Flint recording studio exec: 'I cannot predict the future, but I suspect it will be magnificent'

Soul Foundry is located above Flint Local 432 and designed to help serve Flint's growing music scene.FLINT, Michigan—Lights flashing, toes tapping, vintage furniture, good conversation, and even better music. Welcome to Soul Foundry, a recording studio/artist development center located on West First Street in downtown Flint.

Located right above the legendary music venue Flint Local 432, the brainchild of Flint’s own Ashley Peacock. It is crafted by hometown hands and showcases hometown talent. 

“Soul Foundry came from a much longer journey than what you’ve seen from me in Flint,”  says Peacock, moved to Cincinnati in the early 2000s to pursue a career playing music and started recording and producing his own records in a church.

His passion followed him back to Flint when he returned a few years ago.

“I did not want to impose myself on these artists, but I knew there was something I could do for them,” he says. “What I really do is help develop creative talent. The studio is the most practical way to do that. The gear ... is a tool to pull that out of somebody.” 

As a technical vendor to Flint’s community development program Red Ink Flint, the Foundry is self-funded by Peacock who admits the bottom line is often a struggle considering his clients often don’t have the money to pay him. 

From a business perspective, his work might not make a lot of sense—but Peacock says the amount of fun he is having everyday is “scandalous.”

“I know I am doing exactly what I was made to do, and there really is nothing better than that,” he says.

The opening of the Local helped usher in a growth of Flint’s music scene. Peacock says he is thrilled to help guide the musicians in search of direction.

“What I’ve found here recently, is that people don’t believe they are allowed to operate as professionals. One of my favorite quotes to live by is ‘Says who?’”

Soul Foundry is primarily a large “live room” stocked with instruments like an armory, a giant blackboard that is used as a “to do” list for each session, a beautiful control hub featuring speakers and a mixing board, a few couches from the 1970s, and large bay windows allowing you to peer down Buckham Alley when, as Peacock says, “the magic happens.”
 
Although considered minimal compared to some professional recording facilities, it is where the hammer of the soul meets the anvil of the studio, smiles flash and dreams are recorded.

“I cannot predict the future,” says Peacock, “but I suspect it will be magnificent.”

Soul Foundry is available for bookings. For more information email [email protected] or visit its website at thesoulfoundry.com.

“I know I am doing exactly what I was made to do, and there really is nothing better than that,” says Ashley Peacock.