This studio visit features the live music studio at Kansas Public Radio on the University of Kansas campus. This state of the art recording studio was built into the new KPR building when it was constructed in 2002-03. From the website:

Various acoustical elements were designed into the room to ensure a good sound such as adjustable curtains, floating floor, non parallel wall and ceilings, and insulation to isolate the studio from outside and interior noise. KPR hosts musical artists from around the world for special live performance recording sessions which are mastered by our own professional sound engineers.

Every recording I’ve heard come out of this studio sounds wonderful and it can accommodate a variety of groups from a solo piano to a large jazz group or a choir. I was able to stop in for a visit while the chamber group Allégresse was putting the finishing touches on their debut album which is coming out later this year.

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On Thanksgiving Day, 2007, I took a tour of Joe Malin’s garage-turned-studio for the inaugural DESIGNOJEK studio tour. Joe lives and works in Plainville, Kansas, a small town about 80 miles from the geographic center of the United States. He was born in a farmhouse his father built right on the outskirts of Plainville and has called Kansas his home all of his life. After retiring from a career on farms and oil fields, he put his welding skills to work again and started creating sculptures made from scrap metal, bolts, nuts and various other items lying around his shop. Although not formally trained as an artist, he creates wonderful pieces of folk art that have immense character, meticulous attention to detail, and fascinating historical significance. Also a modest man, he chuckled when I called his work space a “studio” and would likely correct me if I called him a “sculptor”, but his love for what he does and the care he puts into his wonderful pieces makes him as much of an artist as anyone.
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