The beginning of February undoubtedly belongs to Bad Bunny. On Sunday, as the New England Patriots face off against the Seattle Seahawks, the Puerto Rican superstar will make history as the first Super Bowl halftime show headliner who performs solely in Spanish — a feat that’s become a source of major celebration and contention across political lines.
At last week’s Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny accomplished another milestone. His sixth solo LP, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” (“I Should’ve Taken More Photos” in English), made history as the first Spanish-language project to take home the highly coveted album of the year award.
Though the album (which garnered a 240% boost in streams following the Grammys, according to Luminate) is firmly rooted in Puerto Rican culture, Atlanta helped shape the quality of its sound, thanks to longtime resident Colin Leonard.
“I think that’s what this album does is feed your soul, and I think that’s why everyone loves it so much,” Leonard told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the album’s impact on Friday.
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
The heralded audio engineer mastered the entirety of “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” scoring his second-consecutive Grammy for album of the year (he won last year’s award for mastering Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter”).
Leonard, who works out of his downtown company/studio SING Mastering, began working with Bad Bunny in 2017 (mastering his previous two albums, including the blockbuster “Un Verano Sin Ti”), after being introduced to him via mixing engineer Josh Gudwin.
His career as a mastering engineer — a role tasked with ensuring a record’s final version has a polished sound — spans two decades with other credits including Cardi B, Justin Bieber and Victoria Monét.
The Maine native described his career as a “slow build.” After a high school teacher stamped his affinity for music, he studied audio engineering at University of the Pacific in California and later Full Sail University. He moved to Atlanta after graduating in 1998 and opened SING Mastering in 2012.
“I’ll listen to a record and I’ll kind of get it an idea of what I want it to sound like in my head,” Leonard said of his creative process. “I’ve been doing this for so long that I kind of already know, within a couple of minutes, of all the things that I want to do in my head to make it sound the way I want … I’m probably 90% of the way there on one song in 10 minutes.”
Ahead of Bad Bunny’s historic Super Bowl performance, the AJC talked to Leonard about mastering Bad Bunny’s sound, his rise as an audio engineer and what he’s looking forward to on Sunday.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: Congrats on another Grammy win. How are you feeling now?
A: Half on a high and half like, it doesn’t feel real, but it’s awesome. It’s definitely a really exciting time and an exciting award to win, not just because it’s album of the year but also because of the weight of this Bad Bunny album that at this time feels really special.
Credit: Courtesy of Sing Mastering
Credit: Courtesy of Sing Mastering
Q: What do you think is special about it? When you first heard it, what was your reaction?
A: I think that I really like the traditional instrumentation — the musicians, guitars, congas. (Bad Bunny) bringing it back to the roots of Caribbean sounds and Puerto Rican history is really cool. My grandmother was a musician from Cuba, so I kind of have some history with that area. That music is just really cool. It’s like the meat and potatoes music that kind of feeds your soul.
Q: What was your approach to mastering “Debí Tirar Más Fotos?”
A: I’ve been working with Bad Bunny since 2017 so I kind of had a good idea in my head. When I go into a Bad Bunny album, a lot of it is about the way his vocal sounds. He has a very specific vocal tone (baritone), so a lot of it for me is making sure that his vocal sounds perfect. How does his vocal fit into this track? This one was a little different because there was a little more traditional instrument element in this album compared to the rest of his albums where they were a little more reggaeton. So I was keeping it organic and clean and ensuring his vocal sounds amazing.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: Once you finished mastering it, were there any adjustments or notes from his team that you had to work through?
A: No, I don’t think so. It went really smoothly. We’ve been working together for such a long time, but he’s always very easy to work with. Sometimes, he’ll change stuff in the songs, and I’ll just get a new mix, but he’s never had a lot of changes on the masters. I think the biggest thing for him and me on his music is just making sure that the vocal sounds right because it’s a little tricky. He’s got a deep vocal, but he also has a really cool texture on the high frequency on his vocal. That is something that he works hard on, and it’s important to keep that consistent throughout.
Q: You’ve worked with him for nearly a decade. What were your first impressions of his music?
A: I thought that the music, and even all his visuals, were really cool. My son was around three at that time, and I used to always play Bad Bunny songs for him because, even though (some of them) were dirty, they were in Spanish, so I could play them for my 3-year-old.
Q: Bad Bunny is arguably the biggest superstar in the world right now. What’s it like seeing his rise, given you worked with him from the beginning of his career?
A: It’s been crazy. He’s such a force. It’s really been amazing to watch him become such a huge star. I’ve worked with a lot of people … I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone become such a big star and in such a short period of time as he has. It’s pretty amazing, especially such a worldwide star. I’m really happy for him. He’s like the nicest person. When I went to went to his concert in Puerto Rico in 2025, he gave me a big hug backstage and was like, “Finally, I got to meet you.”
Q: What sparked your interest in audio engineering?
A: When I went to Full Sail, I was kind of interested in audio engineering, but I definitely wasn’t doing it really before I went there. I kind of fell in love with that studio — working on the music, the big mixing boards and stuff. Full Sail kind of turned the corner for me.
Credit: Courtesy of Sing Mastering
Credit: Courtesy of Sing Mastering
Q: Any memorable moments from mastering “Debí Tirar Más Fotos?”
A: I love the production on that project. All of it is just so good, and there’s this one thing that’s so cool. It’s the beginning of “Baile Inolvidable,” (“Unforgettable Dance” in English) track three. It starts out with this synthesized version of horns, and it’s sort of like a reggaeton kind of thing. Right after that cool section that’s maybe 30 seconds long, then all the real instruments come in, and it’s all live horns and congas.
Q: What are you most looking forward to on Sunday, given Bad Bunny will likely perform songs you’ve mastered?
A: Just the fun. My New England Patriots are playing, so it’s a win-win for me … you know the Super Bowl halftime show is so short. I wish it was more of like the residency (in Puerto Rico) that he did (last year). The stage was this huge mountain, and you couldn’t see any speakers. They put this metal grid on the ceiling, and they put all the speakers on top of the metal grid facing straight down, so there was no speakers visible in the stadium at all. It was this big, open space on the stage with this big mountain, and it sounded so good.
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