Music Production News

Working as a music producer is a perfect career choice for someone who likes every day to be a little different than the last, wants to blend creativity with technical aptitude, and loves the artistry of crafting a track that brings an overall vision to life. Learn more from OIART to see if music production is a fit for you.

Enhancing your music production skills is an ongoing process of exploration, learning, and growing throughout your career. Prioritizing staying on top of the latest tech, musical trends, and optimizing workflows will go far in building a lasting career. Learn from the experts at OIART on how to enhance your skills.

A music producer is a multifaceted professional responsible for overseeing and guiding the creation, recording, and production of music tracks or albums. Find out what it takes to a music producer and start your career with OIART.

Digital and analog audio recording are distinct methods for capturing sound. Learn how to use them both in the right capacity to expand your knowledge and career. Study at OIART and master this skill and others as you work towards your degree.

Are you looking to improve your music production skills? Check out OIART’s 5 recommended ways to improve. Whether you are a beginner, or a music engineer, OIART outlines steps to boost your skills and offer knowledge on what it takes to become a music producer. Check out our music engineering programs today!

Music production is constantly changing, with some techniques becoming exceedingly popular while others fade away. Read on to find out what we recommend as the top 5 production techniques in 2023.

Music production and audio engineering are related fields with plenty of overlap, but they are distinctly different roles within the audio world. Understanding how these roles vary from each other can help you choose between music and sound production or audio engineering programs. Music production is a creative role involved throughout the creation of a new track. This role is often managerial, as you may need to manage artists, musicians, and engineers. You may also take on the role of the composer and craft a MIDI track to accompany a vocalist. Additionally, you’ll gain a technical skill set and apply it creatively to projects. Audio engineering is a more technical role focusing on the actual recording of sounds, which can be vocals, instruments, or even sound effects. You generally will not provide creative input but will instead cater to the needs of creative roles like producers and artists. This role involves a strong technical and scientific understanding of electronics and sound. Which career path will provide you with a fulfilling career? Keep reading to dive deeper into the differences between these two roles to help you hone in on the best choice for your future career. What is Music Production? Music production blends software and creativity to produce a final product aligned with the artist or your artistic vision. Attending a music or audio production program prepares you for this role by providing hands-on training and an in-depth understanding of music theory. By graduation, you’ll know how to produce a track from start to finish, work with artists, and provide guidance to engineers and technicians. Let’s explore your daily responsibilities as a producer, key challenges, and examine if it’s the right career for you. Core Music Production Responsibilities A music producer sees the big, artistic vision of every project they work on. You’ll develop a trained ear for music, a feel for what makes a good song, and add your own artistic touch to most projects. The music producer often takes on a managerial role for larger projects. For example, if a track involves several vocalists and musicians, you’ll need to coordinate recording times and impart the overall goal of their part. Additionally, you’ll coordinate efforts with sound engineers, technicians, and composers. It’s worth noting that most projects will be unique, so precisely what you do will vary on every track you work on during your career. For example, you might work with an aspiring artist on a small project. You’ll then be responsible for the entire track beyond providing vocals, such as building drum patterns, composing melodies, and crafting basslines. In addition, you’ll handle mixing and mastering. Challenges of Music Production If you asked a dozen working music producers about their biggest challenges, you’d likely get a dozen different answers. Every producer has their own hurdles, challenges, and even dislikes of working in the field. One common challenge in music and sound production is working with the artists themselves. You’ll have to accommodate specific requests, manage their vision and expectations, or sometimes even work around their ego. For example, can you ask a major artist to re-record a verse because the first take wasn’t quite right without bruising their self-esteem? Another challenge of working as a producer is you need to constantly stay aware of the latest trends in production and music overall. While this isn’t usually an unpleasant challenge, it’s still something you’ll need to invest time in to make sure you’re aware of what listeners are appreciating. Is Music Production Right for You? Should you choose production over engineering? You might