Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Willson.
Hi Mike, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We opened our first MAPS location in 2010/2011 in Huntington Beach, CA. My bandmates and I were making our own records out of my parents’ house and eventually started helping other local bands out with their demos. At the time I was teaching private drum lessons as well and a student of mine actually had a commercial space available for rent that was, more or less, built out as a “soundproof” tracking room. I met with my bandmates and quickly convinced them that we needed to start a recording studio and rent this space out. We were all around the age of 19/20 years old and had no idea what we were doing from a business standpoint. We had a bunch of gear already and before we knew it, we were up and running at our first studio. Around that time, we landed a contract with a local book publisher to do their audiobooks. We kept very active in our local music scene and have been helping our local music community ever since. Now, we have our main location in Fullerton, CA and have quietly been working on opening a location in NYC. Outside of MAPS, I have actively been touring as a FOH/Monitor Engineer, Production Manager, and drummer for various artists. I also try to stay very busy locally as a live sound engineer as well.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wouldn’t say smooth, but not terrible really. We lost our first location in 2014ish and that sucked. Like, really sucked. We had originally struck a sort of sublease deal when we first moved in, but unfortunately we were in a situation where the owners of the building would not give us our own lease because we were so young. Even though we had been there for four years and never missed a rent payment, they more or less would no longer let us occupy the space without a completely unreasonable security deposit. After we vacated that location, my business partners moved on to pursue their current careers and I continued to freelance out of various studios OC/LA for a year or so. I eventually received a message from the owner of ArtiSans Label Studios in Fullerton, CA asking if I was looking for a new space to call home. We had a meeting and eventually decided to work out a deal. The first year at the Fullerton location was amazing. I worked on 10 records that year and had a blast. Now we’ve been there for almost 8 years and have been able to partner with ArtiSans Label to create the entirely different studio business model that we now operate as MAPS together.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a full-service music production studio. Our primary focus is to be a home for freelance producers, engineers, and songwriters. We provide 24/7 self-serve access to our studios with an automated booking system. Our studio has an extensive gear offering that has been curated over the past 10 years by myself and some of the other amazing producers that call MAPS home. We pride ourselves on bringing awesome people together to make records and be creative.
What were you like growing up?
I was a very active kid growing up. I always played sports, surfed, rode dirt bikes, took family trips to the river, but also played drums since the 4th grade. Our family moved from Costa Mesa to Huntington Beach when I was 12 years old. The following year, I started at a new middle school and quickly met two friends that would help kick-start my entire music career. Us three would end up joining the Commercial Recording Arts Department with the Academy for the Performing Arts (APA) at Huntington Beach High School. All through high school, we played some incredible shows and even got to perform The Beatles Abbey Road live in its entirety for our senior year. I met so many talented people through APA and still work with plenty of them to this day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.recordatmaps.com
- Instagram: @recordatmaps
Image Credits
Heather Shane, Caitlin Hill
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