Tainy
Behind The Board: Tainy Traces His Path From Selling His First Beat To Working With J Balvin
GRAMMY-nominated Puerto Rican producer Marco “Tainy” Masís has played a key role in the continued explosion of reggaeton and Latin pop around the globe through his work with J Balvin, Bad Bunny, Wisin & Yandel, Anuel AA, Arcangel and more. In the latest episode of Behind The Board, Tainy takes us through his career's journey, how he got his start and some of the keys to his massive success.
"Music is a part of every house," Tainy said of his musical beginnings. "I was growing up, reggaeton was starting to boom."
Tainy, called "one of the architects of modern reggaeton" by Rolling Stone, quickly became part of the movement. His childhood friend Josias de la Cruz, known as the producer Nely, introduced him to FL Studio and eventually to Francisco Saldaña and Víctor Cabrera of the production duo Luny Tunes.
"Even when I started to do music, I never knew this was going to by my career," he recalled. "I used to draw a lot, so that's what I thought I would eventually be doing. I'd be an architect or an artist. I was in love with music but I never knew how to create it."
Tainy began to pickup the tricks of the trade from his heroes while developing a sound all his own. Once he sold his first beat, he began to realize this was something he could excell at, and his career has come a long way from pitching packs of his beats to collaborating from the beginning of a project with some of music's biggest names.
"[With] Balvin, it was a totally different experience for him to sit down beforehand and say, 'Okay, this is my vision. This is what I want to do. I want to try these sounds,'" he said of the formative expereince. "Giving us all those ideas and see how can we make this into music. Having him trust us with that input helped me grow as a producer."
Tainy was nominated for his first career GRAMMY nomination, a nod in the Record Of The Year category, for his production work on "I Like It," the star-studded smash hit by Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin. Reflecting on his success, Tainy talked also about how he incorporates what inspires him with his own ideas and what makes a great record.
"I think I understood, 'Okay, I have something that's me. Nobody else can be this or do this,'" he said. "All of these influences that you have will create something different eventually.. You're learning from them, taking different pieces to create something totally different."
Hear more from Tainy in the video above and stay tuned for more episodes of Behind The Board.
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