already have a rough idea after reading the above sections, but let’s examine the characteristics of someone well-suited for a career in music production: You’re able to conceptualize the overall vision and sound of a track You have excellent soft skills, such as interpersonal communication and managing different personalities on a project You have both a technical and creative mindset. As a result, you can learn new software and tools whenever necessary while also providing creative input and guidance to others. You can manage complex projects with several moving pieces. Prior experience in any form of project management is helpful. You take feedback and criticism well and can incorporate them into the project. What is Sound or Audio Engineering? Audio engineering, often also referred to as sound engineering, is the practice of configuring the hardware and software involved in recording or broadcasting to provide the highest possible quality sound. Music engineering is a more specialized form of audio engineering in which you’ll apply the same skills to assist producers and artists in creating a polished track. Audio and music engineering programs impart a strong understanding of sound's technical and scientific aspects, including how it moves through electrical components and the room itself. It’s time to break down the field of sound engineering to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you. Core Responsibilities of Audio Engineering The primary task of an audio engineer is to ensure all the hardware and software used in recording audio is adequately set up and configured to capture high-quality sound. You need to know how to set everything up and the theory behind how components work together. For example, you must understand how signals move through your setup before reaching the DAW. This level of understanding allows you to adapt to the available equipment, recording booth, or arena and contribute to the overall project. Unlike music producing, you won’t typically take on a managerial role or provide creative input. However, you may manage a team of engineers and sound technicians on larger projects. Audio Engineering Challenges Audio engineering is a highly technical role, making it challenging for those without an aptitude for learning about technology and electronics. You need to know what every piece of equipment does, how it works, and how components work together. Additionally, an audio engineer must also know how to test and troubleshoot any issues that may arise. For example, the last thing anyone on a project wants is a delay in recording due to malfunctioning equipment. Can you fix it or find a suitable alternative? Engineering can also be a struggle for those who want to lend their creativity to a project. While there’s no hard rule against providing input, audio engineers generally provide little to no input that guides the creative direction of a project. This factor isn’t an issue for some, but music production might be a better fit if you’d like to contribute creatively. Is Audio Engineering for You? Should you choose audio engineering over music production? Let’s explore some of the core characteristics that might make you better suited for engineering over production: You enjoy working with technology and electronics You’re interested in manipulating sounds with the tools at hand You’re organized and able to take instructions You excel in scientific and technical fields, plus find enjoyment in them You’re okay with rarely providing creative input, instead focusing on the gear and technology that helps producers and artists bring their vision to life Will You Ever Do Engineering and Production? Some projects will call for handling the roles of a music producer and an audio engineer. Having the skill set of both roles can help make you a valuable asset, and you may enjoy learning both sides of the audio world. Generally, it’s projects with smaller budgets that seek out professionals capable of taking on both roles rather than hiring several specialists. For example, a smaller label or independent recording artist won’t have the budget for a team of experts but still want to produce a high-quality song. It’s not as common, but medium to large projects may even require wearing both hats. For example, imagine a scenario where the producer is suddenly unavailable. You’re already in the studio as the engineer — being able to step in as the producer saves the project and showcases your value to the company or artist. Ultimately, if you’re interested in both, you don’t necessarily have to pick only one option. For example, you can start with a music production program and later return for an audio engineering course. Enroll in OIART’s School of Audio Engineering Attending a formal program for either career option will teach you the skills, techniques, and theories behind production and engineering. You’ll gain a deep understanding of your chosen path and be prepared to start working in your new field. OIART is an industry-recognized education institution with music production and audio engineering programs designed to prepare you for your new career. You’ll gain hands-on experience in the industry and be ready for your first day in the studio. Ready to begin? Take the first steps to get formal training to get a diploma and start your new career.

