Sync Chicago Schedule

9:30am - 10am Check-In Address: 754 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60605

10:00am - 10:40am (Event Space - Room 530)
Panel: “Welcome to Sync Chicago - Knocking self-doubt out of the ballpark”
presented by What Up Pitches co-founders and Nick Phelps.
-Celia, Mariela, Pei Pei and Nick Phelps will talk about how to get past your own self-doubt and find a path that works for you.

10:45am - 11:30am (Event Space - Room 530)
Panel: “Creative Directors and Music Composers Unite!”
Nathan Monteith (Creative director for ads at HighDive Agency), Kubilay Uner (Director of Music Composition at Columbia College Chicago, Ken Brahmstedt (Creative Director and Executive Producer at Black Label) discuss how they work together to create music for their projects. They'll also provide tips on when to start thinking about music and any pitfalls to look out for during the clearance process.

11:30am - 11:45am Performance: Emmet Montiel - (5th floor)

11:45am - 12:30pm (SIDE ROOM 314)
Panel: “DIY Artist / Motivational Speaker - How to get it done” presented by Heather Evans (Successful Singer-Songwriter/Performing Artist)
-Heather will share how she works independently and alongside sync agents to get placements for her music.

11:45am - 12:30pm (SIDE ROOM 329)
Panel: "Production Secrets - Women music composers/sound designers share tips” (AMI, Julie Nichols, Pei Pei Chung, Sarah Krohn)
Women composers discuss their journey, share their top production tips and present examples of their work.

LUNCH

1:45pm - 2pm Performance: Eric Mayne-Nichols - (5th floor)

2:00pm - 2:45pm (SIDE ROOM 314)
Panel: “How to Make a Living in the Music Business”
presented by Comma Music
-Comma Music covers the basics and reveals the secrets of the trade. Music Supervisor & Producer, Lily Shallow, will moderate, as Comma’s Founder & Composer, Larry Pecorella, discusses how composers, musicians or anyone else for that matter can make music their profession by sharing his experiences, insights and, ultimately, how he was able to make his own career & kickstart the careers of many others in the industry.

2:00pm - 2:45pm (SIDE ROOM 329)
Panel: "Making Money while Making Music"
presented by GRAMMY U
Add-2 (connects Chicago youths with resources to develop educated careers in entertainment. In 2016, he created a free recording studio/mentoring program for teens and young adults called "Haven Studios". Hear from Add-2 on how to best maximize the revenue streams available to you through your craft.

3:00pm - 3:45 (Side Room 314)
Panel: “Creative Audio from the First Note to the Final Mix”
The Squeak E. Clean Studios Chicago team discusses the creative process of how music supervision and original music pair with sound design, voiceover and final mix for one fluid creative audio execution. Executive Creative Producer Chris Clark will lead a discussion with Creative Director/Composer Julie Nichols, Sr Post Producer Angelina Phengphong and Sr Sound Designer/Engineer, Surachai Sutthisasanakul.

3:00pm - 3:45 (Side Room 329)
Panel: "Why Metadata Matters To You and Your Music In Sync"
If your metadata is incorrect or incomplete, your music won’t get found and you cannot be paid. In fact, most music supervisors and sync agents won’t even listen to your music if your metadata is wrong or missing. That’s why this is a must-attend panel, and we’re going to teach you how to make your metadata perfect. Join Who’z The Boss founder Dave Herrero and Sync Summit founder Mark Frieser for a deep dive into why good metadata is so important.

3:45pm - 4pm Performance:  Amos Koyama - (5th floor)

4:00pm - 4:45 (Event Space - Room 530)
Panel: "Listening Fiesta - Get Your Music Heard"
presented by What Up Pitches
We’ll play some of YOUR music that was submitted in advance, give feedback and talk about what kind of music is currently being used.

4:50pm - 5:00 (Event Space - Room 530)
Panel: "It’s A Wrap!"
Thank you and How to keep in touch with the Sync Chicago community. Panel organized by WUP.

5:15pm - 6:00 (Event Space - Room 530)
Emerging Talent Showcase

6:00pm -7:00 (Event Space - Room 530)
Happy hour & networking / Open Mic

Bios

Nick Phelps

Mr. Phelps is an artist, songwriter, producer, and production coach. His music can be heard on Adobe, BET, CW, MTV, NBC, Nordstrom Rack, Paramount+, USA and more.

