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CHRIS JULIN: Sacred Heart isn't a cathedral anymore. The pews are gone, but the altar is still here and the stained glass windows still light up with the afternoon sun, and the white columns still tower overhead, to hold up the vaulted ceiling. The floor is in rough shape and paint is peeling from the walls here and there. But Sacred Heart still feels Holy.

BARB DARLAND: You walk in here, there's something about it. I don't know what it is. I can't define it. It has its own, I don't know, charm.

CHRIS JULIN: Barb Darland is on the board of directors of the Sacred Heart music center. It's a nonprofit that runs the place. They've been putting on concerts for the past few years. They started with classical music, but they're branching out. They've had rock bands and gospel choirs and blues piano players.

Lots of concerts still feature the organ. It was the centerpiece of the cathedral, back when it was built in 1896. The building's listed as a historic landmark, and so is the organ. The acoustics here are great for the organ.

Barb Darland claps her hands and the sound bounces around for four seconds. That echo sounds really good if a few people are singing or playing acoustic instruments, but rock bands don't always sound so good.

BARB DARLAND: Bass and drums can be an issue. They can really bring the place alive, but they can also really confuse the audience. That sound is all over the place and it becomes overwhelming.

CHRIS JULIN: The people who run Sacred Heart are experimenting with curtains and baffles and other ways to deaden sound for some live performances. But the echo isn't a problem. If you're recording music here. Then it's an advantage, even with basses and drums. [MUSIC]

The band Lowe sells its CDs all over the world. They recorded this one at Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart Recording Studio rents space here. The studio's been busy over the past couple of years. All sorts of musicians have recorded here, from classical lute players to punk bands.

ERIC SWANSON: They don't build them like this anymore.

CHRIS JULIN: Eric Swanson is the chief engineer for the recording studio. He says most studios are windowless and industrial, but not this one.

ERIC SWANSON: There's 110 years of stuff that's been going on in this building. There's been a lot of baptisms, a lot of weddings, a lot of funerals, a lot of prayers. And a lot of that energy is still kind of bouncing around in here.

CHRIS JULIN: Eric Swanson says the big, boomy so isn't a problem for recording. He can put microphones up close to musicians. That cuts down on the reverberation. For a different sound, sometimes singers record their vocals in the old church office, or in the bathroom, or even in the confessional.

ERIC SWANSON: Sometimes in the middle of doing a recording, you kind of get an idea well, what if we did this? Or what if we put a mic here? It spurs the creativity, to be in a place that's a little out of the norm.

CHRIS JULIN: Haley Bonar recorded this CD at Sacred Heart last year. Just a couple of weeks ago, she played in a concert here.

HALEY BONAR: Maybe it's just the sound. Maybe it's the stained glass or the how old this building is. But playing on this piano in this space is just, I can't say anything more than that it inspires me to write music and makes me want to record in here even more.

CHRIS JULIN: Haley Bonar is hoping to record her next CD here too. Earlier this week, some rock musicians from Kansas City and Chicago were here to record. And there's a full slate of live performances, too. Tonight, the Rose Ensemble from the Twin Cities will be playing Renaissance music here. Concert organizers at Sacred Heart say they'll keep trying to bring in all kinds of music and a more diverse audience.

Sacred Heart's right on the edge of downtown, and they give away some of the tickets for their concerts to people in the surrounding neighborhood. Chris Julin, Minnesota Public Radio, Duluth.