Transcription
Today we're going to talk about how to find your sound. Every successful artist has come out of the gate with a signature sound. By having a defined sound, it not only allows you clarity, it makes it clear to the audience, which can exponentially impact your project's growth. The biggest artists in the world are masters at presenting a high-level cohesive body of work. Think about it. The best movies in the world have a compelling story, memorable visuals, and a defined soundtrack. The modern era of branding for artists in the music world is no different. Your music project should have a great story, memorable imagery, and a defined sound. If you want to become a top-tier artist with the international tour dates, the houses, the cars, and the creative freedom, you'll need to have a defined sound for this season of your career.
Many artists will just make everything under the sun until something hits. A song that gets more plays than the other stuff that they've made, and they will then make more of these kinds of songs. This is letting the audience tell you what to make instead of defining what you want to make and then sharing that. There's a specific method that we've used with hundreds of artists to help them better define their sound. And that's what we're going to go through today. This exact method.
So, who am I to even talk about this? I have a longer video on the Neighborhood Art Supply channel if you want to go and check that out. But I'm Chris Alba. I own a niche creative agency called The Cult Creatives. We work primarily in the spaces of music and fashion. We've done tens of millions of dollars in business over the last 10 years and we've worked with many household names in the music industry as well as Fortune 500 companies. I myself was an artist and talent buyer, concert curator before I ever started Colt. So that gave me a unique perspective on brand building and storytelling as I've lived it myself and I also saw the difference between artists that were getting a few thousand for the show and artists that were getting six figures plus. The artists getting six figures plus had a lot more figured out. And one of the main things they cracked was their sound. And this is where a lot of the talented startup artists or mid-tier artists would struggle.
So why is it so hard for artists to define their sound? So to me, I think there's a major problem. Every artist's music journey is different. But if you're watching this, you likely want to take your project as far as it can go and reach as many people as possible with your music. In other videos, I've talked a lot about the brand and how I think modern brands are movies or ongoing shows that the audience is watching, but I haven't talked about the soundtrack or the score to the movie all that much. And that's really what it's all about. This is why you got into all this in the first place, to make your music and share your music. But something I see an artist both large and small struggle with is defining their sound and keeping it on the rails. The blessing and the curse of modern-day music production is you can make anything. We have the ability with modern tools, software, and AI to make any sound. But this power actually makes deciding what to make quite difficult. And it wasn't always like this. Even 50 years ago, the way most music was made was via a collaboration with multiple people. Whether it was a single artist with a series of producers or a band. With a band, especially in the beginning, there's only a few instruments. They had these guitars, this kind of drum kit, maybe a synth or two. The vocalists had a way or range that they could sing. And the musicians all had a level and style by which they could play the instruments. These members would each contribute their part to the making of the songs. Those songs made up the body of work. And that body of work gave them their early sound. So just by default of the setup, finding the sound was easier.
Is there a way that you could apply the same kind of psychology to your music? Now change the setup by which you think about what you're going to make and how you're going to cook. This is today's topic. How to find your sound by clarifying the processes of how you make your music, creating the recipes and the formulas, and defining the style of how you cook. The process is similar to identifying specific ingredients by which we'll create your menu, then laying those ingredients out on your metaphorical counter. You can make anything you want, but you can only use what you've laid out on the counter. You can make different styles of songs, different genres, different tempos, but it will all sound like you because there will be specific ingredients being used across all the different styles of work. This is why someone like Skrillex can do a pop song, a dubstep song, a hip-hop song, or a UKG song, and they will all sound like Skrillex. They are all different songs for different moments in the listener's life. It could be a song that's good while you're on a long drive, or a song made for your last set at the gym, a song for the club that you're in, or a song where you're pregaming with your friends.
