Mike Tompa - Alumni Spotlight

Mike 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 he came to realize had produced most of his favourite records. There was only one problem… nowhere was he able to find where the studio was actually located or how to get in touch with them even after a year of looking. Ever the optimist, Mike eventually flew to England and took roughly two weeks walking around the neighborhood to find the place! He knocked on studio door and asked.

Although they had other interns lined up, they let Mike stay and after about three months of interning, he was hired on as full time engineer/producer. Mike worked at Outhouse for two years, and in that time worked with all of the bands that made him want to find Outhouse in the first place. He learned how those records were made and did a lot of great work himself along the way. Eventually it was time to move back to Canada, where he quickly got a job running Merriam Studios in Oakville. Now head engineer/producer at Merriam Studios, Mike works with everything from jazz ensembles to rock bands and classical soloists, song writing for various artists as well.



Mike told us, “OIART has a truly amazing way of preparing its graduates for success in the audio industry. The course is extremely hands on and gets you familiar with not only the technical side of audio with its world class facilities, but also with professional studio/work place etiquette. The lessons that I have learned at OIART are invaluable, and have made it possible to make a living doing what I love. The confidence that I have jumping into any new project across any musical genre, whether it be recording a metal band, mixing jazz, or writing for a pop artist, I owe to the OIART faculty.” Thank you Mike!