Matt Beilis is a singer-songwriter and piano player, having toured internationally in support of multi-platinum artists like Secondhand Serenade, Smokey Robinson, and Jay Leno. As a composer, Matt’s music has been featured in commercials for companies like Victoria’s Secret, Mastercard, Reebok, Honda, Jeep, Volkswagen, LinkedIn, ESPN, and many more household names. He also produced the official movie trailer for Disney’s brand new movie Stargirl starring Grace VanderWaal. Matt’s songs have racked up over four million spins on Spotify, 35,000 subscribers on YouTube, and received shout-outs from superstars like Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, and Ashton Kutcher.

When did the journey start for you?

I started playing piano when I was just under four years old. I took classical lessons and played my whole life. I first started singing and performing as an artist when I was about 22, which organically led to me producing songs/compositions around five years after that.

Who are some composers/artists you pull inspiration from?

I’m heavily into Louis Capaldi and James Blake right now. I tend to go toward stripped-sounding piano music in general but I pull from tons of different genres.

What’s the strangest method you’ve used to get the perfect sound?

I walked around Central Park with a stereo recorder and a stick hitting all kinds of different things. But that was the least weird thing happening in Central Park at that moment.

What do you do to decompress after a long day in front of the monitors?

I tend to watch lots of YouTube cooking videos… in front of the same monitors.

Which instrument(s) do you have the most fun playing?

I’ve always been a piano guy growing up, but now I think it’s playing electric bass on a keyboard. Nothing lets you feel the same groove with just one instrument.

What was your latest gear purchase?

I recently bought the Novation Launchpad. It’s more for live performances than anything. So now it’s a beautiful coaster.

What’s your favorite piece of gear in your studio?

I love my Slate Digital VMS mic. It’s super versatile and sounds great everywhere.

What are two things you’re most proud of? One musical/professional, one personal. No humility allowed. 

On the musical front, I’d say it’s being able to call myself a professional musician and making a living doing what I love. It was always my dream. On the non-musical front, I’d say I’m most proud of my little fam – my wife and son!

What’s your favorite score of all time?

I would have to throwback to Jurassic Park. I mean, come on.

Who is your favorite composer and why?

For the previous reason, I’d say John Williams overall as cliche as it is.

Who is your “guilty pleasure” artist?

I would go with Lil Dicky on this one. He is a low-key (or not so low-key) genius!

What’s the oddest job you’ve ever had?

I had a few internships at Morgan Stanley & Bank of America which were soul-dissolving (my college Plan A was Finance & Computer Science, an ever so slight difference from music).

If you were stranded on a desert island with one album on your Walkman that somehow never ran out of power, what would it be?

I think I could go with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill for a pretty long time.

Dylan Charbeneau (aka BLVKSHP) began composing at an incredibly young age and joined the Score a Score roster in its early years after many years of touring and producing successful albums. His compositions span a seemingly limitless range of genres and land in a variety of mediums, from trailers to ads and beyond. Some of his most notable credits include Disney Universe, Quaker Oats’ “Off You Go” campaign, the LORO trailer, Pretty Little Liars, Cover Girl, promos for HBO’s Ballers, and Fastest Car on Netflix.

When did the journey start for you?

When I was four years old, I started playing classical piano. I fell in love with it immediately, and everything stemmed from there.

Who are some composers/artists you pull inspiration from?

Bach, Thelonious Monk, Gustav Holst, Radiohead, Jay Z, Bon Iver, Tom Waits, Phil Beaudreau, Flume, Nine Inch Nails, Leon Bridges, Sufjan Stevens, James Blake, Amy Winehouse, and hundreds more composers/artists.

What’s the strangest method you’ve used to get the perfect sound?

To make an eerie and unique low atmospheric tone, I set up mics in my old Los Angeles recording studio parking lot and rolled an old busted piano off the roof. Then I took the crash, which sounded amazing with all the wood and strings reverberating from the fall, and time stretched it from about seven seconds to two minutes in length. Overkill but awesome.

Which instrument(s) do you have the most fun playing?

The Korg Radias synthesizer

Other than your studio, where does inspiration most often strike? (or rather, “Where is the second most common place you come up with ideas?”)

Even more so than in the studio, inspiration strikes the most when I go on my daily walks through the streets of Barcelona. The architecture here is detailed, spans centuries, and is full of inspiration.

What’s your favorite score of all time?

Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Who is your favorite composer, and why?

Stravinsky. He innovated classical music by effectively combining Romanticism, Neoclassicism, and Serialism to create a sound that was uniquely his. I find his work to be some of the most interesting and moving music ever created.

Who is your “guilty pleasure” artist?

Robyn, all the way.

If you were stranded on a desert island with one album on your Walkman that somehow never ran out of power, what would it be?

Channel Orange, by Frank Ocean.

What is the best advice you’ve been given?