When you have a defined sound like this, it not only makes it easy to grow an audience, it makes it easy for potential collaborators to think about how a collaboration, whether that's booking you at a festival or another artist wanting to write something with you, a brand wanting you to be an ambassador, it makes it really clear for them the type of artist you are and the sound that you have. And again, think about it. All the best movies or shows out there always have what seems to be a perfect score that goes along with them. A cohesive sound helps better tell the story and gives the audience your perspective around your point of view and your taste, which is ultimately what the fans want. The greatest marketing tactic there is is to make something so good, so clear, and so compelling that the listener or viewer has to share it. It's that good. It makes them feel cool or it raises their status even by sharing. They feel as though they've discovered something great and it must be shared. And if this is happening on the regular and they're sharing often, you'll start to lead the charge around your specific sound. Many now legacy acts have started with specific sounds that gain success and then there was an army of copycats that followed trying to gain the same success. When people would hear these copycats, they would think this sounds like so-and-so or this artist is trying to be so-and-so. And if you are that so-and-so, that means that you occupy the original creator position in their mind and will likely always be that for them. You want your sound to be so clear that the audience says, "This sounds like so-and-so or somebody trying to be so-and-so." And if inventing or creating your own sound sounds hard, it may not be as hard as you think. And the answer is always within. All music is made or borrowed or stolen ingredients. But new recipes and new sounds are created when a new mix is formed.
In a previous video, I talked about finding this taco truck off Wilshire here in LA. And every day, this taco truck had a line down the street. It was surrounded by other taco trucks, but those only had lines of 5 to 10 people waiting for them. The taco truck was outside of my old agency. And when I asked my agent why that truck had the line that it did, he replied, "Oh, that one's crazy. They make these Korean barbecue Mexican burritos. The owner of the truck is half Korean and he's half Hispanic." He had created a new high-demand recipe just by combining two things that were already good. He created a recipe that was authentic to him and his life, his experiences, and he was attempting to make the best Korean barbecue meets Mexican burritos in the world. He was successful in his efforts. And that's why the truck was drastically more successful than any of the trucks surrounding it. And he also had all the different people, his customers, doing a lot of the marketing for him. They were sharing how unique and good the burritos were on social and then driving more traffic to the truck. And sharing something great that you've discovered is part of the human existence. We need things to talk about. We need things to be interested in. Most people use art and experience to define their own identity. When someone wears a t-shirt of a band or artist that they like, they're saying a lot more about themselves than just they are a fan of this thing. And often the artists that are better at selling these t-shirts have more to their brand story than just the music. It's the combination of the music and the story as to why the person's actually wearing the t-shirt. They're using that t-shirt to define their own identity. And by doing so, they become a walking billboard for the brand. Usually, in order for somebody to wear a shirt like this and wear it often, there needs to be a deep connection with the artist. To them, their music or story is some of the best in the world. It's being done so well that they feel like they can represent it. So, by making your art unique and the very best it can be, it changes how people identify with it or even represent it as their own. But the word "best" is subjective and that's what makes it tough. How do you know if you're doing your best work? But maybe as an exercise, let's try this. Let's look at your favorite artists. What do they all have in common? Think about it. One, they have a cohesive body of work. Two, they're making art that's resonating with you and you're coming back for more and you're curious to see what they do next. Three, they're unique against a lot of the other stuff that's out there. Four, their brand likely lines up with their music and the story goes along with the soundtrack. And five, their music is great. It's being done so well that you rank it among some of your favorites.
Okay, so now that we understand the problem a bit and how to think about cooking and crafting your sound's menu and why it's crucial to have a cohesive sound, let's get into how you actually find your sound.
Step one, make a list of your favorite things from your past. I've suggested the same exercise in previous videos having to do more with branding and storytelling, but it works just as well for defining your sound. Create a journaling session where you define the following. Answer these questions. What are your favorite all-time songs? What are your favorite all-time albums? What kind of music did your parents listen to? What kind of music was playing in your house growing up? What are some of your favorite life memories with music playing in the background? What are some of your favorite music experiences either at shows or with music videos? And spend some time with this. Really lay it out. You'll start to see the picture of what you love music-wise and the musical story that is your life.
