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When you picture a greenhouse, you think of a glass structure housing row after row of beautiful plants that are being cared for, being prepared for relocation somewhere for someone else's eventual enjoyment. It's a self-contained growth environment that isolates its plants from the world. Using this analogy, recording an album in a studio isn't far off from this description. Artists hole themselves up in a facility to allow time to develop ideas, and to let them grow into a full-fledged album that eventually sees release to the CD-buying masses. This concept was what sparked the naming of Greenhouse Studios, located in Burnaby, British Columbia Owner Bruce Levens captured that vibe of creation in one facility.
The story of how the studio was formed takes place over a 14-year span. Originally called Vancouver Studios, the facility was an empty warehouse before the facility opened in 1988. Vancouver Studios was involved in making movies, as well as doing single work, but it had multiple divisions dedicated to the audio industry on Canada's west coast. Greenhouse Studios was formed out of a need to insolate the music recording aspect of the company into its own division, under the parent company of Vancouver Studios. This change took place in 1992 - four years after owner Levens started the company.
"Studio 2 was the first room built in 1988; with Studio 3 following in 1989; the largest of studios on site, Studio 1, was built in 1991; Studio 4 was built in 1993; and lastly, Studio 5, was built last year in 2001," states Levens, who is better known by his self-proclaimed title "Keeper of the Vibe." Originally from Australia, Levens immigrated to Canada with his family when he was very young. He was originally an audio engineer, but started the studio as a musician who wanted a place to record his ideas. He wanted to create an atmosphere in which artists could develop and have access to top quality recording equipment to record their work. "Greenhouse's mission is to nurture and develop local talent," says Levens. "We wanted to make sure there was a spot for local talent to utilize an international world-class studio available to them for local-studio rates." This nurturing inspired the...