Producer, audio engineer, and songwriter Paniik has worked with artists like Coco Jones, London on Da Track, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Future, and Cardi B. The now 24-year-old got FL studio when he was 8. That’s when he started making electronic music. “I’m highly inspired by Deadmaus. And also highly inspired by Skrillex.” He’s recently gotten to work with the latter.
“What was it like working with Skrillex?”
“I didn’t really do much…. doesn’t really matter what you give him, he will find something to do with it.” He explains that even vocal warmups are a potential source of inspiration for the producer and DJ to incorporate into his tracks. “It was just a very surreal experience.”
Paniik has a myriad of influences, something that has allowed him to work with a diverse range of artists. In his junior year of high school, he gradually ventured into the hip-hop genre. “I slowly started singing to my own beats. This was when Juice Wrld and X were at their peak.”
Amapiano is among the genres he’s most excited about. “I was very close to working with Tyla, but it didn’t happen…”
Had it not been for Covid, Paniik may have found himself in Los Angeles instead of Miami. A lot of things may have happened differently.
“How did you start working at Bay Eight?”
“This is a cool story,” he says with a smile. “The original plan was to move to LA, but this was like…2020.” A friend of his, artist J Cross, was leaving his job at Bay Eight after signing to Carbon Fiber Music. “I was basically doing nothing.” When he says “nothing,” he means he was making music at home. “He called me one night, I think I was coming back home from top golf or something….when he left he recommended me to Matt.”
An insomniac who admits to often losing track of time, in some ways it seems Paniik was built for studio life. In the three years he’s worked at Bay Eight, he’s become an integral part of the team. “It doesn’t feel like you’re going into work…everybody’s super friendly, we joke around. I love the clients.”
When I ask if he’s been starstruck by anyone that’s come through the studio, he starts talking about a young artists he works with named Prosper. He doesn’t have any music out yet, but Paniik sees a lot of potential in his artistry. Coco Jones is also among his favorites. “We’re currently working on her album.”
What other projects do you have coming up?
“We’re working on some stuff for Cardi B.”
“Shenseea actually just released a song we did…It’s called Die For You.”
“I have some stuff with a good friend of mine, Newer.”
He also mentions a collaboration he has coming up with Pala Chrome, a South African producer and friend. “A lot of my friends are from South Africa.” Friends have been a major part of Paniik’s journey. His first collaboration was with an artist friend he met on Twitch. Of J Cross he explains, “We graduated Full Sail together…we both did the same exact thing, audio engineering.”
“Music has always been part of my life, even if I didn’t want it to.”
Paniik can trace his connection to music to his earliest days. He talks of growing up in Santo Domingo, where someone was always blasting music outside of the colmado. “Music has always been part of my life, even if I didn’t want it to.” His father built one of the hottest nightclubs in the DR when Paniik was young (the timeline is hazy for Paniik). But nevertheless, at some point he became the sound tester, “I would play with the turntables. I would play music very loud. That’s where I also fell in love with electronic music.”
“I always told people I moved to the US when I was like seven or eight, and then the other day my brother proved me wrong and he said I actually moved to the US when I was like four… or five. It’s weird to say I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, it just feels like I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. But in reality,” he laughs, “I was raised in the US.” Still, he went back for frequent visits, so the blurring of this bicultural identity is understandable.
His family seems to be a major source of inspiration. In terms of goals for the future, the young artist talks about wanting to further his father’s legacy and helping to pay off his mom’s debts. His drive is bound to take him far. “I’m a night owl. I don’t sleep until 8 or 9 in the morning sometimes.” Despite his love for music, Paniik doesn’t romanticize any aspect of his journey, not the hard work it has taken to achieve his success so far, nor what drew him to the music industry in the first place. “Pretty much from the beginning…there’s music everywhere. I just fell in love with it. I didn’t really have much of a choice either, so…”
Last question. What made you choose the name Paniik?
He confesses to giving clients a different explanation for his artist name than he gives me. “There’s nothing special about my name. I like the word panic… one of my favorite sub-genres of EDM is Jungle Terror. ” At the time, he felt the artist name was a better fit for the genre of music he was making than his own name -Jose Morales. I ask about the spelling of his artist name, “I hate the way panic is spelled…” with a laugh he adds, “I might be stupid.”
Or rather, he is humble and easy going. Though Paniik releases his own music he insists, “I don’t really think of myself as an artist.” He puts air quotes around the word “artist.” Still, he estimates he has over 400 songs in his arsenal. His own releases, both new and old can be found on Soundcloud and other platforms.
Songs on Repeat:
“Pretty much since 2022…[by] my favorite artist ever…”
“The production is absolutely insane…”
Hobbies: Cars, Planes, and Golf
Keep Up With Paniik:
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