Artist: Nirvana

To read an excerpt from the MOJO magazine article from 2001, regarding the making of "In Utero", follow the link below.

read the MOJO article


Excerpt from Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune (Nov. 2004):

The Nirvana box set coming out Tuesday includes two impressive unreleased tracks recorded at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, where the group did most of its last and best album, "In Utero." One of the tracks, "Marigold," was sung and written by Dave Grohl. In an interview two years ago, bassist Krist Novoselic said working there "was great for Kurt because of its isolation." ...

Producer: Steve Albini
Excerpt from Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune (1993):

Albini, who has worked in studios in Europe, Australia and North
America with such bands as The Pixies and Fugazi, said that Pachyderm has "a lot of equipment that's high quality, it has a lot of stuff that's tailored to the superstar market," and is "acoustically very well-designed." "The best thing for me is the lodging arrangement there. I don't have to spend time and effort finding hotel and transportation. It's more economical to fly a band to Pachyderm than it is to fly to any other music center (with a studio of comparable quality) and stay in hotels." Moreover, since Pachyderm's house isn't even 100 steps away from the studio, Albini doesn't have to spend time looking for musicians, worrying whether one has run off to a shopping mall or a bar.

Artist: Mudvayne
Excerpt from “Hitting A Vayne”
by Rod Smith
Minneapolis – St. Paul City Pages
11/27/02

Mudvayne sip wine, contemplate nature, embrace the umlaut


One doesn't normally picture metal dudes hankering for stays in secluded wooded retreats--unless maybe the gents in question are calling up Satan and his minions. But the trees, flowers, critters, and streams surrounding Cannon Falls' Pachyderm Recording Studio proved a major draw for Mudvayne, who sequestered themselves there last summer while recording their second full-length release, The End of All Things to Come (Epic). Of course, we have no way of knowing how these math-metal mutants responded to these natural surroundings. We have no photos of trout eating out of guitarist Greg Tribbett's outstretched hand, nor videotapes of bassist Ryan Martinie commanding an army of chipmunks. We'll never know whether vocalist Chad Gray got the inspiration for his new dead guy with internal organs sticking out look from the garments he may or may not have carefully woven from wildflowers. And we'll never confirm whether drummer Matt McDonough spent three days sitting motionless on a log, gathering material for a monumental song, "Ode to a Box Turtle."

What we do know is that, whatever they did in Cannon Falls, Mudvayne now insist that the sylvan setting provided the most enjoyable part of the experience. "Being totally surrounded by nature was awesome--just being able to walk right into it," McDonough reports by phone from Philadelphia. "And working in total seclusion suits us."

Mudvayne didn't spend all their time in the forest. In fact, they visited the Twin Cities on a number of occasions--but not to inhale Jack and cokes at some establishment where one's cocktail must be fully consumed before the dew on the glass has even finished condensing. Instead, these gentlemen frequented Minneapolis's Oceanaire Seafood Room, where they charmed the staff, sipped from the wine cellar, and dined on crustaceans the size of dachshunds. First Avenue figured prominently in the quartet's itinerary, as well--and not because they wanted to see the new band night Korn wannabes. Mudvayne made the 40-mile trip to hang out with...the Indigo Girls. (Yes, seriously.)

Artist: Free Range Pickin'
Excerpt from www.freerangepickin.com (2004):

"We were delighted to be asked to write an article about our recording experience at Pachyderm Studios by the kind folks at the Weekly Freak! The Freak has been providing quality coverage of underground music and culture since 1987 and we are proud to be part of issue #73!"

click here to download the article!

About: Son Volt / Kelly Willis
at Pachyderm - Spin Magazine (April 1996)

Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, is a 35-minute drive from the Twin Cities. Barns, cornfields, and silos rise up from the prairie flatland. The studio is tucked away off a two-lane county road that leads to few of the modern-day amenities (i.e., bars and restaurants) usually required of the long-term recording experience. Inside, the sound room is flanked by enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto a hill of pine trees; their branches weighed down by freshly fallen snow. It is a fairy-tale cottage, an amphitheater of wilderness, the ideal record-making retreat. The studio’s small foyer holds the building’s lone concession to music-biz glitz. Hanging on the wall above a coffee table and across from a modest kitchenette are gold and platinum records of projects hatched at Pachyderm - Nirvana’s In Utero, Live’s Throwing Copper, Soul Asylum’s Grave Dancers Union, The Beavis and Butt-head Experience - an alternative-rock wall of fame. But poetically, on this frigid January night there rests on the coffee table a copy of the Country Music Encyclopedia, stolen from the East Lake branch of the Minneapolis public library. The thieves are the members of Son Volt, who are holed up at Pachyderm for a few days with country singer Kelly Willis. As producer Brian Paulson sits in the control room mixing Willis’s “Fading Fast,” a song slated to appear on the soundtrack to Winona Ryder’s new film, "She’s Not There", a pin-drop of a jam session has broken out in the recording room. Singer-guitarist Jay Farrar sits on a piano bench with his acoustic guitar, bookended by Willis and bassist Jim Boquist. They slide into songs effortlessly, no particular place to go, no threat of one-upmanship. Willis and Farrar’s voices melt into each other like butter and brown sugar on oatmeal, the same way they did on Townes Van Zandt’s “Rex’s Blues,” their duet from last year’s Red, Hot and Bothered compilation.