Step two, make a list of things that you're currently inspired by. So answer these questions. What are some of your current favorite songs? What are some of your current favorite albums? What do you find yourself coming back to over and over again? Who inspires you? Who's pushing the boundaries? If you could see anyone live right now, who would it be? This is a great way to define what you're into now, where your inspiration seems to be going.
Step three, mix and match. So now with these lists, you have your ingredients. You're using your past memories and past things that you've loved and pairing those with things that you're currently inspired by. So, looking at these ingredients, which could be applied to what you're trying to do with your current music offering? Lay those ingredients out on the metaphorical counter. Now, just as an exercise, mix and match different lineups. And you're not actually going to make anything. You're just going to write down potentially what these lineups could be. For example, one of my favorite styles of music when I was a kid was 80s new wave. My parents played a lot of this in our house. I love the 80s synth-style soundtracks. Movies like The Never-Ending Story or Scarface, Giorgio Moroder type stuff. And then I'm currently super into Rez and her mid-tempo sound design stuff. So for this exercise, I might write down Rez mid-tempo bass meets 80s synthwave soundtrack meets 80s new wave. Maybe this could be a recipe. So this part of the exercise is writing down a bunch of different recipes that could potentially be interesting based on your own taste. Write down as many different combinations as you can find and things that may be worth thinking [Music] about.
Ever wonder how to truly cut through the noise and get your music to a broader audience? The Cult Creatives is a niche agency servicing the communities and brands surrounding the spaces of music and fashion. Our unique backgrounds of being highly involved with some of the largest music and fashion brands in the world gives us a unique perspective on how to connect creatives with their audiences. We offer a variety of services including creative direction, design, photography, videography, and strategy. Head to the cultcreatives.com to learn more. The Cult Creatives, not to be replicated, but if you try, we wouldn't blame you. [Music]
Step four, organize and create a chart. So, for this section, you're going to want to figure out how to break things up, and you're going to want to create your sandbox. And this is going to be different for every artist, but let's look at how you break your sound into different categories and ingredients. Style of drums. Are your drums hip-hop sounding? Are they more organic or live feeling? Are they electronic and synthetic? Are they swung? Are they perfectly on the grid? Build out your own drum kit and stick to that for the full duration of this process. Synth style. What kind of synths will you use? Are they 80s style new wave synths? Are they more organic? Maybe you only want to use real analog synths on your stuff. Maybe you want to blend soft synths with real organic instruments. Whatever you decide, give yourself a few different styles of synths and use and stick to those. Vocals. Are you going to feature vocals on your songs? If so, what kinds? Try to group it into a box. Back when I was producing, I had a period where I was only writing stuff with male falsetto vocals. By setting the sandbox, it allowed me to know what I was looking for. I was looking for people who had a range like Michael Jackson, The Weeknd, Prince, FKA twigs, etc. So, for your vocals, should the vocals sound strong, powerful, aggressive, pretty, ethereal? Should they sound more street? Should they be anthemic? Should they be soulful or R&B inspired? There's a lot of variables here, but try and define what you're actually after for the project. Key, major, or minor. Are there certain keys that you want to write the majority of the music with? Should it feel sad, uplifting, powerful, triumphant, cool? Describe the feelings that you're after from the music. Subject matter. So, what might the songs be about? This is a great place to once again look within at the songs that you love. Study the subject matter from the list that you've created and look and see if there's any through lines. If most of the stuff on your own list has to do with themes of love, that could be a place for you to create your own music from. Samples. Does the music feature samples? If so, what kind? For this, I don't mean drum samples or synth oneshots. I mean more clips from other songs. If you're going to sample, how are you going to use the samples? What's the style of sample use? Instrumentation. Is your music meant to be more synthetic sounding or more organic? Real instruments? If so, what kinds? Maybe it's a combination of Serum style sound design, but with orchestral instruments. Define the kind of instruments that you'll use for the majority of your songs. Sound design. What kind of sound design is featured in the songs? Is it inspired by bass music? Is it inspired by hip-hop synths from the early 2000s? Is it soft synths that you run through analog guitar pedals to get your sound design? Is it using vocal samples but used as synths or playable lead lines? For this, you're defining what the characteristics are of your sound design. Arrangement. How will the songs be arranged? For example, even though the style of music is techno, will the arrangement be inspired by pop songs? Or even though this is technically a rap record, are the arrangements super unique and fit closer with alt-rock than traditional rap records? The question here is how will the songs be arranged in a unifying way for 90% of the songs that you release during this season of your project.
So now having laid this out, you can see how it becomes so much easier to begin the writing process and what to look for in terms of inspiration. You've created positive constraints for yourself. You can play infinitely and ultimately but only within the sandbox and for this period of time. If you were thinking about doing a cover or a remix, you could look at your chart and it would help you to find what kind and would it fit. You've now saved your brain from thousands of hours of computing if you should or shouldn't do something just by having this chart. This section is for anything you may not have defined in one of the previous sections that unify the collection of songs and are creative choices that make the songs unique. So that's how you can organize your music chart. Now let's get back to the rest of the steps.
Step five, commit to making a body of work around a specific point of view. Okay, so now you have ingredients and you have some recipes to try. This is the point where you lock in your commitment. So let's understand this commitment more. This commitment could either be based around time or a number of songs or experiments. For example, the commitment could be, "I'm going to try to do this sound for 12 to 24 months. This is what I'm going to offer with the project, just using these ingredients only." Or it could be, "I'm going to make 40 to 50 demos with this style of sound. I may only release 10 to 20% of those, but I'm committing to making 50." This commitment is one of the big differences I see between top-tier artists and the artists that are in the middle. Top-tier artists are committed to the cohesion of creating a body of work. Often mid-tier artists are super talented, but they're all over the place when you listen to their music, and it isn't clear who they are or what they like. And once you've made it to the end of the commitment that you've set out, whether it's time or a number of songs, you can then look at changing. If you look at top-tier artists, they have different chapters in their sonic story and their movie. They change, evolve, and offer new things. So, it's 100% okay to do this, but where I see many artists struggle is they're switching after just a few songs.
Step six, make the art. So, you've done the exercise of looking within and defining your favorite things. You created your menu. You've committed and you're ready to start cooking, experimenting, and sharing. All that's left is walking down the road and making the work. But what if along the way you feel the urge to make something outside of the movie and soundtrack that you set up? When that happens, and if the pull is strong enough, then just make it. But once it's done, assess whether or not it really fits with the rest of the work and what you're trying to present in this season. If it doesn't fit, save it for another day. It's not for this project. And this doesn't mean this is the only kind of music you can or will ever make. There are many sides to you and your creativity. This is just defining the sonic landscape for this one project for now. This allows you to get organized and clear on what exactly you're trying to make. Most of the friends that I have in music have had many projects and aliases through the years, all with different sonic identities. Your career in music will be long and you'll have all sorts of different projects with different sonic identities, but what do you want to do now and what are you trying to say in this season?
Step seven, rinse and repeat. So, after you've reached the end of your commitment, start again. Most artists don't break through until they've done this process fully through five or six times. You'll often hear about logging your 10,000 hours or the 10-year overnight success stories. If there's one unifying thing I've seen with the bigger artists we've worked with at Colt, it's their commitment to excellence and the process. They're always trying to get better. Many of them are very competitive people, but they are in competition not with other artists, but with previous versions of themselves. They try to take things as far as they can, and they try to make things the best that they can. Once they're done, they share those things, and then they do it all over again. They are obsessed with making things better and refining their processes.
