MANIA
MANIA is the stage name of Tom Wilson, a producer and performing DJ from Aylesbury, England. He works primarily in drum and bass with a focus on liquid funk—melodic, tempo-driven tracks that sit on dancefloor-friendly grooves and polished production.
Wilson began in music as a drummer and moved into electronic production using FL Studio. He released music under his own name prior to 2019 and signed to Universal Music that year. Those earlier releases reportedly accumulated over 25 million streams across platforms, establishing a commercial footprint before he adopted the MANIA alias.
The MANIA identity arrived around 2022. Under that name he made his international live debut at Amsterdam Dance Event in 2023. He has toured and played alongside established drum & bass acts, and his tracks have received radio support from BBC Radio 1, Capital Dance and KISS FM.
Releases under MANIA and his earlier output have appeared on NoCopyrightSounds (NCS), DnB Allstars, Elevate and NUFORM. He has worked with vocalists and artists including Lottie Jones, Rendah and Catching Cairo, crediting those collaborations on label singles and promotional campaigns.
As a producer, MANIA’s background as a drummer shapes his programming. He commonly uses tight, ghosted snare work, swung hi-hats and deliberate groove offsets that give tracks a live feel—techniques compatible with FL Studio sequencing and sample slicing. His bass design leans toward warm, sub-informed low ends paired with mid-range movement rather than overly aggressive neuro textures; that approach supports the liquid-funk side of his output. Atmospherically, he layers pads, reverb-treated vocal chops and piano-led motifs to produce melodic hooks while keeping the low end rigid for club translation.
Specific production traits to listen for: punchy kick-sample selection, crisp transient shaping on snares, and sidechain compression used to carve space for rolling basslines. Breaks are arranged as rhythmic rollers rather than fragmented amen edits—measured pieces that favour forward motion and groove over extreme chop. Where vocals appear, they are often mixed forward with clear de-essing and a short delay/tail to sit above the pads without clouding the bass.
Public statements of direct artistic influences are limited; however, his transition from acoustic drummer to FL Studio producer and his documented collaborations with singers such as Lottie Jones indicate a producer working at the intersection of live rhythmic sensibility and polished, vocal-led liquid DnB. His signing to Universal in 2019 and subsequent label work show a trajectory from independent streaming success (25 million+ streams) into label-backed releases and international showcases like ADE 2023.
MANIA continues to release on labels including NCS, DnB Allstars, Elevate and NUFORM while building a catalogue of collaborative singles and DJ/live appearances that reflect his drummer-rooted rhythmic approach and liquid-leaning production.
