Not long ago it was only a whisper in the city of Ames. What started out as a vision is now screaming in the face of the local music scene. It was once in the background of a mediocre scene and now it’s the backbone of a thriving roster of the best local music. Bi-Fi Records has snatched the wilting music scene of Ames and given it a healthy heartbeat.

Somewhere between Greekland and the Kum and Go, 2408 Chamberlain St. to be exact, lays a godsend known to most as Bi-Fi Records. To some it’s just a name that’s most of the flyers spread across campus, but to some Bi-Fi Records has become the savior of a dying music scene that has seen the breakup of would-be metal stars 35″ Mudder and the departure of hopeful rap rockers Mr. Plow.

All the while, that quiet label that started out in the moldy basement of a duplex on the outskirts of Ames has turned into the Mecca of the local music scene and can now be found, conveniently, in the middle of Campustown.

“This location will give more people a place to express their ideas,” Bi-Fi Records co-founder Pat Fleming says. “It gives a chance to all those little bands that start up in Towers that may want to record.”

Fleming and Pookey Bleum-ers Jeremy Johnson and Aaron Hefley started the label a few years ago to promote some of the local bands they thought deserved attention from the scene. After a compilation release, not to mention many other local band releases, Bi-Fi has grown into a full-fledged respected Iowa label that lists Pookey Bleum, Kathryn Musilek, Poison Control Center, Organ Donor, Keepers of the Carpet, Frankenixon and the Canadian Wheat Lords on its roster.

Moving from the basement is definitely a risky move for the label but Fleming is confident that they will succeed. After all, Fleming admits that the label’s intention isn’t to make money.

“Some guy came by and told us we were going to fail,” Fleming says. “But we’re not doing this for money. My hope is that it gives us more money for bands and promoting them.”

Bi-Fi Studios will only charge $30 per hour and Fleming admits even that’s negotiable with bigger projects. And although the studio doesn’t look like much from the outside, it’s the beauty inside that counts.

And that beauty is even an understatement for the low-profile space.

There’s something about the stickers the young girl who stayed there before stuck to the wall in what is now the vocal booth that could keep even the most nervous vocalist comfortable in the bedroom-like surroundings.

A soda machine and two massive couches sit by the front window. And the view throughout the narrow-but-long sound room gives off more of a show-like feeling than that of a recording studio. Again, this design is sympathetic to the musician, giving him or her a comfortable feeling while in the studio, which many artists will tell you is the most important aspect of recording.

Coincidentally though, this was exactly the way the place looked when Fleming and company first took it over. Since the group’s move last week into the new studio, no renovations have been made other than a new table built by Terry for the mixing board to replace the collapsing one rigged from plywood and two-by-fours.

Not only is the place a near-perfect environment but it also offers both digital and analog recording with digital capabilities up to over 100 tracks per song. Bi-Fi also offers a wide range of outboard effects and, of course, quality service.

“Hopefully we’re getting the same quality as some of the studios in Des Moines,” Fleming says.

Fleming says that the studio has recorded everything from church choirs to rap groups and is open to trying anything, as he just wants the studio and label to succeed. The more money that’s pumped into the studio, the more money Bi-Fi can spend on supporting their stable of artists, and that’s what’s most important to Fleming.

“I want the label to succeed and the studio to succeed,” Fleming says. “It’s all going towards the label.”

Why Make Clocks will be christening the new studio at the grand opening this Friday at 9 p.m. and with a capacity of 49 people, it shouldn’t be long until the studio fills up with eager locals. From the resolution of the grand opening show, fans will go to Varsity Theatre to catch a midnight showing of the new Canadian Wheat Lords documentary.

The documentary, which was based on a concept by Joe Terry, is more of a music video, Terry explains.

“I sat on the project for a while and started getting music video ideas,” Terry says. “Then I kind of assembled it all in a package that is somewhat documentary but mainly it’s just music videos.”

With live-action Barbie and Ken dolls filling in for the Wheat Lords on “Surf’s Up” to raining feathers and even dancing bears, the documentary has a wide range of footage that truly captures the essence of the Canadian Wheat Lords.

As Terry says, “To me the Lords are underground legends but not too many people know of them outside of Sibley, Iowa.”

The video idea came about when Fleming had the idea to do a spoof of the Beatles anthology that would make the Wheat Lords out as though they were this huge band. Terry, who had experience making “mock” music videos with his friends at a younger age, loved the idea and began to conceptualize it.

“They were more reluctant than I was to do the video,” Terry says. “I had to do a lot of arm twisting because they thought I was going a little overboard.”

Eventually Terry sold the idea to the Wheat Lords and began pre-production on the video last spring. After an estimated 150 hours, give or take a few for drawing up ideas and post-production, the Wheat Lords’ video is finished and features what Terry likes to call “a music video presentation of the Canadian Wheat Lords.”

“It’s a half-hour film of different video I’ve shot for the songs,” Terry says. “I watched a lot of their video and used some of that in the film.”

The film features videos for such songs as “I Could Love You More Today,” and “Pretty Little Sweater Girl.” Not to mention a special rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Certainly there is no way better way to celebrate what could be Ames music’s biggest event in its history than to view the Wheat Lords documentary. It just seems fitting that music fans be exposed to exactly what it is that woke this sedated scene from hibernation.

So when the doors open up Friday for the new studio/venue a.k.a. Bi-Fi headquarters, it could be the beginning of a whole new chapter for the Ames music scene.

Local bands should know that Bi-Fi is their savior, providing the runway for your take-off into the music industry. And whether area artists stay rooted as a one-man acoustic group that plays in the halls of Linden or takes off to California like the boys of Plow lore, know that Bi-Fi will be there to blueprint their fate.