Pet Sounds Studio

Coordinates: 39°44.01′N 104°59.6′W / 39.73350°N 104.9933°W

The Pet Sounds Recording Studio (usually referred to as simply Pet Sounds Studio or Pet Sounds, after the Beach Boys' album of the same name) was a recording studio located in Lexington, Kentucky (originally Denver, Colorado), founded by Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo and Jim McIntyre of Von Hemmling. Many Elephant 6 albums have been recorded in the studio, including the critically acclaimed Neutral Milk Hotel album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It was demolished in 1999; a high-rise condominium was subsequently erected on the site.

History

1170 Elati Street, Denver, Colorado

Robert Schneider, one of the founders of The Elephant 6 Recording Co., began producing music for various Elephant 6 bands (including his own) in the mid-1990s. A number of these earlier recording sessions occurred at Schneider's friend Kyle Jones's house in Denver, Colorado. Jones referred to the studio as the "Sleeping Brotherhood" while Schneider called it "Pet Sounds".^[1] It is also referred to as The Elephant 6 Recording Co. in the liner notes for albums such as The Apples in Stereo's Hypnotic Suggestion EP or Neutral Milk Hotel's On Avery Island. (The Elephant 6 Recording Company would also briefly exist as a functional record label before simply referring to the collective of like-minded musicians.)

The first official incarnation of Pet Sounds Studio was created around 1997 after Schneider moved his recording equipment from Jones's residence to friend and ex-Apples member Jim McIntyre's residence at 1170 Elati Street. The studio in the house was decorated with detailed murals painted by Steve Keene, originally for The Apples music video for "Tidal Wave". Recordings made in this studio include sessions for Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Olivia Tremor Control's Dusk at Cubist Castle and Black Foliage, The Minders' Hooray for Tuesday, The Apples in stereo's Fun Trick Noisemaker, Tone Soul Evolution, Her Wallpaper Reverie and The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone, as well as early singles for McIntyre's solo project Von Hemmling.

Other Pet Sounds Studio

Another Pet Sounds Studio existed in south London during the 1980s.^[2]

References

1. Cooper, Kim (2005). Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. A&C Black. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8264-1690-2.
2. Glasper, Ian (2014). The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980–1984. PM Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-60486-516-5.