Making fake music that sounds like real music

You know what I'm talking about? You watch a Lysol commercial, and it has a song that basically has the same sounds and chord changes as "Just Dance," or "Bittersweet Symphony," but the melody is tweaked so that it's a generic facsimile wiped of all its Benjaminian aura -- what do you call that kind of music, or the job of someone who makes it? I want to read about it on the internet, but I can't find search terms that get me what I want. I'll see if I can come up with an example ...

Okay, I found it -- it's called a 'soundalike.' Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlmUUTXeqkw

Another one:

These are great, because they give a really direct way to think about what it is that makes the original version so unique and interesting, because in this case, you can hear something in contrast that sounds similar in so many respects, but without that boner-inducing essence.

Here's another "good" one"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EagGQtdy--U

Eminem won a lawsuit against this one:

[youtubehd]

its called a pro producer making a quick buck and paying a mortgage

wilkinson sword used to do a good line in "firestarter" / "breathe" era prodigy tracks for their razor ads

remember that yogurt ad that had a rip off 'little fluffy clouds' which was a little too much like the original and had to be changed?

Its called Soundalike

its called the art of making a disposable yet familiar rip off whilst not getting sued, its a very fine line.

I imagine a young child rocking out to video game music & movie soundtracks saying "some day that's gonna be me!"

15 years later, after thousands of hours learning his craft, tracking done the best gear in his budget range, & constantly networking in the industry, he gets his first job writing the score for a national advertisement. "This is it", he thinks on his way to meet with the director, "my first gig in the creative industry. I'm finally gonna get paid to do art!"

Then the director says, "yeah, so, y'know that Nickelback song where they go *constipated fat guy voice* a herooo tah save uhs, not gah stand in his weighhhhhhhh...you know that one? Good. We want you to do an instrumental version of that. But like, take some notes out or something so we don't get sued"

It does take a certain amount of judgment and skill to make a sound-alike that is close enough to the original to evoke it, but that is different enough to not copy it note-for-note -- and yet, that also avoids sounding as generic as muzak. I think few of the examples I posted above succeed on all three counts; maybe the Grizzly Bear rip-off.

  On 1/19/2012 at 7:17 PM, soundwave said:

its called the art of making a disposable yet familiar rip off whilst not getting sued, its a very fine line.

yeaaah, it happens when the companies don't want to pay shitloads of money for actual track, so they make someone re-write it. i actually know a guy who does this for a living. well, a bit. he's got his little home studio, shits out a song every two months in a few hours and lives off it. who needs morals when the checks just keep on coming? you still have time to write that one record that puts your name out there, right? riiight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYhixp7bXI

This advert really annoys me

but gives me an excuse to watch this again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFq-G7EtThQ&feature=fvsr

*edit*

Ok so its more like the Mylo track, but I prefer the original

Nice! Will you post the Mylo track too? Has he done anything since Destroy Rock & Roll?

  On 1/19/2012 at 5:03 PM, encey said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlmUUTXeqkw

This is a New Pornographers song (it's called Moves), so in this case it's more like one band ripping off another one.

  On 1/19/2012 at 9:15 PM, kinski said:

yeaaah, it happens when the companies don't want to pay shitloads of money for actual track, so they make someone re-write it. i actually know a guy who does this for a living. well, a bit. he's got his little home studio, shits out a song every two months in a few hours and lives off it. who needs morals when the checks just keep on coming? you still have time to write that one record that puts your name out there, right? riiight

Me too - a bassist. He went to jazz school for years, but now he writes Billy Jean soundalikes for detergent TV ads. He isn't overly fond of what he does, but he says he's gotta make a living. Advertisement execs sometimes envision their favourite NIN or Doors song for their advert, only to find out NIN won't give them permission or that the Doors want a shitload of money. Instead of having a musician write an original piece, they get someone to do this.

I thought this was going to be about OverClocked Remixes but yeah I know what you're talking about. Wasn't a Fingerbib rip-off on a phone website?

Warning, pfork, but nonetheless revelant

  Quote

"Tell them you'll anonymously record a sound-a-like, since they'll probably hire someone to do one anyways. @___@ [...] All the cash, no cred loss, when it airs you'll seem like a victim to the evil ad machine... the perfect crime."

  On 1/19/2012 at 5:10 PM, encey said:

Eminem won a lawsuit against this one:

 

[youtubehd]

[/youtubehd]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqzsIZ6Qth0

Probably because Eminem wanted to sell that song to Detroit

  On 1/19/2012 at 10:44 PM, joshuatxuk said:

  Quote

"Tell them you'll anonymously record a sound-a-like, since they'll probably hire someone to do one anyways. @___@ [...] All the cash, no cred loss, when it airs you'll seem like a victim to the evil ad machine... the perfect crime."

- Fleet Foxes

awesome, pwn!

@ Baph: haha, totally!

Next WATMM compilation idea? I mean, most of us have probably tried to replicate tracks by the featured artists at some point, right?

  On 1/19/2012 at 10:49 PM, baph said:

  On 1/19/2012 at 5:10 PM, encey said:

Eminem won a lawsuit against this one:

 

[youtubehd]

[/youtubehd]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqzsIZ6Qth0

 

Probably because Eminem wanted to sell that song to Detroit

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

  On 1/19/2012 at 10:49 PM, baph said:

  On 1/19/2012 at 5:10 PM, encey said:

Eminem won a lawsuit against this one:

 

[youtubehd]

[/youtubehd]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqzsIZ6Qth0

 

Probably because Eminem wanted to sell that song to Detroit

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

^this probably quasi-endorses brostep/lamestream EDM, but still lol-worthy

SR4 did a great Aphex send-up on the WATMM Lifetime album.

This is a weird one, because I thought this was fake music, but it's from a real single that's now getting heavier rotation on the radio here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy28I03ml4o

Isn't this similar to that Prodigy song from Spawn?

If it is that would be irony.

  On 1/19/2012 at 5:03 PM, encey said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaHtA89RHUQ

hahaha seriously?

I think this is the fault of unimaginative commercial directors. A lot of the time, editors will use published songs as "temp tracks" in order to help them get where they're going, and sell the edit. Then the directors are like "omg only that song will work what can we do".

It also speaks to every song having a very specific energy . . I always think of music as condensed energy. I can see how daunting it would be to search for a royalty free track with the same energy as your temp track, or how time-consuming it could be to hire a composer to do an original work with the same energy. Still, I wonder what the going rate is for one of these soundalikes (probably over $1000) and I have to think a good composer could do better.

The Eminem one is particularly bad.

I think the master is Weird Al Yankovic. I'd love to read an interview where he talks about how he mimics the production of the sounds/songs that he apes.

  On 1/26/2012 at 5:44 PM, encey said:

I think the master is Weird Al Yankovic. I'd love to read an interview where he talks about how he mimics the production of the sounds/songs that he apes.

His backing band is amazingly talented, it's been the same guys since he started. The guitar solo in "Eat It" is so much better than the original Van Halen lick. That said, he always clears his parodies (he isn't legally obligated to) so that might help.