Not too long ago, we filmed some great scenes for our Horror Comedy film, Ghosted, here at Soundwave Studios which was fun from start to finish. Everyone here was friendly and cooperative with our project which made this even easier than anticipated. The project is now available on sites like Tubi (https://link.tubi.tv/evpZji8i5Mb) and you can see for yourself how amazing the location actually is. In fact, I don't even think our film does it any justice. If you're looking for a spacious warehouse where you can get loud and have fun with your passion projects, this is the place to go! read more

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Inexpensive rehearsal space. Clean. Highly recommend. Vending machines for snacks and drinks take plastic.

Came here for the first time for some taiko lessons. While there is a small parking lot in front, I decided to park on the street (free). This business is a bit isolated. There's not a lot around this area. However the studio itself has a nice, creative vibe with a bunch of musicians coming in and out of practice spaces. read more

Soundwave Studios - Outside of the studio (taken from the small parking lot) - Recording & Rehearsal Studios Near Me - Oakland, California

12-2020 I've been here many many moons before the world of yelp...96 or so...Perfect place for any genre of music no matter your level of skill this is the place to be...rooms are available for rent to polish ya skills and or private performances...There is a main stage area for full band / D.J. Set up with capacity 1of about 100 people full bar & lounge venue...BOOK NOW read more

Dope ass place to rehearse with everything at your disposal, including stages, padded rooms, instruments, equipment, and chill ass vibe. Staff helps out and makes the environment even better. On top of it, it's reasonably priced. Sound Wave's where it's at read more

Soundwave Studios - Recording & Rehearsal Studios Near Me - Oakland, California

Soundwave is a friendly, laid back, and informal rehearsal studio where bands rehearse, develop, or record music. It's located in West Oakland not far from where 880 merges with the Bay Bridge Toll plaza. The rooms are spacious (about 400-800 square feet) and the cost to rent is $45 for 3 hours. They offer storage rooms for around $80/month, you get about 10' by 10' space. Although I've lost 2 guitars there now, it's because I've always left the place wasted after having so much fun rehearsing with my band. There's usually a hot dog stand outside, a ping pong table inside, and even a few outdated video games. Every now and then, a famous artist will rehearse here. I once saw Donovan here. Other noteables included Metallica, Faith No More, and Third Eye Blind, oh yeah, and of course, my band. With a room rental, they provide you with two microphones with holders and PA System (for vocals) for free. read more

Soundwave Studios - Soundwave Studios - Recording & Rehearsal Studios Near Me - Oakland, California

Positives: Nice helpful staff, good sized rooms, decent PA's in each room, plenty of audio equipment If you need it, parking in front. Negatives: Boomy rooms, bad neighborhood (not unsafe, just dirty, really dirty). read more

Old joke - young musician pulls an old muso aside. "Can you help me out? I need directions. How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" Old muso - "Practice, practice, practice." But if you're a band, and every member lives in volume-adverse apartments, where do you rehearse? A rented rehearsal space, of course. Soundwave rents rehearsal space. Each room has a PA system (from good to just-okay quality), and rooms run in size from small (good for a quartet) to full stage room with bar area (host a party? CD release?). Rentals include two mics, mic cords and mic stands. They have a list of rental gear available but we've never used any of it. My band has used Soundwave on a semi-regular basis. Each room has ancient couches and chairs of very questionable cleanliness. Don't show up in shorts and a tank and expect to take a nap on them - you might wake up with some flesh-eating disease. Count on the PAs to work, and get loud enough for the size of the room, but don't expect anything higher than basic blues bar sound quality. Rooms sound deadening carpets and wall hangings, but you're going to hear every other band in the joint oozing through the walls as soon as you stop playing. That's just the nature of rented rehearsal spaces. So if you play contemporary jazz (like we do), you also can count on getting treated to live metal, punk, alt rock and blues for no cover charge. Vending machines offer drinks and snacks are sold at the front desk. The staff are musos of mixed pedigree - I've never gotten any attitude from them and they always been helpful, so that's a thumbs up. Several large flat-top bush carts for drummers and keyboard players to save back-and-forth trips to the car for load-in / load-out. Definitely helpful saving on the schlep factor. Price? Well - during the week they charged me $20 an hour for a standard room - the large stage room is priced a little higher. I thought the charge was on the high side of reasonable, but we'll keep going there. It's at the west foot of West Grand Avenue, which is NOT a great area of town, so be forewarned. But if you want to get tight, want to improve, want to get loud, want to get to Carnegie Hall - Soundwave is a good rehearsal space to take a look at. read more