Music and sound production is an exciting career not only due to its creativity but also because every day will be unique and often exciting. You’ll unlikely have the same workday twice in a row or even twice in a month. Every working producer in the industry has their own ideal workday, different areas of specialty, and varying routines based on what works best for them. Having control over your workday and the flexibility to manage different projects and responsibilities is one reason why people are drawn to music production. Ready to become a music producer? Keep reading to take a glimpse into what a day in the life of your future career might look like. Dispelling Music Production Workday Misconceptions Before diving into what a music producer’s workday is, let’s dispel some myths about what it has to be: Myth 1: Start a new song and work on it until it’s done: In the beginning, it’s good advice to focus on a song from start to finish. However, working producers rarely, if ever, work on a track straight through. Instead, they’ll put time into a track and come back a day or two later with fresh ears. Myth 2: Only work on one song at a time: Most producers work on multiple tracks throughout a day or workweek. Sometimes you want to focus on mixing or mastering, so you’ll do that for tracks in the final stages. On other days, you’ll need to record vocals for several different tracks. So it’s unusual for producers to only work on one song at a time until it's finished. Myth 3: Finish every song you start: Sometimes, a track doesn’t have the sound or feel you were going for. Don’t lock yourself into finishing every song you start; sometimes, it’s better to start over rather than try to save a track that took a wrong turn. Myth 4: Work on tracks eight hours every day: Working on tracks is essential, but you must also listen to music, explore new VSTs and technologies, and stay on top of industry news. Working on tracks constantly can ultimately hinder your creativity and even the quality of the final result. Some of these misconceptions may end up actually working for you, but they’re myths because they’re often thought of as rigid rules. A great thing about music production is there are no rules about how you structure your workday. Days Can Vary Dramatically Music producer programs will teach you various tools, techniques, and processes to help you build your ideal work routine. You’ll learn what works for most producers and less popular but still effective processes worth considering. Let’s explore some common daily tasks music producers tend to work into their routines. Be aware that not every day needs to be exactly the same; you might spend an entire day on one of these items or all of them and more in a single day. Producing New Music or Revisiting Ongoing Projects It’s common for producers to have several, sometimes dozens, of ongoing projects at a time. But, even then, you might have a sudden inspiration or assignment that calls for creating a new project. Producers often bounce around between ongoing tracks to keep things fresh. For example, they may have an idea for a bassline for one track, then be inspired to change the 808 pattern on another. Not having rigid guidelines allows producers to work on whatever they want, provided they meet applicable deadlines and responsibilities from employers or clients. Research, Explore, and Develop Producers must stay on top of emerging trends, technologies, and industry news. It’s common for producers to set aside time every day, often in the morning, to check music news sites and producer-focused communities to stay aware of any changes that might impact their jobs. For example, VSTs are a necessary tool for producers. If a new VST comes out that might help with a specific process, it’s worth exploring. Additionally, popular VSTs might have updates that need to be done manually, and missing out on updating means not having new features. Sound Design and Recording Time Sound design is the art of crafting specific sounds for your tracks. Some producers will do this during the overall production process, while others set aside specific time to dive into their synths or gear and create unique sounds. Depending on your job, you might have entire days working with recording artists to capture vocals for their albums. Vocalists might want to record multiple tracks in a single session, so it’s impractical to try to produce the rest of the track simultaneously. Instead, you’ll focus on ensuring you have the right vocals you need to work with later. Workout Your Ears A little-known side effect of music production is ear fatigue. It’s a common phenomenon for music producers who spend hours or days on a single track. It’s part physiological and part psychological, and the result is you no longer accurately understand how your track sounds. You might export a track at night and think it’s incredible, only to listen to it the following day and dislike almost everything about it. This experience is an example of ear fatigue in practice. To combat ear fatigue, take breaks to work out your ears. Listen to something else, whether it’s a podcast, music from your favourite producer, or nothing at all. Take ear workout breaks throughout your day to keep ear fatigue at bay; you’ll prevent spending hours working on track you end up throwing away. Mixing and Mastering These two distinct processes focus on creating the final product ready to export and finalize. Mixing is a variety of techniques concerned with balancing all the individual tracks in a song to blend and create the exact sound you’re after. An example of mixing is setting your high-hat track to auto-pan every bar and changing it to -2 decibels. You may then side-chain your kick to the bassline or increase vocals by 0.5 decibels. Mastering is another set of techniques that fine-tunes the entire track, so it sounds great regardless of where it’s played. Like mixing, mastering also focuses on creating the exact sound, mood, and feel you want. Detailed equalizers, limiters, specialized mastering engineers and a properly treated studio are the standard tools used in mastering. When it comes to a producer's day, they might set aside time to mix and master several ongoing projects over a few hours. Some producers also mix as they produce and then just do a final check before moving on to mastering. Ultimately, it depends on the producer’s workflow. Workdays Are Also Based on Your Career An added factor that influences your workday is how you build your career. You’ll have more restrictions if you decide to become an in-house producer for a recording label or studio. For example, you might be expected to go to the office every day and spend some time in the studio or have a busy schedule working with recording artists. Conversely, suppose you work independently and sell finished tracks to artists or license them to businesses. In that case, you’ll have more control over your workday and be free to do whatever helps you consistently produce new tracks to keep generating revenue.

