Meet John Dominguez

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Dominguez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us John. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m a producer and singer from Norwalk, CA.

So my musical journey began when I lived up north in Palmdale. It was 2009 I was about sixteen years old, I had a childhood friend who was rapping at the time and said “let’s go to the studio man and just hangout”. Just to give you a mental image it was a microphone in a closet with a focusrite pre amp and a laptop with samplitude on it. Long story short, that day I recorded my first song. I thought it was weird hearing my voice on a recording, almost made me feel insecure. But the following day we went back again and I had guys twice my age telling me that I was natural and they really liked my writing.

From then on, I kept making music, releasing songs, shooting music videos. It was some of the best times of my life performing at shows with ten people and thinking “one day, just keep going”.

In 2015, I moved to live with my father in Norwalk so I could attend a Recording Technology program at Citrus College in Glendora. Back then, you had to take a whole semester of prerequisite classes and then apply to be in the program via an interview with the head engineer. First time I interviewed, I didn’t get in because I barely passed my music theory class. So I retook that class, passed with an A and got in the second time. I had been recording at a studio and reaching out to producers for beats but I got tired of waiting on people. I like to work fast and inspiration is always fleeting so I wanted to learn how to record, produce, mix, master all on my own.

After graduating from the program, I got a year internship at a recording studio in Burbank CA called “Dberg Studios” ran by the owner Derek Bergheimer (the smartest person, let alone engineer I know). I got to watch so many successful artists behind the scenes bring their songs to live, and I watched how Derek made it possible on the engineer side when it came to vocal production and getting the best take. He really took me in and taught me everything he knew, I will be forever grateful for that and our friendship.

In 2016-17, I began an artist project “Platinum Roses” with a friend I had met in the recording program Nathaniel Bowman. He was and still is the best producer I know. We connected over our love of electronic music and figured why not start a group? We released a couple of songs. One of the “What’d I do” actually got placed on new music Friday playlist on Spotify which was a like WTF moment for us. However, circumstances out of our control took us from that project and it has since fallen wayside for the time being, but I hope we can release an album one day, who knows.

From late 2017 to mid-2019, I was in another group with a very talented artist Nick Kandler. It was called “Odsum” and although we never released anything, I’m very grateful for the time we spent together. I got to live in a house in Toluca Lake with a bunch of music producers and waking up every morning with that energy around you was a blessing.

In June of 2019 was when I got hired at Warner Music Group in DTLA Arts District. I got to see how a big record label works, who’s responsible for radio, marketing. I even asked Aaron Bay-Schuck (the Co-Chairman and CEO) of Warner Records for a sit down and he said yes. I had followed his career since he was an A&R at Atlantic and to be in the building, I knew I had to pick his brain. He was very nice and considering I was a new hire at the bottom of the food chain it really set the tone and showed me the atmosphere there is all love. The whole experience was inspiring to say the least and I’ve made some great friends. If I could say one thing about Warner as a whole, it’s that everyone behind the scenes works hard, I mean insane, but they love it and that really shows in the company.

In August of 2019, I decided it was time to do my own artist project, just me. I had a catalog of music stored from working for a couple of years and just keeping my head down so I figured it’s now or never. So began the journey of “John White”. I’ve been releasing a song a month and since then, I’ve opened up my own record label “White Noise Records LLC” and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I think working a 9-5, at least from personal experience tends to drain you creatively, so for me keeping to a schedule of a song every four weeks keeps me in check. No excuses and no time to waste. My mother always asks me “don’t you ever take a break?” And my reply is usually “I haven’t done anything that makes taking a break worthy”. I love it, all of it.

Releasing a song and having it flop, not getting any playlisting on Spotify. I think it keeps me on my toes. I try to never make the same song twice otherwise I’d get bored. People tell me “you gotta have a sound” and while I think that’s true, I also thing we as artists have to always reinvent ourselves and evolve. I think that’s why it’s been over ten years and I’m still chasing this dream, I love the failure. Because for all I know, the next song, next video, next collaboration will be “the one”. I know I probably sound very selfish but in all honesty, there’s so much good I want to do in this life aside from music, but music is how I express myself and I know it’s going to allow me to do that. There’s levels and I need to break through a few of them before I have the necessary tools to change things for the better. I grew up with a single mother in a one bedroom apartment in Palmdale. Just looking back now, I’m already grateful for so much. However, I also know that if I’ve come this far, I can go a lot more and help a lot of people along the way.

Has it been a smooth road?
I think my main struggle was and still is managing time. 9-5, time with family, and taking care of my father. Work/life balance seems to be something I can’t seem to figure out.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I think what sets me apart from other artists is I’m not afraid to try new things. Experiment. I’m looking for the best way to express myself in each song instead of what I used to do which was feed some narrative that I’m “an artist” or Producer or whatever. I’m happy creating just to create. It took a long time for me to get to that point.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think the pandemic has really shaped artists to start thinking about owning their masters. Without shows/touring, I see a lot of artists struggling to make a living aside from whatever content they can create and monetize. I’m hoping we see more artists take less of a big label advance and instead get rights to 50% of their masters. Of course, they would need some kind of leverage over the label to do so; which is why I think building your fan base from independent side first is so important.

Contact Info:

• Website: TheJohnWhite.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/iamjayydee
• Twitter: Twitter.com/iamjayydee
• Other: Soundcloud.com/johnwhitesmusic

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