10 Ways to Steal Like an Artist

“It is better to take what does not belong

to you than to let it lie around neglected.”
– Mark Twain

To be frank, the younger, more amateur

version of my producer-self used to
believe a bunch of bull shit:

I thought real artists were able to generate

all of their amazing ideas from scratch.I
thought real artists isolated themselves
from pop culture in order to hone their
sound.And I thought real artists
practically vomited originality as a result.

Man, was I wrong.

You see, artists do the exact opposite.

Artists almost rarely disassociated
themselves from reality – because their
influencers are the reason they develop
their own sound to begin with. In fact, they
don’t just study their influencers, but they
study their influencer’s influencers.
But that’s the trouble with originality. After
all, it feels like almost every single day, I
hear an A&R, a label or an artist talking
about how important it is to be original.
And don’t get me wrong – originality is
obviously important. It’s what separates
you from the mold.

But you can’t become original without

studying your influences. You can’t make
something different unless you know how
to make it different. The rules can’t be
broken until you learn them in the first
place.

Students from the Hyperbits

Masterclass ask me all the time, how do I
find my own sound? And the short answer
is this: spend a few years painstakingly
imitating, analyzing and dissecting your
influences, so you can pop out the other
side realizing that you were creating
something unique the entire time. This is
exactly why Yohji Yamamoto said “Start
copying. Copy, copy, copy, copy. And at the
end of the copy, you’ll find yourself.”

Now, before we get into the thick of this

article, I have to say this:
We (producers/artists/musicians/
songwriters etc.) are a walking mashup.
We are a sum of our influencers. We are
shaped and fashioned by what we love.

And it is through our influencers that we

borrow, chisel, mooch and acquire the
necessary inspiration to create an original
piece of art. Dare I say…it is through our
influencers, that we steal our creativity.

Stealing is quite the loaded word, so let’s

separate good vs. bad stealing, as
referenced in one of my all time favorite
books “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin
Kleon.

How to Steal

And it is with this healthy version of

‘stealing’ in mind that I want to address
my ten favorite ways to steal. This is
directly from my personal workflow and if
I’m being honest, the most important
reasons as to why I’ve been able to make
hundreds and hundreds of originals,
remixes, and even engineer an additional
several hundreds pieces of art.

1. Sample a One Shot…

Every track I’ve listened to for the past 6+

years I have thought about stealing
something. I’ve trained my ears to
become fine-tuned stealing machines
(yes, I’m aware that sounds super-corny).
But if I’m still being honest, I don’t give
two fucks. Naked kick drum? Grabbing
that. Empty drum fill? Swiped. A lonely
bass note? Definitely taking that.

Once I’ve got the sample, I do everything I

can to incorporate and transition it into
my sound – I layer it, process it, warp it,
distort it, eq it, etc. and then it becomes
my own. I’ve done this in almost every
commercially released track I’ve ever
created.

2. Sample a Loop…

The start and end of almost every single

dance-floor ready track has some dry
percussion. Next time you are struggling
to get a vibe going with your song, simply
cut a bit of that intro or outro and place it
directly into your song. Sure, you can EQ
out the low end, but you don’t always have
to. If you’re worried about copyright,
well….you can always replace it later.

3. Steal a Chord Rhythm…

Ever hear the groove or stab pattern of

some chords and just think, damn – I
wish I had thought of that? Well, try
stealing the rhythm as a starting point.
You can swap out the chords, replace the
melody, use new percussive sounds – and
I’ll almost guarantee that no one will ever
notice where the idea started from.

“IT IS BETTER TO TAKE WHAT DOES NOT

BELONG TO YOU THAN TO LET IT LIE
AROUND NEGLECTED.” – MARK TWAIN

4. Steal the Structure…

The solution to Loopitis? (you know, that

horrible feeling of creating an 8-bar loop
and then listening to it over and over
again, never expanding the original idea in
a completed track).

Drop in a reference track directly into your

DAW. I’m not saying you should steal the
melody or the composition, just use the
existing structure as a map.

Oh, your favorite track executed a break

here? You should do that too. Oh, here
comes the build? Start yours as well.
Eventually you can stray from this
method, but until then – follow this to a
tee.

