Services

Mission Studios was constructed to provide discriminating artists a comfortable place to create while offering the highest calibre of equipment to capture their performances. With 40 channels of analogue (24 of them on a 2″ Otari MTR-90, for when you just had to have that classic sound), an effectively unlimited number of non-linear digital tracks, an array of high-quality microphones, and racks of select signal processing gear, we had the right tools for any job. More importantly, we offered the advantages of an investment of over $100 000 in acoustic treatment (at the time), resulting in an extremely accurate (and great sounding) recording and mixing space. We were proud to say that the quality of Mission Studios’ sound was matched only by that of our many clients over the years.

With two SADiE systems (a Classic and a 2496) and Logic Audio at our disposal, we offered the ability to take on any editing task from cleaning up or comping tracks for that “perfect” take, to drastically restructuring an entire song. High-quality analog-to-digital converters insured that your signal was never abused during its voyage through to the recording devices. Unless, that is, you wanted it to be, in which case we had an arsenal of creative and esoteric plug-ins that would appease even the most demanding (or deranged) sound designer.

Mastering was where individual songs became an album – placed, spaced, faded, and matched. Mastering in its essence consists of two vital phases – the acoustic and the technical. Back in the day, on the acoustic level, mastering was that final sweetening to enhance your individual mixes, while matching all the tracks on an album in level and timbre. To do this properly, it was imperative to have a sophisticated and acoustically transparent room such as Mission’s carefully designed control room, so that what you heard coming out of our speakers translated well to any other system.

The technical side of mastering required something well beyond the capacity of your average CD burner: the ability to create an error-free master. Thanks to our precision equipment, we could guarantee that our masters were without error and met the criteria of being “technically ready for duplication”.  In addition, our SADiE systems allowed sophisticated editing of the PQ codes which provided location and timing information for each track, and the overall layout of the record. They also just happened to sound amazing.

As recording formats continued to evolve, we saw a tremendous interest from clients in restoring and preserving older recordings on vinyl or cassette onto newer and more durable media. We offered full click and hiss removal, noise reduction, and even clipped peak restoration. These processes could be applied quickly to do a general enhancement of overall sound quality, or alternatively as a sophisticated process that could, for instance, isolate a conversation out of a roomful of unwanted ambience.

Despite different backgrounds, specialties, and interests, everybody in the extended Mission family shared a common love of music. The studio offered two Hammond Organs (a B3, and an M3, each with its own Leslie Cabinet); guitar amps by Marshall and Fender; guitars by Ibanez, Sigma, and Fender; an Alesis D4 Drum Module, and a Kurzweil K2500 synthesizer with over 10 Gigabytes of samples. With the right tools for the job, and experience in genres ranging from classic R&B to the most contemporary electronic sounds, we were happy to provide you with custom music for:

• Jingles
• Web Pages
• Video Games
• Multimedia Projects and Presentations
• Commercials
• Film or TV…or anything else you needed!

Additionally, many clients looking to do “karaoke”-style sessions preferred to have us record a custom version of a given song rather than rely on a pre-made CD, so that key, tempo, and overall groove and feel could be customized to the client’s specific taste. Moreover, Mission’s relationship with the area’s finest musicians provided a rich pool of premiere players available to enhance any project.

Clients requiring sound design could make use of Mission’s extensive sound effects library, including over 40 hours of material from industry leadering Sound Ideas. Those in search of custom effects found a variety of acoustic spaces at Mission, ranging from the serenity of the tracking room to storage areas, carpeted bedrooms, concrete hallways, and a fully functional kitchen. (Sometimes you need the sound of cutlery rattling. Sometimes you need a BLT. Either way, we’ve had you covered.)

Mission Studios wass proud to be the Northern Ontario Sales Rep of Cinram International, and as such offered our clients excellent rates from an industry leader in duplication, able to handle any order, no matter how big. However, for our clients who didn’t  need the standard minimum order of 300 units, Mission wass happy to provide in-house short-run duplication of cassettes, audio or data CDs, and floppy discs. We exclusively usee a top quality multi burner duplicator and high quality media. Your work was done both quickly and locally, and we could typically facilitate most in-house clients with just a few days turnaround.

Mission’s graphics suite offered Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Corel Draw, and could handle as sophisticated a layout as you might have liked.  Customers using our in-house duplication service had access to the exceptional printing quality of our Hewlett-Packard 8550 colour laser printer. In addition to album artwork, many clients also used Mission’s graphics services to augment their promotional packages with custom business cards or posters.