SONGMAKER
Songwriter & PRoduction Program

Songmaker is a five day songwriter & production course for young musicians held at the recording studio, Banquet Sound. Covering the fundamentals of writing and recording original music, the program will uncover, and examine topics like writing lyrics and melody, recording basics, sound design, applied music theory, and beat making.

The goal for the week will be to write, produce and record an entire song with a small group. All students will be encouraged to collaborate and contribute their ideas to the song's creation and will perform all of the parts. Similar to a professional workplace, every student has different strengths that they can bring to the group, and will gain experience on how to play a role in a collective working towards a common goal.

By the end of the week each student will gain experience in a professional recording studio, collaborate and build valuable relationships with like minded young creatives, acquire a deeper understanding of writing and recording and have a lot of fun while doing it.

Please reach out to Tom Hanley with any inquiries at tomhanleymusic@gmail.com or 416 949 2656.

The Instructors

Tom Hanley is a professional guitarist, producer and singer songwriter based in Toronto. An alumnus of Humber College’s Bachelor of Contemporary Music program, Tom has been active in the Canadian music scene for the past fourteen year appearing on stages all over North America. Tom’s music has received radio play on stations like CBC and Jazz FM and he has performed live on Canada AM and Breakfast Television. In addition to his artistic career, Hanley has built a strong reputation in Toronto as an educator, influencing many up and coming young musicians in the city at schools including Branksome Hall, Musicians Choice & Addison Music.

Tom hanley

Nixon Boyd is a Juno winning producer, songwriter, and musician based in Toronto and the owner of Banquet Sound. As a recording artist with Juno-nominated band Hollerado, he has co-written and performed on eight top-ten Canadian Alternative radio singles in the past seven years, including “Juliette” & “Born Yesterday” and has toured across the world sharing the stage with bands like Sum 41, Akrells and Billy Talent. Further production and writing credits include collaborations with artists such as Sam Roberts, Ron Sexsmith, Chris Murphy of Sloan and Annie Murphy of CBC’s Schitts Creek.

nixon boyd

songmaker summer 2022

songmaker summer 2022 @ Banquet Sound

Here are some of the highlights of the SONGMAKER Summer 2022 Program, featuring the song "Growing Out Of Us". Written and Produced by Josh Clark, Hannah Levinson Ethan Chen & Ian Dittrich. Recorded at Banquet Sound!

Banquet sound

"Step into the light" - lyric vide0

"Step Into The Light" is the second song the students of SONGMAKER wrote and produced in the summer of 2022. This video was designed and animated by up and coming artist, Nyx Montoya.

Our studio is an intimate but spacious facility with an intuitive and fast work flow, outfitted to capture the nuance of any performance, and filled to the brim with some of the world's most beloved guitars, drums, synthesizers and effects, Banquet Sound is an environment designed to foster creative exploration and practical execution.