Process To Product

Episode 2 was actually supposed to revolve around our latest drop, Hidden Gems, but unfortunately, all of the audio from those meetings were corrupted and we lost everything. Obviously it would’ve been weird to recreate an initial meeting, so I just decided to scrap that one altogether, and move on to this episode. In this episode you’ll hear my virtual meetings with Smythe, the executive producer of Somber Soul, and Zari, our Digital Media Manager. Just remember, this audio is raw, taken directly from our meetings.Creating sample packs awards us the opportunity of drawing inspiration from multiple places. The team is able to replicate music from specific eras, different types of genres, and a plethora of moods. As a creative director, I’m also taking cues from those same places, as it pertains to conveying a message to everyone that should stumble upon our products. These eras, genres and moods often had a specific “look”, and we try to honor that as much as possible. Keying in on these subtleties, often helps people who are browsing to hear with their eyes in essence. It’s like seeing a box of crayons from afar, and your brain going into instant replay mode, recreating the smells of school from when you were a child. It’s something that will never leave you. My job is to try to recreate that same feeling through art direction and video. These were our initial talks with where we thought we were going to go visually for cover art, and marketing collateral. Over time we’ve learned the importance of going with a few ideas to flesh out where we’re eventually going to land. In the beginning we thought that maybe we could go an illustrative route, but ultimately we ended up landing on the Tokyo Night scene, and through some Photoshop & Premiere hacking, we were able to knock this one out of the park (bias intended). Changing things up from time to time helps me to stay sharp. With other labels and vendors stepping it up visually across the board, it’s been important to push the envelope for every project. Now that we have ample time to develop each drop, it’s allowed us the luxury of really processing each decision with a fine-tooth comb. I love projects like this one especially, because it really pushes us to consider the customer even more. From time to time it’s easy to double down on what we think they ultimately want. The consequences of working this way can be all over the place. Somber Soul pushed us to do a lot more research on every aspect, which I believe will yield more fruit on the back end. In the end, everyone is happy, and that’s all I want. Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode. I hope you were able to gather some inspiration, and use some of the techniques on your own projects coming out.

Hi, my name is Wes Pendleton. I’m a co-founder and the managing partner of Soul Surplus. When we first started Soul Surplus as a company in late 2016, the ideas behind new products came easy. At that time we were extremely boutique, with only myself, and my partners, John & Joel Mcneill creating the products from top to bottom. We only averaged around 1 product a month, which allowed us to take a bit of time with each release. Fast forward to the spring and summer of this year, and at one point we were releasing 3 products a week. There were many factors for doing so, but we knew going in, that we wouldn’t be able to sustain our productivity at that clip. In June we had a long meeting, discussing where we were going in the next few quarters and beyond. One thing that we immediately agreed on was slowing down. A lot. We wanted to get back to that boutique feel. Taking our time with ideas, and creativity Focusing heavily on the story behind each release, and deep diving into the foundations of all things surrounding it, including sound and visual aesthetic. The journey from idea, to creation, to distribution, isn’t always easy. And we all agreed that it was time to create formal operations, so streamline our process that much more. We’ve made a good habit of recording our discussions and meetings, and we toyed around with the idea of letting our most loyal followers in on some of the process behind the products they’ve grown to love. In this episode you’ll hear a recorded discussion between myself and John Smythe. This audio is raw, straight from the recorder, and only edited in certain places for trade secret purposes. You’ll also hear John hop in to elaborate on certain portions in the audio timeline. These points were recorded after the initial conversation. This is Process To Product.