Soundcheck Practice Studios is a music studio created and owned by Kiley Grimes, who graduated this spring from the Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri. Located on Orr Street in downtown Columbia, Soundcheck is open around the clock, welcoming all musicians to practice, record and perform music by booking through their website.

The inspiration behind Soundcheck stemmed from Grimes’ own life. Grimes grew up in a musical household; she played the piano, her brother played the drums and her father was in a rock band.

“I get my genes from my dad, and thought that he was so cool for being a musician,” Grimes said. 

Since her childhood, Grimes has been exposed to common pains for musicians in bands. Her dad often struggled with finding adequate practice spaces for his band.

“He’s gone through a handful of different bands, and so, has always been cycling around garages and stuff,” Grimes said. “Neighbors don’t want to hear it. It’s just disruptive.”

Unlike her dad, as a first year student at MU, Grimes could easily access practice spaces. She would spend countless hours playing the piano in the basement of Wolpers Hall.

“They had a really nice Yamaha piano,” she said. “It made me fangirl every time I would go in there, because it’s really nice and I’d spend hours in there, like, every day, every week.” 

That was until she moved off campus for her sophomore year. Without access to a piano, Grimes had no place to practice her music. 

“I’m just like googling practice spaces near me and, like, asking people ‘Hey, do you think this church would let me play their piano?’” Grimes said. “I would still sneak back into Wolpers when I was a sophomore, just to play the piano.”

From witnessing her father’s struggle and then, experiencing the same issue herself, Grimes realized that there was a gap in the market for musicians that she could solve.  

“I understood the importance of having music, and how it sucked to be disconnected from your passion and your music. It’s like when a painter doesn’t have access to paint, or when an athlete doesn’t have access to a gym,” Grimes said. “So, I’m like, ‘I can make this a business.’” 

Grimes began researching to make her business stand out from the competition in the market. As a musician, she understood the common needs and wants of other musicians and structured the business accordingly.

“People get off of work, or like, they finish studying and that’s the time when they want to play music … Like, a lot of bands practice late at night,” she said. “That’s why I made it [open] 24/7.”

Additionally, Soundcheck is a fully equipped music studio. Any customer who books a session with Soundcheck has access to instruments such as pianos, basses, guitars and drums as well as high-quality recording equipment. 

“The idea is that, if you’re a college student and you play the drums, you don’t just have a drum set at your apartment because they’re noisy and they’re big,” she said. “And if you’re a guitar player, maybe you can’t afford a guitar … So, it’s fully equipped, meaning, like a band could literally … just bring themselves and everything they need for their practice is there.”

Even the interior of the studio is designed with extreme attention to detail, drawing from Grimes’ own tastes and styles. Soundcheck is thoughtfully decorated with plants, rugs and lamps to create a cozy aesthetic.

“I was frustrated by these other practice spaces I had been to. Like the one in Wolpers, it’s literally just a white room with white ceilings,” she said. “If [I am] craving a better space, a more creative space to practice music, then I guarantee you there [are] other people also wanting that.” 

Soundcheck grew from an idea to an actuality in April 2024, when Grimes heard about the Entrepreneurship Alliance program. Entrepreneurship Alliance is a pitch competition for student businesses and startups hosted by the Trulaske College of Business. 

“I heard about the accelerator program, Entrepreneurship Alliance, and was like, ‘I could submit my business idea and maybe win money,’” Grimes said. “I did, and it kind of snowballed from there.”

Grimes was awarded $6,500, a first win of many for Soundcheck. Later in the same month, she went on to receive $6,000 after landing second place at the Missouri Startup Weekend. By June, Grimes signed a lease for the studio with the money she won and began sorting out the logistics of running her business. From purchasing instruments to painting the studio, Grimes managed a lot of the decision making as well as manual labor by herself.

“I’m proud to say that I’m handier than I thought that I was,” she said, “I’d never used a drill gun before. I’m very proud. I installed blinds and painted and everything.”

Finally, four months later, Grimes cut the ribbon and Soundcheck officially opened to the public in October 2024. Soon enough, musicians started coming and making use of the space for their rehearsals and recording sessions.