A career in music production makes it your job to create compelling and attention-grabbing music. You’ll spend your days absorbing new music, analyzing what you like, and using various tools and equipment to craft your own tracks.

Sound engineers play a vital role in audio recording, music production, post production and live performances. Engineers take on the technical aspects of the entire process, including a practical understanding of the physics of sound.

Taking your first steps as an audio engineer or music producer can be daunting. There are so many considerations to make, from the equipment to buy for your home studio to the classes you’ll take at recording schools.

For those pursuing a career in audio engineering, it’s considered a rite of passage to start building your own workspace with all the professional equipment you will need for the job.

Just like how every carpenter needs a hammer, you need the right tools for the job if you want to be involved in music and sound production. If you’re serious about being involved in sound production, what sets apart the amateurs from the aspiring professionals is simple: proper equipment and the training to use it. [...]

DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation and is a type of software that you use for recording, mixing, editing, and processing digital audio. DAWs may come in a variety of forms ranging from a single software program on a laptop to a highly complex system of multiple components that is controlled by a central computer, [...]

Internships are a fundamental first step in your career, especially in the music industry. Many companies will hire their interns in the future, making the connections you form during your internship extremely valuable. But how do you go about getting one? Some positions are not widely advertised, or not advertised at all, and it can [...]

The music industry is heavily based on who you know and what kinds of connections you are able to make. This means lots of networking! Networking can seem like an intimidating task, but it doesn’t have to be! Start with small steps, and you will be an expert with a solid network in no time! [...]

Being a music producer can be one of the most exciting jobs in the music industry. You get the chance to work with a variety of artists on projects of all kinds and oversee the creation of many records. As a music producer, you’ll get the chance to work on the creative side of music [...]

Yet another exciting role in the audio industry is the mastering engineer. A mastering engineer is hired by the artist or producer of an album to complete the audio mastering process during the post-production of an album. The mastering engineer has specific expertise in preparing and transferring audio from one raw format to the desired [...]

Internships are an important first step in your career and can open the door to a certain company or career path you are looking to pursue. They may get a bad reputation as many internships are unpaid, and you hear horror stories of interns did nothing but get coffee for their entire internship, but there [...]

There are many different music production techniques out there, and it can be overwhelming as you may feel you need to master them all in order to succeed. To help you get started, I have compiled a list of 5 popular music production techniques. These techniques are simple, but they will get your mixes sounding [...]

If you are hoping to make a career of music production, or even if you are just doing it as a hobby, you should constantly be looking for ways to improve. You should look for ways to improve your music production skills so that you can produce better and better tracks and move forward with [...]

If you are pursuing a career in music production, it is important that you understand each of the roles involved in the process. Music producers and sound engineers are two roles that are essential to the music production process, although it can get a little confusing as to which roles each person is responsible for. [...]

Music Producers are anyone who are involved with the production of music. Whether it be songwriting, composing or recording, these are the people who work as/alongside artists to shape the outcome of a music project. There is a big overlap between music producers and other roles in the music “production” process, including engineers, mixers, masters [...]

