Make It Happen: How One Drummer’s Search for Rehearsal Space Turned into a Carlsbad Music Hub

There is a particular kind of frustration that every working musician knows well. You have the band, the songs, and the gear, but nowhere to actually rehearse. For Dan Achin, founder of Right-On Studios in Carlsbad, that frustration was the spark that turned a longtime side interest into a thriving local business.

“I’ve been playing in bands since I was probably sixteen or seventeen,” Dan says. “I’m fifty-one now, so music is something I’ve done for a lot of years.” That history with music, paired with a sharp eye for real estate, eventually led him to open a multi-use creative space built specifically for the people North County San Diego’s music scene had been underserving for years.

From Saxophone to Drums to Building a Studio

Dan’s relationship with music started early, in fifth grade, when he was given a choice between picking up an instrument or doing art. He chose saxophone, the only option available to younger students before drums opened up in sixth grade.

That early decision shaped more of his life than he could have guessed. He played saxophone through high school and into his early twenties, but a chance encounter the summer before his senior year changed his direction. A friend who played drums invited him over, and Dan sat down at the kit for the first time.

“I was like, wow, this is really fun,” he remembers. A week later, he had spent his savings on a cheap drum set of his own. By the time he relocated to Southern California in his mid-twenties, drums had become his primary instrument, and they still are today.

That move west happened almost by accident. Dan was working in corporate IT at a large food processing company in Omaha, Nebraska when a colleague was recruited to start a new business in San Diego and asked a few coworkers to come along. Dan, then twenty-five and unattached, said yes. He has lived in the area for twenty-six years since.

A Pivotal Setback That Changed Everything

Ask Dan about the moment that shaped his life most, and he doesn’t point to a single triumph. He points to getting fired.

Back in Nebraska, Dan lost a job at a company called First Data Resources. It was, by his own description, a difficult moment at the time. But it pushed him toward a new job and a new circle of friends, people who introduced him to punk, hardcore, and ska, genres he had never encountered growing up on hair metal bands like Motley Crue and Poison.

“Because I got fired, I ended up in a whole different music scene, one that I’ve stayed in ever since.” he says. That scene followed him to California and shaped the bands he has played in over the last 26 years. Today he plays drums in a hardcore punk band Corporate Citizen and still thinks about picking the saxophone back up someday.

It’s a reminder that the paths we don’t choose, and the setbacks we don’t ask for, often turn out to matter as much as the plans we make on purpose.

Building Right-On Studios

Dan’s day job is in tech, currently at a cybersecurity company, but his passion for real estate and his years of frustration trying to find rehearsal space eventually pointed him toward a different kind of project. He and his wife already owned multiple homes, and Dan had worked as a home inspector, so the world of property was familiar territory. Commercial real estate, however, was a different animal entirely.

“There was a real need out here for rehearsal studios, which I’d known about for years,” Dan explains. About two years ago, a situation reminded him just how hard it still was to find a lockout rehearsal space in the area. That was enough to make him take the leap.

He bought the building in August and officially opened the doors in September, bringing the first studio online. Right-On Studios occupies a 7,000 square foot building in central Carlsbad, just a couple of miles from Dan’s house, and offers a few different ways for musicians and creatives to use the space.

The most popular option is the lockout studio, a private room that members rent monthly and can access anytime, leaving their gear set up and ready to go. Right-On Studios currently has eighteen of these, and every one of them is full, with a waiting list of thirty to forty people. The business also offers four hourly rehearsal studios, fully equipped with a backline of instruments owned by Right-On Studios, so musicians can pay by the hour without needing to own or transport their own gear. Beyond rehearsal space, the studio hosts live events and offers limited audio and video recording services.

“It really kind of circled back to music,” Dan says of the business’s focus. He had originally imagined a broader creative space that could serve photographers, artists, and other creators alongside musicians, and the doors remain open to anyone looking for a place to make art. But the demand from bands and musicians quickly became the clear center of gravity for the business. That is part of why he eventually renamed the company. His LLC started out as Right-On Rehearsal Studios, but he shortened it to Right-On Studios to keep the door open for whatever kind of creative work might walk through it.

A Name Born From Friendship

The name itself has a personal story behind it. Dan met a close friend through a father-son camping trip with the YMCA. That friend, a real estate agent and surfer who later helped Dan and his wife with a property purchase, has an unmistakably positive personality and a habit of punctuating conversations with phrases like “right on” and “make it happen.”

Those phrases stuck with Dan, and when it came time to name the business, “Right On” felt like the natural fit. “Make It Happen” became the studio’s tagline and shows up regularly on its Instagram posts, a small tribute to the friendship that helped inspire the name.

Serving Musicians Across North County

While Right-On Studios is based in central Carlsbad, its reach extends well beyond the city limits. Members travel from across North County San Diego, and some come from as far as Los Angeles, Orange County, and East San Diego County. Carlsbad’s central location makes it a practical meeting point for bands whose members are scattered across the region.

Dan keeps the business as approachable as possible. Most bookings happen online through the studio’s website, where customers can reserve an hourly room or inquire about a lockout space and receive the access codes they need without ever having to coordinate a time to meet Dan in person. He also regularly offers seasonal promotional discounts and rewards customers who take the time to share feedback about their experience, often following up a useful suggestion with a discount on their next booking.

What Keeps Him in Carlsbad

Despite running a business and working a full-time tech job, Dan has no plans to leave the area that has been home for over two decades. “Carlsbad’s great,” he says. “We’re close to the coast, close to LA if we need to visit family, and the school districts are good for my son.” He and his wife are raising their twelve-year-old son in North County, and Dan appreciates the area’s mix of convenience, community, and unmistakably Southern California weather.

Looking Ahead

Right-On Studios has only been open a matter of months, but demand has already outpaced what the current space can offer. Dan’s commercial building is divided into four business condo suites, of which he owns two. He would love the opportunity to expand into another suite someday and add more lockout studios to meet the long waiting list, and he even dreams of an eventual second location if the timing and finances ever align.

For now, his focus is on building something sustainable, one rehearsal, one show, and one band at a time, with the same spirit of “make it happen” that gave the studio its name.

Visit Right-On Studios

Whether you’re a band searching for a reliable place to rehearse, a musician who needs an hourly room with gear ready to go, or simply someone looking for a creative space in North County San Diego, Right-On Studios is built for you. Reach out today to check availability and join a growing community of local musicians who have found their home base in Carlsbad.

Right-On Studios

5741 Palmer Way, Ste C-D, Carlsbad, CA 92010

Phone: (760) 229-3160

Email: dan@rightonstudios.com

Website: rightonstudios.com

Facebook: facebook.com/rightonstudios.ca

Instagram: @rightonstudios.ca