3 Briefs For Your Next Sync Project

You can use this. Today. Not kidding.

FROM THE DESK OF GRAHAM BARTON
AUGUST 15, 2022

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What up, beast? 🔥

The whole point of writing music with a purpose is to fulfill a need that someone has. Do the work now, then get paid down the road. This is the heart and soul of passive income.

Your sync projects are your assets, and they contain smaller, bite-sized assets that earn for you while you sleep. Which is why capitalizing on any and all inspiration you can gather is the best play in this wild, wild game.

Getting inspired is a major driving force in how you create tracks that carry some sort of value. Not all tracks will be the most valuable thing to ever grace the earth. And not every day will you be blessed with the holiest grail of ideas to capture and birth into cash cow tracks. 💵🐮

Newbies who expected music licensing to be *easy* for them is the reason they gave it up months ago.

Inspiration is your catalog’s lifeblood, and the beautiful thing is that it’s everywhere. The catch is that we’re not always great at “the getting it” part. Which is why I want to give you 3 inspirations to start you on your next sync project.

Most of the time, all it takes is about 15 minutes of research each day to get inspired and convinced you can pull off your next track, even if it’s in a style or genre you’re not too comfortable with. Starting your next track is proof that you have what it takes. And without inspiring references, you will never see these tracks the whole way through. 🏁

As fate would have it, we high-energy composers and producers love to create, but often don’t know what to create until someone shows us. Today I’m going to show you just that for two reasons:

1. You need to start a track today and get it to the point where you’re convinced it’s worth your time and energy.

2. You need to finish a track this week so you can move onto leveraging the next inspiring reference.

If you can do these two things (and do it consistently), you’ll never have to wonder why your catalog isn’t growing or earning you the syncs you believe it should...👇

INSPIRATION #1 · GOOGLE PIXEL 6a

WHY THIS DIRECTION IS WORTH YOUR TIME & ENERGY:

The sound is modern, sleek, and not too self-serious. There is an air of fluid motion and lightness to the track that contrasts its powerful, grounded pulse. It’s bold, minimal, and boasts an effortless swagger that few tracks can pull off without being dark or intimidating. Listen to this reference once, take notes, internalize it, and then never listen to it again. Read on.👇

HOW YOU SHOULD USE THIS FOR YOUR NEXT PROJECT:

When using references for your productions, always think, “How can my track accomplish what the reference does, but from a new angle?”

Use ONLY these instruments and nothing more, nothing less:

• Four-on-the-floor kick

• House-style bass with a dotted rhythm

• Brass stabs

• Snaps & claps

• Disco hats

• Vocal topline OR chopped vocal sample (preferably female)

• Soft dubstep growls at the ends of phrases

• Plucked synths that don’t move around too much melodically

LYRICAL THEMES & IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:

• “I want it”

• “Do what I want”

• “Come and get some”

• “Now you see me, now you don’t”

• “Catch up, catch up”

• “Follow the leader”

INSPIRATION #2 · ALLSTATE ‘Metaverse’

WHY THIS DIRECTION IS WORTH YOUR TIME & ENERGY:

While it may sound cheesy and stock on the surface, this track poses a great opportunity to dig deeper to uncover the true, high-value moves the composer made. Complete with palatable sounds, negative space, and quirky bounciness, the track offers an exceptionally satisfying dose of a “just enough” mentality. No part or instrument is overplayed and you can make huge strides in building your catalog by following suit.

HOW YOU SHOULD USE THIS FOR YOUR NEXT PROJECT:

Take a close listen to all the instruments used in this spot’s track and note how they all compliment each other despite being so different. The composer never uses a duplicate sound to fill out the arrangement or mix, which is a pro move in and of itself:

• Wurlitzer-style synth keys (short notes, middle of the keyboard)

• High plucky synth (for texture and brightness)

• Bubbly FX and risers (modern, momentary)

• Lo-fi kick & snare pattern (filtered for a quirky sound)

• Throwback bass synth (almost Whitney Houston-esque)

• Flexitone (for a quirky, spaced-out moment)

• Harp (for a heavenly, day-dreamy vibe)

• Pizzicato synth strings (for confident bounciness)

• Drum set (for a touch of organic backbone)

All sounds were selected to contrast one another, yet compliment in tone and style. ☯️

LYRICAL THEMES & IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:

Given that this spot does not have any lyrics, here are some themes and descriptors to help get you started writing this kind of track:

• Minimal

• Rising

• Growing

• Soft Digital

• Happy Tech

• Quirky

• Dorky

• Self-Aware

• Positive

• Major

• Pep In Your Step

• Confident

• Smiley

• Sunshine-y

• Carefree

• Curious

INSPIRATION #3 · TOYOTA ‘Ode To Sumer’s Past’

WHY THIS DIRECTION IS WORTH YOUR TIME & ENERGY:

This right here is a beautiful display of momentum and forward progression, perfectly balanced with a nostalgic ease and sway. What the hell does that mean? It means that, while the track’s feel is waltzy — borderline lazy — the track builds on itself over time as the story develops to retain forward motion and interest. The best part of this spot is how bold and simple the story is: Dad takes boy on camping trip in a Toyota SUV, boy grows into a young man holding onto those memories dearly, young man (now owns a Toyota coupe himself) meets young woman over a campfire, they live happily ever after all grown up in their very own Toyota SUV. The maturity comes full circle and the sunny Toyota spirit never left the frame. ☀️💛

HOW YOU SHOULD USE THIS FOR YOUR NEXT PROJECT:

The building nature of this spot is begging for a score that grows at the same rate and pace. This is how the track unfolds as the spot develops:

• Vintage 12/8 drums + 50s-style spring reverb guitar

• Bass guitar + lead guitar becomes more melodic

• Right hand piano chords when the love birds meet

• The track grows into a chorus-style feel

Again, a wonderful display of intentional building and nodding at each moment over the course of the spot. The track begins simply, adds complexity, and ends fully realized, never once showing its cards too soon.

LYRICAL THEMES & IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:

• Summer time

• Nostalgic

• Romantic

• 50s

• Puppy Love

• Flowing

• Growing

• Soul

• Vintage

• Ray Charles

• Doo Wop"

• Sun-baked

• Verbed-out

It would behoove you to use this information for your Q4 2022 project planning. Commit to these briefs, write three songs in each bucket every month. By the end of Q4, you’ll have 9-10 new tracks that have been crafted with big syncs in mind. Without question, they will be current, modern, and positioned to deliver the most value to supervisors, video editors, and creatives alike. ✨

Want more of these kinds of advantage-getting briefs and techniques? Nothing is more valuable to you, your catalog, and licensing income than having a ear to the ground in a lethal way.

It’s easy to write a bunch of music whenever you feel like it to stuff your catalog with more songs. It’s hard to reject every single idea outside these three briefs and focus solely on the information you find within this post.

Big wins come from the people who dare to focus on writing music that people are starving for. 🔥

All my best,

Graham Barton
Composer · Mentor · Imperfectionist
@syncbeast.co