THUNDER BAY — One year has passed since Blueprints opened its doors in Thunder Bay.
The post-production and music recording facility had an open house to celebrate a very busy year since its launch on Tungsten St.
It delivers various work, from musicians to sound effects and post-production for the film and TV industries.
"We kind of opened with a bang, one year ago and we had projects that were already ongoing at the time and then since then, it's been great," said Jean-Paul De Roover, the owner of Blueprints.
"The phone rings every day and there's a new project, a new challenge."
He added there's also a lot of creativity in their work, whether for their clients or just the work they're enduring internally for themselves.
De Roover said they were excited to have some of their existing clients return to experience the space and show it off to friends and family.
"It's wonderful to have everyone coming back and to see the excitement of a lot of people that are sort of in progress right now," said De Roover.
He explained that Blueprints has been able to wrap up a lot of projects this year, including many of them that are sprawling over several months. "To see people come back here and to connect, not just with ourselves, but also with some of the other musicians, other filmmakers, whoever it is in our space. That's what we're excited about," said De Roover.
He said it operates almost like a miniature hub where people can interact with other creative people.
"You're going to end up engaging with different people that have different perspectives on the work that they do. And so that excitement is something that we feed off of a lot," said De Roover.
Blueprints was also excited to have the open house event for people who missed last year to experience what it is, what they do and what they're 'all about.'
Off the lobby, the facility has a production space split into two studios: Studio B and Studio A.
Studio A is further broken down into two components: the control room and the live room, which has an additional isolation booth off of it.
These spaces were used to work on numerous projects over the months.
"Every Monday, we have a meeting with my staff and we talk about what's happening that week and by Tuesday afternoon, it's all changed because things come in on a very quick turnaround basis," said De Roover.
"Sometimes, we're working on a commercial that's got to be broadcast within a couple of days. Sometimes, it's a documentary that's going to be coming out in three years. Sometimes, it's working on a music project that's going to be developed over the next six months. So, every day is a different perspective on a musical or audio project that comes in through the doors."
Blueprints Demo Day program offers pricing drops for musicians to come in and experience the space, particularly those without studio experience.
He said they do this for a lot of hobbyist musicians and younger musicians who 'wouldn't necessarily have access to something of this calibre.'
"They can now come in and get a sense of what it's like to be in the studio environment," said De Roover.
"They get a taste of how timing works in terms of the pressure of the clock. They get a taste of what it is to be in a space that's much larger than a basement or a garage that they may have recorded in before and also gets them a chance to hear themselves mixed professionally and edited to a degree that they wouldn't normally have had if they'd done it themselves."
For more information about Blueprints, please visit the website.
