Mike Heymans

The Beginning:
Mike Heymans is the stage name for EDM producer, artist, and DJ Michael Heijmans (pronounced Heymans). Mike has been in and out of the professional music industry since he was 14 when he started touring as a professional jazz drummer for the North End Jazz Ensemble. When he was 16, Mike’s jazz group parted ways and he began playing as a drummer in various rock and metal bands as well as started DJing. Mike quickly fell in love with being on stages and performing in front of large crowds. His third year of college, Mike had the opportunity to start a recording studio and dropped out of school and quit DJing to pursue his music career more seriously and to hone his skills as a recording engineer and music producer.

The Recording Engineer:

Mike worked the first year to really build up a killer recording studio and production company based in his home town of Hudson, FL. In that first year, Mike really learned the ropes and started to become a crack recording engineer. His friends and clients started calling him “Miracle Mike”, but trouble was soon to come. Mike’s father was diagnosed with cancer and Mike fell in to deep depression. He was unable to function and was quickly removed from the company but damage had already been done. Mike’s girlfriend, Lisa helped the studio partner with a company in California and the studio, including Lisa, moved to Oakland, CA.

The End of the Studio:
After the studio was moved to Oakland, the bottom of the recording market fell out as digital media and computers were attainable by any musician and a quality sound could be created “inside the box”. So Mike, finally got out of bed and shook off the depression and headed out west with all his worldly possessions and less than $500 in his pocket to save his girlfriend and his studio. When he arrived in Oakland, Mike got right to work trying to build the studio up in Northern California; however, shortly after his arrival, the money dried up and the funding was lost. Mike and Lisa were facing an eviction notice, $100K in personal debt, and no way to even buy food for themselves.

Career Change – Software!
Mike was working a job at Wal-Mart and squatting in a half renovated, rat infested, basement of a commercial building in downtown Oakland. He was trying to make ends meet and ignoring collections calls as he was faced with the hard decision to cut ties with the studio and the entertainment industry. He decided to leverage his childhood hobby of computers and got a job as an operations engineer for a San Francisco web startup company. He worked there for a year but the company lost funding and he was laid off. Fortunately, he had gained a reputation as a software guru and was quickly hired by Yahoo! Inc. as a Senior Operation Engineer where he works today.

Music – Mike’s Addiction
Last year, Mike heard Skrillex for the first time on local college radio and fell in love with the sound. Being a hardcore and metal musician and fan, he really gravitated towards the hardcore metal sound that this EDM musician had created. He discovered more Electro and Dubstep and began creating his own music again. A little rusty but in love he started making music. His passion for EDM and the Electro scene is unparalleled and he can’t stop listening to and making the stuff.

Current
In April of 2011, Mike married his long time girlfriend that stuck with him through the tough times of homelessness and collection calls. He started creating electronic music seriously and started performing again. The bug had bit him and he knew that he belonged on a stage entertaining people, and not seated at a desk typing away all day. In May of 2012, he released his first EDM track “She’s Got a Complex” and started a collaborative project with his wife. The first track they created together is called “Lights” and is releasing on Subtone Records in late August.