Artist: Matt Wilson / Trip Shakespeare
Excerpt From Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune (1993):

“It’s beautiful-the setting, the mics, giant windows,” said Matt Wilson of the Minneapolis-based quartet Trip Shakespeare, which used to practice its vocal harmonies on the dam over Pine Creek that runs past Pachyderm. “In the springtime out there, we used [recorded] the sound of rain and thunder and the crickets and stuff. It just kind of brought out the flower-child in us.”

Artist: Martin Zellar
Excerpt From Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune (1993):

"(In comparison) Paisley Park is “a very down-to-business environment. There’s a lot of sterile marble. You’re there to work,” said former Gear Daddies singer Martin Zellar, who has recorded at both Paisley and Pachyderm. “Pachyderm is worlds apart, it breathes. It has a trout stream in the backyard and wildlife. Staying in the mansion is overwhelming."

Artist: You Am I
Excerpt From Sponicazine (Australia) (1993):

"You Am I, Producer Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and engineer Wayne Connolly of the Sydney band the Welcome Mat relocated to Pachyderm Studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they had just seven days in which to cut their disc. As well as a mixing desk from Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland Studios, Pachyderm has also adopted a unique and recent history of its own. "I think hundreds and hundreds of bands have recorded there. Were you referring to anyone in particular?" asks Andy Kent defensively, reluctant to namedrop Nirvana, whose In Utero was cut at Pachyderm with hardcore soundman Steve Albini and was subsequently the subject of much rumour and controversy. Besides Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Soul Asylum, the Jayhawks and Babes In Toyland - whose explosive Fontanelle Ranaldo produced - have all recently recorded there. "The studio has all of a sudden come into vogue because the surroundings are so great. Very isolated," explains Rogers. "It's in the middle of this corn growing area and it's very rural. After you've clocked up a song enough times you go for a wander in the splendour in the grass, and get nude and kind of feel at one with the surroundings. It was very lovely. Very calming."

You Am I lived Brady Bunch-style in a house that is part of the studio, adjacent to a llama farm. "When things were getting stressful, we were thinking, 'Okay, make a simulation here: weirdness, madness, llamas, Jackson, Michael... It was comforting to know we could go and speak to a llama," jokes Rogers. "It's true."

"The critical part for us is recording, and working at Pachyderm, where we were isolated and able to live together, was important," adds Kent. "We could get right into each other's heads all the time rather than everyone going home after a session and turning up the next day. I don't know whether it made a difference that we were in Minnesota rather than Queensland," Rogers continues. "I'm not sure, but apart from that it was just good fun and a real experience."

Artist: Mason Jennings
Excerpt From Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages (2002):

For Century Spring, Jennings opened up his creative process, trusting many of the production duties to Rob Skoro. The two recorded in multiple stints at the rural idyll of Pachyderm in Cannon Falls. "We had tons of incense," Jennings remembers, "and it was in the fall, so the leaves were beautiful. It was kind of like Kurosawa. Especially on 'Dewey Dell,' I remember all these leaves came blowing up against the window, and I was like, 'Whoa, I'm in Dreams.'"

Artist: U.S Maple
Excerpt From Chicago Tribune (1999):

With the last Drag City release (Acre Thrills) you went to Minnesota?

AJ- We went to Pachyderm [Recording Studio], which is just South of Minneapolis. A lot of major records have been done there. It's a really huge studio. Like, In Utero...I mean a lot of bands. It's a really big studio in the middle of the woods. And it's a really great experience for us to go somewhere else. Where there are no distractions. We can't record in Chicago.

Get away...

AJ- Yeah, exactly. That's always the reason. So there's no girlfriends and there's no telephone bills. We need to get away to do this stuff. It's all analog, we do things all analog, all the way to the end."

Artist: The Connells
Excerpt from Video Vision interview (1995):

VV: Was this album recorded at Pachyderm in Minnesota?

D: Yeah, its a great place. Nirvana, Soul Asylum and a bunch of bands have recorded there. The best thing about it is that it's an old house with a late 50's early 60's swinging pad look with a pool and sauna. The guy who owned it, owned the hops factory in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. And he used it to entertain prospective clients because there was nowhere to go in that tiny one horse town. He sold it and people put a great studio up next to it and it's a great place for bands to record. There's a good trout stream out in the back.

VV: Did you go fishing?

D: Oh, yeah, I went almost everyday. It was very good for me
to go do that.