10 Of Canada’s Most Legendary Recording Studios

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 dominate the charts alongside American artists, so much so our talent have become of this country’s greatest exports. But that success is just the tip of the iceberg. Canadian musicians have seen success because they are built up by a community of music industry professionals. As well, that means our production facilities had to be top notch as well.

Today, Canada is home to thousands of recording studios from coast to coast. Canadian artists no longer have to cross the border to find a decent recording studio. In fact, we have so many great options in this country, the only hard part is choosing. Here are some of Canada’s best recording studios, from coast to coast.

Greenhouse Sound is recording studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. If the name sounds unfamiliar to you, chances are you may have heard of it’s original name: Little Mountain Sound. Between the 70’s and 90s it was legendary producers Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock’s home where they recorded albums for the likes of Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Metallica, Bryan Adams, Mötley Crüe, David Lee Roth, The Cult and Loverboy. In the 90s it would change its name to Vancouver Studios, and again to Greenhouse Studios. In the 90s the studio would launch k.d. lang, and Sarah McLachlan to stardom with music recorded there. Today, Greenhouse Sound is frequented by famed Canadian rock band Nickelback.

Minutes from the downtown core of Vancouver, Blue Light Studios is a popular spot for emerging artists across the board of genres. Blue Light Studios is a beautifully designed studio that offers the full gambit of professional services. They do everything: mixing, mastering, recording, production and even voice-overs and ADR for film and TV. Blue Light Studio is known for employing a combination of both digital and analog systems. Production starts with a digital audio interface, combined with a TOFT ATB 24 track analogue board, which offers the warmth of analog but with the flexibility of digital.

For more than 40 years, Metalworks studios has been the go-to recording studios for many of Canada’s most successful artists. Opened in 1978 by Canadian rock group Triumph’s Gil Moore, the recording studio has won the coveted Recording Studio of the Year a record 17 times at the Canadian Music Week Industry awards. The list of past clientele should speak for itself: Drake, Christina Aguilera, David Bowie, Anne Murray, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Bieber and many more. Some fantastic film and TV soundtracks have even been recorded in part at Metalworks including the film Chicago and The Barenaked Ladies theme song to The Big Bang Theory. The list goes on and on! Check out their website to learn more about what makes this space so special.

What makes revolution Recording so special isn’t just their equipment is top of the line or best in class audio engineers, rather the physical environments designed in studio. Revolution offers a number of specialty designed rooms that achieve the highest possible standards of acoustic architecture. This allows for artists to record music in the space it was written for, such as a grand hall for piano ballad or a cozy wood paneled room for a warm acoustic track. Through the combination of live sound and digital effects, Revolution Recording can bring your project to life.

This gorgeous studio located in the heart of Toronto set a new bar of excellence for studio design. Created with comfort in mind with the added feature of natural light, Noble Street is no dingy basement studio. Top of the line equipment and staff top off this space that is a dream for the creative mind looking for a creative space.

Since its inception only a few years ago, Dream House Studios has quietly made a name for itself among local and emerging talent as one of the best spaces to record in town. Shad, July Talk, Cadence Weapon, Holy Fuck, the list of recurring artists there past goes on. What makes this space so beloved is their extensive list of equipment and knowledgeable staff. Dream House Studio can bring your wildest recording ideas come to life without the heavy price tag.

This two room studio located in Edmonton is a great studio for both beginners and professional recording artists alike. Powersound Studio offers a facility with top of the line equipment, yet are able to work with almost any budget. The gem of this studio is mixer / engineer Phil Anderson, who has over 25 years of experience recording albums of all genres. Anderson has worked a list of with legendary talent including Mac Miller, Chunk and more.

Frequency Studios in Calgary, Alberta is a haven for the serious recording audiophile. What makes this studio so great is their selection of boutique, vintage and high end recording equipment. If the analog sound is something that you are itching for, this studio should be at the top of your list. Frequency is a full-fledged audio production house than offers almost any audio production service imaginable such as musical arrangement to mixing and mastering.

Planet Studios is a recording artists dream. This Montreal music production house has two gorgeous control room / recording rooms, a private Pro Tools suite for overdubs plus a mastering room helmed by mastering engineer Richard Addison.

Nestled right in the middle of downtown Halifax is Codapop studios. This multi-room recording studio is stocked with top of the line equipment, instruments and a knowledgeable staff of audio engineers and mixers. This custom-designed studio is a comfortable space with live rooms, tracking rooms and isolation booths that produce broadcast quality sound. Many emerging artists record at Codapop studio not only because of physical equipment the studio offers, but for their artist development and career guidance programs they offer as well.