Scheduled a 2 hour rehearsal for a Saturday a week before. It was easy and very convenient. I called and left a voicemail. Someone texted me back a little while after and everything was set. They have numerous rooms here, and this place is pretty big. You would have to bring your own equipment, but they do have drum kits for rent for an extra $15 a session. Just an FYI just Incase. The room does come with a mixer and PA system, and they're pretty loud. Overall I would definitely come back to this place, after all this place is iconic for big named bands that have rehearsed here. read more

Multiple practice studios in a warehouse type setting. Dark iry interior with low lighting and many practice studios. Had a great rehearsal with the drumming group I was practicing with. Small parking lot but plenty of parking along the street. read more

Soundwave Studios - Recording & Rehearsal Studios Near Me - Oakland, California

Popping prices and easy to book! I needed to make last minute adjustments and I was able to receive help in a timely manner

Great place to rehearse with my many bands over the years. Acoustics are good, aside from a bit of noise occasionally from the other studios, but, as long as you're not recording, I didn't find it obtrusive. There is a larger studio also available for rent if you need to be away from extraneous sounds leaking in -- a bit more expensive, but if you need something large and quiet, very nice. Limited parking in the lot; I've heard reports of break-ins of cars parked outside the lot, but haven't personally had any problems. Staff is always helpful and friendly, and their rates seem reasonable. It's funky, so be prepared for that. Not nearly as luxe as Guitar Center studios in Emeryville, for instance, but much better acoustics -- and, as of July 2022 -- they are open, as GC's are not. read more

High On Fire and Death Angel rehearse here. that's all you need to know. it'd be cool if the "store" served beer like they used to. UPDATE: according to my bandmate, Y'shua, they're now selling beer in the store again! excellent. park your car near the cameras - they've got them on the side of the monthly building. UPDATE #2: apparently the car break-ins are getting pretty bad to the point where they're pasting notices up on the doors about not leaving valuables in your car. i guess the cameras don't do much good. read more

There are ups and downs to having a monthly space here, but all in all, we love it and don't plan to move. It's pricey, but what you get for the money is significant: a fairly clean, fairly secure space in which you can be as loud as you want, anytime you want. Helllll yeah. It's not the best neighborhood -- after seeing some girl get mugged outside and hearing about the neighboring property's security guard getting shot in the neck and killed, we now travel in a "don't fuck with us" pack. But it is convenient to the city (no need to deal with the MacArthur Maze) and we know what to expect. We like. The little cafe area is really great. It's only open during peak hours, though... Please, dear god, someone fix the vending machines! read more

I like this place. The rehearsal rooms are nice in size. The prices are great. It feels and smells like a real band place. The people who work there are pretty cool when not tweaking. I wish they had a reservation system other than a big piece of paper, but whatever. :) read more

You have to take The Bad with The Good... The Good: -24 hour lockout. You can play when the inspiration hits. -Pretty good size rooms -Great bands in the same building -You can share the rooms with out management freaking out. -Nice store where you can get extra card keys and water and stuff -You have to have a card key to enter the building and each main door to each floor. -Pretty clean -You can be as loud as you want to be The Bad: -You can be as loud as you want to be -People get their cars broken into but we have not been messed with yet. But we also don't keep anything in our cars when we come here. -The main door was unlocked for about a month. Even if you closed it all the way.. all you had to do was push a little bit and it swung right open. -Kind of expensive There are not many bad but they are pretty bad if they do occur. Overall we are happy and will keep playing there for as long as we can. read more

I agree w/ this place having a 4 star average. Cool facility overall. Dead Kennedys practiced there one time when I was playing drums for some band. Prices seemed a little on the high side but sharing a room can help ya out. Employees seem pretty OK. A little pretentious but then what musician types aren't? (Myself excluded). Have good equipment, too. I like the decor w/ posters everywhere, couches, etc. I'm a fan & will have to use them again. read more

Artists can cancel whenever since it's a small venue, good luck getting your money back ....

