Positioned as one of the most well-known and successful mixing engineers on the international stage, multi Grammy-winning producer Luis Barrera Jr maintains nothing short of a true winners mentality. Here he speaks to Headliner about his creative process in the studio, what’s been keeping him busy of late, and why he uses oeksound plugins on every one of his mix projects.
During the summer of 2020, Barrera was called up to work on what would arguably become the most important track of his career so far. That track was Hawái by Colombian megastar Maluma, a song that took the Latin music charts by storm and one which also saw Barrera work with The Weeknd on the remix.
“I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by great artists and great producers, and to be able to keep working on great music,” he says. “That’s the most important thing to me; the relationships with artists and the fact that they trust me with their music.”
More recently, Barrera mixed a new track called Pendejo by Enrique Iglesias, has worked with popular Dominican songwriter Natti Natasha, and is in talks to resume work with the ‘King of Reggaetón’ Daddy Yankee. “There’s a bunch of projects coming in, and I’m just glad to be part of all this new magic that’s being created in Latin music, especially now it’s become global,” he adds.
Having worked with the whole gamut of big name Latin artists, from Maluma, J.Lo and Shakira to Camilo, Ricky Martin and Mark Antony, Barrera has become very well established in this world.
Interested in the recording process from the age of 14, he found himself under the wing of guitarist and renowned producer Dan Warner, who first gave Barrera the chance to intern at his studio in Miami, FL in 2011.