Shakira’s global hit “Waka Waka.” 2004 GRAMMY-winning reggae album, Toots and the Maytals’ True Love. Album of the Year nomination for Andre 3000’s newest album, New Blue Sun, and the 67th annual GRAMMY Awardn. These are some of the accolades record producer and mixing engineer Fab Dupont has gathered over his almost 25-year career.
Additionally, as studio owner of the esteemed Flux Studios, Dupont has racked up recognition from global artists, producers, and fellow engineers across the industry.
Though the journey to becoming a famed producer and mixer wasn’t always easy.
Dupont’s introduction to music started at the age of five, first with the saxophone.
“My father marched me to the Conservatory in a small suburb outside of Paris called Clichy when I was five years old. And he took me there, and he went straight to the saxophone teacher,” Dupont said. “He said, ‘Hey, my kid’s gonna play saxophone.’ This happened in French, obviously. And the teacher said, ‘No, he’s too young.’”
Upon Dupont’s first rejection from saxophone lessons, his father then enrolled him in music theory lessons instead, where he was accepted right away. However, Dupont’s father didn’t give up on his dreams of his son playing the saxophone. In his third attempt, Dupont finally picked up the saxophone, which he stuck with through college at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
With one thing leading to the next, Dupont joined a band, where he toured and self-produced records for his band. While Dupont’s musical talents were evident as a band member, his real talents shone behind the scenes as labels noted Dupont’s gift as a mixer. In 2001, Dupont moved to New York City, where his official journey as a producer and mixer took off.
“I fell into this crowd of insane, high-level, amazing musicians. And so they took me in, which was very kind of them, and then one thing led to another,” Dupont said. “I taught myself engineering, and I started producing records on the side, and then I started mixing a lot of records. Now, this is what I do.”
What followed is a repertoire of esteemed artists: David Crosby, Mark Ronson, Rauw Alejandro, Monsieur Périné, among others. Though when asked who the first artist was that molded his career, Dupont simply said, “I don’t know if you can clearly define it that way. That’s not how this business works.”
Dupont’s latest collaboration was with Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, with his song “WELTiTa” in the album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. “WELTiTA” marks Dupont’s first collaboration with Bad Bunny, stating that Bad Bunny is a “really amazing, fierce artist,” and one of his favorite people Dupont has collaborated with.
When mixing “WELTiTA,” Dupont envisioned the song to be a cinematic piece. With the collaboration between Bad Bunny, the song’s producer Eduardo Cabra, and Puerto Rican band Chuwi, “WELTiTA” is split into three acts, starting with a traditional introduction, an electronic backing, and soothing vocals from Chuwi’s frontwoman, Lorén Aldarondo.
“I really wanted to stay really close to the story and not try to smooth out all the differences. I wanted to enhance the multifaceted quality of the song,” Dupont said. “It’s a fun process, definitely.”
Following the upcoming 68th annual GRAMMY Awards on February 1, 2026, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is nominated for six GRAMMYs, including Album of the Year. While the album’s nominations are “phenomenal” for Dupont, the culmination of Dupont’s efforts was showcased during Bad Bunny’s live performance of “WELTiTA” at the Latin Grammys, for which Bad Bunny won five of his 12 nominations.
“It was the apex of the night. The performance had no pyrotechnics, no dancers, no lights, nothing. (Bad Bunny) brought Chuwi to sing one of their songs without him on stage,” Dupont said. “That is, to me, a sign of incredible care about the craft, about music, and a beautiful use of his platform to showcase another artist at his most shining moment is absolutely stunning.”
Dupont’s collaboration with Bad Bunny is half of his success. As the owner of Flux Studios since 2009, Dupont has hosted legends like A$AP Rocky, Lorde, and Chappell Roan, among many others. Located in the East Village in Manhattan, Dupont started his own studio as a way to feel unrestricted by budget costs. By owning his own space and instruments, having his own studio allows Dupont to unleash his creativity, ushering a community of other artists and music industry professionals into Flux Studios.
By supporting budding careers through low-cost studio sessions, treating each artist of all experience levels with the utmost respect, and maintaining community outreach with local high schools, Flux Studios has become one of the few reputable studios in Manhattan and in New York City.
“(Flux Studios) was very hard and extremely expensive to build for many years, and then it turned around in 2017, 2018. That’s when things started to really connect,” Dupont said. “The studio was able to pay its own bills and grow to a point where it’s now a leading institution. It’s become a beautiful thing.”
→ Continue reading at NYS Music
