Richard Emberstone (Smyke)

DJing at various London music venues and clubs including the Ministry of Sound. As a freelance DJ the bulk of my work now is performing at private events as an open - format DJ, creating bespoke set-lists tailored to my client's needs.

I use Rekordbox and my own XDJ equipment and sound system if the venue requires it. I'm also experienced in the use of accessories such as Pioneer RMX and lighting rigs for enhanced performances.

In the Brand Partnerships wing of Moonbug I manage our contract with SpinMASTER. This is a large project which requires management of several pipelines and brands running simultaneously.
My main duties include:
* Managing an in-house team of creative executives to deliver

projects.
* Overseeing all aspects of content at production stages.
* Establishing communication processes between

internal/external teams.
* Ensuring quality standards of deliverables.
* Creating schedules and setting timelines/scope for content

delivery.
* Overseeing contracts/castings/budgets.
* Interpreting client briefs for the music production team.
* Attending senior meetings with clients.
* Maintaining client relationships.
* Driving projects forward to meet deadlines.

This is a multi-faceted role which requires me to be both client-facing and work with multiple internal/external teams.

Working on our Blippi brand I manage a team of composers and engineers to work across existing company pipelines and new projects

Brands are continually re-developed and Blippi is no exception, at the start of 2023 we took an in-house approach to content development to further raise quality and define the 'sound' of Blippi with the aim of increasing affinity and global market share

As a result, I took direct responsibility for; ideation, developing songs for pitches, songwriting and composition, lyric-writing, music production.

Main projects and music pipelines:

• Youtube Music Videos
• CORE Blippi content
• Blippi Wonders - Animated Series
• Blippi Podcast
• Blippi Gameshow
• ROBLOX

Daily activities:

• Song creation
• Sound development for different projects
• Managing and overseeing in-house/external composers and audio engineers
• Liaising with Talent and Talent agencies regarding recording sessions, availability, any issues relating to music
• Managing the music production process through to final audio master and music/project delivery
• Assessing appropriateness of content and ensuring that it is on - brand
• Liaising with Post-Production teams for all audio and schedule related matters
• Use of Monday.com to update latest music assets including metadata for Production teams
• Driving projects through to timely completion
• Assigning workloads to staff and providing support where necessary including any one-to-one/group training as required
• Enaging with Senior Executives to ensure alignment with creative briefs and vision
• Engagement with the Music Director to support the objectives of the Music Team

Whilst working on Blippi I've had the privilege of working on several exciting projects, writing and composed many leading songs, here are a few:

• The new Blippi Theme Song
• The World Cup Song 2022
• The Blippi Gameshow Intro and Outro Songs
• Most of the original Podcast content

As Senior, it's also my responsibility to ensure correct file management and storage of all music assets. Primarily, I do this via Google Drive and by ensuring that our Monday.com boards are kept up to date with the latest metadata and music assets for our Production and Creative Teams alike.

The promotion to Music Executive encompassed my previous duties on the Cocomelon and Blippi brands and extended them to work on our Nursery Rhymes 123 and Mia's Magic Playground brands, where I was also involved in:

• Development of new ideas to elevate brands
• Music Production
• Development and delivery of music albums
• Setting budgets for eternal music teams e.g
• Composers, arrangers, audio engineers, lyricists, artists

At this time, music strategy was heavily driven by increased cadence which enabled us to outsource more work, this enabled me to further develop skills managing and maintaining 3rd party and stakeholder relationships, cross-team working, budget management and contract negotiation.

My role and responsibilities on the Blippi brand also continued to develop and I was given the opportunity to develop the sound of a spin-off brand - Meekah.

This involved leading composers to refine a specific sound bank that we would use to make the Meekah content which was eventually rolled out across all platforms.

I was hired to work on our two biggest brands - Cocomelon and Blippi

My role was to manage the music production process for these brands within Moonbug's newly formed partnerships with Spotify and other DSP's

This was a development role and my initial projected cadence was to produce 5 to 8 songs per week however, as the true workload was quantified my cadence very quickly rose to production of 160 songs per week

By the end of 2021 I had produced 27 albums for Moonbug

My daily duties included:

• Writing creative briefs for songs
• Meeting with Senior Creative Leadership and Music Label Leadership to plan/ideate upcoming content delivery and correlate release strategy of songs and albums
• Developing skeletons and lyrics for composers
• Managing the music production process including; creating music 'skeletons', directing composers and feeding back to them on composition/arrangement/lyrics/appropriateness/brand awareness, directing vocal sessions, comping and audio editing, providing direction and feedback to mixing/mastering engineers, quality checking and approval of final music masters

I also managed our in-house talent base for audio related matters such as:

• Planning/scheduling of albums and artist availability to record
• Assigning artists to record songs including individual song lines/sections
• Directing vocal sessions
• All Payments and invoicing

Alongside the Creative duties of this role, I was also responsible for all of the Production duties, this included:

• Allocating budget to freelancers
• Managing freelancers contracts and rates of pay
• Handling all communication with freelancers and all third parties as the main point of contact
• Use of Airtable to input metadata and all necessary information and music assets for the Label Team and Senior Creative Team
• Airtable - used to update metadata (PRO's, lyricists, composers etc) on an ongoing basis
• Airtable - used to track progress and update Production and Creative teams alike
• Also used to deliver assets to the Label Team
• Creating multiple trackers and schedules to monitor progress of music projects by song/album and weekly/monthly/annually
• Netsuite - used to create PO's for freelancers
• Creation and management of Google Drive spaces to create folders for all music projects both ongoing and completed
• This is where I would store and handle all music related and audio assets.

I have been producing music for 15 years + and have worked with artists/bands across multiple genres including; Pop, Urban, House, Dance, R&B, Soul, UK Garage etc as a songwriter/producer/composer.

Being a singer definitely gives me an edge when working with vocalists and trying out new ideas or working out how a song should be phrased - I've also found that this makes the artists feel more comfortable and confident.

Some of my clients include; The Arts Council, Dancebites Ltd, UDS dance company.

DAW/Software use: Logic X.

I hold an advanced diploma in Logic Music production and use this for all of my recording and production.

I'm proficient in Native Instruments software and Waves, Izotope, Output, and Fab-Filter plugins, Rekordbox and most Pioneer DJ equipment.

I operate from my acoustically treated home-based studio and can therefore operate remotely if need be.

• Assisted with: Setting up microphones and instruments
• Preparation of live room
• Setting signal levels/monitoring/mixing on the SSL Duality Console
• Gain-staging
• Organising/Rehearsing bands
• Song composition
• Recording comps and full - length tracks to an industry level standard.

Nov 2014 to Sep 2018 Sutton College/RJS Training Services – Management of Apprenticeship programs levels 2/3 and Leadership and Management Level 5.

Programmes include; Business Administration, Assessing Vocational Achievement, Health and Social Care, CYPW. Main Duties:

• Contract Management
• Maintaining stakeholder relationships
• Procuring new business
• Budgeting
• Payroll
• Managing Training Providers
• Overseeing course delivery and curriculum

Between 2010 and 2014 I continued to upskill and take on new roles in education, freelancing for different training providers. During this period I delivered courses such as; Business Administration and Employability skills. I also led assessment teams and verified their delivery.

Main duties:

• Developing lesson plans
• Quality Assurance
• Working with NEET learners
• Holding standardization meetings
• Monitoring learner progress and methods of assessment to ensure timely completions of learners