Our School

Our History

In 1992 TARA was founded by Ottawa’s famed Raven Street Studios, with the aim of providing a quality, practical audio recording education in a nurturing environment at a reasonable price for the student.

Our first class was only 4 students and to this day we keep our classes small, although our enrollment now runs around 30 students a year.

TARA maintains its unique style by working out of industry active recording studios. There are not many schools around that have artists like Avril Lavigne, Snoop Dogg, Simon Fullers’ Now United, Elijah Wood x Jamie Fine, Twin Flames, members of Shawn Mendes’s band & Walk off the Earth, coming through their doors, as well as the hundreds of local artists who have recorded at our facility over the years. We make an effort to include students on all of the audio production that goes on in the studio, in order to give them real world experience before graduation.

Over the last 3 decades, a lot has changed in the recording industry. Analog has given way to digital, equipment has become smaller and less expensive, recording studios have become smaller and easier to set up. With each step along the way TARA has adjusted to make sure that our school is always teaching the most current and relevant recording techniques.

Our
Facilities

In the industry, you will encounter all kinds of different gear. Our grads often comment on the confidence they have in the field, based on the fact that they learned in 3 different studios with different console setups, vintage hardware and current plug-ins. You will develop a full understanding of working with both digital and analog consoles, using Protools or Logic DAWs and applying mic techniques in both tight spaces and large acoustically treated environments.

After learning in our studios you will have the knowledge to excel wherever you choose. You can have a look at our studio pictures below or come on in for a tour; we’d love to show you around.