Ear Responsible Productions is the bastard brainchild of producer/engineer/musician/songwriter/artist/supergenius Michael Borkosky (also known as Mike B or hey). He works out of The Vault/Backroom Recording Studio in the heart of prestigously unfashionable Mimico village, just west of Toronto's downtown core. He's been a touring and recording musician for nearly 2 decades and has amassed an impressive collection of backstage laminates and hotel ashtrays.
He was trained in the analog domain in the early 80's on a Neve Console and a Studer 8 track one-inch machine at London's Fanshawe College, where he almost drowned himself in EMT plate reverb. After college, he spent 3 years fronting Secret Lives, a hot up and coming Ontario bar band that never quite made the jump to recording success despite their dynamic live shows and fabled use of Joico hair products. From there he embarked on a run of 'hired-gun-guitar/bass-guy' tours and recording sessions that continues to this day (a full-on name drop follows this boring bio). His contributions to artists he was already touring with started to earn him co-writing and co-producing credits, which led to the bright idea of investing more time and resources into his 'digital studio of the future,' where he's probably frolicking in fields of binary joy even right now.
Mike B brings a unique multiple-perspective to any recording project beyond that of just a producer or engineer. He draws on his vast and diverse background as a musician fluent on several instuments (and a hack on many others), decades of playing, writing, analysing and loving music, and a passion for audio geeketry and the relentless pursuit of making everything he does 'just one more better.' Most good.
He's produced and/or engineered recordings by illScarlett, Low Level Flight, Farewell to Freeway, The Reason, A Thousand Cures, The Apollo Effect, Melanie Doane, Alannah Myles, The Dupes, Thieves, Bombing Neverland, TRP, Catherine Harrison, One Way Trip, Out of Options, Endo Four, Phoenix Park, Sandcastle Theory, and his self-titled solo project Bork.
He's appeared on disc and/or toured with Melanie Doane, Sass Jordan, Alannah Myles, James LaBrie's MullMuzzler, Damnhait Doyle, Easily Amused, Kinnie Starr, Harry Hess, Blume, Dayna Manning, John Boswell, Andy Curran, Creighton Doane, Lisa Dalbello, Lee Aaron, Amy Nodwell , Canadian Idol winners Ryan Malcolm, Kalan Porter, Melissa O'Neil and Rex Goudie. Plus many others.
On tour, he's shared stages with Radiohead, Sting, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, Lillith Fair (ft. Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, etc.) Collective Soul, Kings X, David Lee Roth, Styx, Trevor Rabin, Jann Arden, and Great Big Sea. AND he appears on the 'Toronto Rocks' DVD from the monstrous but poorly named SARSTOCK concert of '03 (as a member of Sass Jordan's band) where he played guitar, sang backing vocals, and nearly didn't suck on keyboards.
To quote our hero Mike B., "Ear Responsible is not only my production company, it's a way of life." He later added, "Excuse me, I dropped a name."
