Wally Heider Studios was a recording studio founded in San Francisco in 1969 by recording engineer and studio owner Wally Heider.

Hyde Street

In March 1969, Heider opened Wally Heider Studios at 245 Hyde Street, San Francisco, between Turk and Eddy Streets, across the street from the Black Hawk jazz club, in a building that had previously been used by 20th Century Fox for film offices, screening rooms and storage. The studios were built by Dave Mancini.

Heider planned four studios—A and B on the ground floor and C and D upstairs. However, studio B was never finished and instead became a game room. The studio commenced operations in May 1969 upon completion of Studio C, with staff that included General Manager Mel Tanner, Booking Agent Ginger Mews, Technician Harry Sitam, and Staff Engineer Russ Gary. Studio C's dimensions were similar to Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood—though its control room, instead of being at the end the room, was parallel to Studio C's long side. The walls were kept from being parallel with square gypsum devices that were used as mid-range sound diffusers and absorbers. At the Grateful Dead's request, its studio doors were covered with airbrushed paintings. Studios A and D became operational a few months later.

Frank DeMedio, who had designed the 24-channel mixing console and an 8-channel monitor and cue—replicated for Heider's Studio 3 and remote truck in Hollywood, built all of the custom equipment and mixing console for Heider's new Hyde Street studios, using Universal Audio (UA) console components, military grade switches and level controls, and a simple audio path that used one preamp for everything in a channel. Monitor speakers were Altec 604-Es with McIntosh 275 tube power amps. Many other artists followed.

In 1978, Heider sold the studio and its name to Filmways, but remained as manager until 1980 when Filmways sold it to a partnership composed of Dan Alexander, Tom Sharples, and Michael Ward. The three partners renamed the business Hyde Street Studios, which is still an operating recording studio as of 2019, now owned solely by Michael Ward.

Albums recorded

1969

  • Volunteers – Jefferson Airplane
  • Green River – Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • Shady Grove – Quicksilver Messenger Service
  • Zephyr – Zephyr
  • Neil Young – Neil Young
  • Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere – Neil Young with Crazy Horse

1970

  • Déjà Vu – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
  • Abraxas – Santana
  • Blows Against the Empire – Paul Kantner
  • American Beauty – The Grateful Dead

1973

  • Byrds – The Byrds
  • Head Hunters – Herbie Hancock
  • A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – Vince Guaraldi Quintet (television soundtrack)
  • It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown – Vince Guaraldi Quartet (television soundtrack)
  • You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown – Vince Guaraldi Trio (television soundtrack)
  • Spitfire – Jefferson Starship
  • Heritage – Eddie Henderson
  • Hoppkorv – Hot Tuna
  • Amigos – Santana