Posted on May 15, 2024 by Marcus Chen
The Heartbeat of a Hidden Scene
When hip hop historians map the Midwest, Chicago dominates the conversation. But seventy miles southwest of the city, a network of producers across Peoria County has been building something distinct—gritty, self-taught, and increasingly impossible to ignore. At the center of this expansion sits Bellevue, a village of roughly 2,000 people that houses one of the region's most consequential studios.
This is not a story about overnight success. Central Illinois hip hop developed through DIY venues, college radio playlists at Bradley University, and years of producers trading beats on SoundCloud and YouTube before any major label A&R came calling. The sound that emerged borrows from Chicago drill's urgency but tempers it with slower tempos, soul samples, and production textures shaped by rural and industrial landscapes.
"Out here, you're not competing with fifty producers in one neighborhood," says Davion "V8" Brooks, founder of 1820 Sound in Bellevue. "You're isolated, so you build your own sound because there's no scene to copy."
Brooks opened 1820 Sound in 2019 after converting a former auto-parts warehouse on Main Street. The studio now anchors a small but active production community that includes bedroom beatmakers in Peoria, a mastering engineer in Morton, and a growing roster of artists filming music videos along the Illinois River.
Inside the Studios: Where Central Illinois Beats Are Built
1820 Sound, Bellevue
The first thing you notice walking into 1820 Sound is the ceiling—twenty-two feet of exposed steel trusses that Brooks insulated himself using reclaimed barn wood and rock wool. The live room measures roughly 400 square feet, large enough for a full drum kit and multiple performers, which matters more than ever as the region's sound moves beyond programmed beats toward live instrumentation.
The control room centers on an API The Box console paired with Adam A77X monitors. Brooks points to a rack of outboard gear that includes an Empirical Labs Distressor and a Roland RE-201 Space Echo—"stolen," he jokes, from estate sales and patient eBay bidding.
Rates run $45 per hour for recording and $75 per hour for mixing, well below Chicago prices. That accessibility has made 1820 Sound a destination for independent artists from Springfield, Bloomington, and even St. Louis.
Clientele highlights include Peoria rapper Coldain, whose 2022 single "Rust Belt" (produced and recorded at 1820 Sound) accumulated 4.2 million Spotify streams, and Milwaukee artist Nolah Dame, who booked two weeks of sessions in 2023 while finishing her debut EP.
The Loop Room, Peoria
Fifteen minutes northeast of Bellevue, producer-engineer Marcus Yates operates The Loop Room from a converted basement near Bradley University's campus. Where 1820 Sound emphasizes analog hardware, Yates's setup is deliberately digital and mobile-focused.
His principal tools are a Mac Studio running Ableton Live 11, a Push 3 controller, and a custom sample library built from field recordings across Peoria County: train yards, grain elevators, church choirs, and summer cicadas. Yates releases instrumental albums under the name Notch and has placed beats with Chicago artists including Saba and theMIND.
"The Midwest has a specific frequency," Yates says. "Concrete and cornfields. I want that tension in every loop."
Yates also co-runs Beat Exchange Peoria, a monthly producer meetup that draws fifteen to thirty attendees. The gathering rotates between coffee shops, record stores, and occasionally 1820 Sound's live room.
Red Chair Mastering, Morton
Before tracks reach streaming platforms, many pass through Red Chair Mastering in Morton, where engineer Paula Hendricks works out of a purpose-built room constructed behind her garage. Hendricks, who trained at Chicago Recording Company before relocating in 2017, specializes in hip hop and R&B mastering.
Her credits from the region include Coldain's full discography, three projects from Bloomington collective House of Pharaohs, and Notch's 2023 instrumental album County Lines.
"These producers are making decisions that stand up to anything coming out of Atlanta or L.A.," Hendricks says. "The gap is just in visibility, not quality."
Meet the Producers
Davion "V8" Brooks, 1820 Sound
Brooks, 31, grew up in Peoria and started making beats on FL Studio in 2009 while studying automotive technology at Illinois Central College. He worked as a mechanic for six years, producing at night in his mother's basement before saving enough to lease the Bellevue warehouse.
His signature sound combines trap drum programming with soul and gospel samples pulled from his grandparents' record collection. On Coldain's "Rust
