Larrabee Studios is bringing back its Creator Series for a second year, opening applications on May 18 for a five-day program led by 18x Grammy-winning mixing engineer Manny Marroquin in collaboration with Sony’s audio business. The program will select 15 emerging music creators from across the United States and bring them to Los Angeles at no cost, with travel, lodging, meals, and programming fully covered.
The real story here is access. Plenty of young producers, writers, engineers, and artists understand the value of being in professional rooms, although the cost of travel, lodging, studio time, and direct mentorship often keeps those spaces out of reach. The Creator Series addresses that problem directly by placing selected participants inside Larrabee Studios, one of Los Angeles’ most respected recording and mixing facilities, with guidance from people who have spent years working at the highest level.
The 2026 program runs August 11 through August 15. Applications are open from May 18 through June 26 at 11:59 PM PST, with winners announced July 10. Applicants must be U.S. residents, age 21 or older, and all music genres are welcome.
PROGRAM DETAILS
Dates: August 11–15, 2026
Location: Larrabee Studios, North Hollywood, California
Participants: 15 total
Eligibility: U.S. residents, age 21+, all music genres welcome
Cost: Fully funded (travel, lodging, meals, and programming included)
Application Window: May 18 – June 26, 2026 (11:59 PM PST)
Winners Announced: July 10, 2026
Apply:larrabeestudioscreatorseries.com
Larrabee Studios Creator Series 2026
The program is built around five days of mentorship, studio access, panels, hands-on creative work, and industry education. Participants arrive August 11 for a welcome dinner, then spend August 12 through August 14 inside Larrabee Studios with Marroquin and a curated group of industry professionals. The final day takes place on the Sony Lot in Culver City, where participants receive access to Sony’s Audio professional facilities.
Larrabee’s history gives the program extra context. The studio has hosted work from Lauryn Hill, Usher, No Doubt, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Beyoncé, Maroon 5, and many others. For emerging creators, stepping into that kind of room can change how they understand recording, mixing, collaboration, and career development.
Marroquin will personally select participants through a competitive national application process. There is no fee to apply or attend.
Sony’s Audio Tools
Sony’s Audio role adds a practical tech layer to the program. Participants will work with Sony’s Audio professional products, including MDR-M1 and MDR-MV1 headphones, microphones such as the C-80 and C-100, and the 360 Virtual Mixing Environment, 360VME. That system recreates the acoustic experience of a professional studio over headphones, giving creators a hands-on way to understand spatial playback and studio translation.
That technical access gives the Creator Series a clear studio-education angle. The program is built around studio fluency, creative development, business education, and direct exposure to professional tools. The aim is to give emerging creators practical experience they can bring back into their own music, production work, and long-term creative decisions.
For producers and artists trying to find serious mentorship without paying for access, this is one of the cleaner opportunities on the table. The application window is short, the program is fully funded, and the experience places 15 selected creators inside a real professional environment with people who can give direct, actionable feedback.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