I have twice sent emails to Soundwave to get answers to questions. The first time I called after I hadn't heard for a day. "Oh, we've been busy and haven't checked our email.", which was an okay response. However, since it was also difficult to get them on the phone, when I had a couple more questions before I could book, I sent another email. That was Nov. 22. Today is Nov.30 and still no response. I just called and said "I sent an email and haven't heard back. " Guess what he said? That's right " We're just opening up, so we haven't had time..." "No, I didn't send it today, I told him. I sent it on Nov 22. Anyway,my question is..." And he hung up before I could finish. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I called back, and no one picked up. I left a message " I seem to have been disconnected. In order for me to book the studio,, please call me back." It seems they don't need the business., because they never called back. And he blew me off because I pointed out that I've twice sent emails that they don't return? So now I'm looking for another studio. read more

Comfortable space under the freeway. I took the NL bus all the way down West Grand and walked the couple blocks from Mandela Parkway. I was happy it wasn't dark because there is a lot of debris along the walk and I was walking all by myself. Had a wonderful gathering here for a friend who was lost way too soon. It was great to catch up with old friends. read more

My go-to place for any rehearsals. Been coming here for many, many years and have always been good to go. Even when my (or any of my crews) gear wasn't behaving - they always helped me out. Al is as good as it gets with great service! Some tips: * parking can be a little dicey sometimes at peak hours, especially when people are moving a lot of gear. Be patient and be considerate - it goes a LONG way. * some PA's in the rooms can be temperamental, be patient and let the guys know - they do the best they can to get you taken care of. read more

The studio itself is OK. The staff is friendly, rooms are a little grungy but that's fine. They have varying quality of PA systems in each room. I once had a room that had a broken right PA speaker. The area is sketchy. West Oakland, right under the freeway... I had my car broken into and my ipod stolen. My bassist got his car broken into that same night. Try to park as close to the entrance as possible... read more

I've read a couple bad reviews and Eric has been dealt with by loosing his job and I think one review is debatable cause Jason is not the person described and the guy from San Diego who's whole tours logistics were messed up because of a schedule conflict is laughable (rookie , be a pro ) lol Any way as a long time patron I find Al to be a straight shooter with a big heart for the Bay Area music scene , you go up through him and then down through him , and he's helped many people who rent monthly rooms and then skip out owing $ in the middle of the night. it's hard to please 100% of the people 100% of the time but if you have a grievance Al will always make it right unless you are a total ass. That being said I give soundwave 5 stars. 5 for putting up with the Egos of real rock stars and wanna bees , and guys like me who the whole world revolves around and demand perfection regardless of what anyone else is going through all the time! read more

I had to call a last minute rehearsal with a new musician and I don't have my own rehearsal space. I was pleased to find Soundwave because of the option to charge by the hour. The studio was pretty solid. Nothing too fancy, but a mic and a PA included was very nice. The best part was that we finished an hour earlier than I thought. The staff was cool about it and said they would not charge me for the additional hour, and I never even asked for them to change the price! I love that kind of service. I will be happy to recommend this place to others in the future and will certainly consider utilizing their facilities again myself. read more

Reserved a room for 11am on 11/10. I've been waiting 20 minutes and no one is here!!! I confirmed this rehearsal 3 times. They never showed, waited an hour. Awful!! Messing up logistics for an entire tour!! read more

