Fran Val on SoundBetter

Id love to work with you... if your art is alive, if the music speaks!

Audio Engineer with an innate ability to know what the artist needs. After graduating with first-class honours I've worked my way up to chief engineer at Jabalee Studios in Mexico City working as an assistant in diverse studios including New York's legendary East Side Sound.
The workspace I offer is Jabalee Studios, built around our beautiful Trident 78 analog console and a certified Control Room with impeccable acoustics.

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

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Interview with Fran Val

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: assistant in a Joh Zorn recording session... You could "see" the magic in the air, you could feel the thickness of inspiration in the room
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Plenty of stuff, live sessions in our studio are a big one
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Dardo (d-aqui), great composer, singer, songwriter
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: the best of both worlds, really
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: never to let them down, not even for money... I work because of the art
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: The use of creative force
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Do you like the song? If I do I sincerely express my opinion, if not I remark what makes that specific song special... even if I don't personally like it.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: I don't make an average person an artist, an artist makes an artist
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: I try to get to know them personally, to really understand their vision of the final work
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: To know what you need!!! This makes the work so much easier for us
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: recording medium, microphone, guitar, pen, paper
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: After graduating with first-class honours I worked my way up to chief engineer at Jabalee Studio... this has taken me around 7 years
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Clear, realistic, full
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Anyone with TRUE talent
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: It's ALL in the source!
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Rock, Jazz, and Pop
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: "knowing" what the artist needs
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Nothing, I enhance what's already there, I try not to interfere with what the artist does, after understanding his concept I pull the best out of the performance, track or whatever...
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: After understanding the concept I slowly but surely work the song around it.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: Built around a beautiful 32ch Trident 78 that sits on a certified Control Room... We use Adam Speakers with a subwoofer, our monitoring system is calibrated to be as "flat" as possible, leaving no room for mistakes... it really makes us work! Another great feature is our Apogee Symphony which is the best interface money can buy. Besides we have plenty of outboard gear to play around with not to say about our 30+ guitars, 10+ amps, and a couple of nice drum sets.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Marc Urselli, Geoff Emerick, Julian Lage
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Mostly recording and mixing