Soundalikes are songs that are meant to sound similar to more popular musical artists. The music should convey to the listener a similar feeling and tone while still being original. Music libraries quite often are limited to small budgets and cannot afford sync licenses for the original artist's recording and composition. Because of this, it is more affordable to use a soundalike recording in the same style. As a songwriter wanting to create sound-alikes, you want to take influence from the original band without infringing on their copyright. Firstly set your composition at a similar tempo. This ensures the overall vibe will remain. A few beats per minute difference would be fitting. Do to use a different key. Study the original's chord progression and arrangement. Make sure you write a different progression whilst keeping the feel. Another important aspect is instrumentation. You will want to use instruments that sound like on the referenced recording, aiming for tone and arrangement in their manner. Lyrically, try to write words that convey the general concept yet are unique enough to be considered a real song unto itself. If your singing style is not similar enough to the band's you will want to hire with a session vocalist who can convincingly perform the intended genre. This factor is very important to convincing the audience. Once you have recorded all of your instruments and vocals, the production also needs to be modeled after the recording artist. Read interviews covering the artist's production process in detail. The producer usually talks about what plug-ins was used and how they approached processing certain instruments. If you have a decent project studio, you should be able to complete the recording at home. However, sometimes hiring a mix engineer to polish the recording will make your piece to sound its best. No matter where you decide to mix the track it would be wise to have the production mastered by a dedicated mastering house. Send both the referenced song and your version so the engineer can shoot for something very similar in comparison. Now that you have perfected your sound-alike recording process, your compositions can start to be picked up by music publishers. If the songs are good enough and fit the right cue, the music can be a great source of income via sync licensing and back-end public performance royalties. Scott Horton of Short Ton Productions is the definition of today's songwriter, music producer, and mixer. Collaborating with talent the world over his music can be noticed on musical albums and in television and movies. Listen to Scott's songs at www.shorttonproductions.com
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