SYNCK MUSIC Talks High-Volume, High-Quality Music Production

SYNCK MUSIC is the new rebranding of DOCUscores, REALITYscores, and TRAILERscores, bringing these three collections together under one company. Composers and co-CEOs Ram Khatabakhsh and Dirk Ehlert share their story of creating a boutique production music catalog with a unique vision for exceptional quality and a furious pace of releasing music for documentaries, film, and television.

How did the original DOCUscores label first begin?

​I [Ram] met Dirk in April 2018 after he arrived in Los Angeles from Germany. Upon meeting Dirk for coffee, we had a fantastic working synergy and had many great conversations about the film and TV industry. Over the next few months, Dirk visited my studio as we worked on several projects, and we got to know each other better. Dirk convinced me to switch to Cubase as my main DAW after having used Logic for 17 years, we always laugh about this.

I had a private label that I was running on the side and Dirk mentioned planning a new catalogue that’s mostly aimed at documentaries and filmmakers. We realised early on that it made a lot of sense for us to partner together, with us both having an extensive knowledge of production music and being film and TV composers. We started working on 11 albums in late April 2019 and by the 1^st of September 2019, we launched DOCUscores. This was extremely tough but with the help of our team, we managed to achieve this.

How big is the team? How many composers do you work with?

​We recently welcomed 25 new composers as we needed to fill in more briefs. DOCUscores and REALITYscores have a total of 45 composers and we’re always on the lookout for talented composers and instrumentalists.

What kinds of releases have you been working on recently?

​I​​t’s overwhelming thinking about the number of releases we have worked on in the last two years. Managing both DOCUscores and REALITYscores and considering the client needs we have done well over 80 albums combined. Most of our volume is on REALITYscores as we have a deal with BBC Studios, so on REALITYscores we produce about 4 to 6 albums a month. 

As DOCUscores celebrates its 2nd birthday, have the past two years mostly gone according to plan, or are there many aspects of the business where you’ve gone a different direction from what you had initially planned?

​We launched DOCUscores in September 2019 and a few months after that Covid happened, so it’s been challenging as we were planning to record more live albums with orchestras and musicians, but we did not slow down because of Covid, in fact, we worked very hard to keep the team motivated and our team was able to produce more than we anticipated.

It seems that you guys are always on the move. Where do you spend most of your time, aside from your LA headquarters?

​I’m based out of Burbank, CA and a Dirk was in Newport Beach until he moved back to Europe in November 2020 and is currently located in Spain. We also have studios in London and Austin which we work out of based on our schedule.  

What’s your advice for a company that’s trying to get started building a global network?

​At SYNCK MUSIC we primarily focus on two main aspects: 1: Building a strong relationship with clients/potential buyers. 2: Producing high-quality music at a consistent rate. We also have a great working relationship with our sub-publishers in different territories. We found that these two main principles have helped us to grow the company further, but as always there are no strict rules. The music and film industry is always evolving, so it’s important to stay updated and adapt accordingly.

Does SYNCK MUSIC have a company mission that guides your business development or client experience?

​Our company mission is simple and straightforward, and that is to create the best-sounding production music. As a small publisher, our budget and resources are limited, but we do work aggressively to maintain this principle. We also have plans to work with experienced music supervisors and hiring additional sales team. 

Any all-time favorite placements?

We had a fantastic brief from DJI for their Ronin series launch. We worked closely with the producers and director from the early stage of production all the way to post and were able to provide them with the music for the Ronin series.