for over 30 years, with more recent exploring into Drums and Percussion. Classical guitar is currently an interest.
The first concert Jake attended (without parents!) was Lynyrd Skynyrd when he was 15 years old. In the moment nothing else existed other than the energy of kick drum and bass rumbling in his chest, the wail of guitars and vocals, people dancing and coming together. The power of music to move people was remarkable.
The most memorable live musical experiences can’t easily be reduced to just one, but several standouts. One of them is Julian Lage at the Jefferson Theatre 2022, including a small seminar before the show. Also not to be forgotten, ‘Robert Glasper and Friends’ Tribute to J Dilla at the Kennedy Center feat. De La Soul’ was a face-melting, emotional performance and arrangement. And the playful kids on the playground improvisation of ‘The Bad Plus Trio’ was a masterclass on musicianship and raw creativity.
While it may not be surprising at this point, Jake is a huge nerd with deep interests that span classical and quantum physics, to psychology, sociology and neuroscience. Biomimicry is a recent addition, and he is beginning studies in Animal Behavioral Science with a focus on Canine Assisted Therapy.
“I know you, and you know me. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. Come Together, right now, over me.” A simple vi-V-IV-V in D dorian progression that doesn’t need to say any more. It has already led to revolution and community.