“I would say it’s pretty split between people who want to record and people who want to rehearse,” Grimes said. “I’m getting a lot of people who are in a band and they’re ready to record some music.” 

The renting process for the studio is accessible and simple. Customers can book a session directly through the website, and then they receive the code to access the studio. Subsequently, they can enter and exit the studio according to their booked time.

“It’s kind of like running a gym,” Grimes said. “It’s 24/7 and people service themselves.”

A month after Soundcheck opened, Grimes won second place at Entrepreneur Quest, a program for MU students creating new businesses. She was awarded $10,000.

“I feel impostor syndrome. I’m like ‘Me? Win?? That’s crazy?’, but so honored, blessed [and] grateful,” she said. “ [I’m] glad that I’m telling the story well, and that it shows, and like the audience and the judges feel it.”

Overall, Grimes has enjoyed seeing the community’s response to Soundcheck.

“A lot of bands [are] wanting to come in and I haven’t even done that much marketing,” Grimes said. “It’s been a lot of word of mouth, which is awesome.”

“This business is my baby, and so, I want to run it and I want to be the one to do everything,” she said. “I’m making the social media graphics, I’m emailing people and I’m making the website, because it’s my brainchild.”

Managing so many tasks can feel like a burden for some, but Grimes enjoys rising to the occasion.

“I have to be okay with giving myself grace, because I’ve always been one who loves a challenge,” Grimes said. “Sometimes, I challenge myself too much, and I’m like, ‘Girl, you literally slept like, four hours for the past two nights, you can take it easy.’ But, there’s always just stuff to do.” 

Now, around a year into starting her business, Grimes has plans to expand Soundcheck. Specifically, she plans on opening a second Soundcheck practice studio in another city.

“If it’s being utilized a lot, and people are finding community and people are finding that it’s lifting them up as a musician and as artists, then this is a no-brainer that I’ll do it in other cities,” she said.

The logistics for the new studio are still in the works, but Grimes has some plans.

“Maybe not in 2025, but 2026 is promising,” she said. “[I’d] love to do Kansas City or St. Louis, potentially Austin. I’ve also been throwing around the idea of opening one in my hometown, which is in Springfield, Illinois, and having my dad manage that.” 

Another future goal for Grimes is to organize more shows at Soundcheck. Beyond practice or jam sessions, Soundcheck can also host events for around 40 people. 

“I think it’s a great way to spotlight local artists,” Grimes said. “The bands who are playing at bars, Rose Music Hall, The Blue Note and all these more official venues are usually bigger bands, or older bands, whereas college students don’t have a great platform to show people their live music.”

Columbia residents can keep an eye out for some summer shows hosted by Soundcheck.

“I’m working on putting two summer shows like a concert series together,” Grimes said. “Each show will have four or so bands, or groups, playing. That’ll be pretty cool.”  

Even with bigger plans for Soundcheck, Grimes still ensures that her studio is evolving. 

“I actually did throw in a bunch of new recording equipment.” she said. “My goal with that was, you know, let’s make recording in [Soundcheck] more legit and just better. So I did, and it’s going pretty well.”

Now, after graduating from MU, Grimes plans on allocating her time and money to Soundcheck. She will be working full time at EquipmentShare, an equipment rental company, but will use her savings for her own business.

“I’m gonna put my savings towards Soundcheck, and I do not plan on stopping,” she said. “I just want to bootstrap it, and so, I need the capital myself.”

While she is happy to have graduated a year early, Grimes will also miss the student organizations she was a part of. In particular, Grimes will miss being involved with Mizzou CEO, a community of student entrepreneurs that she was the president of.

Ultimately, she hopes that Soundcheck can help musicians find community.

“I hope that it just brings people together in a sense of, like, community and musicians meeting other musicians,” she said. “My biggest dream is like, ‘Oh, wow. Tom and Jerry just formed a band because they met at Soundcheck,’  Like, that’s awesome.”

Edited by Mikalah Owens | [email protected] 

Copyedited by Emma Harper | [email protected]

Edited by Alex Gribb | [email protected]