Sound 80

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Sound 80 was a recording studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota founded by Tom Jung and Herb Pilhofer in 1969. Largely involved with local artists, the studio is best known for recording portions of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks in 1974, but also made what is believed to be the first digital audio recording to be commercially released. Jung and Pilhofer had previously worked at the Kay Bank studios in Minneapolis, where artists such as Dave Dudley and The Trashmen had recorded. The name came from advertising man Brad Morrison, who had previously named Hormel's Cure 81 ham product (supposedly while drinking Vat 69 Scotch).

3M, based in neighboring Saint Paul, Minnesota, brought in a prototype digital recording system in 1977 or 1978. Nicknamed "Herbie" after Herb Pilhofer, the system was used for two recordings by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and one for jazz group Flim and the BB's. One of the SPCO albums won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Orchestra Recording in 1979. Being a prototype, it was a very bulky and finicky system. For example, it used wire wrap boards and few, if any, soldered connections. When it worked, the system had a number of good qualities. However, there was no editing ability for digital media at the time, so even minor flaws would require the whole track to be re-recorded.

Tom Jung left the company to work in New York City, but created a mobile recording unit known as Road 80, which was rented to Sound 80 studios on occasion. Jung later created the company DMP Digital Music Products, which also pushed the envelope of later digital audio technology (the company recorded the first multi-channel Super Audio CD).

In the mid '80's the building became the home to one of the largest pro audio contractors in the midwest.

The Sound 80 building was sold around 1990, but it still exists and is now home to Orfield Labs who operate an anechoic chamber. At -9.4 dB, it is listed as "the quietest place on Earth" by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Artists who recorded at the studio include:

• Bob Dylan
• Dave Brubeck (1978)
• Flamin' Ohs
• Flim & the BB's
• Michael Johnson
• Leo Kottke
• Lipps Inc., Funkytown sessions 1980
• Prince, demos (1977)
• Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
• Skogie and the Flaming Pachucos, (1972)
• Skogie, (1973)
• Cat Stevens (1976)
• The Suburbs
• Suicide Commandos, Make a Record

[edit] References

• Tom Herbers (June 8, 2005). Three Tracks, Echo, and a Bunch of Hungry Teenagers. City Pages.
• David Lander (June 2004). Tom Jung of DMP: Making Musical Sense. Stereophile.

Orfield Labs is a multi-disciplinary architecture and product research lab. In 2005, Guinness World Records listed our Anechoic Chamber as "the Quietest Place on Earth at 9.4 dBA

Sound 80 was listed in Guinness again in 2006 as the "Oldest Digital Recording Studio in the World"