Few hints of show business are visible on the outside walls of the city’s top recording studios.

The Lodge occupies a brick-and-columns meeting place built by Masons in the 1920s.

Azmyth Recording Studios, Alan Johnson Recording and Gary Mielke Productions are all office-park tenants.

The Pop Machine resembles a workshop in someone’s backyard.

Such low-profile exteriors may match a perception that Indianapolis isn’t a center of music-industry activity, but rock, R&B, jazz, orchestral and hip-hop acts work inside these buildings on a daily basis.

It’s true that bigger hits have been made at Bloomington’s Echo Park Studios (where the Fray made its “How to Save a Life” album) and Brown County’s Belmont Mall (where John Mellencamp has tracked more than 10 albums).

But Indianapolis studios have attracted working visits from top-selling acts Eminem, Weezer, Shaggy, John Waite and Paul Rodgers.

Meet local producers and engineers who are experts at putting together sounds in specialized settings.

Azmyth Recording Studios

www.azmythrecording.com

Two albums made at Azmyth landed on Billboard magazine charts during the past year.

“Dreamer,” by rock band Haste the Day, reached No. 68 on the Top 200 albums list, while “A Little Happiness,” by Aimee Allen, peaked at No. 27 among Heatseekers.

“It’s cool to go into Best Buy and be able to find some records you have your name on,” says Ryan Adkins, who operates Azmyth at the former site of September Recording on the Northeastside. "It gives you that satisfaction, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s why I do this.’ "

The Azmyth lobby is dominated by a platinum plaque for D-12 album “Devil’s Night.” Adkins worked at the Lodge when the rap group — featuring Eminem — recorded the song “Purple Pills” there.

Eminem wanted to use a Sony C-800G microphone during the session, and Adkins now has two C-800Gs in his Azmyth collection.

“Having an ultra high-end microphone is the icing on the cake for really lush, silky vocal tones like you hear on pop radio,” Adkins says.

The digital age hasn’t made professional recording studios obsolete, but musicians have other options. Pro Tools — the computer software used to mix and edit the biggest hits on radio — can be purchased at a variety of stores that sell guitars, drums and amplifiers.

“Hopefully, your work speaks for itself,” Adkins says. “If you can’t (produce) something that sounds any better than what their buddy is doing in the basement, you’re out of work.”

The Lodge Recording Studios

www.thelodgestudios.com

When “American Idol” star David Archuleta was on tour and needed to record the tune “Desperate” for his debut album, he met A-list songwriters Desmond Child and Andreas Carlsson at the Lodge.

Rock band Weezer devoted a day to recording rough-draft versions of new songs at the three-story complex, and pop-reggae star Shaggy once customized a backing track for an award-show performance.

Operations manager Andy Symons says the Lodge boasts facilities, staffing and technology that major- label acts would expect when doing business in New York, Los Angeles or Nashville.

The largest of the Lodge’s three studios — which boasts a 23-foot ceiling — was designed by George Augspurger, who mapped out esteemed Los Angeles studio Sunset Sound.

Indianapolis-based band Living Proof made its new album, “Feel Good Music,” at the Lodge.

“We have band clients that will seek us out, because they’ve fooled around somewhere else and are ready to ‘take it to the next level,’ " Symons said. “We’re the next logical phone call.”

The Pop Machine

www.thepopmachine.com

This boutique studio opened in January 2000, and original skeptics may be surprised that the Pop Machine’s 10-year anniversary is almost here.

“Everybody basically said, ‘You can’t run a studio by just catering to the band community,’ " said co-owner Marc Johnson. “We’ve proved that wrong.”

A “by musicians, for musicians” concept has been championed by Johnson and twin brother, Eric, who have played together in the bands Wonderdrug and 15 Minutes. With business partner Terry Monday, the Johnsons don’t accept advertising or commercial work.

Vintage microphones and guitar amplifiers line the orange and yellow walls of the studio, which has hosted multiple sessions with all-star drummer Kenny Aronoff.

The Laundromatinee, an online video series presented by My Old Kentucky Blog, recently captured performances by touring acts the Avett Brothers, Supergrass and Mat Kearney at the Pop Machine.

John Waite, known for mid-’80s No. 1 hit “Missing You,” has an ongoing working relationship with the Johnsons, and Smithereens vocalist Pat DiNizio is making a solo album at their studio.

“We’ve been able to attract some national artists to come in, which seems like an unattainable goal when you’re sitting in the middle of Indianapolis,” Marc Johnson said.

Alan Johnson Recording

www.alanjohnsonrecording.com

Recording engineer Alan Johnson had top-of-the-line microphones made by companies Manley and Neumann at the ready when Paul Rodgers, iconic rock vocalist in the bands Bad Company and Free, visited his studio.

But Rodgers passed, instead requesting workhorse model SM57 by Shure — a microphone commonly used to capture the sounds of drums and guitars.

Johnson’s brush with greatness reinforced his belief that equipment is nothing more or less than a tool used for labor.

“If it does the job, it doesn’t matter if it’s a $100 hammer or a $3,000 hammer,” he says.

Johnson’s Northeastside studio is far from run-of-the-mill. The recording room, formerly part of TRC Studios, was designed by Russ Berger, whose credits include the 200,000-square-foot NFL Films complex in New Jersey (for clients including HBO, ESPN, FOX and Sony Music).

While Johnson produces albums for blues-rock musician Duke Tumatoe and former John Mellencamp band member Larry Crane, the studio’s top client is heavyweight comedic franchise “The Bob&Tom Show.”

“It’s amazing what (Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold) put into it,” he says. “On the surface, it’s a silly little song. But they work hard at it. They beat it up. They’ll come in and rewrite and rethink. It’s fun to be a part of it.”

Gary Mielke Productions

Gary Mielke’s studio, like Alan Johnson’s, once was part of the TRC complex.

John Mellencamp recorded “Crumblin’ Down” — a No. 9 hit in 1983 — in the studio where Mielke now works on Owl Studios jazz albums as well as sounds heard in toys marketed by Greenfield-based Novelty Inc.

Mielke originally was hired by TRC as a composer, but not to work in the company’s studios.

“No one had a clue that I knew anything about engineering,” he says. “I was here to write jingles.”

Mielke picked up studio skills while playing music in Little Rock, an Evansville-based country band that flirted with a major-label contract.

He spent time in Nashville, Tenn., looking over the shoulder of noted engineer Gene Eichelberger, an experience Mielke refers to as an “invaluable internship.”

For Owl, the Indianapolis-based label founded in 2005, Mielke’s credits include “Echoes of Ethnicity,” by trumpet player Derrick Gardner, and “Flat Planet,” by guitarist Fareed Haque.

Mielke says it’s not his job to impose personal whims during a session.

“The recording in the studio serves the music — not the other way around,” he says.

“Musicians need to be comfortable to be able to perform. If you’ve been playing with your drum kit set up the same way for the last 17 years, you can walk into a studio and hear, ’That’s not going to work out for me.’ A musician doesn’t need that.”