Mr. Phelps is a versatile producer and rapper. He delivers raw heartfelt lyrical content packed in every rhyme that paints a picture the listener can see. His versatile smooth flow can ride any beat from anthemic hip hop to urban pop.

Nathan Monteith

Nathan is an Executive Creative Director at Highdive, an independent, full-service creative agency based in Chicago - and Co-Founder of the Mobile App - PODBEAT. Nathan runs the Jeep/Ram/Dodge account at Highdive where Music plays a major role in all the work. He's written his own music for Jeep in the SuperBowl as well. He recently launched his Mobile App 'PODBEAT' in the App Store, which lets you add a Beat to any Podcast for workouts. His work at Highdive has helped lead the agency to 2021 Ad Age A-List as Agency Standout, Fast Company’s 2021 list of Most Innovative Companies, 2021 Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year, Midwest, and # 118 on Inc. Magazine’s 2021 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.

Kubilay Uner

Kubilay Uner makes adventurous, eclectic, colorful music for media ranging from film and television to concerts and records. He blends acoustic, synthetic and found sounds, builds his own instruments, bends tempos, layers noise, mixes metaphors, and is generally convinced that good music only happens when you mix things up.

Credits include the SCL-Award-nominated score for the Al Pacino historical drama “American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”; the Mel Gibson action film “Force of Nature”; the Lionsgate Western "Gone Are the Days" starring Lance Henriksen, Tom Berenger and Danny Trejo; as well as "Big Sur", based on Jack Kerouac's novel. Other credits include a genuine Wyld Stallyns track for "Bill & Ted Face the Music", record productions for soul legend Bobby Womack; music for a theme park ride at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA; and music for video art installations at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Kubilay Uner serves as the Director of the Music Composition for the Screen MFA program at Columbia College Chicago. He also is as an elected board member and chairs the Early Career committee at the SCL, Americas premier organization for media composers

Ken Brahmstedt

Ken Brahmstedt’s nearly 25 years of experience are evident in his supernatural-like ability to understand what a client wants and needs - and the wisdom to know the difference. He can play just about anything, just ask him. Growing up just outside Nashville, he learned to appreciate all types of music, country and western, jk. Award-winning ad music, indie film scores, children’s musicals... Ken’s done it all. And yes, he also played in bands with names like Prom King and Spork.

Heather Evans

Heather Evans is an award winning Singer/Songwriter, Podcast Host and Artist Coach based in Columbus, OH.

Focusing on building her catalog over the past 4 years, Heather’s music has been featured on FOX's So You Think You Can Dance, MTV's Teen Mom 2, 16 and Pregnant, ABC's Dancing With the Stars Jr, Disney's Fairytale Weddings, NBC's La Brea Promo, a new trending Netflix show First Kill, the theme song for the “Made in California“ Podcast and more!

Over and above all the industry recognition and accolades, Heather’s main goal is to spread positivity through her life and music.

AMI

AMI is formally trained as a classical instrumentalist, producer, arranger and solo artist whose musical style is colorfully harmonic, but dissonant, has varying rhythmic ideas, heavy bass, sultry vocals, and honest lyrics. She is a woman that refuses to stand in the shadow of her light.

she has collaborated and toured with several well-known artists, such as Lizzo, Jamila Woods and SZA. She has graced many stages nationally and internationally and continued to create with no limitations. She has appeared on stage numerous times as an instrumentalist, vocalist and musical director assisting with songwriting, arranging and concert production. She is not a slave to a genre. As long as she hears it, she can produce it and the imagery that goes along with it. She is passionate and competent in several genres of music and when given the opportunity will combine all of her talents to produce a musical experience which one will not soon forget.

AMI is promoting her debut album Suite in A. The three movement sonic expedition showcases the artist’s range across music genre, which spans from classical to soul/R&B to hip hop.

Julie Nichols

Julie Nichols is a Chicago based composer, pianist, producer and music director who has toured the world playing venues including The Kennedy Center, The Chicago Symphony Center, The Ahmanson and Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. She has appeared in live shows playing with Phish and Live From Here with Chris Thile and Mike Elizondo. Her TV and movie scores have premiered at festivals including Discover Film Festival in London and Sundance and Slamdance in the states.

