The Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology (OIART) is a private career college in London, Ontario

London, Ontario

London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The institute trains audio engineers for a variety of careers in music production, recording arts, audio engineering, sound recording and related fields. Founded in 1983 by engineer and producer Paul Steenhuis, the college focuses solely on sound. Graduates of the OIART program receive a Diploma in Audio Recording Technology.

OIART has been described as "prestigious" and as "the Harvard of Audio Engineering" and attracts students from around the world.

Although not accredited, the school is registered as legally required by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. OIART has the largest full-time faculty of any audio school in Canada.

Curriculum

OIART offers an intensive, practical program in audio engineering. The 1300-hour program is taught in the school's seven digital multi-track equipped studios, including two lecture-style theatres. The school features an overall 5:1 student-to-instructor ratio. In lab settings the student-to-instructor ratio is 4:1 and in tutorials the ratio is 1:1. There is one hour of lab for each hour of classroom instruction. All instructors are audio professionals. Graduates typically log more than 600 hours of studio experience during the course.

In 2006 OIART added video game sound production to its curriculum and became the first audio education program in North America to be registered as a game developer with Creative Labs.

Graduation Rate and Employment Prospects

OIART has a completion rate that is significantly higher than the provincial average, with 90 percent of students graduating. This compares with 72.9 percent for the rest of Ontario's private colleges. More than 93 percent of graduates were employed within six months compared with 79.4 percent provincially.

Graduates have pursued entry-level career opportunities as:

• Studio Engineers
• Internet Audio Developers
• Live Audio and Remote Engineers
• Custom Duplicators
• Educators
• Video and Film Post-Production Engineers
• Sound Effects Editors
• Sound Designers
• Broadcast Production Engineers
• Audio Consultants
• Performing Artists
• Studio Owners
• Multi-Media (Audio/Video) Producers
• MIDI Specialists

Notable alumni

• Haluk Kurosman
  Haluk Kurosman
  Haluk Kurosman is a successful Turkish music producer and co-founder of GRGDN, a music production - management company and record label; producing, mixing and mastering the albums of successful young Turkish artists. Kurosman started to play the guitar at the age of 15 and had his own band,...
  
  , Co-Founder, GRGDN
  GRGDN
  GRGDN is a Turkish music production and artist management company as well as a record label based in Istanbul. The name of the company originates from the Turkish word gergedan which means rhinoceros....
  
   (Turkish Recording Label)

• Rob Nokes
  Rob Nokes
  Rob Nokes is the owner/founder of Sounddogs, the largest online library of sound effects and production music, since 1997. Mr. Nokes is the Supervising Sound Editor for the TV series Bones and is a Sound Effects Field Recordist/Designer on major motion pictures.IMDB credits:...
  
  , President & Founder, Sounddogs
  Sounddogs
  Sounddogs.com is a commercial online library of sound effects. , 500,000 sound effects and production music tracks are available for immediate download or on hard drive or CD. Downloads are available in AIFF, WAV, and MP3 formats. Their website began providing service in May, 1997...
  
  .com

• Mike Shepherd
  Mike Shepherd (music producer)
  Mike "Sheppy" Shepherd, born 1977, is a music producer and head engineer of Lakewind Sound. He was born and raised in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. He graduated from the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology in 1998....
  
  , Music Producer & Head Engineer, Lakewind Sound

• Jennifer Lewis, Director of Sound - THQ Canada

• Damian Kearns, Post Audio Engineer

• Dan Brodbeck
  Dan Brodbeck
  Dan Brodbeck is a Canadian record producer , recording engineer/mixer and recording engineering professor based in London, Ontario.-Production/Engineering Career:...
  
  , Producer

• Mark Krupka, Production Recordist and Post Mixer

• Paul Williamson, Sound Re-recording Mixer

• Richard Betanzos, Sound Re-recording Mixer

• David Ciccarelli, Co-founder and CEO, Voices.com
  Voices.com
  Voices.com is an online marketplace for corporations and broadcast entities to search for, audition and hire language service providers such as translators and voice-over professionals since the year 2004.-Customers:...