Producer Christian Herrera Is Building a Hub for Austin Hip-Hop

When Christian Herrera – aka local producer the Mask – was in seventh grade, he had no interest in music. With his family going through hard times, his stepmother brought him to a church so the pastor could pray over them. When the pastor laid hands on his head, she told Herrera that he had a gift for music, and that it would be his path in life.

Taking up just under 5,000 square feet of a 15,000-square-foot warehouse at 10203 Old Manchaca Rd., the multiroom studio will include four audio production suites, as well as dedicated spaces for photography, podcasts, merchandise, lounging, and a reception area. Herrera and his two silent partners started building in May and hope to open in January 2023.

With parents working for the state and city governments, he was the first in his family to pursue a creative field, which wasn't seen as a solid career option. However, two months after the pastor miraculously prophesied his talents, Herrera was inspired by a youth pastor performing Christian rap and began dabbling in music. By eighth grade, the youth pastor provided Herrera's first visit to a professional recording studio, in McAllen.

Seeking to hone his skills, Herrera enrolled in the Art Institute of Austin and rented an apartment on Riverside. The day he graduated high school, when his friends were all partying on South Padre Island, he immediately drove to Austin and began studying audio engineering. At that point, he hadn't started making his own beats and wanted to learn the mechanics behind the magic.

Herrera adopted the Mask persona around this time and actually wore a white Jabbawockeez mask while at shows and socializing. From 2013 to 2016, he wore the face covering because he was self-conscious about a blue birthmark on his face – which started as a barely noticeable blue pigment near his eye as a child, but spread onto his cheeks and forehead as he grew older. Ditching the mask, he's kept the moniker, an acronym for"Music Art Self Knowledge.

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