5. Steal the Mixdown…

The art of referencing is a complicated

one, but I must say this: it is amazing how
much you can learn from a good mix.
Sure, this might take a bit of ear-training,
but you can EQ your clap or snare to
match the color of your reference, you can
match the amount of reverb used in the
reference, you can select similar sounding
samples, you can match the general
loudness of the track both in LUFS or
RMS….this list could go on forever.

And what might happen? You’ll start to

learn how the artist your referencing
executes such amazing music. You’ll start
to think like your favorite artists. And over
time, you’ll start to make music as good
as your favorite artists.

“IMMATURE POETS IMITATE; MATURE

POETS STEAL.” – TS ELIOT

6. Steal the Composition…

The last thing you want to do is steal

melodies, but chord progressions? Those
are completely fair game. Beyond that,
you can steal composition decisions.

Don’t know how to transition out of your

drop? Well, if your reference track used a
reverse cymbal, paired with a few filters,
followed by a drum fill, leading into a sub-
bass impact, with a descending white
noise effect, you could do the exact same
thing – just pick different sounds, and it
becomes your own.

Don’t try to be an exact image of an artist

you like, but instead, see through their
eyes.

7. Remix and Replace the Vocal…

Everyone who gets into the world of

attempting to create original music will
realize the importance of a solid vocal
performance or topline.

Instead of calling it quits or giving up on

your original composition because you
can’t find a good vocalist, simply create a
remix to an existing acapella you found
on the internet. Then, when it comes time
to shop it around for vocalists, just
remove the vocal. You’ll have an entirely
flushed out original composition.

This is the exact strategy I used for any

remixes I made that didn’t get accepted. I
either repurposed them as originals, or
sold them as ghost productions.

8. Make Version #2 of your Favorite

Song…

Don’t ‘write what you know’, write what

you love. If you’re completely obsessed
with a certain song right now, embrace
that! Pretend that song had a sequel and
write the second version of it. I guarantee
it will sound completely different and will
spark something completely separate
from the original.
Years from now, you might not even
remember the association with the
original reference track, but you’ll certainly
remember your spin-off.

9. Steal Some Lyrics…

In the songwriting world, one of my

favorite techniques is to steal a line that I
love from one of my favorite artists, swap
some words around, and make it my own.

This means that if Tove Lo famously sang

“I gotta stay high all the time, to keep you
off my mind” what if you take that idea,
and make it your own.

Just now as I am sitting here and writing

this article, I thought of my relationship,
which is (luckily for me) a lot more
healthy, but I came up with “If you get this
high, who would ever come back down?”

Is the lyric or melody I came up with

amazing? Probably not. But I do like it, and
it’s sparking an entire song. And that’s
what we’re after in this exercise.
“ART IS THEFT.” – PABLO PICASSO

10. Create Music Using a Different

Medium

Zach Montoya, co-instructor of the

Hyperbits Masterclass, detailed his
strategy for creating music based off an
image or painting in a ridiculously
awesome workshop a few months back.

This strategy is so interesting and

different, I’m not going to do it a
disservice by talking about it here in this
blog post.

Final Thoughts

In my opinion, every artist needs a system

for the execution of stealing. There is
simply too much inspiration out in the
world to not organize the way you steal.

Every song that has ever been made is

ammunition to fuel or spark your next
creative idea. When we start to look at the
world this way, we’ll realize that there is
an infinite amount of inspiration at our
fingertips, and it’s perfectly ok to steal it
all.

“THE ONLY ART I’LL EVER STUDY IS THE

ART I CAN STEAL FROM.” – DAVID BOWIE

And at the end of the day, stealing is an

artform. It is something I consider
necessary in the creation of art. Without
our influencers, we cannot continue
creating much of anything, in fact.

Nothing is original, but that’s not a bad

thing. There is a lot of great art to learn
from and the best kinds of art and artists
thrive on many different influences. That
alone should be enough motivation for all
of us to read more books, listen to more
music, consume more podcasts, try new
food, travel, go to a museum and of
course, take plenty of naps.

Be a wise collector of hobbies, passions,

and ideas.
You are an amalgamation of the art you
consume, so choose wisely.
Everything is a remix, so steal like an
artist.