How to Approach Taking Inspiration from a Reference Track

How to Approach Taking Inspiration from a Reference Track
November 9, 2021
How to Approach Taking Inspiration from a Reference Track

Four Considerations When Creating Bespoke Music Against an Existing Piece of Music

1) The Reference Track — The Power of What’s “Hot”

As a composer in the world of advertising, I’ve gotten more than my fair share of “reference track” briefs. There’s an origin story to every reference. Maybe the song being referenced is an all-time favorite of a marketing boss on the client-side. Maybe the track being referenced is only being mentioned because of its status as today’s “chart-topper”. Maybe the agency sends over a whole Spotify playlist of tracks to help influence the creative process. Whether the reference track is coming from the client or a creative director at the agency, it’s worth exploring the various tools a composer can use to approach these types of briefs. In this post, I’ll attempt to lay out my strategy to attack these briefs. From steering clear of “borrowing too heavily” from a fellow composer, to making sure your original piece of music captures the energy of a reference track in a unique and refreshing way, hopefully these tidbits will help put an end to some habits of A/B’ing your track and feeling like an A.I. machine trying to write “a different track from the same album”.

Here is a piece I did recently that we'll break down in depth below:

Before you start composing against a reference track, here are some helpful questions to ask yourself (or ideally, your client!):

What does the song do to advance the story your client is trying to tell?
• What parts of the song detract from that story and how can you learn from those shortcomings?
• What is it about the track that your client likes? What could they see being improved upon?
• What parts of the reference track are essential to capture the energy of that particular track?

Let’s take a chart-topper like Billie Eillish’s “Bad Guy” as an example. Given the ubiquity of that song and its accessibility across age groups, it’s a great example of a song that could be referenced by a client. It has the aesthetic of a “sexy car ad” — subdued yet pulsating. Understated, yet somehow energetic. The bass line is simple and memorable, the drums don’t call much attention to themselves, and the vocal is breathy, organic and emotionally charged. These are all assets to the track that a client might point out, but what might it lack that an ad might require? Asking this question is key to understanding how to break out of the box and explore the creative space that makes that track so memorable.

2) Embracing the Theory & Finding the “Focal Point”

When first approaching a reference track, I find it incredibly valuable to start by making some simple analyses of the reference. What key is it in? What about the tempo? Is there a certain movement to the chords that makes the song distinct? It’s important to dig into these questions before you dig yourself a hole that you can’t get out of. Typically, I like to start by developing a drum groove that feels disparate from the reference. Then, I’ll make sure that, at the bare-minimum, I’m a half-step away in either direction from the reference. I’ll also make sure that I’m not allowing my melody to have similar movement from the reference or even that it carries the same melodic rhythm. For instance, if the first note of a melody lands right on the “1”, I might make sure that mine starts on the “4 &” of the previous bar. Simple things like this will force you to write progressions and melodies that don’t feel reminiscent of your reference track.

It’s also essential to note what the “focal point” of the track is. Is the song memorable for its signature guitar lick? Try capturing the energy of that guitar lick, but placing in a different instrument that you can offer out front of the mix. In a song like “Bad Guy”, I would go ahead and say that the bass line is without question the most recognizable part of the song, followed by the vocal. If your client references a song like this and insists that a strong bassline remains the focal point, do everything possible to make sure that you’re not mimicking the movement or harmonic rhythm of the line. Oftentimes, building a tone that’s separate enough from the original will inspire you to write a line that has its own unique personality. More on this later...

3) When Vocals Aren’t an Option!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been given a brief that says “No Vocals!”. Whether it’s budgetary, a creative choice, or a simple aesthetic choice, it’s quite often that vocals aren’t an option when working in advertising music. Where this gets tricky is when a vocal melody is essential to the reference track you’re given. If you receive a rough cut of the spot and suddenly a top-tier pop vocal is highlighting the story of the ad, it can feel pretty frustrating trying to recreate that space and energy without the use of a live vocalist. A quick tip I like to use in this area is the “Human Voices” section of Spectrasonics Omnisphere. I find that even a simple patch like “Pop Female Eees 1” can help breathe a bit of breathy-ness into a track without feeling too fake or stale.