It’s no surprise that Canada’s music scene is growing and growing. For a long time it was widely accepted that our southern neighbours dominated the recording industry, with New York and Los Angeles being established as creative epicentres of North America (and the world). In the last couple decades however, Canadian artists have began to [...]

The Ontario Institute for Audio Recording Technology (OIART) would love to congratulate alumni Jason Dufour on his JUNO nomination in the Recording Engineer of the Year category. Jason graduated from OIART in 2007 and has only been proving that he is one of the go to recording and mixing engineers in Canada. His recent [...]

There’s no denying it, some cities are far better for music than others. In fact, you may have heard the term “music city” been used before. This is a term that describes a city that has a strong appreciation for music, and backs up its artists, clubs and venues through government funding and through [...]

We’ve all been there, you get a frantic email from a client at 11:30 at night asking if you can turn around a mix in one day before the weekend. With your other client work and what little personal life you have left, there’s only so much time you have to churn out a [...]

As an audio engineer you have an obligation to never stop learning. When an artist or production house hires you for a new project, they are expecting you to be the best of your peers. It’s no surprise that for many, that expectation will be built on your practical experience. But when it comes [...]

IT’S YOUR TRUE CALLING Think you’re the next Rick Rubin? Is Phil Spector your childhood hero? Want to get on Timbaland’s level? If you answered yes to any of these questions, there’s a good chance you have the intentions to become the world’s next elite music producer. Good news is, everyone has what it [...]

Are you unhappy with how your mixes are turning out? Do you feel like your song is missing that ‘pop’, that brings it alive? If you can’t get your song to sound great outside of the studio, you’re not alone. In a sea of tricks and tips, there’s one sneaky hack that you’d [...]

Recording and mixing is your craft so it’s no surprise that you want your projects to sound the best they can possibly be. Luckily for you, we have some free tips on how to help you achieve a great, professional sound for all of your recording and mixing endeavours. While it’s not “sexy” [...]

I love making mistakes and you should too. Doing things the “wrong” way not only teaches what best to do the next time around, but gives us the motivation to want to prove to ourselves that we can do better. Fortunately for you, you work in the mixing and recording industry so there [...]

Out of almost 500 submissions, the following entries were chosen as the winners of the Dread Machine mix contest: First Prize: Rob Morgan Second Prize: Yaroslav Third Prize: Ben Muller

Reverb is by far one of the most valuable techniques in the audio engineers arsenal. Applying reverb can do so much for a song: it adds a sense of depth, can change what type of “room” the sound sounds like it was recorded in and beefs up an otherwise flat sounding song. But [...]

Even as the music world becomes more and more digital-focused, the key to success for a lot of artists still relies on radio play. The advent of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music shook the music world in the past couple of years, because for the first time people had new and [...]

With so many digital plugins at our disposal, these days it can be tempting to overdo it. But just because it only takes a couple clicks to add effects on tracks, it doesn't mean we should. When it comes to mixing tactics for something as vital as compression, it takes years of trial [...]

What a great little write up from our friends at Audient !! Not only have our new consoles been great for our students to learn signal flow on, they sound amazing! Sign up for our mix contest http://www.oiart.org/mix-contest and get the multitrack of ‘Dread Machine’ for a chance to win some cool prizes!! https://audient.com/2018/02/12/oiart-2he/ [...]

Matty Green ('03) is a Los Angeles based recording engineer and mixer. Matty's engineering work can be heard on Beatle Paul McCartney's "New," "Food" by Kelis, and "X" by Ed Sheeran - for which he was nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year. Read more about Matty Green!

Dane Liska ('08) is Label Manager for The Independent Label Services Group and is a great example of how graduates can adapt to a fast changing industry. After graduating OIART’s music production school, Dane quickly became a Junior Engineer at Cherry Beach Sound in Toronto working with artists such as Jordan Knight, K'naan, Rihanna [...]

