LUCIDMEDIA

Inside the Secret Sessions at TARA

Written by Emily Santos Wednesday, 24 June 2009 16:18

Easy to miss all tucked away on the corner of River Street and Queen Street East, in between all the hustle and bustle of Toronto businesses and shopaholics, hides The Audio Recording Academy of Toronto (TARA).

TARA first opened their doors to audio enthusiasts in 2002, hoping to provide accessible and affordable education for artists and students who wanted to learn extensively about audio engineering. Although it seems unnoticeable to the casual observer in the midst of the chaotic city life, it is actually one of Toronto’s leading audio recording facilities.

This year TARA teamed up with the North By Northeast (NxNE) Music Festival to bring free indie music to the stage in a series of shows called Secret Sessions - welcoming NxNE artists Holler, Wild Rose!, The Paint Movement and Josh Reichmann.

Audio mastering guru and head teacher at TARA, Damon de Szegheo, has produced and engineered over 200 records for the likes of Serena Ryder, Bruce Cockburn and Thousand Foot Krutch; he’s also toured with Canadian music legends like Stompin Tom Connors. He says that the Secret Sessions provide TARA students with an opportunity to be community involved while producing live tracks. “We bring in indie bands every Saturday in conjunction with their tour,” he explains. “We use the live performance of them to showcase the school while our students are engineering and producing those tracks.”

Working alongside with de Szegheo at TARA is producer Darryl Neudorf. Neudorf has produced a number of major label artists including Jim Cuddy, Case and Neko. Gemini Award-winning composer, Phil Strong is another member of the TARA team. Leading the Post Production series, Strong’s responsibilities include "Sound for Film".

Along with working with industry professionals in a fully equipped, functional and professional audio studio, TARA has just recently announced their exclusive partnership with one of the world's largest music publishers, EMI Music. EMI consists of 70 music labels and representing over 1500 artists and in January, TARA and EMI officially came together to create the EMI Music Publishing Studio Lab. Students now have the opportunity to work with top singers, songwriters and producers in a variety of unique internship opportunities.

TARA’s Audio Engineering program is a comprehensive, 32 week long program. It includes 12 hours a week in class and an additional 8 hours in the recording studio. De Szegheo says students are recording tracks, learning microphone techniques, mixing, mastering, editing and producing songs for a variety of artists including The Great Lake Swimmers (“Your Rocky Spine”), Juno Award-winning alternative rock band Billy Talent (“River Below”) and most recently, Neil Sanderson, the drummer and a founding member of Canadian rock band Three Days Grace (“Animal I Have Become”).

But it’s more then just mixing tracks or producing them at TARA, says de Szegheo. While at the Academy, students also get to learn the business side to the music industry – from writing grants to starting record labels.

But perhaps the hardest thing for students to learn during their time at TARA, says de Szegheo, is dealing with the emotional side of the ‘music biz.’ Emotions can run high in a studio when working with different artists and producers. He says, “Everything that goes into making a record in a studio, that’s what these students learn here.”

TARA is a private career college offering real-life experience and actual recording sessions. Courses include speakers from all aspects of the music industry. Classes begin every February and September. Applications can be found online at www.taratoronto.com

In July, Barzin, Black Hat Brigade and The Artist Life will be stopping by TARA’s Secret Sessions. Log onto http://www.secretsessionstara.com for more information.