Surround yourself with great people. You always want to continue learning and to be challenged, and the people you surround yourself with serve as the conduit to your future.

Joshua Williams, native-born of St. Louis, is a nationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, and educator. He began his professional music career at the age of 15 after studying trumpet for four years and has since then led and performed in various ensembles regardless of genre. He attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he studied regularly with Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, and Susan Slaughter. Endorsed by B.A.C. Horn Doctor, Joshua has accomplished his BA in Music Performance, was a semi-finalist in the National Trumpet Competition Jazz Division, has studied music abroad in Paris, France, and has also toured internationally in Kurashiki, Japan with Bobby Watson. Joshua strives to bring out the tradition, soul, and passion of his music to reach his audience’s and students’ hearts through the development of his life experiences and musical influences.

When did the journey start for you?

I started wanting to play music around the age of 11 when I heard “Tales of a Jedi Knight” live at a school concert in St. Louis by a French horn player in a brass quintet. I about lost my mind. Especially because I was just introduced to Star Wars a few days earlier. I immediately asked to take French horn when we got to band class and the teacher placed me on trumpet because the school didn’t have enough of them to go around. So the rest was history after that. I always loved the journey of practice and eventually got a scholarship for jazz performance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where I realized my love for writing and composition. As an improviser, we were constantly creating new melodies on the fly and yet we rarely ever recorded them. So after some time, I became more and more interested in using the art of recording as a tool to capture those memories and ideas with different live band projects which eventually turned into recording at home at the stroke of inspiration. Thinking back, it was always film music that had the greatest impact musically for me, so after doing a couple of local indie film projects I wanted to expand my horizons and continue to write music specifically crafted for motion pictures. After continuing to hone in my craft and quality of production value for the last 3-4 years I’m finally starting to get a few different placements and am more motivated than ever to continue writing as much as I can!

Who are some composers/artists you pull inspiration from?

James Horner was the first guy that touched my heart as a child at an even younger age with his score from the dinosaur cartoon feature, Land Before Time. To this day, the intro just gives me chills LOL. Hans and John Williams both use colors of the orchestra on a masterful level that has influenced everybody with at least one of their scores in the last 20-30 years. More recently, producers/artists like Lido, Brasstracks, Mr. Carmack, Jahann Sweets, Lorne Balfe, Kevin Garrett, and Lizzo all get repeat plays because of the intricate unique details they have in their unique sound. Every time I listen I always find something new yet nostalgic and that’s what I strive for is replay value!

What’s the strangest method you’ve used to get the perfect sound?

LOL, I have so many voice memos on my phone of me in the bathroom or the car trying to use my voice as a starting place for trailer sound effects. I’m sure I drive my wife crazy making noise to record around the house. I think one of my favorites was actually when we went out on a late winter night to get a really weird engine start up sound from a friend’s car. For some reason the cold made it sound completely different. So as I was under the hood trying to get a good placement position for my recorder, a bone-chilling breeze caused my hands to freeze up and the mic fell into the engine mount threshold as she turned over the engine. As I’m freaking out thinking I lost the mic forever inside the car, after looking for a bit we found it unscathed and actually still recording! It captured some weird belt rev and it was perfect for what I was looking for and we turned it into a REALLY cool sci-fi “whoosh bang” for some custom work I was working on that night.

Which instrument(s) do you have the most fun playing?

By far the trumpet and bass! I went to music school for jazz trumpet so anytime I’m stuck at the piano looking for a melody, the horn is such an extension of my voice that she (her name is Tamar) always bails me out of writer’s block.

What was your latest gear purchase?

Adam audio T7V speakers and studio LED lights. I try to upgrade the aesthetics every now and then to balance the things I buy to make my workflow more efficient. Vibes are important too! I think the next thing I’ll be saving for will be a more future-proof MacBook Pro.

Other than your studio, where does inspiration most often strike? (or rather “Where is the second most common place you come up with ideas?”)

Art museums actually. If I can tell a story with my music with one still picture I find writing for moving pictures comes easier. I was also a fan of Mussorgsky/Ravel growing up.

Who is your “guilty pleasure” artist?

Tori Kelly is too easy LOL. Her vocal chops don’t match anything else in my “modern” library and my friends always make fun of me for being able to sing along with her album Unbreakable Smile. Huge Fan.

If you were stranded on a desert island with one album on your Walkman that somehow never ran out of power, what would it be?

I’d say it’s a tie between To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar and Apocalypse by Thundercat, but Thundercat is on both albums, so I’ll take Apocalypse and watch the sunset.

What is the best advice you’ve been given?

I think this was the best advice because it’s been told to me multiple times by different tutors from different walks of life: “Stay Humble, Consistent, and Trust the Process. -Jonathan Cole, Pendulum – Architecture & Design.

