Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Sato.
Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Tokyo and spent my early years there before relocating to Yokohama, Japan, where I attended an international school from kindergarten until my senior year. My upbringing was quite unique; my family and friends embraced Western culture while also preserving our Japanese traditions at home.
Growing up, both of my parents had a deep appreciation for music, with favorites like Toto, Celine Dion, Steve Perry, Journey, and Michael Jackson. My musical journey began when I first played the drums at my summer school in Hawaii as this solidified my love for the drums. This sparked my desire to play the drums and pursue a career in performance.
During high school, I was part of 8 different bands, including a percussion group inspired by the Blue Man Group called “5DAYS FOREVER,” which gained popularity at my school. We DIY’d our own instruments using PVC pipes, each with its own unique style and genre.
For college, I attended Berklee College of Music to study Film Scoring. It took some time to figure out my passion, but since I had a passion and experience for both film and music, Film Scoring seemed like the perfect fit. This major opened a whole new lens into the world of film and animation production.
After graduating from Berklee, I moved to LA to pursue a career in music composition. I remember my first short film project, “My Eyes On You,” which I wrote music for and thoroughly enjoyed. I began my journey by interning at Christopher Young’s studio; just as the COVID pandemic hit (chaotic times) this experience launched my career in the industry.
Throughout my time in LA during COVID pandemic, I got to network with Directors, working on short films such as “The Soloist” “The Creep” “VANITAS” “SOMEWHERE PAST WACO” “CANARY” and more. This led me to work with an amazing Chinese-American Composer, Nathan Wang. This launched a different career path in the industry. Working for Nathan has been an adventurous journey for me. I remember during the pandemic, we didn’t have the access to recording studios since LA was in lockdown. Instead, we would have sessions overseas on a Zoom call with the strings sections early in the morning. As my career in the industry develops, I hope to see myself involved in writing songs with him as well as learning new compositional skills.
Music has always held a special place in my heart, and though I can’t explain why, I fully embrace the adventure it brings.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’ve faced several mental blocks that made me struggle to take my music onto the next level. During this time, I felt like the music I composed the night before sounded completely wrong the next day, and was not satisfied with my production and sound. I tried reaching out to my mentor and friends in the industry for advice, but nothing quite clicked.
With this, I decided to take a break and keep my mind off of all things music and film. This extremely helped me creatively as I got to reset my brain.
The music that I create and write includes some sort of nature and everyday sound, for example ocean waves, wind, and metal impacts. These elements of sound supported my composition to make it original!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been working for Nathan Wang as a Music Editor / Song-Writer for over four years. Some of the works that I have been involved with him are “On Gold Mountain” “One True Loves” “Never Say Never (Chinese Feature Film)” and a Spanish movie called “Mi Otro Jon”. We are currently working on a Jackie Chan / Stanley Tong Film that will be released soon!
Working as a Music Editor for many of Nathan’s films has helped me to become a better Composer. Sometimes he will ask me to write a “Base Fundamental Track” for a certain cue. I think Music Editors should be getting more exposure; they definitely play a big role in the music team.
I’ve also enjoyed performing with Nathan and Shelly Ren (Primary Violinist) on numerous musical theater concerts as the primary drummer/percussionist. I especially enjoy performing Jazz music with them!
I’ve also scored for a short film called “CANARY” directed by Taka Tsubota. This film has been submitted to various film festivals as Official Selection on the “LA Short International Film Festival 2023”, “Silicon Beach Film Festival 2023”, “Japan Film Festival Los Angeles 2023”, H.P Lovecraft Film Festival 2023 (Portland)”, “Global Stage Hollywood 2023”, “CUT International Short Film Festival 2023”, and the “Athens International Monthly Film Festival 2023”.
“CANARY” is an ongoing project that Taka and I are very excited to be collaborating with in the near future as a Feature Length Film. The music is very nature-oriented and subtle yet still plays a very important role in the film. Really challenging, but this was one of the films that I am proud of sharing!
My greatest strength that sets me apart is my deep understanding of the diverse cultures in music through my multicultural background and effectively adding emotional music to tell a story. I take the stories and emotions of my real-life encounters and put them into my composition. Like life, music is adventurous, and you never want it to be stagnant.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
For any work-related collaborations, please feel free to reach out to me by email or contact me through Instagram!
I’m always looking for new talents, artists, and directors who tell great stories!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.matthewsatomusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattsat0/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-sato-321285a5/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/msatomusic
Image Credits
Personal Photo taken by: Lennon Leppert
