Sync Gems

In this episode we take a deep dive into different ways your music can be placed, and how you should approach choosing the right publisher for you. There are a lot of super practical tools in this episode so make sure to collect them gems!

Grant Borland is a full time composer. He has placements in netflix, discovery, apple tv, Peacock, Universal & more. He talks publishers, how to choose them, and what to watch out for. We talk about the importance of connecting and genuine connection, we also talk about what editors want, and how to 

2:30 How grant started making music for labels

6:26 Grant’s background and unique introduction to Sync

7:14 first lessons learned about sync, Know rules to break them

10:55 How music can convert and get to different placements you don’t expect

13:40 Know who to give your tracks to and how to research publishers

17:53 Red flags for choosing labels

19:09 Community and it’s importance

21:32 Collaborating on the higher levels

27:40 What Grant do if he started from scratch with $500 and a laptop

31:00 Creating unique sounds and why you should do it

35:22 What music editors like

40:28 The Job of a music supervisor

Grant’s site

https://www.grantborland.com

Sample packs (freebies as well)

https://www.grantborland.com/store

Raum Reverb:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/raum/

New years resolutions never worked for me. But something else did.

In this episode I guide you through an exercise that has helped me to go from having $10 in my bank account to going full time in music, and living a life on my terms. I know other people who have used this technique to  manifest the lives they have always dreamed of so I put together this hands on exercise to help you kick off the new year. It is practical and involves visualization.

Hope this can help someone like it has helped me

Best,

Roy

This is an amazing lesson about gradual growth, the process till the first placements, custom music, music business, and way way more.

The best thing about this episode is that it really shows vividly what it takes to rise in the sync business, and how success is made.

What I love about Gregory Tan is that he is an absolute monster composer and is also one of the most humble people I’ve met. He gives amazing insights about his work ethic and practical tips about how to rise to the top in the sync business.

Gregory has been keeping very busy and only in the last year has had his music placed   in Disney (star wars), BBC, The daily show,  Jurassic Park, Netflix, The Daily Show, and way way more. Just click the links below to see how legit this guy is. 

2:14 Gregory’s Star war Placement

5:20 Gregory’s story

11:30 Working in an ad agency

14:35 1st placements, how How gregory got his “bad” tracks to work for him

23:30 Community and celebrating wins, his own and his friend’s

29:23 Excelling and innovating

37:38 being business smart

45:17 Gregory's Routine

51:50 Gregory’s Production style in 3 words

55:36 Cheap hacks to get you started in trailer composing for film

61:15 Gregory’s goals

62:58 Parting advice

Conect with Gregory Tan:

https://www.gregtanmusic.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtanmusic/

David Dykstra is a vet in the music business. He shares about how he went from touring full time to creating a more sustainable life with sync, production, engineering and more. He knows so much about the music industry so I recommend you take out a pen and paper (assuming you're not driving or operating a jigsaw)

I used to envy people who were touring musicians, but what I didn’t know was not only is it very taxing on the body, but also not very sustainable from a business standpoint.

David talks about all of this and drops golden gems left and right for y’all to marvel on and hopefully use on your journey

2:20 David’s journey, nashville, touring, discovering sync, working with Warner Chappel

13:05 Three legged stool

17:26 kindness, respect and their importance in the music business

21:04 David’s super power

22:50 Knowing your superpower

27:50 hacks to get plugins cheap, mastering your craft, collaborating

31:37 David’s site (his socials are there too) https://www.ddcustommusic.com

Music business is a people’s business

In this Pdcast Eric Campbell walks you through his journey to becoming a jack of all trades in the music business, how he started as a musician but has risen up to so many challenges that I personally don't think I would. it was fascinating to decode his mindset, upbringing and get to talk to him about his career- his amazing connections, how he created his own community and sync agency, how he pivoted in his career to become who he is today. 

