
Even though Los Angeles boasts the country’s highest concentration of recording studios, Mike Caren, creative officer for Warner Music Group and CEO of his own music hub — Artist Partners and Artist Publishing Group — saw an opening. “Most of the studios were designed in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s for rock bands tracking songs, which is how people created music then. I relished the opportunity to build a space for how people use studios now, and one that could be modified based on how music will be made in the future.” That means a complex — four studios, multiple lounges and writing rooms as well as his companies’ offices — that promotes collaborations and comfort by way of open spaces and lots of natural light. Also important to Caren, 39, was a sense of community, which A Studio’s Fairfax location offers: It’s down the road from Crush Management (Fall Out Boy, Sia, Weezer), the industry bar No Name, Canter’s Deli and Genghis Cohen, the site of a monthly event Caren curates called “I Wrote That Shit” featuring songwriters performing their hits.