IN 1986, Derek Treffry and Greg Fisher played in a band together. At the time, the two young men had little idea they were setting out on a 15-year musical odyssey, a journey that is finally reaching maturity in the realm of commercial music production and audio post.

Their company Fish-Fry, the pungent mix of its cofounders’ last names, was actually created five years ago when the two musical partners went into the DJ business. Even then, Treffry and Fisher had an eye on production.

Says Fisher: ‘We knew when we started deejaying that production, writing, composing, recording and performing would be an end goal.’ The two were also beginning to realize that their wide variety of musical tastes and talents did not necessarily lend itself to album-making.

‘As we started developing our production, our studio and our composition, we found that it was across a really wide spectrum. We’d have 10 songs that wouldn’t fit on an album – unless it was a Pulp Fiction soundtrack or Trainspotting or something. And we decided to pursue the commercial music avenue at that point,’ Fisher explains.

That point was 18 months ago, at the beginning of the millennium. Since then, the partners have ‘really blitzed the majority of the big agencies in Toronto, starting with the producers and working towards the art directors, creative directors and writers.’

A demo CD, completed last October, was distributed and follow-up calls have been made at a pace of ’10 a day’ ever since. Sending out the CD got Fish-Fry a number of requests for demo reels, so agencies could ‘get a sense for how it would look with picture.’

A show reel followed, and now, the jobs are beginning to come in. Fish-Fry has already provided music and full audio post-production for an NBA dot-com spot through Encore, Encore Marketing Strategies and a PSA for the Toronto Zoo through Roche Macaulay & Partners.

The young company offers its clients at least two versions of the audio ‘to choose from,’ although Fisher and Treffry admit they may not always be able to provide this service if they’re ‘getting a couple of jobs a week.’

Since Fish-Fry doesn’t favor a single ‘style of music,’ the company is excited about getting into the varied mindsets required for the different musical genres demanded of commercials.

‘People talk about the compromises artists make in the commercial industry if you have to do reproductions of say, Moby. The thing is, even to that extent, it’s still kind of exciting because you have to get in and analyze the techniques that they’ve used. And obviously, they wouldn’t be great songs unless they had put some soul and innovation into it. It’s you having to rediscover their paths,’ says Fisher.

‘Our thing is everything,’ adds Treffry.

Although their promotions have been ‘centred around Toronto clients,’ Fisher says they would like to ‘work for people from St. John’s to Vancouver – all over Canada.’ With three digital studios (a central King and Bathurst location in downtown Toronto and smaller satellite studios in both Fisher’s and Treffry’s homes), the company foresees smooth working relationships with clients – no matter what their location.

The future? Fisher says ‘more is good.’

‘Beyond establishing and developing relationships with ad agencies, we want to bring on and incorporate associates. Associate producers who have the talent, the knowledge and the skills. Because what both Derek and I offer is start to finish. From the consultation to the composition, production to the performance [the two play all their own instruments], and the engineering to the final master and delivery – we do it all.’

With a smooth-as-butter demo, these fish are really starting to sizzle.

-www.fish-fry.com