Love soundwave studios! Scheduling with them has always been smooth. All the staffs have always been eagerly helpful with questions and room setup. There is a parking lot as well as plenty of surrounding street parking, loading gears hasn't been a hassle. There is a recording studio Dojo Recording Studio in the house as well as G Status repair for gears repair! Deeply appreciate an all in one location not to mention the cool interior and the area at the back for breaks during long hour rehearsal! Good vibe and the Best in the bay! read more

Al is the BEST, the Studios are AWESOME, been playing there for 8 years never any issues, cant say enough good things about this place, NOW GO JAM!!!!!!! say hi to Al. Mike Johnson Fungo Mungo read more

Thanks so much to the crew at Soundwave Studios for helping make my boyfriend's birthday/jam session an absolute hit. Alex and Alan went out of their way to help make sure we had everything we needed on the day of, and Jason helped me set up the reservations and answered all of my questions! The stage room is perfection and everyone who arrived to listen/make music was very impressed with how spacious and beautiful everything was. read more

Our band rented a room for a few months and we enjoyed the space. Was a little loud next door to Machine Head. Parking is the problem. If they had their own parking lot for all the bands, this place would be ideal. Space is good and the refreshment room was cool, but then they got busted for selling beer...bummer. read more

Solid place to rehearse. All the circuit are grounded; the PAs work great; there's decent isolation between room; plenty of space within said rooms; good availability of carts, refreshments, and last minute accessories (ear plugs, strings, etc.). Once you've been there once, it's super convenient and easy to get to from the highway. I've always been able to park in the parking lot, but I know some people are forced to park on the street. The mirrors within the rooms are the fun house variety, though, which is both good and bad. read more

This is such a cool space with an awesome music community vibe. My Taiko group, Emeryville Taiko, holds classes there on Saturday mornings. The owner, Al, is great to work with! Just a few blocks from a bus stop at Grand/Mandela Pkwy and not too far from BART! read more

Excellent option for flexible practice schedules and range of practice rooms for different size bands. Friendly and helpful staff, fair rates (around 40-60$/3 hrs, depending on what equipment you want in the room) - never any problem getting in. Neighborhood not exactly upscale - West Oakland by freeways - but it is an oasis of coolness. Feels very safe since there are usually so many other musicians and staff around. read more

Im a LONG TIME user of Soundwave and the original Jackson street.... Everyone is on top of the game there. Knowledgeable of all the gear...Eric has gone out of his way to make sure are 3 hours spent was a success... The vibe is usually pretty chill around there. read more

This place is awesome, I've used it several times now and wanted to give it five stars. But the problem is this, the employee by the name of Ray is super cool and gives the place a good vibe. On the flip side of things I've had to deal with the other guy by the name of Eric. I've had the misfortune of dealing with this a guy a few times now. The first time was in person when I got to the facility at 9:04pm and I wanted to use the space for an hour and he said no, maybe if I showed up earlier, okay no big deal. Next time was over the phone to cancel a reservation and schedule for another day. The call went just like this; ring... ring... "Soundwave" I replied by stating my name followed with "I made a reservation , and was wondering how I go about canceling it?" He said"you just did!" And then hung up the phone. He did not even let me continue the conversation about rescheduling . I did not have to deal with Eric anymore since those 2 times in the past and I've been having good experiences there since. Until today, I have friends in another band that were interested in renting the warehouse for some production. My friend spoke with the owner via phone and was instructed to go have a look at the space. We went to the front desk and Eric grumbled and made comments to his friends when we started talking to him. We asked to have a look at the warehouse and Eric walked around the desk and started walking down the halls without saying a word he was walking quite fast and went through 3 doors without making sure we were following him, when he went through the second door we weren't sure if he went left or right as we could no longer see him. We walked around a bit but we didn't see where he went. So we went back to the front to see if his friend knew where the warehouse was and he started leading us to the spot. We ran into Eric about half way when he shouted "f*ck". I said "we were looking for you, we lost you after you went through one of the doors". He said "I already opened it!!!" So he stormed off again but we were closer to the ware house so we saw where he went. He unlocked the door walked to the back and turned the lights on. My friends and I started conversing about options when about 10 seconds in Eric shouts "is this gonna be long, cuz I gotta get back to the front!!!" Followed with a sarcastic condescending laugh. At that point my friends and I looked at each other and responded to Eric with a resounding. "NO, we're done." He immediately flips off the lights while were still in the place, we can't see anything on the floor and we had to walk across the warehouse in the dark. He then locks the door and storms back to the front desk. It's amazing this guy has job, he has less than zero people skills, and wasted my time as well as my friends and lost new customers that I referred to this place. Such a shame. Once again, if this rude jerk didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth every time I had to deal with him. I'd give this place five stars. I did not have a yelp account before this interaction with Eric because I believe some workers just have a bad day once in a while and no big deal. But this douche bag inspired me to create an account just to leave this review. I would've put 1 star but it's not fair to the establishment as a whole. :-/ read more

