The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

All classic recordings that have put a dent in the history of music — masterpieces considered some of the best recordings of all time.

But what went into recording these albums? What makes them a cut above the rest? What happens inside a recording studio?

An afternoon at Great Plains Recording Company in West Des Moines was the perfect way to find out.

The sound of a steel drum pervaded upon entering the door of the studio, passing through the freshly painted walls of the hallway. Joe Koelling, vice president of the studio, led the way into the room where records are made.

A large panel with all kinds of knobs and buttons sits at the front of the room. Facing this panel, called the recording console, are two large speakers allowing the sound to be heard both in the studio and in the room in which the musician plays.

Above it, spanning across, is another panel with green and red lights blinking up and down, displaying the different sound levels. Seven guitars, some electric and some acoustic, and one electric bass lay up against the wall. A wide window allows the engineer and the artist to see each other.

Recording engineer Jason West listens attentively to the music, adjusting levers as the music is played.

The clinky reggae sound of the steel drum stops.

West presses a button from the countless array of them found on the console, allowing his voice to be heard in the artist’s room.

“Lets give that a listen,” he says.

Stan Dahl, the Iowa State graduate who has just finished pouring out his musical energy, pauses, closing his eyes to listen to what has just been recorded.

“Do you want to do another take of it or do you want to move on?” West asks. “Let’s move on,” Dahl responds, choosing to proceed with “ISU Fights.”

He then begins to play a version of “ISU Fights” like it has never been played before: on the steel drum. It is being dedicated to the late ISU band director Joseph Christensen.

As Dahl plays, West explains what exactly is going on.

He wheels over on his black leather chair to the computer at the other end of the room to cue up the next track. Dahl has come in to record with all of the parts, except for the steel drum, already sequenced on the computer.

“We’re recording steel drum tracks right now,” West says. “Then we’ll go back through and separate what’s on the computer and mix it.”

The recording console has 32 inputs on it, allowing a maximum of 32 tracks, or parts of music to be used on one recording.

While they work through the song, vice president Joe Koelling explains why he decided to go into the recording business.

“It’s always been a lifelong dream of mine to do this, and finally it’s coming true,” Koelling says. “It may have been an up and down roller coaster financially, but it all comes down to the love of music.”

He went on to explain some of his recording strategies.

“The goal of the record producer is to know. He hears in his mind what the final product sounds like,” Koelling says.

“Music is an art, and it’s very important for performers to be comfortable because you need to get the magic, and that’s what makes good recordings,” he adds. “I love it. It’s a great process. It’s long and tedious, and you have to listen to each song over and over to make sure everything’s right.”

While nowadays there are many educational opportunities for those who want to go into the recording industry, until recently it was all just learned from experience.

“A lot of my engineering skills I’ve learned from other people just by working in other studios and just by doing it,” Koelling says. “How it sounds in the room, that’s what it should sound like on tape, in my opinion.”

This week marks Dahl’s first experience in a recording studio. He has the studio booked for all of this week and has been recording since Monday.

“Since I’ve started, my nerves have gone down,” he says. “Now I realize that recording isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I’m realizing I can go back and re-record and that’s a nice feeling that I don’t have to get it right the first time.”

Great Plains also has its own record label and has put out several releases in the blues, jazz, gospel and reggae genres. The five-year-old studio has played host to both Ani DiFranco’s band and the bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Although Iowa is not necessarily known as being a musical mecca, there are quite a few recording studios in in the state. And believe it or not, there are benefits of recording in a place like Iowa.

“I have quite a few clients from Omaha and Kansas City who, first of all, like the atmosphere because there are not a lot of distractions out here in the country, plus it’s cheaper,” says Kirk Kaufman, owner and head engineer of Juniors Motel recording studio, located on a farm about five miles outside of Fort Dodge.

One aspect of his studio Kaufman is proud of is its architecture. The studio was designed by Tom Hidley, a famous recording studio architect. Kaufman says that if a major producer was to call him up asking about the studio, all he would have to do to impress the producer would be to mention that it is a Hidley-designed studio.

Juniors Motel has recorded several Ames bands since it opened 28 years ago and will be hosting Floodplane next week.

“I’m trying to get that one big deal or sign that one band in the universe that just makes your shit,” Kaufman says.

SR Audio, a studio in Des Moines, has been around since 1981.

It was launched by owner and manager Mike Lawyer, who got into recording after experimenting with home recording equipment, which at the time was almost nonexistent.

He originally wanted to work in the film industry. “But I decided I liked recording more than I liked making films,” he says.

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., SR Audio creates and records the audio parts of commercials for radio and TV, but at night, the good stuff takes place.

Recording music is something Kaufman thinks long and hard about before he begins.

“A small jazz band is different than a gospel band, which is different than a hardcore band, and you have to take that into account when you record,” Lawyer says.

“Twenty years ago there were really no classes. Nowadays there are a lot of colleges and universities that have studios available for students,” he adds. “There really are no rules in recording. The thing that makes music interesting and different is the variety of techniques used by engineers as well as musicians.”

Lawyers is extremely excited about the Des Moines hardcore band Slipknot who has recorded in the past at SR Audio and has recently signed to major label Roadrunner Records.

“It’s only happened three times during my lifetime when a band in Iowa got signed to a major label,” he says.

When asked to name the most influential albums in the history of music recording, engineers at all three studios mentioned the Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

“I think that’s by far the biggest breakthrough that I’ve experienced,” Kaufman says. “The Beatles were a major breakthrough of that time.”

Lawyer says “Sgt. Peppers” was an amazing record because it was done with only four tracks, while many recent recordings use as many as 32 tracks.

He also mentioned Frank Sinatra’s recordings as being some of the most influential.

“Better technology doesn’t necessarily mean better sound,” Lawyer says. “A lot of people have tried to emulate [Sinatra’s] sound.”

Kaufman added Nirvana’s “Nevermind” to the list. “That Nirvana record was a great record, mainly because it brought us out of that whole Motley Crue type of thing.”

“I really think the Iowa writers have written some great songs in the past year,” he adds. “There have been some really good songs and records coming out of here in the last year or so.”

So will Slipknot or Stan Dahl be next on the list of breakthrough recordings? Only time will tell.