Raphaelle Thibaut was encouraged at age four to learn the piano. After she was born, Raphaelle suffered from a series of severe ear issues that led to single-sided deafness. Following the doctor’s recommendation, she started an intense piano practice. Music became her path to recovery. This sparked a passion in the world of composition, with Morricone, Goldsmith, and De Roubaix scores playing on her Discman all through her teenage years. In 2015, she decided to leave her impressive marketing career at Google to pursue her lifelong passion for music and film scoring. She quickly started writing for independent films and music houses as well as for brands like Ubisoft, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and Nike. Eager to reach her goal to score for the film industry, she then began composing music for trailers, with notable credits including Maleficent: Mistress of Evil trailer, the Incredibles 2, and Hulu’s The Act. Other score credits include The Familiar Fingers of Culture (short film), and Amor Matris (short film), and she’s recently been tapped to score the forthcoming Nat Geo series Secrets of the Whales.

Where did the journey start for you?

The answer to this depends on the perspective! I started playing the piano at four and composed with a voice recorder in my teens. But it was only five years ago that I dared to dream bigger and go full-time as a music composer.

Who are some composers/artists you pull inspiration from?

My all-time weaknesses are Italian and French soundtracks from the ’60s-’70s (Ennio Morricone, François de Roubaix, George Delerue, Maurice Jarre…) and neo-classical composers (Ólafur Arnalds, Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson…).

What do you do to decompress after a long day in front of the monitors?

Listen to music that’s not mine, hug my 1-year-old, and binge-watch dark series.

What’s your favorite piece of gear in your studio?

My Komplete Kontrol S-88 MK1.

Other than your studio, where does inspiration most often strike? (or rather “Where is the second most common place you come up with ideas?”)

I’m not particularly sensitive to places. I find my inspiration in people and their emotions. Anything from a movie, or a lifetime celebration, to people hugging in a train station will spark crazy inspiration.

What’s your favorite score of the year?

I adored Newman’s 1917.

What’s your favorite score of all time?

Another impossible one! Can I have two? Bernstein’s To Kill a Mockingbird for the US, Delerue’s Agnes of God for Europe.

Who is your favorite composer and why?

One of my favorite composers in recent years is Jonny Greenwood. He has crafted some of the most beautiful and sophisticated scores for some while. I think Nicholas Britell is also a genius at mixing genres.

Who is your “guilty pleasure” artist?

I love Harry Styles! His song “Sign of the Times” makes me tear up every time.

What’s the oddest job you’ve ever had?

I’ve had to create a whole cue out of soundbites from different TV shows. It also had to be a public-domain song cover. Probably the toughest job, too!

What is the best advice you’ve been given?

Don’t listen to people who tell you there’s only one way to achieve your goal. There’s no such thing as a fixed career path in film music.

Steve Sopchak lends a unique sound to the Score a Score roster as one-half of notable groups like The Young Ebenezers, HUES, and WARRIOR as well as a collection of impressive solo material. Working from his multi-studio recording facility, The Square Studio, Steve’s music has been featured in movie trailers, television shows, and numerous advertising campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world, not to mention engineering/co-writing five Billboard Top 200 records. Noteworthy credits include scoring the Emmy-nominated Netflix docu-series Fearless, producing the music for Coca-Cola’s award-winning “1,000 Name Celebration” campaign, and contributions to major motion picture trailers such as X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019), Arctic Dogs (2019), Early Man (2018), Colossal (2017), and Justice League (2016). Additional credits include custom and licensed music in advertisements for Apple, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and the list goes on!

Where did the journey start for you?

In a broad sense, probably when I got my first drum set in 5th grade, but the path into custom music specifically came from partnering with Ben Santoro in 2015 to compose after running a commercial recording studio on my own for nearly a decade prior.

What’s the strangest method you’ve used to get the perfect sound?

There have been so many, but when I found myself in my garage with a carload of gear from the studio debating the merits of different mic and preamp combinations that I could use to record my snow blower for the SASFX series, it felt like maybe I had gone off the deep end a little bit.

What do you do to decompress after a long day in front of the monitors?

Spend time with my family, play golf, or get lost inside a Fallout game.

Which instrument(s) do you have the most fun playing?

Drums (first love) and pedal steel (new love).

What’s your favorite piece of gear in your studio?

I love them all, but I think the top three things I equally couldn’t live without are my ADAM S2X monitors, my pair of Schoeps CMC5’s, and my Tube Tech Cl1b.

What are two things you’re most proud of? One musical/professional, one personal. No humility allowed.

Professional – Building a career that after many iterations is both stable and creatively satisfying.

Personal – My family: my new daughter, Aurora, and my wife, Rachel.

If you were stranded on a desert island with one album on your Walkman that somehow never ran out of power, what would it be?

Such a difficult question, but if I HAD to choose it would be Mock Orange’s 2008 album Captain Love.

What is the best advice you’ve been given?

That no one knows everything but everyone knows something, so always approach collaboration with perpetually open ears and an appropriate level of confidence.