What if editors had access to original, unheard tracks? What if it was easier for producers, creatives and directors to think about audio at the beginning of the production process? What if composers did not have to start from scratch with only days to complete a project? And what if you could find an audience for existing tracks rather than writing music to fit the visuals?

These are some of the questions partners Roger Harris and Jerry Mosby considered when developing Steam Music. And although the new Toronto sound house, due to launch in a few weeks time, may have a familiar name, Steam Music’s approach to audio is anything but.

Financially backed by Radke Films, Harris says Steam Music will share ‘the culture’ of sister commercial prodco Steam Films. ‘They are individual entities that can collide sometimes, but they work separately from each other as well.’

Unlike traditional sound houses that will develop sound design and/or compose music for a particular spot, Harris’ and Mosby’s innovative approach to commercial audio positions them as brokers, bringing musicians and sound designers together with visual producers, creatives and clients.

Central to Steam Music’s approach is the archive of original, unused and immediately accessible music from composers all over the world. They are developing a roster of musicians and sound designers, which they will represent much like a production house does directors.

So when an editor is cutting the pictures, for example, rather than using some pop tune from a library, he/she can lay down an original track that can be utilized in the final product.

‘As of the new year, we started really building this thing internally,’ says Harris, who in addition to being a principal at Steam Music is also managing director at Steam Films. ‘The roster is in good shape right now. The technology is probably a week away from being what we need it to be.’

In addition to its unusual approach to finding music and building audio for commercial spots, Steam Music also boasts a fully mobile studio. ‘We can actually take the studio to the producers and creative director. We can go and sit in their office with the track and rework it with them to the point where they’re happy,’ says Harris.

According to Mosby, Steam Music will help connect the advertising community to a wealth of musical talent that has gone relatively unnoticed to date. ‘In Canada, I believe we have a tremendous untapped creative community, but it’s almost like we’re not wired to talk to each other,’ he says.

Although they are just now getting ready to officially introduce Steam Music to the advertising community, Harris and Mosby have already completed two projects, one for Saatchi & Saatchi and another for Gee Jeffery & Partners out of Cincinnati, which Harris says have been a bit of a testing ground.

‘It just sort of proved to us that the process was working,’ he says. ‘Now we’re at the point where we’re about two weeks away from being out there and introducing this to agencies and editors and directors.’