Usually, I’ll go into the “FX” section of a patch like “Pop Female Eees 1” and play around with some modulation effects to give the patch a bit more stereo movement. In this audio example, I used the “Vintage Tremolo” to move the vocal sample across the stereo spectrum. I also absolutely love using the patch “Reverse Soloist Staccato”. I find that it’s a great transition trick to use that feels ostensibly like an effect you’d pull from a live vocalist (perhaps by reversing one of their vocal takes and throwing it through a big reverb). In the above audio sample, I also took advantage of the “FX” section of the patch, selected “Creative” and used the “Quad Resonators”. I like to skim through the different note options (on the right side of the window) and select an option that rings out in a unique way over the track. In this case, the track I’m working with is in G# Minor and the note I’m ringing out is a middle of the range C#2.

For the final vocal embellishment I made in this track, I used a patch called “Tuvan Mid 12”. Typically the range of this particular sample is in the tenor/baritone range, but I just love how the note bends as it’s pulling into its intended place and I find that if you play that up in the higher register, it has the feeling of a Skrillex-esque “chirp” vocal. In this instance, I played a simple “B”, printed out the audio, cut up the sample, and pitched the notes in different directions until I built a melody that I felt blended in well to the track. I’ve included the main sample I used and then the fully-structured melody. You can also hear the “pump” effect that I added to give the vocal a bit of a side-chain type of feel.

3) SoundMatch -- Putting a Stop to the Endless Preset Hunt!

One of the most exhaustive parts of meeting a good reference track is finding samples or patches that can emulate a “signature” sound from the track you’re inspired by. I’ve skimmed through countless libraries “down-arrowing” my way through presets without much organization. I’ve found that the “Sound Match” in Omnisphere really cuts down on my time searching and inspires me to hear new angles.

Bass → In this audio example, I began with a simple patch in Omnisphere called “Crackle Bass” and immediately fell in love with two distinct features of the sound -- the ‘gritty’ quality of the bass and the width that it gives across the stereo field. A simple click on the “Sound Match” feature in the top left corner of the screen and suddenly I’m shown hundreds of patches that in some way or another live in the same sonic family. In this case, it doesn’t just give me similar bass sounds to choose from, but also an array of keyboards and poly-synths that I would consider to be a perfect compliment to the track. It led me to the patch “NCMS - Strange Days”, which would become the rhythmic ‘pluck’ that helps move the track along.

Synths & FX → After I laid out the bass ostinato line, I set out to find a pluck sound that felt distant, yet bright and immediate. Lately, I’ve been pulling from the free Trilian Creative library because I’m a sucker for the blended libraries Spectrasonics offers. (Trilian Creative requires installing both Omnisphere and Trilian.) The category “Percussive Organic” is always a great jumping off point to find these types of plucks. A simple “Sound Match” of this preset led me to a few different options of swell/transition FX to pull from, which I consider a key piece of the puzzle in building out a track like this. In this case, the patch “Emmet’s Grain Spiders” gave me a very interesting “lift-off” quality riser while having a warm and spacious tone that I like to inject into tracks that feel overtly “electro”.

4) B.Y.O.M (Bring Your Own Musicologist) & The Final Question

Well, maybe not completely! Make sure you circle back and consider how your track differs from the original. Grab your friend/partner/neighbor and ask them the age-old question “does this sound familiar to you?” If you’re new to writing against reference tracks, keep in mind that Musicologists will be looking at some more granular details, even noting when a track feels “reminiscent” of an existing piece of music. This can be frustrating at times, but ultimately they’re there to protect you and the artist whose work has inspired the brief. Take a look at the recent discussion around Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good4U” in comparison to Paramore’s “Misery Business” and you’ll see what I’m talkin’ about!

Did I Beat the Reference?

It may seem like a herculean task to beat out a top-notch pop production, and of course, all music is subjective, but remember to go back and consider that initial question -- am I creating a unique piece of music that harkens back to the reference but also elevates the story? In other words, don’t spend all of your precious time trying to recreate something. There’s a reason why that reference track isn’t going on the final commercial. Sure, it may be a budgetary restriction, but it’s also because pop music is generally not built for advertising. You have the power to bridge that gap and build on it. Your creative voice matters and that’s why they’ve hired you!