Rob ‘Muneshine’ Bakker graduated from OIART’s music production course in 2004. Working with rapper D-Sisive, he is a four time Juno nominee. He is also a two time Polaris Prize Long-lister, SOCAN Echo Songwriting Award winner and East Coast Music Award nominee. As a performer/producer, Rob has toured around the world and collaborated with [...]

For over 5 years, Kelly has collaborated with producers to help select pieces of music that perfectly meet all of the requirements for various projects. Specializing in music licensing and label negotiations for Much Music and the MMVA's, Marilyn Denis Show, Your Morning, Etalk, Space, Discovery and in-house produced promotional spots, Kelly ensures that [...]

Cam Banika graduated from OIART in 2015,  but he began freelancing in 2013, ranging from high school graduations, bands in small venue gigs to full-production plays and musicals. While continuing to take on gigs during his time at OIART, he also started building a client list of both local and touring artists passing through [...]

Alex Robillard (’15) graduated from OIART and hit the ground running. Hired by The Foundry in Thunder Bay’s Waterfront Entertainment District as a house sound engineer where he has continued working even as, in 2016, Alex gained full-time employment as an AV technician at Lakehead University. Recognizing the abundance of opportunities for talent [...]

Liam Thompson is a DJ/Producer based in London, Ontario.  After graduating from OIART in the summer of 2015, he briefly worked as a freelance audio engineer for a number of corporate clients, mixing and restoring dialogue recordings, as well as creating original music for their promotional videos. As his schedule flexible, Liam decided [...]

Tyler Chute is a freelance mix engineer/producer, as well as a sales rep for Trew Audio in Toronto, ON. Before graduating OIART in 2014, Tyler came straight from high school with the intention of learning more about recording and creating music. After graduating, Tyler became an audio engineer at a local studio called [...]

When Robin Parmar graduated, way back in 1987, digital technology was in its infancy. The state of the art was a 12-bit Sony encoder that recorded to VHS tape! He first applied the skills he learned at OIART in community radio, working on reel-to-reel tape, cart machine, and a number of other intriguing [...]

Dean graduated from OIART in 2015. Prior to graduating, Dean wrote a single with a Toronto based R&B singer that went on to receive millions of plays online and to gather international attention. The success of this single set the tone for Dean’s career in production, songwriting and for becoming a performing artist. [...]

Graham Lessard ('02) is the Senior Recording Engineer at the world famous Banff Centre nestled in Alberta's Rocky Mountains. After graduating OIART’s music production course, Graham worked for the CBC Radio in Edmonton, where he made numerous recordings of folk, jazz, and classical musicians for CBC and The Banff Centre. He then moved [...]

Engineer and Mixer Brian Gallant graduated from OIART’s audio and music production school in 2010, and since then he has compiled an impressive list of film, TV, Video Game and advertising credits. From commercials for Nike to OLG, Home Depot and Uber, he has also recorded dialogue for TV shows such as Cloudy [...]

Trevor Anderson, who graduated OIART’s music production school in 2012, is an engineer, producer, beat maker and song writer. He has engineered projects for artists like Will Smith, Deep Purple, The Arkells and Serena Ryder. Employed at Noble Street Studios in Toronto, he has worked under top level producers and engineers like Gavin [...]

Jeff Pelletier, a 2004 graduate of OIART's music production course, is the Chief Engineer at Phase One Recording, one of Toronto's oldest and most respected recording facilities. Phase One said: "Jeff continuously impresses clients and is quickly solidifying his reputation as one of the great up and coming engineers in Toronto." Jeff's most recent [...]

Bryan Gallant, a 2000 graduate of OIART’s music production school, is the Operations Manager of The Warehouse Studios in Vancouver. Owned by superstar Bryan Adams, the facility is one of the premier recording facilities in the world, featuring one of the three Neve consoles specially built by Rupert Neve for George Martin's AIR [...]

