In the fall of 1999, media baron/mogul Grayson Matthews, with his remarkable ability to nurture young talent, teamed composers/producers Tom Westin and Dave Sorbara with exec producer Elizabeth Taylor. Soon thereafter, Matthews brought composer/producer Jason Gleed into the mix, forging what is now the core of Toronto-based Grayson Matthews Audio Design, a rare breed in Matthews’ portfolio of thriving companies.

This is the hardest article any one of my ghostwriters has been browbeaten into writing.

If I were actually writing this article, it might be of substantive use to you, the advertising-savvy reader, rather than so much bonbon-filled fluff.

Instead, I have simply given it the proverbial John Hancock, as I typically do with pieces penned by the hired-gun uber-literati who bandy about their hackneyed Dickensian folk-rubbish in one of my 27 international periodicals and newspapers.

All the same, the task at hand is to describe an interesting aspect of the creation of music for advertising.

In an ideal world, the good folks at my namesake musical organization in Toronto would present one piece of music for any given television advert. After all, this would cut time and cost. Bravely, (if a tad foolishly), however, these same trusty music folks present a veritable potpourri of musical options for said television adverts. Why, you ask? These particular music composers and producers feel that there is no ‘right’ music solution for a project (at a certain niveau of excellence), only ‘right’ options, if you will.

As diligent agency creatives travel along the path of choices, from choice of scripts, directors, casting, shooting, editing, etc., the permutations and combinations appear endless. Who is to say that only one combination exists amongst said choices to form the ‘perfect spot?’ I like to think that any number of magical combinations can make a great spot, assuming that the choices are of the same excellent calibre.

And so we meander down the line of choices like giddy drunken school children to the best part of the production process: the music house. (Grant me some leeway for personal bias.)

Why wouldn’t we present at least two viable options? It appears that the creatives et al have been allowed the freedom of choice throughout the entire process. Why stop now? Granted, too much choice can become gratuitous and sometimes counterproductive; however, if divergent musical/sound design (don’t ask me to unblur the line between the two) treatments make the picture speak differently, surely those avenues are worth exploring.

Which leads us to the dreaded ‘sound-alike’ issue, where creatives ask a music house to produce a slightly varied version of a popular radio song. If you have a fighting chance (read: amenable clients), you will probably be able to ignore the following advice regarding this topic. Otherwise, feel free to load up the ammo.

First of all, allow me to illustrate with an example. The essence of the Violent Femmes’ Blister in the Sun, what makes it a truly great song, is the attitude and originality with which it was conceived and performed. It has less to do with the musical mechanics of two eighth-note snare bursts timed to fit inside an almost childishly simple three-note acoustic guitar lick. That’s just the lick, which we as a music house are not legally allowed to emulate anyway. (There is no four-note rule in copyright law, contrary to popular lore; we can’t just change a note.) Instead, it is the spirit of the track which should be appropriated – this should be the task of the music house. You may end up with the same irreverent teen-angst weltschmerz captured in Blister by writing a really badass country track.

Secondly, and as noted earlier, there is always another musical option, another road to travel. That’s partially why music houses gripe occasionally about a ‘much-loved’ needle drop in the edit suite, because it may sometimes cloud the possibility of other (perhaps more suitable) musical options.

By empowering the creative talents of your trusty music house, you could create another difficult creative choice for your scrutiny, one that had not been anticipated up until that point. Who knows? It could be this unexpected musical choice that allows your spot to clean up all the hardware in the springtime shows…

The field of music is wide open, now more than ever. When you analyze some award-winning work, both here and abroad, it becomes apparent that, in the best spots, commercial music pushes the envelope. Period.

In some cases, the quality of musical work executed on such television adverts is nothing short of astounding. This is true whether it’s a track that sounds like it could rip apart the billboard charts (if there were such a thing as a 30-second single), or an underscore that illustrates nuance, taste and innovation while at the same time supporting (or challenging) picture.

This undoubtedly arises from the right combination of creative energy, faith in those that you work with, open minds, and the element of the musically unexpected.

And so from the foothills of Kathmandu, I bid you a fond adieu and wish you much luck in your (hopefully) difficult musical choices.