Thinking in Sound: David Bass on Creating Incredible Authentic Music That Resonates
David Bass an award winning music supervisor and co-founder of Theodore, Wake the Town and Tell the People. With a degree in commercial music he began his supervision career working in house at TBWA London then moving onto Platinum Rye for six years.
LBB> When you’re working on a new brief or project, what’s your typical starting point? How do you break it down and how do you like to generate your ideas or response?
David> For me it begins with a conversation. I want to know what’s been heard already and was anything liked? Do the creatives or the director have an idea of what they want to achieve musically? How do they want the viewer to feel when the film has finished? I always try to get inside the head of my clients which will help me when on the creative search journey. At the same time, it’s key to work out if the client even knows what they want or are they making up words because we have asked them to? Our results will never be linear; we will bob and weave inside and outside the client brief in order to provide a rich music landscape of ideas that will not only answer questions but maybe more importantly push creative boundaries and expand the question.
LBB> Music and sound are in some ways the most collaborative and interactive forms of creativity - what are your thoughts on this? Do you prefer to work solo or with a gang - and what are some of your most memorable professional collaborations?
David> I pride myself on collaboration and do we as an agency. From how I consume my music and where I get it from, to who I want to work with on bespoke projects, collaboration is key. I have always had a huge passion for championing and working with up and coming UK talent and have been fortunate enough to work with some incredible artists. I will collaborate with who I think will create the best end result.
Some of my favourite recent UK collaborations that we have worked on include:
Genesis Elijah writing and performing ‘The Lines Between Us’ for this Tullamore commercial. This was a Tell the People voice over job except we worked with an authentic lyricist and rapper Genesis Elijah to write and perform this.
Star.One and D Double E for Ikea Xmas. Creating an authentic grime track with Star.One and D Double E. We sold t-shirts off the back of this.
Eva Lazarus for Elvie. Eva Lazarus wrote and appeared in this music video style brand campaign for Elvie.
Findaproperty.com and Dabbla (OLD!). We enlisted UK veteran Dabbla to write and perform a speedy rap for Findaproperty.
McVities with Truemendous and Rude Kid. UK female powerhouse Truemendous appears in this advert for McVities with the beat written by UK producer and DJ Rude Kid (Ghetts etc).
LBB> What’s the most satisfying part of your job and why?
David> Finding an incredible track and seeing it land a great sync. That’s the magic really. Then seeing it explode off the back of a great campaign (D Double E / Fresh n Clean for example). Being the first to use a Rag n Bone track before anyone else. Hearing a track you know is a huge banger before it’s released. Setting trends. Managing to secure a song within budget – getting the best creative solution for the brief and securing the rights for it. Seeing a project through from inception to finish.
Creating incredible authentic music that resonates. Being able to work with some of the world's best musicians and creators is humbling.
Seeing our work credited and celebrated.
LBB> As the advertising industry changes, how do you think the role of music and sound is changing with it?
David> Technology is threatening to take over the music supervisors role. I personally think you will never beat human curation for briefs or the negotiating power of a 15 year relationship but I think technology and AI specifically is a very exciting tool that music supervisors can use to enhance their offerings to clients and brands. I’m excited about the future of tech and supervision.
LBB> Who are your musical or audio heroes and why?
David> Rick Ruben is someone I have always admired from behind the scenes. The way he approaches production and the creative writing process resonates with me. He makes it look and sound easy. I admire so many producers and musicians it’s hard for me to hone down I’m afraid.
LBB> And when it comes to your particular field, whether sound design or composing, are there any particular ideas or pioneers that you go back to frequently or who really influence your thinking about the work you do?
David> Not really, we have been doing this for so long quite often our own work comes up as references back to us. How many times I have seen this advert for Thomson referenced when we covered The Pixies ‘Where Is My Mind’, or covering ‘Playing with My Friends’ for Ikea. We’re always on the hunt for new talent, composers and sound designers we can collaborate with and always have our ears to the ground for exceptional work we can take inspiration from. You always have references in your head when approaching a project but for me I like to approach every project with original thinking.
LBB> When you’re working on something that isn’t directly sound design or music (let's say going through client briefs or answering emails) - are you the sort of person who needs music and noise in the background or is that completely distracting to you? What are your thoughts on ‘background’ sound and music as you work?
David> I listen to music pretty much all day. Everyone is different and some people work better without music to distract them. I think I have just gotten used to it and obviously am able to create the perfect concentration playlist if I need to! Quite often some of the best musical discoveries are made when I am just listening to music at work. If a track is good enough to prick my ear when I can read a 50 page licence then it might be good for an ad break!
LBB> On a typical day, what does your ‘listening diet’ look like?
David> God knows! I am listening to music all day. When I am working on a brief I listen to music in a different way. I am listening out for things that I know would work well on a screen or laid to a cut. Over the years I feel I have honed the experience to be able to listen to a lot of music very quickly to decide if it’s valuable to a search or not. I tend to save up all my ‘new music’ emails for a Friday so Fridays can be quite hectic running through all the week's new releases and sync samplers.
LBB> Do you have a collection of music/sounds and what shape does it take (are you a vinyl nerd, do you have hard drives full of random bird sounds, are you a hyper-organised Spotify-er…)?
David> I use all the digital platforms (Spotify /Apple / Soundcloud / Bandcamp / DISCO) and I enjoy creating playlists for myself or friends but I also used to collect CD’s before streaming exploded. I used to give searches to creatives on a CD, we would have a 30 CD burner in TBWA and that’s how we shared music. Times have changed.
LBB> Outside of the music and sound world, what sort of art or topics really excite you and do you ever relate that back to music?
David> As boring as it sounds, music is really the only thing that excites me that much. I love film, watching films etc and I love a good film score too / soundtrack. This can inspire decisions sometimes in the ad world when discovering new composers or tracks through film.
LBB> As we age, our ears change physically and our tastes evolve too, and life changes mean we don’t get to engage in our passions in the same intensity as in our youth - how has your relationship with sound and music changed over the years?
David> I would say I have to work harder when listening to music that’s not aimed at me. But saying that for me music is music and I either connect with it or I don’t and I have always been listening to music not aimed at me! I feel blessed that I have a gifted ‘ear’ and am confident in my ability to distinguish what I like / don’t like and transfer that skill into curating the right selection of tracks for a client. I still get a rush from discovering music I love and don’t think that’s ever waived.