Grad Simon Larochette is a recording engineer, multi-instrumentalist and owner of The Sugar Shack in London ON, working in genres ranging from country all the way to punk and metal. Graduating from our audio and music production course in 2008, Simon landed his first Juno nomination last year for the critically acclaimed debut [...]

Looking forward to the new release Push + Pull by Juno winners July Talk? One of the engineers on the album is Jason Dufour, a 2007 alumni from OIART's music production course. After graduation Jay assisted at two of Canada's top recording facilities, Phase One and then Revolution Recording, assisting on projects by [...]

Matt Andersen ('99) is a Juno nominated guitarist and singer-songwriter originally hailing from New Brunswick. A remarkable talent who can easily command any room with his performance, Andersen has become one of the top acoustic performers in Canada. While he was a student at OIART's music production school, he frequently stole the show [...]

Siegfried Meier (’99) is a JUNO Award winning Record Producer, Recording Engineer, Mixer and Songwriter. He owns and operates Beach Road Studios, a beautiful resort-style recording compound featuring a large tracking room with a separate artist residence and high end mastering room, overlooking the sunsets and beaches of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada.  [...]

Anton DeLost graduated from OIART’s music production school in 2012. He is a producer, recording engineer, mixer and musician. He now co-owns and operates a professional studio in downtown Toronto ON and has toured Canada and the US playing guitar and singing, and toured the UK and Europe playing drums. In 2007 at [...]

After graduating from the audio and music production course at OIART in 2000, Aaron Cieslikowski first moved to Vancouver to work in post-production, then to Los Angeles to work in music studios as a tech and assistant engineer. Aaron then moved to Nashville where he worked for many years assisting, engineering and managing [...]

Alex Krotz ('11) is a Toronto based Audio Engineer who works full time at Noble Street Studios as their Lead Assistant Engineer. This year Alex worked with in incredible 10 Juno Nominees on a total of 15 Nominations. After graduating OIART's audio and music production program, Alex moved to Toronto to start an [...]

10Mike Tompa ('10) is a Toronto based recording engineer and mixer. After graduating OIART's audio and music production program, Mike assisted occasionally at Phase One Recording and freelanced for a year, with the goal of saving to move to England. His goal was to land an internship at Outhouse Studios in Reading, which [...]

Graham Van Pelt aka Miracle Fortress graduated from OIART's audio and music production course in 2003. Moving to Montreal, he quickly became part of the city's thriving music scene, mixing live sound and eventually opening a performance space and studio. Over time, he has become a critically acclaimed composer, musician, engineer, mixer and [...]

Kevin O'Leary ('09) is a Toronto based engineer. After graduating from OIART's audio and music production program, Kevin became the first lead assistant engineer at Noble Street Studios which produces numerous hits year after year. Striking out on his own as a freelance engineer last year, Kevin has worked on numerous Juno nominated [...]

As head engineer at Lakewind Sound in Cape Breton NS, Michael “Sheppy” Shepherd '98 is one of the busiest audio engineers on the East Coast. Lakewind was built by two mainstays in the Cape Breton music scene, 2009 ECMA Industry Professional of the Year producer Fred Lavery and Songwriter/Musician Gordie Sampson. Sampson achieved [...]

Since graduating from OIART's audio and music production course in 2002, Damian Hall has been busy working in the Jamaican music industry as a record producer, recording and mixing engineer. Damian started out as the in-house Engineer for superstar Shaggy’s Big Yard Recording Studio in Jamaica. From there he started his own production [...]

Nick Civiero ('11) is an assistant engineer at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver. Owned by Canadian Music legend Bryan Adams, the studio has recorded albums by AC/DC, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Hedley, Metallica, Michael Buble, Nickelback, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, R.E.M., Rush, Sarah McLachlan, Simple Plan and Slayer amongst hundreds of others. After [...]

Marian Greksa ('05) has consistently found a niche for herself in the audio industry since graduation. She has worked as an assistant engineer at The Farm Recording Studios and Hipposonic/Mushroom in Vancouver. She has circled the globe as an audio technician with Princess Cruises. She currently works for several different audio visual, production [...]