Prior to her role as Senior Composer and Creative Director at Squeak E Clean Studios, Julie was the Music Director of The Second City in Chicago for 10 years where she shared the stage with Jeff Tweedy, Paul Simon and Tom Hanks. She is the music director of the electrifying soul band Chicago Soul Spectacular and composed the music for The Second City's The Last Show Left On Earth. Julie has composed music for many top brands including BMW, Coke's 2020 Superbowl Campaign, Meta, Nintendo, Campbells, Walmart and Spotify.

Sarah Krohn

Hailing from the rocky beaches of the South of England, Sarah has been sound designing on this side of the pond for nearly 12 years. She has held full time positions at Another Country Studios, Animated Storyboards and Energy BBDO. She is now freelancing at agencies, post houses and production companies around Chicago and further afield. clients include Chicago Blackhawks, Tik Tok, Google, Samsung, Chicago Cubs, Hilton, CVS, Wrigley, Pepsi and many more. Offering up sound design, mix and voice over record for commercials, documentaries and everything in between.

Larry Pecorella

Larry was born and raised in the New York area and after attending Berklee College of Music, he traveled the world for 2 years as a pianist/arranger for The Glenn Miller Orchestra. After a 4 year stint living and working in Nashville as a session player and songwriter, he settled in Chicago. For over 35 years he’s maintained his place at the top rung of composers in the commercial and film arena. Larry co-founded Comma Music in 2001 and the company has been in the top echelon of its field ever since. He’s composed for thousands of commercials for clients such as Apple, McDonalds, ESPN, Gatorade, Hallmark, Nike and Rocket Mortgage to name a few. Larry has always given back, serving on multiple boards including serving as president of AMP, helping to create the AMP awards while under his watch. He has composed or produced music for Super Bowl spots in every decade since the 80’s including this year’s Rocket Mortgage “Barbie” with Anna Kendrick.

Lily Shallow

Lily hit the lottery of internships when she joined Comma Music her Junior year of undergrad at Loyola University Chicago. Initially interested in pursuing audio engineering, she fell in love with music supervision & licensing (her love for music already there). During her time at Comma she has “worked her way up” as they say, from Fall Intern to Lead Music Supervisor. With the mentorship and never-ending support of Comma’s Bonny Dolan, the two have carved out a place for Comma in the sync space to connect artists and brands alike. As the Chapter Chair of Women In Music Chicago, Lily is most excited by new opportunities and the people that make those opportunities happen. Lily has worked on Super Bowl spots for Rocket Mortgage (“Dream House” ’22, “Comfortable” ’20), placed catalog tracks with brands like Reeses, Jeep, NHL, & Wawa, and has placed artists like Bastille, John Prine, Jessy Wilson & most recently, Ruelle. She would be remiss not to mention WLUW and Vocalo (The Morning ‘Amp) for introducing her to some of the greatest people and artists in the Wild, Wild West that is the music industry #RadioForever.

Andre "Add-2" Daniels

Born on the southside of Chicago, Andre "Add-2" Daniels has used his gift with music as well as his passion for his community to change the reality that surrounds him. In 2016, he created a free recording
studio/mentoring program for teens and young adults called "Haven Studios".

This program encourages youth to find their creative voices, connects them with resources to develop educated careers in entertainment and has become a safe space for many youth all over the city of Chicago.

Add-2 has worked with Michelle Obama's Organization When We All Vote, is a mentor in the Recording Academy's Grammy U, has given a TEDx Talk titled "The Power of Music", was the 1st Rap Consultant for the Goodman Theater, was named one AT&T's 28 Black Future Makers of 2021 and has worked with Apple, Vans, Boost Mobile, Redbull, Rollingstone, CBS, NBC, The Steve Harvey Show, Nike, Adidas, LRG, TUMI, Tribeca Film Festival and more.

Chris Clark

Chris Clark is the Executive Creative Producer and Music Supervisor for global full-service music and sound company, Squeak E. Clean Studios, where he leads the Chicago studio across the company's six studio network. He has produced original music and music supervised for commercials with Facebook, BMW, Beats By Dre, Nintendo, and hundreds of other brands. Recently named a Billboard Branding Power Player in 2019, Chris was part of the ad industry and music company team that built the largest database of women composers alongside P&G, which can now be found on FreeTheWork.com to use as a resource or join yourself.

