“We did it by accident, on a whim of ‘let’s build a demo studio,” says Moore of the initial construction. “Usually you roll the carpets a year later. We built the control room and, at the time, MCI – a console and tape manufacturer from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., later bought by Sony – was still a viable company. We played a lot of dates in Florida and MCI sponsored us. We got a monster console with 52 inputs and the first two analogue tape machines, 24-track and auto locator and synchronizer package to lock them together- it was the first 48-track in Canada. It went from being private initially to renting out the studio when we were on the road. A couple of our road crew retired and ran the studio, a single – room facility, for 10 years or so.”
“In 1988, Triumph stopped performing and it became, ‘Who wants the studio?’ Mike [Levine – bass] and Rik [Emmett – guitar] wanted nothing to do with it after the band ceased to exist. I bought them out and found myself with a studio and not a lot of expertise, other than being a musician and having worked with great producers. I decided I had to build more rooms to accommodate a bunch of projects; otherwise I would have to turn people away. The expansion plan was Studio 2, immediately, and now we’re up to six rooms, Studio 4 is an edit suite, a Pro Tools room, which is a very small suite adjacent to Studio 6, which was a massive project – a very large control room with a medium-size studio that took nine months to build. Maybe later in the year we’ll add a Sonic DVD system to Studio 4, so it will be a computer-based music room.”
Metalworks’ six rooms include Studio 1, a recording room with a Neve 8036 console fitted with 1081 and 1064 equalizers and a 55- by 25- foot studio floor. Studio 2, for mixing and recording, features an 80-input SSL 4080 G+ console with Ultimation and Total Recall in the 14- by 20-foot room. Studio 3, also for mixing and recording, has an SSL 4040 E/G console. Studio 4 is the Pro Tools room, while Studio 5 is the mastering room included SADiE, Avalon, Apogee, Studer, Massenburg. Mark Levinson, Duntech, Sonic Solutions and more. Studio 6, the 25- by 22-foot room for mixing, recording and mixing 5.1, has an 80-input SSL 9080 J console with Ultimation, Total Recall and SL959 5.1 Surround Matrix. It also has a nine-foot film screen and Sony video monitors for DVD and film/TV applications. The room is Dolby authorized.
“Studio 6 is built for DVD production and surround sound,” says Moore, “so it’s very video-friendly environment. We’re the first studio in the country to have a surround room and the first Canadian studio to produce a DVD, for The Tea Party. That was done a year ago and it’s Platinum.”
Metalworks, which operates 363 days a year, has played host to artists including Tina Turner, ‘N Sync, Rush, Christina Aguilera, David Bowie, Fleetwood, the Spin Doctors, Anne Murray, DMX, Sisqo and The Cranberries – in addition to supporting the Canadian music scene and its many independent artists. The staff has experienced little turnover because, says Moore, “I select what I call ‘'brass- ring’ candidates. I try to get guys who really want to do music, so they don’t tend to come and go as they would in jobs where they were less interested. We have about 13 people full time and a number of engineers who we have relationships with who aren’t on staff. We have a number of clients who supply their own engineers, so for the majority of those jobs, we provide assistants. But we also have a group of engineers who tend to work here when they do projects best done in Canada, so they are extensions of our staff but not payroll engineers.”
Among the names that have made Metalworks Canada’s top studio is Nick Blagona, their principle in-house mastering engineer, for whom they built a world-class mastering room in 1996. A veteran producer and engineer, Blagona’s studio experience, began in the 1960s, working within all genres of music and with top artists such as Tom Jones, Petula Clark, Count Basie, Richie Havens, King Crimson and Cat Stevens. He owned and operated Canada’s Le Studio from 1971 to 1983, engineering for Chicago, Rainbow, the Bee Gees, the Police and many others. He relocated to Europe to work and travel with Deep Purple then moved to the United States prior to going back to Canada. “My relationship with Metalworks began doing mastering and using their rooms, engineering and producing,” he says. “It was our decision to build a world-class room because a lot of Canadian bands can’t afford New York because of the exchange of the dollar. We wanted to compete with the U.S. studio market and give good quality product to our customers.”
He defines his role as “the fellow who does the final touches to make it smooth to the public. Independently, people make records on a Yamaha 4416 or Pro Tools and they’re great musicians but not engineer, so my job is to clean up the mess. A good mastering engineer knows when to leave something alone. I work with a great engineer, and sometimes I don’t have to touch it all. Other cases can take a scalpel and sutures."
“It’s also about nurturing young engineers and helping them along the way. Repeat business is very important. I take grassroots engineers under my wing and mold them. I believe in karma – they’ll come back with their projects. [Overall] it takes a good bedside manner, a bit of compression and EQ. People just want good product and a place in the sun. My job is to give it to them.”
In setting up his room, Blagona’s requirements were basic – “the same as most mastering houses,” he says. “I had certain criteria: Sonic Solutions or SADiE digital stations, Avalon mastering EQ, Focusrite mastering EQ and Waves L2 ultramaximizers. If you look at Sterling or other mastering places, they have the same equipment we have. With Gil, every time I want a piece of gear, it’s Christmas time. We’re always updating and we’re going to 5.1, which will become an industry standard as soon as cars have it. It’s a very adventurous way of making records.”
At Metalworks, Blagona has serviced clients ranging from audio pathology to religious choirs, hard rock, folk music, narrations and nature records. “It’s what makes life so interesting,” he says. He credits the studio’s success to “always being two steps ahead of everybody. Not only in terms of equipment, but the staff must be friendly, intuitive about artists’ needs and able to deal with egos and insecurities. We have a very happy staff and a lot of fun here. There are no bad days. There are difficult days, but no bad ones. Gil understands how any artist is and how to run a studio because he comes form the trenches of being a drummer in a rock band.”
Claiming Studio of the Year for five years running takes more than stocking a facility with the latest equipment. Asked what Metalworks is doing right, Moore admits: “I don’t have a magic-bullet answer. It’s a combination of things: the vibe of the studio, the results people get combined with treating people the way they want to be treated, attention to detail – general things. We try to work with people we like and our clients are great. If there is a complaint I take it as a personal affront. Because of that, I want to be aware of [the complaints] – and that’s a good thing.”
“When Triumph was in the studio, we always had fun; we had a good time. I’ve noticed even with the film industry – last year we did the film Chicago with Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger, which is not out yet, and the vibe with the film crew reminded me of making a rock record. The spirit was good.”
“When you leave a facility, you get an overall impression. I hear feedback about other studios. People want a clean environment, good equipment, a professional staff, not too sterile and structured. I try to maintain one-on-one relationships with everyone on our staff, and I always ask how sessions are going. Any bad vibes or tension - I feel it is a personal failure on my part if something goes wrong. It makes me want to correct that and make it less likely that we’ll have that negative result again.”
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