Sounds Studios records voices of the Heartland in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - We’ve had a few musical guests on Heartland Afternoon who share their talents and passions, but when it comes to taking the next step in the music industry some may not know where to go.

Sounds Studios is a recording studio in Cape Girardeau. Gabriel Bengtson, the studio manager and head engineer, and Noah Brown, the owner, told us what it’s like behind the scenes.

“I think it’s opening up a great opportunities for artists in the area to be able to come in and get professionally recorded at a great price and not have to go to a big city like Nashville or St. Louis to get that done,” Brown said.

He said he loved it when young kids make great music and spread that music around the city.

Both Brown and Bengtson enjoy finding the hidden local gems.

“There’s a lot of, kind of, low-key artists around here and we just have really good character, as far as all the music that’s being made around here,” Bengtson said. “It’s so unique compared to the things that you’ll find, like, on the radio nowadays that, like, a lot of people kind of just get tired of, that big mainstream artist sound. A lot of people around here are kind of developing that new niche and just sound that, I don’t know, has a lot of character; and I’m glad that we can do this for everybody.”

At the same time, a lot can go into being an audio engineer.

“Every single session can kind of be its own kind of puzzle,” Bengtson continued. “Getting things mic’d up right, making sure we’re getting good takes out of their performance, making sure we can mix it up right, so there’s a lot of things that go into it but it’s, at the end of the day, it’s super fun, and I’m glad we can be a part of the music scene around here.”

The local music scene is important to both of them. Brown said he grew up making music.

“It was just a small group of people, you know,” he said. “We had to learn everything ourselves. We had to learn how to create the instrumental tracks, we had to learn how to record, learn how to mix, everything. And so, us being able to give back and get a studio and, ‘hey, you can come and do your talent and not have to worry about doing everything else,’ and us lead them in the right direction, it’s as easy as possible to make a career.”

Sounds Studios is located at 1216 Independence Street in Cape Girardeau, Mo.