52 Cues - A Production Music and Sync Podcast
Hosted by working composer and long-time professor Dave Kropf, the 52 Cues Podcast takes you inside the real world of production music, library music, and sync licensing – breaking down cues, unpacking industry insights, and sharing candid conversations with fellow composers and publishers.
Weekly episodes deliver practical strategies, creative inspiration, and insider information to help you land more placements and build a sustainable career in sync.
Episodes
323 episodes
Reviewing Your Cues LIVE
In this special live episode of the 52 Cues Podcast, I’m reviewing cues submitted by members of the 52 Cues community and giving real-time feedback on what’s working, what could be stronger, and how each cue might be made more useful for produc...
What I Listen For When Reviewing Cues
In this episode, Dave reviews a production music cue from composer and bassist Elysa Tancheff, breaking down what he listens for in arrangement, energy, edit points, mix, and library usability.If you'd like feedback on your own cues, he...
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 38
Weekly Feedback - Week 38https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-38Office Hours
The Unwritten Rules of Sync
In this episode, Dave and 52 Cues community mentor Jeff LaPlante unpack the unwritten rules of production music, from pitching and follow-up etiquette to rejection, deadlines, contracts, collaborations, and deliverables.
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 37
Weekly Feedback - Week 37https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-37Office Hours with Marlon Gibbons
The Non-Negotiables of Production Music Genres
In this episode Dave and 52 Cues community mentor Jeff LaPlante break down the non-negotiable sounds, arranging choices, and production techniques behind dramedy, tension, hip-hop, pop, rock, emotional, holiday, country, and vocal cues....
How Much Music Theory Does a Producer Really Need? (with Dr. Tim Stulman)
In this episode, Dave talks with Dr. Tim Stulman, Program Director for Music Production at Full Sail University and creator of Keyboard Kafe, about how much music theory producers really need, why basic keyboard and ear-training skills can redu...
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 35
Weekly Feedback - Week 35https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-35How Would You Start a Composing Career in ...
How Would You Start a Composing Career in 2026 (with Anne-Kathrin Dern)?
In this episode, film and game composer Anne-Kathrin Dern joins Dave to talk about how she’d start a composing career in 2026, including the differences between film, games, and production music, the changing role of composer assistants, and th...
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 34
Weekly Feedback - Week 34https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-34Office Hours
We Asked Anne-Kathrin Dern About Her Brutal Composer Advice
In this episode, film and game composer Anne-Kathrin Dern joins Dave to talk about her recent brutally honest composer advice, how her own career has evolved, and how she actually gets hired.Watch this episode on YouTube:
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 33
Watch this on YouTube: https://youtu.be/72TYUpvBsysWeekly Feedback - Week 33https://my.52cues.com/posts/95668894
I Wrote 8 Cues in a Week and Didn’t Burn Out
In this episode, Dave reflects on what he learned from spending an entire week focused almost exclusively on writing music, and how simplicity, flow state, and avoiding constant context switching helped him finish eight cues without feeling com...
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 32
Weekly Feedback - Week 32https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-32Office Hours
Have You Outgrown Your Composer Workflow?
In this episode, Dave talks with Pibox founder and CEO Ivan Talaichuk about the point where Dropbox, email, and spreadsheets stop being enough and what production music composers can learn from the way professional music teams manage feedback, ...
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 31
Weekly Feedback - Week 31https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-31Office Hours
Is Production Music Worth It in 2026?
In part two of their response to Anne-Kathrin Dern's brutally honest career advice, Jeff and Dave look at the money, the workload, the lifestyle, and the growing guru culture, to answer the question every production music composer eventually ha...
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 29
Weekly Feedback - Week 29https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-29Office Hours
How Hard Is it to Make a Living in Production Music?
In this episode, Dave and Jeff use Anne-Kathrin Dern’s recent composer reality-check video as a jumping off point to discuss how hard it really is to make a living in production music.Watch this episode on YouTube
What's going on this week at 52 Cues? | 2026 Week 28
Weekly Feedback - Week 28https://my.52cues.com/posts/weekly-feedback-weekly-feedback-week-28Free Workshop! From Sketch To Screen (with...
How Sketching Makes Writing Cues Easier
In this episode, community mentor Jeff Hargrove explains why a simple piano sketch can make writing cues easier before production takes over.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xX...
Our Most-Used Plugins for Production Music
In this episode, Dave and community mentor Jeff LaPlante share their most-used instruments, tools, plugins, and effects to help production music composers build a dependable toolkit without wasting money on plugins you might not really need.
How to Learn Orchestration Without Feeling Overwhelmed
In this episode, Philip Johnston returns to explain how Orchestration Recipes makes complex concepts more practical, what Volume 6 brings to everyday orchestral writing, and where AI may fit into the future of composition and virtual performanc...
Your Cue Got Accepted! Don't Blow the Deliverables.
In this episode Dave and community mentor Jeff LaPlante break down production music deliverables, including mixes, stems, cutdowns, file naming, metadata, loudness, and the common mistakes that can make an accepted cue harder for libraries and ...
Dave Answers Your Production Music Questions
In this episode, Dave answers your production music questions including generative AI, following up with libraries, pitching albums professionally, recovering exclusive cues, building a sustainable sync catalog, and why the tools you use matter...