A brief history of Sound 80: The birthplace of the Minneapolis sound

By: Max Gouette

In an era where so many popular artists hail from Minnesota (Lizzo, Yung Gravy, KayCyy) it’s hard to imagine there was a time where the local scene had so much reach. That is, of course, besides the 1980s. Acts like Prince, The Time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and more revolutionized the music industry by fusing new music technology with older styles of playing. These tracks stemmed from warbly synthesizers and fake-sounding drum machines yet remained soulful and groovy, and that would remain the ethos of the Minneapolis sound.

What if I told you, though, that the sound was heavily influenced by a jazz pianist and an audio engineer with a dream. Herb Pilhofer and Tom Jung were friends and co-workers in the late 1960s who met at Kay Bank studios. Frustrated with the owner’s unwillingness to purchase new gear, Pilhofer and Jung decided to start their own studio with one goal: to be “The best damn recording studio in the world.”

That dream would quickly become a reality. After opening their first studio in Edina in 1969, they started planning on a mega-studio in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. By early 1971, they would put the finishing touches on the studio and move in. The studio was widely recognized as one of the best in the country, and was revered for its innovation-first mission. They famously owned and advertised their ARP synthesizer which came out the year prior.

Studio 80 would be one of the first recording studios to record Prince’s music for commercial use, and the demos he made there would be the reason Warner Bros. signed him in 1978. It’s no surprise that Prince became fascinated with the array of synthesizers there, specifically the Polymoog synth and LinnDrum drum machine. In a request for Studio 80 to enter the National Register of Historic Places, The City of Minneapolis argues that “Without Prince’s time at Sound 80… Prince would not have been able to have complete control over his sound at such a young age, allowing him to create “the Minneapolis Sound”"

It would also record one of the greatest Bob Dylan tracks in one take, as well as the smash hit “Funkytown.” Now-a-days, the building is known for hosting one of the quietest places on Earth. To see a more detailed history of Studio 80, check out the interactive timeline below.