Fuel Industries
7 Hinton Ave, North. Suite 100
Ottawa, Ontario
K1Y 4P1
Rob Plowman - Director of Audio
With over 25 years experience in post audio industry, Rob brings a vast wealth of knowledge in the fields of Music Composition, Sound Design, and producing audio for all mediums. Since his coming aboard at Fuel, Rob has assisted in elevating the level of audio to an award winning level. With the current creation of Fuel Sounds and Fuel Sounds Studios, Rob is spearheading the development and execution of a full service audio department, not only supplying the audio for Fuel's on going award winning work, but developing a Record label, and On-line music distribution network, as well as post audio services for Commercial and Feature Film work.
Mike White - Music Composer / Sound Designer / Producer
I started composing music as a kid on a Casiotone keyboard back in 1980 when they first came out on the market in Norway. I would run it through the family stereo system to use the notch filter EQs, overdrive it through the amp to get a distorted sound and record it onto tapes. The first time I heard "I Love Rock 'n Roll' I was set on getting my hands on an electric guitar. As a young teenager I would spend my summers renting guitars, amps and drums for months at a time… I had a metal head buddy who taught me power chords, shredding, and hammer-ons, which was all I wanted to know. I really started playing drums when I bought my first kit at age 14. After doing a few studio recordings with the various bands I was in I eventually realized I was as interested in composing music as I was in making it sound good - in effect, production/engineering and composition were one in the same to me. So in 1994 I traded my car for a Heritage guitar and headed south to learn the art of sound production. Nashville gave me a good amount of experience engineering on large consoles with 24 and 48 track analog and digital tape while learning an array of recording techniques from industry professionals. Back in Ottawa I had been producing experimental immersive art installations and had just finished building my own recording studio when Fuel offered me to come on board full-time, in 2005. Having worked with the company on contract basis I was impressed with Fuel's potential to grow in many areas of media production, so joining Fuel in-house seemed like a logical move.
Colin Schlachta - Sound Designer
Since I was an infant, I have always been sensitive to music & sounds, and how I got into Sound Design was not by design. By the time I finished my Music Degree at the University of Ottawa, I had drifted away from music & was drawn towards radio, and the use of sounds for radio, television & film. After over 11 years working as an Audio Engineer, I have worked in many different aspects of sound, including radio, television, film, music, websites, audio preservation/restoration and, yes, even video games.
For me, the key to sound design is to use sounds of all sorts in a musical way. There is a musicality to anything, from a door closing to a rocket taking off, and part of my job is to create a score for the project using sound effects. In that regard, I see myself as a kind of composer, but one who isn’t necessarily limited to the notes on the staff. Working in conjunction with the composer & other departments, I can create, for instance, a sound effect or an ambient background sound that can create a particular mood, or enhance a pre-existing one. It might even be a very powerful component, but because the audience cannot see it, it may not know it is there, or know just how much of an impact the sound effects are having. Video and gaming may be the cake, but the sound is the icing.
