Rancho Rivera, the site of Michael Ward's home recording operation in San Francisco's Sunset District before Hyde Street Studios opened, was utilized by Tommy Tutone in its original incarnation in the 1970s; it reopened in 2017.

[4] Studio A features a 970 sq ft (90 m2) live area and a 1975 Neve 8038 console mixer with 38 input channels and Flying Faders automation, originally installed, modified and upgraded circa 1992 by Chief Project Engineer Garry Creiman.

Bands native to or based in the Bay Area such as Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Grateful Dead recorded numerous albums at the facility, defining what became known as the San Francisco Sound.

Wally Heider Studios became well established enough to draw major national recording acts like Eric Burdon, The Byrds, David Crosby, Hot Tuna, Van Morrison, Graham Nash, Boz Scaggs, The Steve Miller Band, and T-Rex.

[7] In addition to legendary engineers like Stephen Barncard having worked there, Wally Heider Studios is also notable for having had some of the first female engineers in the industry, including Suzy Foot, who worked on major albums by Patti LaBelle and Herbie Hancock and Amigos by Carlos Santana; Marnie Moore, one of Foot's former students at the Family Light School of Music; and Ann Fry who was with Wally Heider Studios until it closed and then moved on to the Record Plant in Sausalito.

[9] Like Wally Heider Studios before it, Hyde Street Studios has been utilized by a multitude of musical artists, both those native to the San Francisco Bay Area and from around the world, such as Cake, Dead Kennedys, Green Day, Tupac Shakur, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Four2one, Chris Isaak, Tim Buckley, Lost Dog Found, George Clinton, Danny James, Train and Triple Wisdom, representing a wide array of musical styles and genres.

Just as the bands who gave birth to the San Francisco Sound in the 1970s helped to define an era and genre of music, the artists recording at Hyde Street during the 1980s and 90s made important contributions to Punk and West Coast Rap.