Sync Songwriting with Chris SD

Chris started off in a band that, after its dissolution in 1996, transitioned into music production. In 2000, Chris launched his career as a music producer by building his first home studio in Ottawa, where he began recording his friends for beer. Some of his early recordings garnered Juno Award nominations, which compelled him to relocate to Toronto in 2003. He was hired as the house engineer at the iconic Blue Rodeo’s Woodshed Studio, a position he held until 2012. During his time there, he had the opportunity to work with notable artists such as Kris Kristofferson, Garth Hudson from The Band, as well as many other iconic Canadian bands. Albums Chris worked on have collectively earned 5 Juno Awards and 7 nominations, including Engineer of the Year.

In 2012, Chris relocated to Los Angeles but shortly after arriving, he and his wife discovered they were expecting their daughter. Realizing he no longer wanted to spend 12 to 14 hours a day working in studios, Chris pivoted and started Sundown Sessions Studio, an online recording studio to balance his career and family life. He also began expanding his network within the music licensing industry, forming relationships with some of the top music supervisors for TV & film. In 2017, Chris released his program, The Art of the Song Pitch to reach indie songwriters on a much bigger scale to help them get their music placed in top shows, films, and ads. He’s now known as the “go-to guy” for musicians looking to break into the world of sync licensing. Chris not only teaches his 5-step program for pitching songs to TV and film, but also connects songwriters face-to-face with key music supervisors in the industry.

Find out more and contact Chris at Sync Songwriter.

We talked about:

• Chris’ history with landing into the music sync business
• The role of music supervisors, who are part of the TV/movie production staff
• Independant artists – work with online music libraries (and the difference between exclusive and non-exclusive libraries), or sync agents
• Myth-busting the idea that you should learn to “write for film and TV”
• What is a spotting session?
• Building relationships with music supervisors is the key to success
• Some of the things you may want to avoid in your songs if you’re considering them for sync