Synterra Software

BACKGROUND

I am the Founder & CEO of AGsoundtrax

We run AGsoundtrax, a music licensing platform where video creators, filmmakers and brands can find and license human made music from indie composers, plus some tools we built so you can try the music on your own video before buying. AGsoundtrax is a stock music site with real composers (no AI music), people come to license tracks for there videos, ads and films and we also have browser tools like Sync Studio for testing music under the footage. we're a music licensing platform (AGsoundtrax), basicly a catalogue of human composed tracks that creators and companies license for video, with a few editing tools built around it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

• Make the site faster and more stable, specially search and the catalog when traffic goes up
• Rebuild how composer uploads get processed so big batches dont time out or get stuck
• Fix the database and cache issues that were causing errors and downtime
• Harden the site against hackers and attacks, patch the security holes and lock down anything that shouldnt be public

SOLUTION

• Online Search
• Referral

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Company values aligned

2-5 Employees

Max and his team came in around mid August 2026 when our site was growing fast and starting to crack under a DDoS attack.

The work was mostly on the backend of our Next.js platform, the stuff users never see but feel right away when its broken.

They made the whole site way more solid. Main things they delivered are:

 - Music search: optimized our search and tag queries so finding music across thousands of tracks is fast, moved search to a proper API and made it keep working even when the database or cache has a bad moment. 

- Redis integration: brought Redis into the stack for caching the catalog and search results, so repeat searches come back almost instantly and the database doesnt get hammered. Later moved it to Frankfurt next to our database.

- Upload pipeline: rebuilt how composer uploads are processed, in the background with a queue (QStash), in parallel, and protected against stuck or failed batches. Also cut unnecesary database load during uploads and tag edits.

- Security and DDoS: helped us get through a DDoS attack, set up Vercel bot protection and firewall rules, patched Next.js vulnerabilities and locked down things that shouldnt be public in production.

- Database stability: fixed hangs and wrong results through our connection pooler, which was behind a lot of the random errors users saw.

- SEO: optimized pages so they load lighter and faster (lazy loading videos and images), which helps our Google rankings.

- Docs: cleaned up all the project documentation so the next developer (or AI agent) can pick it up easily.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

- Search pages used to fail about 1 in 5 times at peak traffic, after the fixes they basicly stopped failing

- Composer uploads process 2 tracks at once in the background, so big batches finish in about half the time and dont time out anymore 

- The site stayed up through the DDoS attack and traffic spikes

- Search results come straight from the Redis cache for repeat searches, so the database load dropped a lot

- Everything was delivered in small steps over about 6 weeks, each fix live within days

-SEO optimization,
- Database optimization

Very organized. Every change came as a seperate pull request with a clear description, so I always knew what was going live and why.

 When something went wrong they reacted fast, one time an upload change got stuck in production and Max rolled it back the same day and came back with a better version the next day.

Urgent stuff like the DDoS and security patches got handled within hours, not weeks.

 hey also documented everything so my own team and AI tools can keep working on the code without depending on them.

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What stood out most is how deep they go..
They dont just patch the symptom, they find the real cause, like tracking our random search errors all the way down to the database pooler and the cache.
They also work really well with a codebase thats built partly with AI tools, they cleaned it up and wrote the docs so the AI agents follow the same rules, which I havent seen other devs do. And they're careful with production, every change came with tests and a safe way to roll back.

Nothing big really. If I had to pick something, maybe having one more person on the project at times, just because we had so many ideas going at once. Max handled it all really well, it's more about our own pace than anything they did.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Founder of IslandMetrics LLC. We provide operational sustainability intelligence solutions for the hospitality industry, helping businesses monitor, manage, and improve their environmental and resource performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Synterra Software?

I had a static prototype and needed a senior full stack software engineer to transform it into a fully working product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Synterra Software has introduced full functionality into the AI-generated static mock-up. The team has built a React-based web application, a NestJS backend, Stripe integration, authentication systems, deployment infrastructure, and operational reporting workflows. Synterra Software has understood the system architecture early, taken ownership of implementation, and consistently handled refinements, fixes, and logic adjustments.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2–5 teammates from Synterra Software.

How did you come to work with Synterra Software?

We found them on Upwork. We chose them because they had high ratings, their pricing fit our budget, and their company values aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2026, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re currently onboarding our first set of hotel properties. This wouldn’t be possible without the disciplined help, dedication, and skill of Synterra Software to develop a fully cohesive and commercially viable product. We’ve been extremely pleased with the quality of work delivered.

How did Synterra Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Synterra Software has delivered work on time. We communicate via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What we appreciate most about Synterra Software is their lack of unnecessary back-and-forth. They have strong execution, sound judgment, and steady progress. Their communication is clear, delivery is reliable, and technical challenges are solved quickly and professionally. They’ve been highly reliable throughout the engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve.