Blue Heaven Studios is a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

located in a gothic-style church in

Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1 ...

. The studio is a division of Acoustic Sounds, Inc., founded by music entrepreneur Chad Kassem, and is the home of a yearly blues music festival — Blues Masters at the Crossroads.

Church becomes recording studio

Blue Heaven's shell is the former Salina First Christian Church, which Kassem purchased in 1996 after the church congregation relocated. The church was originally to be used solely to provide more storage space for Acoustic Sounds, Inc., an international

LP record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

and CD mail-order business founded by Kassem in 1986. The church was designed by Salina architect Charles W. Shaver and was built starting in 1924 and completed in 1927. The church features 50 stained glass windows, walnut beams, a 42-foot-high vaulted ceiling and oak woodwork trim and pews. Recognizing the structure's inherent superior acoustics, Kassem decided to use the church

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

as a recording area and build at the rear of the space a modern engineering control room with

direct to disc recording Direct-to-disc recording refers to sound recording methods that bypass the use of magnetic tape recording and record audio directly onto analog disc masters. Professional analog sound recording Most sound recordings for records before the 1950s ...

and LP lathe cutting capabilities.

Repairs and interior design

Work on the building ranged from repairing leaks in the roof to replacing faulty wiring to heater maintenance. Nearly two tons of dry plaster was used in making wall repairs. Design expert Neil Muncy, specializing in the design of broadcast and recording facilities, was hired to oversee the

project. The studio was wired with premium audio cable from Belden and Canare with gold-plated connectors. New electrical service, including panels, breakers and surge suppression was installed, as well as a new transformer to provide the studio with its own power source. The sanctuary is wired for 200 amps of stage lighting, eight camera lines, press feed and video distribution throughout the building. Blue Heaven's main studio recording area measures 77 feet long and 52 feet wide. For comparison, Studio One at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

, the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

recorded almost all of their albums and singles between 1962 and 1970, measures 94 feet long and 55 feet wide and is the world's largest purpose-built

. In 2003,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues artist. Life and career Shepherd wa ...

chose Blue Heaven to serve as the final venue in the documentary and CD project '' 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads'', which chronicled Shepherd's 10-day journey to meet many of the blues artists he considered most influentia.l The project concluded with a concert at Blue Heaven that featured the surviving members of both the

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

Band and

Howlin’ Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

Band. ''10 Days Out:...'' was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

in the category of Best Traditional

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

Album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

(Vocal or Instrumental).

Studio is home for APO new releases

All APO (

Analogue Productions Analogue Productions is a record label specializing in the manufacture and distribution of reissue LP record albums, CDs and SACDs that primarily include jazz, blues, rock, folk and classical styles of music. The company is a division of Acous ...

Originals) record titles have been recorded at Blue Heaven Studios since 1998. The studio is also available for anyone to book session time. The discovery of a listener demand for unsigned artists’ music led to Kassem's creation of

Originals in 1993. In addition to new releases, APO reissues out-of-print blues, classical and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

classics, primarily on 180-gram heavyweight

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

. Kassem's efforts and the activities at Blue Heaven have been featured in numerous national news publications and programs including

CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published ...

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

’s Across America and National Public Radio's

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

Concert performances

In August 1997,

Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several popu ...

performed the first concert at Blue Heaven. Beginning in 1998, Blue Heaven began hosting an annual two-night concert series called the Blues Masters at the Crossroads."Blue Heaven Studios: Blues Masters at the Crossroads, Salina", Sunflower Journeys, 2001 Seaso

The concert, traditionally held the third Friday and Saturday in October, draws fans from around the world to see a lineup of classic

performers. Blues Masters performers to date have included

Bobby Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was descr ...

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (April 18, 1924 – September 10, 2005) was an American singer and multi-instrumentalist from Louisiana. He won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1983 for his album, ''Alright Again!''. Early life Br ...

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

David Honeyboy Edwards David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

Buckwheat Zydeco Stanley Dural Jr. (November 14, 1947 – September 24, 2016), better known by his stage name Buckwheat Zydeco, was an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He was one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success. His music gro ...

and

Nappy Brown Napoleon Brown Goodson Culp (October 12, 1929 – September 20, 2008) better known by his stage name Nappy Brown, was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singing, singer. His hit record, hits include the 1955 ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard' ...

. Artists who have recorded at Blue Heaven, aside from APO Records or as part of the Blues Masters at the Crossroads, include Frank Black,

John P. Hammond John Paul Hammond (born November 13, 1942 in New York City) is an American singer and musician. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as John Hammond Jr. Background Hammond is a son of record producer and ta ...

, Waterdeep and

References

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External links