Thirty years on every side of the glass: producing, recording, mixing, writing, running studios and teaching.
Trusted with projects of every size, from a single vocal to the official songs of the Pan Am Games and Canada's Paralympic Team.
Credits tell only part of the story. Over three decades Murray has worked with more than a thousand artists, and much of that work happens behind the scenes, in production, session and mastering roles that never reach the liner notes. This is the experience behind it.
Murray does his best work at scale: full albums and anthems with large casts, original arrangements and sessions spread across several studios. He runs the whole production, from casting players and booking rooms to briefing every participant, and keeps ambitious projects focused, efficient and cost-effective.
Three decades of daily studio work, much of it tracking full bands live on large-format consoles. Murray has recorded nearly every kind of ensemble, from rock bands and gospel choirs to string quartets, horn sections, and South Asian and Indigenous ensembles, with the classic microphone technique that great rooms reward.
Mixing and mastering are a constant in Murray's week, for major labels, independent artists and media clients alike, with every record delivered release-ready.
Murray has built and led three commercial studios. He grew MDS Recording into a full-service facility over nearly two decades, overseeing staff, finances, room design and equipment, and is currently overseeing day-to-day operations at Phase One Studios, one of Canada's best-known recording facilities.
As head of audio at film-marketing agency Agency 71, Murray created trailer music and dialogue across nearly the entire Canadian eOne release slate, along with 5.1 mixes, music supervision and licensing for independent features.
Murray's work with artists extends well beyond the studio. At Vic Park Music Group he was a core member of Neverest's creative team, advising on music, image, touring and promotion. Earlier, he produced development recordings for Atlantic Records' A&R team.
A prolific songwriter for more than a decade, with songs recorded by artists in Canada and abroad, and an arranger for horns, strings, choir and band on large productions.
At Centennial College, Murray teaches recording and mixing the way they are done in professional rooms: hands-on, at the console, with real musicians. He previously designed and taught the program's music business course, covering how recordings, songs and live careers earn income in Canada.
For nine years Murray co-led the Songwriters Association of Canada's SongWorks camps, bringing together writers, artists and producers from across the country, partnering with international labels and publishers, and managing every detail on the ground.
Murray Daigle is a Toronto-based producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter and educator. For more than thirty years he has worked in professional studios nearly every day, collaborating with over a thousand artists on everything from first demos to national broadcasts.
He began behind live sound consoles in Toronto's clubs before founding MDS Recording, which he grew from a home studio into a commercial facility trusted by Warner, Universal, Sony, EMI and Atlantic Records. For Wind-Up Records he produced Cauterize's So Far From Real, which charted in the US, was featured in DreamWorks' EuroTrip and has passed nine million streams on Spotify. Later, while running the studio in Liberty Village, he also led audio for film-marketing agency Agency 71.
Since 2016 Murray has been senior engineer in residence at Phase One Studios, where he is currently overseeing day-to-day operations. His work there draws on skills that are increasingly rare: recording large ensembles live on a large-format console, with the microphone technique and understanding of a room that only years of daily sessions can build. He passes those skills on as a professor of advanced production and mixing at Centennial College.
Murray is at his best leading large, complex productions from first idea to finished record. He is also well versed in music publishing and master-recording rights, a subject he taught at the college level.
Also: Howie D ("Lie to Me," producer) · Platinum Blonde (Now & Never, producer) · Solidemo ("Beautiful," Avex Trax Japan, co-writer & co-producer) · Mikalyn and Bree Taylor (co-writer, producer, mixer, mastering) · One In The Chamber (producer, engineer, mixer, mastering) · Reverie: The Indigenous Music Residency, CBC & SOCAN Foundation (producer, mixer, mastering) · Not By Choice · The Fullblast · Warmachine (co-produced with David Ellefson). Full discography on Discogs and AllMusic.
A running playlist of records Murray produced, mixed or wrote, from Cauterize and Neverest to Post Tense and Steph La Rochelle.
For production, recording, mixing, mastering, arranging, music for picture, teaching and consulting enquiries:
Based in Toronto, Ontario, working with artists everywhere.
Find Murray elsewhere