Vocal Production | Final Project

Jan Franco Glanc Gomez | Reflection

Night Visions is the result of another collaboration with one of my favorite writers at
Berklee, Jonathan Plummer. We have been working on many pop tunes since March this year,
and that way our workflow is very efficient. We know who is good at what aspects of each
project and naturally gravitate towards that. Our communication is always fluid and we have a
very similar “musical world” in our heads—meaning that we share a vast amount of musical
references in our heads, and we easily know how to determine direction and execute it.

Just like most of our collaborations, we are song-driven, so I typically get an acoustic
demo from him, we set up a playlist of references/inspirations, and we build from there. Then
we go back and forth a number of times until we get the basic parameters right (vibe, tempo,
key) and then we start polishing structure, lyrics, vocal performance, etc.

We are both extremely pragmatic in our creative process. We make many different
melodies for each section so that we can test out which are the most engaging and
memorable. We easily scratch sections, melodies and lyrics if they don’t meet our “pop
threshold”—we have worked like that for a long time, so we don’t take anything personal. To
me this is absolutely essential because our only goal is to make the best possible product for a
potential artist and their corresponding fanbase. I really enjoy working with people that value
ideas of competition and free markets—I believe that’s how the best music gets made.

I have also taken the role of developing him as a writer from an A&R perspective. I have
done that for the last six months, trying to get him to a point where he can be extremely
creative while speaking the language of today’s pop music. I really value people that make an
effort to constantly listen to successful records and make that part of their musical diet.
Jonathan is certainly one of these people, and that makes our collaboration process very
smooth. I can reference anything that’s in any chart right now and he knows it.

As a higher level reflection, I think a lot about what makes a great producer and a great
writer. Working with different people at Berklee has certainly taught me the various
personalities and mindsets that I can find in the game. Being in class with colleagues has also
taught me the complicated process of getting/receiving feedback, and how that’s shaped by
personalities. Through this process I have learned to be sharp with my observations and clear
with my goals—which is not always received with praise. However, I do believe in a process
that is rational, data-driven, critical and informed by currently successful records in the market.
This Vocal Production class has given me a space to really practice these skills, and I saw
growth as a result of that.

This semester has primarily been shaped by my strong collaboration with Warner Music
Group, and a constant connection with top A&R executives from their major labels and
publisher. That is something that I started to connect with my production classes: essentially
how to think as a record producer at a much higher level. I found that I found the intersection
of music markets, business and record making exhilarating. My knowledge and skills from
Berklee about the record making process itself will surely turn me into a powerful record
executive, with arguably a much more competitive edge than many of the current big players in
the industry—I feel very confident and extremely excited for what’s to come.