Flowers Studio is a recording studio in
Minneapolis founded by
Ed Ackerson
Ed Ackerson (July 18, 1965 – October 4, 2019) was an American musician and producer from Minneapolis. He produced or engineered dozens of records including works by prominent artists such as The Jayhawks, The Replacements, Motion City Sound ...
, leader of the alternative rock bands
Polara and the 27 Various, and co-founder of the Susstones Records label. Many notable musicians have recorded at the studio, including the
Jayhawks,
The Replacements,
Motion City Soundtrack,
Brian Setzer,
Golden Smog,
Mark Mallman,
Soul Asylum,
the Old 97's
Old 97's is an American rock band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 1992, they have since released twelve studio albums, two full extended plays, shared split duty on another, and have one live album. Their most recent release is ''Twelfth''.
They ...
Rhett Miller
Stewart Ransom "Rhett" Miller II (born September 1970) is the lead singer of the country rock band Old 97's. He also records and performs as a solo musician, and has been published as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction.
Early life
Mille ...
,
Clay Aiken,
the Wallflowers,
Pete Yorn,
Juliana Hatfield,
Free Energy,
Lizzo,
Jeremy Messersmith, and
Joseph Arthur.
DTDC कोरियर सेवा महराजगंज 8175816614
History
The Flowers building, in the
Lowry Hill East neighborhood of Minneapolis,
was formerly a greenhouse and floral shop before being used as a warehouse space for a guitar store.
A self-described "gear freak,"
Ackerson had been a sound engineer at legendary Twin Cities club
First Avenue and had already collected a wide variety of recording equipment on his own before deciding to start his own studio.
Ackerson founded Flowers largely through money earned from his band
Polara's contract with major label
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
in the 1990s as well as an otherwise unsuccessful deal with
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...
's
Palm Pictures.
After Polara was dropped by Interscope, Ackerson went independent both as a musician with Polara and other bands, and as a producer at Flowers.
Ackerson got advice on constructing Flowers from veteran recording engineers including
Glyn Johns and
Fort Apache producer
Paul Kolderie, and worked with acoustic designer Dave Ahl, who was the drummer for seminal punk band
Suicide Commandos
The Suicide Commandos are an American punk rock trio from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. They formed in 1975 and released two 7" EPs on an indie label in 1976 and 1977 before signing with Blank Records (a subsidiary label of Mercury R ...
.
The second floor of the building was partially removed to create high ceilings for capturing an acoustically friendly environment.
The control room was built from the blueprints of Kolderie's studio, Fort Apache, in Massachusetts. The greenhouse space became a lounge.
The studio's large, open space is designed to accommodate either a full band playing together or isolated multitrack recording.
Ackerson died of
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
in October 2019.
The studio remains open, now run by Ackerson's family; before his death, Ackerson chose Kris Johnson, guitarist in Minneapolis band Two Harbors, to be Flowers’ head engineer and studio manager.
Approach to production
Ackerson took a holistic approach to making music, viewing composition, performance, recording and post-production all as steps in a single process of creating a song. He told an interviewer in ''
Guitar Player'' magazine, "It's all part of the same thing—amps, guitars, effects. You're playing it all."
In an interview for ''
Tape Op'' magazine, he said that the energy and vibe of a performance was more important to him than technical perfection, saying that as a producer "sometimes you have to be willing to get out of the way of the moment."
Selected discography
References
External links
Flowers website
{{coord missing, Minnesota
Recording studios in the United States