I love coming here to practice, whether it be for upcomimg shows or to just get my vocals and stage prescence where I want it. The rooms are nicely spaceous and I love that they have mirrors and the lighting is adjustable. One thing that is unacceptable is the attitude of the front desk guy. It seems like, we, as customers are an inconvenience to be checked in. He always has an attitude and seems very irritable as if he does not want to be bothered. I feel like as paying customers, we should at the least be treated with some kind of decency. One of the staff members came outside to apologize for his co workers behavior. Older gentleman was very nice and kept applogizing, if it was not for him, I wouldn't return. Thank you for the hoslitality and for folowing up with us as guests. read more

Well I guess in the interest of journalistic integrity or something like that I should probably mention that the first person to review this is the bass player in my band so whatever that has to do with anything...I'll agree that the cars getting broken into sucks. I saw one car get broken into and I've called the cops on other guys casing cars. There are two soundwaves...we're at the big monthly space. The second reviewer was at the hourly which is about a 1/4 mile away. It'd be nice if the price was a bit more affordable...our room is $800 and that's a bit much for just a single band so we share with some other guys but that's always a tricky propsition be it with friends or strangers. The coolest thing is that we can practice whenever we want (24hours) and as loud as we want without hassle. It's also cool walking down the hall and hearing a great bands (I'll Asunder into the mix) practicing....I find that aspect inspiring. read more

Great place to rehearse or have a music-oriented gathering, like we did a few years' back. Rented the big room with the stage, awesome rate (i think it was $100 for the day), and enough space to bring in some hot plates and whatnot for food. Also have held practice there a few times. I love that it's isolated way out in industrial West Oakland. Can feel sketchy at night, but haven't had any issues. The place reeks of music, literally, in a good way. read more

I have been a patron of Soundwave Studios for about 3 years. When I make an appointment, I show up on time and leave on time. The last time that I reserved a room, it was not ready for 30 minutes after my scheduled start time. There was little in the way of apology for this. When I called 10 minutes ago to schedule a rehearsal time, Jason was quite rude to me. I asked for either the piano room or a small studio for a 3 hour block this afternoon. He said "What time do you want?" I said 2:00 would be ideal. He said "That's fine." I asked which of the two types of rooms was available at that time. He said in a condescending manner, "The room you asked for. Just come here at 2" I politely stated that I asked for either of two types of rooms, so it's not clear which one I'm getting. I also volunteered my name at that point so he could write it down for the reservation. He proceeded to respond angrily that "Most of the time you guys don't even show up, so just come down at 2, and I'll find you a room." I remained polite and informed him that I was calling to make a reservation, not to haul all my gear over there and then to roll the dice on what's available. I also informed him that I have always kept my reservations, and that I didn't appreciate his attitude. At that point, I think he realized that he wasn't going to be able to bully me. Maybe he gets away with that with other people. At any rate, I told him I'm not interested in using their services anymore. There are other options in town that will take my money and provide me with a pleasant experience. Thank you, Jason. read more