MCS Recording Studios

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Media Communications Services Limited(MCS) formed in July of 1969, in Toronto, Canada, is Canada’s oldest privately owned recording studio with fortieth year in business.

[edit] History

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Harold (Hal) Clark was manager and chief engineer at Eastern Sound Studios in Yorkville, Don McBride was chief film mixing engineer at Film House, Dave Shano was chief of Radio commercial distribution at Eastern Sound, and Tim Janssen was an electronics engineer from Phillips, RCA and Filmhouse, came together to form this Media Communications Services Limited, along with guiding support from Joel Aldred, actor, producer and celebrity whose input created the initial catalyst of success.

MCS built their first studios at 6 Colbourne Street in downtown Toronto, and soon found themselves to be one of the busiest recording studios in Canada. They also recorded pop music, and jingles for commercials, as well as voiceovers. They developed state of the art equipment for advertising presentation, and quality electronic systems for the growing world of television commercials. MCS was producing hundreds of commercials weekly, and many big name voices came through their doors, such as Orson Wells, Lorne Greene, Anne Murray and Christopher Plummer.

The Colbourne studios were not big enough to handle the growing business, so in 1985 they moved to 550 Queen Street East into a 10,000 square foot space. Here they built three recording studios, offices, a duplication centre, a film theatre and projection and dubbing facility, and an electronics lab. The company was set for the booming production of the Eighties. Unfortunately, in September of 1985, president Don McBride passed away. Harold Clark became president until his retirement in 1992. In 1988 Tim Janssen took the electronics division team and created MCS Systems, and Dave Shano went on to Multitrack Inc. as a partner. The company was in need of new blood, and a new direction.

Bill Walker, a recording engineer with sound effects, location sound, and a music background came into the picture. He had been an employee of MCS earlier, and a freelance engineer, and knew what was needed, so he became a partner and president in 1992. He initiated the transformation from analogue to digital recording and remodelled the studios into the comfortable workstation design that brought them into the new century. MCS is still the voice actors choice, and renown for their history and casting reputation and is one of Canada’s top ISDN voice link studios. Every voice actor in Toronto has breathed into their microphones.

Still very much the “Voice Specialists” of commercials, and now onto voice for web and IVR, from English to Inuit, and every language on the planet.