He moved over to Squeak E. Clean after many years as Director of Music at Leo Burnett where he led global music initiatives for Publicis Groupe and worked with brands and artists including Samsung (The Beatles, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, Lorde, Sylvan Esso, Doris Day), Nintendo (White Denim, Rubblebucket), McDonald’s (Sophie, Moon Taxi) and Sprint (Wilco, Alexi Murdoch).

He has provided press/editorial contributions to The New York Times, The Atlantic, Forbes, Huffington Post, Ad Age, LBBOnline and SHOOT magazine, and been on the Music Jury for award shows like Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, the AICP Awards and Clio Music Awards. He was also a featured speaker/panelist at Cannes Lions, MIDEM International Music Festival, the Tokyo International Music Market, SPOT Music Festival (Denmark), SXSW, Winter Music Conference and BMI Synch This (Nashville).

Dave Herrero

Who’z the Boss Music Library, presented by Parker Lee Williams (the former music director for the Oprah Winfrey Show and creator of the Harpo Sounds Music Library) and Dave Herrero, is a minority owned, artist friendly, Chicago based full service music licensing company for Film, TV, Advertising and Video Games. It is our company’s mission to equitably represent artists and producers from Chicago and beyond. As a part of that mission, it is our goal to educate artists and producers about music licensing, publishing and royalty to provide income streams and knowledge to Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods through virtual and in person workshops in conjunction

Mark Frieser

Mark Frieser is the Founder and CEO of the music licensing educational and events platform Sync Summit (https://syncsummit.com) and the music licensing agency, Disconic (https://disconic.com). Mark’s work in technology, music and entertainment began in high school as a journalist for the Long Island-based music magazine Good Times (https://goodtimesmag.com) in 1983. Since then, Mark has worked as a technologist and executive at companies including Nielsen, Jupiter Communications, News Corporation, iVillage, IDT, Jerusalem Venture Partners, Women Japan, Hachette and Lagardere and founded the mobile music consultancy Consect. He attended Queens College and the Sorbonne and continues to be obsessed with discovering and sharing the next big thing in tech and music.

Pei Pei Chung - WUP Team

Born on the island of Borneo, composer Pei Pei Chung started playing piano at age 4 and went on to train as a classical pianist. She also became an avid fan of electronic music early on. Her trademark style is a fusion of classical and electronic elements, which allows her to create unique cinematic and pop sounds for film and TV. Her scores and songs have appeared on Animal Planet, BET, Discovery, Fox, Lifetime, MTV, NBC, VH1, and more.

She has written over a dozen television theme songs, created the music for network branding campaigns, and scored commercials, promos, feature films and TV series, including the Emmy-nominated “Endurance”. Pei Pei is a highly sought-after mixer of trailers and promos for clients that include HBO, Lionsgate, and IMAX. She is also a professional slime maker.

Celia Rose - WUP Team

Originally from Alabama, Celia Rose has spent most of her music career performing outside of the United States; in places as varied as Haiti, Israel, France, Rwanda, and Canada. She toured Africa five times as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department and her songs have been included in NYTimes bestselling books as well as in TV, ads, and films. She’s completed 4 full length albums of original folk-rock songs as well as an album of songs co-written with children in Africa. Wrote the theme song for the 2020 Kraft Heinz campaign "Let's Make Life Delicious" and currently her song "Me, Oh My!" is the main title track for the TV show Call Me Kat on Fox.

She has a Master’s Degree from NYU in music composition and has taught songwriting for numerous organizations including Harlem Children's Zone and Kid Pan Alley. Celia enjoys springboard diving and doing the flying trapeze with her 3 kids.

Mariela Arredondo - WUP Team

Los Angeles based singer/songwriter, Mariela Arredondo has been honing her skills as a musician since a very young age. Born and raised in Costa Rica, she grew up listening to a mix of Latin Music, Pop and Rock en Español but moved to LA to study Jazz, R&B and Soul at Los Angeles College of Music. All of those years of experience, loving all kinds of music, have melted into interesting influences in her songwriting.

She works as a lead singer for Latin LA bands, a private vocal coach, a session singer for renowned musicians/producers such as John Avila (Oingo Boingo) and Grammy-Winner Stanley Clarke (his song “Last Train To Sanity”, featuring Mariela, was nominated for a Grammy), and as a songwriter. Her passion for creating and singing her music has earned her placements on Ads, Promos TV, and Film worldwide such as American Horror Story, High Fidelity, Good Trouble, and more.