2:25 Decoding Eric’s mindset- upbringing

5:10 How Eric approaches pivoting and diversifying

9:45 The power of the right relationship

11:20 music supervision and lessons learned

14:40 Eric about going to what excites him

20:45 Creating & building community

27:25 What Eric would do in the sync space with only a computer and $500

29:56 Eric’s  production style

30:30 The importance of a refference

35:00 Last piece of advice

Connect with Eric

https://ctrlcamp.com

https://www.instagram.com/ericmakesmusic/?hl=en

In this episode we take a deeper dive into custom music and get insights from a label partner. Bryan Nguyen from "Ghostwriter music" (Placements in Man In Black, Ready Player One, The newest Avatar, Mulan and many many more) is not new to the sync space. He talks about his journey to success in great detail, gives you an inside look from the label perspective, negotiating fees, and gives tips about being unique, and how he knows you can do it. He talks about his passion of helping artists to get to where they want, and throws down amazing gems left and right

You do not want to miss this podcast. It is so jam packed with insights.

2:55 From working in retail to full time music

9:00 When Bryan knew he could do music full time

10:20 What editors want- Things you haven’t thought of

13:40 Sync fees, negotiations, and rates labels negotiate

19:15 Negotiating low & high

20:26 What are custom tracks?

24:00 Community and why Bryan is so huge into community

27:20 approaching the sync world with close to nothing

28:00 [gem] Why you have to understand and capitalize on your strengths

38:00 Why the sync world wants your uniqueness 

43:20 How composers can get into the movies they want

47:58 Mistakes producers make

49:00 Big gem for producers on the come up

51:50 Bryan’s production style

54:05 Big gem to close the convo

Bryan’s favorite free compressor

https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-kotelnikov/

Alex Moukala (youtube channel)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fb3nXuCo1k

Ghostwriter Music

https://ghostwritermusic.com

https://www.instagram.com/ghostwritermusicgroup/

Connect With Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebryguy/

https://www.facebook.com/BryanNguyenMarketing

In this interview we talk about trailer placements, how long it takes and how many tracks Sigurd needed to have to achieve over 100 tracks placed in 5 years. We go on to talk about happiness, and we get into well being and the importance of rest. 

we go on to talk about how to know your music is ready for pitching, working with upfront fees, and why it’s an amazing time to be an artist in the sync space

2:10 Becoming a full time musician

8:48 The first 2 years in the trailer game

14:00 How many tracks Does Sigurd have

19:40 Developing a Musical Identity & signiture

25:10 Getting the marvel placement

27:20 Happiness, celebrations and gratitude as a catalyst for success

43:20 3 top mistakes composers do

43:50 How to know your music is good enough

47:25 Working with libraries 

50:20 Working with upfront fees

57:34 Being you in the sync business

Check Sigurd Out

https://sigurdmusic.com

instagram.com/sigurdthemusicdude

Support the podcast by reviewing and giving it a 5 star review ;)

It helps a lot

In this episode we take a deep dive into sync libraries and communication fundamentals. This episode is pure gold for people who want to get more familiar with sync libraries, and also amazing for people who want to understand the mindset of a very successful producer in the space.

we go through the fundamentals of how to communicate with publishers, how he got his first placements, and how you can learn to improve from the feedback you get. He speaks to the importance of mentorship and the reasons you should always look forward instead of focusing for too long on one piece of music.

Erick bolivar’s music has been featured in places like HBO, CBS, NBC, Fox, Bravo, Telemundo, National Geographic, Animal Planet, History Channel and MTV (and these are not all actually)

He is the real deal and I recommend To listen carefully and take notes 

Timestamps:

2:15 Erick’s Background and how he started in music

6:35 Starting in the Sync world 

10:15 Erick’s first placements and his advice for royalties

14:00 Communicating with the sync world, and pitching to publishers

18:05 Mistakes Erick made in the beginning of his journey

23:45 Placing mediocre tracks 

27:10 Ericks Biggest Goal

28:45 Erick’s Routine, work process and hacks

34:35 3 words that describe Erick’s production style

36:07 Contact with Erick

37:28 Extra gems from Erick

Connect with Erick

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3958050/

https://www.instagram.com/erickbolivar1/?hl=en

https://www.erickbolivar.com/home

This is the first time I record and release a podcast into the world so I'm super excited to see how this goes.

This podcast is about my goals with this podcast and what my goal is: bringing on the brightest minds to discuss the sync licensing world- from successful composers, label owners, A&R's, editors and more. I want to get these people to drop gems so we can all elevate and become better at what we do, and yes, we can also make some insane dollars in the process. That'$ for fact

I want to understand this world just like you do so I look forward to interacting with you on socials

@roymatz @syncgems (IG)

Roy Matz (linkedIn)

My site: https://www.roymatz.com