Toronto now has a coworking space for musicians and creative types
In a town touted as the music capital of Canada but without the live venues to show for it, there's few places in Toronto where musicians and sound pros can come together in one unified hub.
But as coworking spaces become the new office environments of the 21st century, a private community just for sound professionals has sprung up right next to St. James Park.
Signal—which takes up two floors of the building at 112 Adelaide St. East—trades in cubicles for decked out recording studios, editing suites, and sprawling communal work spaces and offices.
Here, everyone from independent beat-makers to foley artists to podcast producers have a place to rub shoulders with other creatives—as long as they're members of the exclusive 16,000 square-foot space.
Pay $50 a month for the Creator membership (the cheapest option that gets you access to the building) and you get to book and use all the facilities that Signal has to offer for additional hourly rates.
Aside from its main floor, which consists of a charming 80s toy-themed board room, private offices, desks, and communal workspaces, the Martin Pilchner-designed space in the down floor below is the auditory stuff that musicians' dreams are made of.
Wires running beneath specially designed floating floors connect the SSL recording studios (there's three). Each comes equipped with sound-proofed double glass windows, while budding bedroom producers can vibe out in the production rooms (eight of those).
Then there's a 1,200 square-foot live floor; ideal for recording the whole band. Somewhere beyond that, an entire room of amps, mics, wires, and some visual equipment is available for members.
It may all seem too good to be true for a base price $50 a month, and obviously, dishing out $700 per month for the Studio membership will grant you better rates for studio time.
Whichever membership you get, you'll get access to Signal's online platform, which, aside from the studios for rent, is undoubtedly the coworking space's main feature.
This online portal lets members peruse and contact Signal's entire membership base, opening up a whole world of collabs and job opportunities for less connected individuals, and helps industry pros source and book talent from within a trusted community.
That's not to say the space is open to all noobs: there's a vetting process here, and given the fact that space is pretty limited as is, Signal likely won't grant you access to their portal and events if you're still learning how to use Garageband.
But the fact that heavy hitters like Toronto's Buzz Records operate out of Signal, as does 604 Records, the possibility of running into an eOne artist coming out of the studio is a goal worth working toward if you're not there already.
Hector Vasquez
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