Today we’d like to introduce you to Elijah Thomas. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Uncharted Records was founded on the principle of providing a voice to those who need it. We implement that principle primarily in the music industry to artists that deserve that platform. We do this by providing them with a team that will give them all the tools and resources necessary to succeed. Uncharted Records was started back in 2016 by Elijah Thomas during his sophomore year of high school after he noticed these issues in the music community starting with his first three artists, Doe Savv, ce$ar, & Si. During that time, Uncharted was in its infancy stage, Elijah worked on developing his engineering skills to push out content for the company recording, mixing, and mastering every single EP and mixtape produced. After two years, it was time to move from Leesburg, Florida to Orlando, Florida where he would continue his educational path at UCF pursuing a degree in Computer Science.
After relocating to Orlando, that’s when Uncharted really started to make its foothold. The vast access to talent and creatives opened doors for Uncharted to truly implement its purpose. Starting from team size of 1 to now 17 members that range across departments of audio engineering, videography, graphic design, public relations, sales, & marketing; we have been able to accomplish and provide more than ever before. Although it was not an easy road to find the right people to be a part of Uncharted, it has all paid off now. The only limiting factor to Uncharted’s growth are the artists who are ready to take the next steps towards success.
Elijah and Ezekiel Thomas (older brother & CFO) made a decision in early 2021 to take the risk and invest all their possible resources into Uncharted. Funded by personal loans and personal savings, we took a major step to build out our first full professional home recording studio to work with all our artists and build a home base for our team. The first few months were difficult to get the ball rolling and establishing our name in the community, but after we had the right people a part of our vision, every day we grew closer to achieving our goals. We now have three new signed artists building their music portfolio, developing their brand, growing their network, and learning more about the industry each day. All while owning all the rights to their music. In addition to that, Uncharted has been working to build partnerships with other companies such as Tribe House Records, Room Noise Management, & De Novo Agency to fill in the gaps it does not provide so that their artists have the highest chances to succeed.
With all that we have accomplished and grown over the years, we still have so much more to achieve and lives to impact. All this is possible because of the team at Uncharted Records. It is that specific team that makes working with and at Uncharted Records so different from every other company across the globe. Those members are the lifeline to this company; with each person having a passion to provide a platform and a home to those who need that extra push to help them realize and achieve their full potential.
That’s what Uncharted Records is all about.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been three main struggles in running Uncharted Records. First, finding the right people to be a part of team was disastrous. We first started out by running internships in the summer of 2020 to start finding people we could see being a part of the company for the long run. We had no previous experience in hiring employees, taking people from an application to being ramped up and operational in our company. So undoubtedly, we had an extremely stressful and intense hiring seasons with the work being only spread between Ezekiel, Elijah, a few close friends. So bad to the point Ezekiel ended up in the hospital due to exhaustion and stress. The problem wasn’t just getting them on the team but also managing them, and as time went on we started to realize the characteristics we needed people to have in order to be successful in our company. So after the 3rd or 4th hiring season, we found people that not only worked well within Uncharted but also had a passion for the vision of the company. The perfect combination.
Our second struggle has been finding the right artists to work with. We have worked with many artists, some who never released a song or even been in a studio before, to some who have followings of 15k on social media and have a catalog of work already. The one factor that so many of them miss is the true drive and aspiration to be successful, which also means the willingness to sacrifice things in their life in order to get there. That is the main thing we look for in the artists we work with and sign. There are many talented young artists among us in regular day to day lives, but finding the ones ready to fight for their spot on the top 100 billboards and on your favorite playlist are hard to find.
For our third main struggle, it is people underestimating what Uncharted is truly capable of. Every artist that has walked in our space talked to our team or left with a final product have all been thoroughly impressed. The struggle comes in when not enough artists or creatives are ready to take that first step and give our team a chance to provide them with what they need.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My passion in the creative world is in audio engineering. I specialize in mixing and mastering more specifically vocal mixing. Much of my experience comes from working with instrumentals that clients bring in and not only making their vocal clear and present but give them movement and energy. I believe that the vocals are the most important element to a song so I focused my expertise to learn how compression, eq, and fx all affect vocal tracks so I can get the most out of them in every record.
I am known for bringing the best out of the artists I work with and always providing them with a product they are truly happy with. The thing I am most proud of from my work is in an unreleased collaboration album of Florida creatives that we are currently finishing up called NU GULLAH. It was produced executively by Ezekiel Isiah, SangreX, and myself, and in addition to that, I lead all the tracking, mixing, and mastering for that project. It opened my eyes to true capabilities of what we can make here in Orlando with the right musicians, producers, songwriters, and artists. It has a story that is ready to be told to anyone who is willing to listen and will set a standard for anything we create in the future.
Pricing:
- Tracking 55 & 40 an hour
- Mix & Master Combo $170
- Master $50
- Starter Music Video $1000
Contact Info:
- Email: Support@uncharted-records.com
- Website: www.uncharted-records.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/uncharted_records
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCIo-NY3bM1QYTT5Tnttww7Q