So, now that we have our process and our chart, let's take a few artists and run their music through the various filters to see if we can spot the consistencies and the through lines with the stuff that they've made in different periods of their career. First, let's look at Calvin Harris and not Calvin Harris now, but Calvin Harris as he began ascending as an artist. So, in 2011, he drops "We Found Love" with Rihanna and "I Need Your Love" with Ellie Goulding. In 2012, his album 18 Months comes out and has songs like "How Deep Is Your Love" with Disciples, "Feel So Close," and "Sweet Nothing" with Florence Welch. This series of songs elevated Calvin Harris to the upper echelon of pop and dance. And if you analyze these songs, there's a lot that they have in common. The drums are all club-style drums. The synths are dance music synths. The vocals are soulful, powerful vocals, all in minor keys. Subject matter is all about love or passion, loving someone or something. There's no recognizable samples from other songs. A mix of organic and synthetic instrumentation. Sound design-wise, he was taking whatever was big in the dance music underground and then dumbing that down so a broader audience could enjoy it. And then his arrangements weren't dance arrangements. They were more pop-style arrangements.
Let's look at a different kind of artist. Let's look at Purple Disco Machine. So for Purple Disco Machine, the drum style is club drums mixed with disco drums. Synth style are synths inspired by 70s analog synths. Vocal style is a hybrid of where indie meets pop with disco inspiration. Not all, but the majority of the songs are written in minor keys. The subject matter is mostly having to do with love, dancing, nostalgia, and self-expression. There's not a heavy use of samples, and the instrumentation is a modern version of disco. There's a lot of organic instruments like strings, guitar, funk bass, and sounds inspired by 70s drum machines. And the arrangement is usually dance and club-oriented.
All right, so for another style, what about Kanye? Let's look at this as a whole instead of a specific period and see if we can spot some through lines. So drum style is hip-hop drums. Synths are generally analog-inspired. Vocal style is often him with a combination of soul singing and then his style of rapping. It's minor keys. Subject matter varies, but the through line is that it's typically about what he's currently experiencing, be that love, feeling alone or loss, dealing with mental health issues, his confidence, or navigating celebrity. His music is very sample-heavy. Instrumentation is usually mixing hip-hop and synthetic drums with his sample chops, and arrangement is usually pop-style arrangements. So if you look at the different eras of Kanye, College Dropout Kanye, 808s & Heartbreak Kanye, Yeezus Kanye, or Donda Kanye, the visual identity changes and some of the albums will have more of a sonic focus like Yeezus with electronic or Jesus Is King with gospel, but how he cooks is really similar across all of his work. So even though things will change and alter, he's built a rapport with his audience on what they can expect from him.
So then let's look at something that's a little bit more niche, an artist like LSDREAM. So for LSDREAM, drums are more bass music style drums, but they're swung like hip-hop. Synths are more bass music-inspired, and the same with sound design. Vocals are often reggae or hip-hop inspired samples, and then the instrumentation is more synthetic sounds and analog-inspired. The unique element here is how he's mixing the genres of bass with the swung type hip-hop drums. LSDREAM himself was a dancer and a B-boy from the hip-hop world when he was younger. Then he went into the bass music world under a different alias known as Brillz. Then when he started this project, he mixed the elements of what he loved from his past and then the newfound knowledge and inspiration from being in the bass music world, combining both of those into the LSDREAM project. So not only how the LSDREAM project looks, but how it sounds is completely authentic to him and his story. The real secret is that all the answers lie within you and your life experiences. You just need to dig and identify them.
So I hope this exercise and the organization of defining your sound all makes sense. This has been an invaluable tool for many of the clients that we've worked with in the last 10 years at Colt. By having true clarity around combining a great brand story with an incredible cohesive soundtrack and a strong mindset, the sky is the limit to where you can take the project. If you're looking for help to better define the different elements surrounding your artist project and you want to work with us directly, you know where we are. And I know I referenced a bunch of things in today's videos that play off my other videos and topics that I've already covered. So, if anything didn't make sense, I recommend going and watching the other videos on Neighborhood Art Supply. But, I hope this helps. Good luck with your art and what you're trying to build. And until next time, peace.