Meet Thomas Cepeda

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thomas Cepeda. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thomas below.

Hi Thomas, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

When I was in 4th grade, all of us in our class were tasked with creating a presentation on a cardboard about a planet in the solar system. I took it as an opportunity to have some fun and went all out and used glitter to create stars, glue to draw the shape of Saturn, a red cardboard paper for contrast and all the color pencils I had to color in the planet and the space it was in. The next day when we all presented our planets I didn’t realize that other students didn’t spend that much time on the project and just drew a planet with a marker on a white cardboard, rather than using different elements and just having fun. Once they saw the presentation I did, I first felt embarrassed for being the only one that went so overboard with the Saturn presentation but over the years, it’s been one of my happiest memories of just being yourself and creating unique things regardless of the outcome. I’m not always capable of having this attitude, but when I can, I try to remember that any challenging situation is an opportunity to be creative and grow if you see it in a different perspective than you’re usually programmed to. And it also helps me see life as a long game, where there’s undoubtedly gonna be a lot of failure but if we embrace it, we all are still gonna learn something and keep moving in an upward trajectory in the big picture.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I play with sounds for a living. I write, edit, record, mix, and pass on knowledge about music for a living and sometimes also design sounds for a living. This has led me to work such as being a part of the music team for meaningful projects such as a documentary about water contamination of indigenous lands in Louisiana or an entrepreneur that makes food for her community in Cambodia, or as a music editor for fun animations such as Scott Pilgrim Takes Off or Skull Island on Netflix. As a composer and sound designer I’ve also been able to be very creative on brand campaigns such as a campaign for Splice, where I used a part of the their sounds and samples to make music and sound design that would help tell the story of how sound has evolved over time. I also been able to share my knowledge, as someone who’s roots come from Argentina, about South American and Andean music by writing pieces of music on the charango and ronroco (2 very beautiful South American stringed instruments) and sharing the sheet music for people to learn it across the world, from Australia to Japan to Brazil, all thanks to the Internet. Sharing that instrument and making music with it has also allowed me to be connected with an amazing Iranian composer called Ramin Kousha with whom I collaborated on a few great Iranian films. – I don’t feel that I have to interact with music and sound in one specific way, but rather try to be open to the adventure of using music and sound in different ways to tell different stories and trying to learn something about it along the way. Recently, I’ve moved from California to Collingswood, New Jersey, right across from Philadelphia, to be with my wife who matched into a medical residency over there. It’s a new challenge as I’ve mostly worked from California in music, but I think it’s a new opportunity to learn to interact with new people, learn new skills and absorb some new growth. It can be scary at times to have left my whole community in the west coast but thanks to the internet, some of those distances don’t feel that far as they might have used to be. One other project I’m currently developing on the side, is a music book that uses mazes, note colors and the solar system to teach people how to read music. I always thought learning to read music can be challenging without some fun involved in it, so I’m experimenting with that.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

There are three elements that were key in helping me have a deeper impact along my journey. Patience was the first skill I learned that I still struggle with, but it’s the most powerful. Not wanting results immediately to happen but being okay with putting in the work in the belief of a higher program being made. That might be working on something like a book, developing my ear training skills, or writing an endless amount of music.

That leads me to the second quality that has been paramount. That is passion. None of these things could be accomplished if there wasn’t some fire in me wanting to express something, convey it in a certain way or understand what other people are trying to say.

The third skill that has gone a long way is respect. There’s many stories where I got my foot in the door into opportunities just by doing my research about someone I’m reaching out to and showing my respect for what they have accomplished, so that they feel seen and then feel open to share their path with me, either by hiring me, collaborating with me or mentoring me. And that’s something that I try to pass on to other people that I’ve helped out in the past years.

The best ways to develop patience is to believe that there is something bigger than us moving the pieces, and all we can do is align ourselves on the highway that takes there. Passion is all about listening to yourself and reacting to what really excites you about the world. And respect comes from understanding that other people have really paved the paths for us to walk through and they have a lot of stories and knowledge to share.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me that it unfortunately took me a while to learn is that they believed in me regardless of what I did. Sometimes they believed in me even more than I did. That’s something that I learned that isn’t always common in other families. I think what maybe helped is that they saw how many endless hours as a kid I spent trying to transcribe music by ear to understand it and could feel the passion I had for music. Also learning arts is always a welcome thing because it creates more acceptance. My mom is a painter so she shared the passion for the arts with me and my dad is business man but as a young kid he went to a music conservatory for classical guitar so he also shared the passion for music with me. I would not be who I am without my parents support. I am always thankful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.oceanloopmusic.com
• Instagram: @thomascepeda86
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomascepeda/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thomascepeda86