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Mason Brooks (Career and Legacy)

Mason Brooks, known professionally as Mase Effect, was a DJ and music producer based in Baltimore, Maryland. He began releasing tracks while attending Edgewood High School and had his first online hit reach listeners beyond Baltimore in the summer after his 2025 graduation.

Career Beginnings

Mason was working on his first tracks by his fourteenth birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the basement of his parents’ home had not yet been fully converted into his music space. He began putting out tracks during high school and adopted the DJ name Mase Effect, a play on his nickname Mase and the phrase “mass effect.”

Main article: Janine and Mason Brooks

Main article: William and Mason Brooks

His parents, Janine and William “Bill”, bought equipment for the basement where he produced music. Bill worked in finance and wanted Mason to pursue a similarly practical career. Janine was unconditionally proud of Mason and his music, while worrying about how hard he might have to work for little return and how few people established a sustainable career in music. Mason defended the thought, revision, and technical work his music required. He felt that both parents opposed his ambitions and became more determined to prove himself, alongside his enjoyment of the work itself.

During senior year and the first years after graduation, Mason spent roughly a year or two withholding career setbacks and difficulties from his parents because he expected those struggles to become further arguments against his choice.

Professional Development and Recognition

After graduating in 2025, Mason remained in Baltimore while several of his closest friends left for college. He continued producing music from his parents’ basement, with a SoundCloud account and a secondhand speaker, and began pursuing venue work in the city. He joked that he was staying to build an empire and that his departing friends were abandoning him. His ambition was sincere, but a larger part of his decision to stay came from doubting that he was college material. Although his parents had bought equipment, he still felt they did not support his artistic ambitions.

Main article: Mason Brooks’s Richmond Wedding Gig (Summer 2025)

In summer 2025, Mason played a wedding in Richmond, Virginia, his first booking with hotel accommodation and travel expenses covered. He received $2,600 for the engagement, including four additional hours and a tip, with those travel costs covered separately. During the stay, he discovered that “Summer Moon” had become his first online hit, reaching listeners beyond Baltimore. His friends celebrated the response, and Bill sent him an unexpected message of pride after listening to the track. As Mason’s tracks gained attention, his music drew comparisons to Zedd, including the description “Zedd but angrier sometimes.”

In late 2025, a friend told Mason about the Music Production and Audio Recording Technology certificate at Community College of Baltimore County. Surprised to discover the program, he began considering audio-production training as a way to develop his skills. Logan Weston had taken dual-enrollment courses at CCBC Essex but had not known about the program earlier and would have shared it with Mason if he had.

Artistic and Professional Identity

Mason’s electronic music centered on dubstep and bass-heavy production, with house and dance mixed into his sound. He used strong bass, sharp rhythmic changes, and brief pullbacks before the sound returned at greater intensity. Playful interruptions and unexpected sounds accompanied memorable melodic hooks. His house-oriented tracks placed more emphasis on a sustained, danceable groove, while other releases were more aggressive and jagged.

Mason was a skilled melodic writer who was equally enthusiastic about ragged, aggressive tracks. He cited Avicii and Zedd as influences, with Zedd particularly informing his melodic writing.

Professional Support

Main article: Logan Weston and Mason Brooks

Logan took Mason’s DJ work and music production seriously from the beginning. Mason did not have to defend his ambition or prove that he deserved to call himself a DJ before Logan accepted the work. When his friends responded to the name Mase Effect with eye rolls, Logan addressed him by it, making Mason smile.

Careers Musicians Mason Brooks