Ryan Castle '98 is an engineer, mixer and editor based in Los Angeles California. After graduating from OIART's music and audio production course, Ryan found great success in the music industry. He has won two Grammy Awards for his work on the “Best Hard Rock Recording” by Wolfmother in 2007 and the 2002 [...]

Grad Mike Tompkins ('08) needs no introduction to many. His YouTube videos have passed 230 million views, making him one of the top viral artists of all time. Mike became an unintentional YouTube sensation - and a performer himself - when he started making a cappella cover videos of popular hits to show [...]

Grad Justin McDonough '06 is an Edmonton based entrepreneur, musician, producer, songwriter, engineer and mixer. "Dunna" received the Kurosman Award for highest academic standing in his year. After a stint studying music at Grant McEwan University, while continuing to work as a musician, he founded Edmonton's Resonate Music School & Studio in 2012. [...]

Kristian Montano ('11) is a mastering engineer working out of Toronto's Lacquer Channel Mastering. Home of Canada's only vinyl lacquer cutting lathe, Lacquer Channel is a world class facility with credits including artists such as Rush, Broken Social Scene, Peter Gabriel and Matt Mays. Here he has worked on a diversity of music [...]

Phil Hotz ('13) is a a recording engineer and producer based in Toronto. He was recently hired as an assistant engineer at Revolution Recording. After OIART, Phil began as an runner at Revolution and later assisted for Timothy Abraham at The Hive. In his first stint at Revolution, Phil worked on sessions with [...]

After graduating from OIART, Mike Cashin ('00) landed the enviable position of 2nd Engineer at Vancouver’s Warehouse Studio, owned by Bryan Adams and one of the top studios in Canada.  While working there he had the opportunity to learn his trade from the engineering and production giants of the industry on sessions with artists [...]

Joel Waddell ('04) is a Halifax based producer, engineer and musician. He has been working with artist Rich Aucoin for the past 10 years both live and in the studio. Joel Co-Produced Aucoin's album "Ephemeral," which was nominated for several 2015 East Coast Music Awards. They most recently collaborated on shows with the [...]

Douglas Beck ('06) is a Junior Mastering Engineer with Disc Makers in Pennsauken, NJ. Doug got started with Disc Makers immediately after graduating from OIART in the glass mastering department, where he was responsible for making glass masters and stamper molds for CD replication. In 2009, Doug was promoted to an engineering position [...]

Tim Wallace ('07) AKA Timbuktu is a Toronto based performer, beat maker, engineer and mixer. Tim has gained national and international recognition as a veteran of the Canadian Hip Hop scene, and his accomplishments are impressive. Tim's aptly-named home studio, FUN, is a hub of activity where he engineers and mixes for notable [...]

Calvin Hartwick ('13) is a recording engineer/producer at Dream House Studios in Toronto. Opening in 2010, the studio has been an integral part of the Canadian music scene, working with acclaimed emerging local talent as well as internationally established acts. So far, Calvin has worked with artists such as k-os, Kiesza, July Talk, [...]

Chris Colvin ('03) is the owner and head engineer at Studio A Audio Recording & Production, located in Kitchener, Ontario. The studio works with independent musicians, on projects for film and TV (Haven, Babar, The Stratford Festival, The Sacred Land Film Project), on corporate projects (Toyota, Home Hardware, Petro Canada), and has found [...]

Arthur Bastos ('11) is a Composer/Engineer at BoomBox Sound. A jack of all trades, Arthur takes part in the full audio production of projects from start to finish - from Location Sound to Sound Design, Foley, Music Composition, Audio Restoration and Mixing. A very proud graduate from OIART, Arthur worked as an Assistant [...]

Luke Schindler ('13) is an assistant engineer at Revolution Recording in Toronto, one of the top facilities of its kind in North America. In the short time since he graduated OIART, Luke has worked his way from Intern and Runner to one of the studio's most trusted assistants. Luke has assisted on sessions [...]