'You give them something iconic': Joel Farland on the sound of brand moments

For Joel Farland, one of Australia’s top music directors, developing the sound of a brand event is closer to scoring a film than curating a playlist. The work involves cue sheets, rehearsals and months of planning with choreographers, directors and designers.

But it all centres on creating sounds that build and release tension for the audience while reflecting the brand.

Farland, founder of Far Land Creative, has worked on tours for artists such as 50 Cent, Charli XCX and KATSEYE, produced records with Australian artists including Peach PRC and Matt Corby, as well as scored brand moments for Vogue, TikTok and the Nine Upfronts.

He said that he doesn’t treat the two worlds differently. “I try not to differ between whether we're doing something for a brand or doing something for an artist, because at the end of the day, when it comes to live, the focus is on the audience.”

The aim is to turn a brief into a moment that sticks in people's minds and ears long after they leave the event.

Farland on bringing the Nine Upfront soundscape to life

Marketers and brands have been leaning into impactful in-person event experiences, and Nine’s Upfront at The Cutaway in Barangaroo last month was no exception.

Farland worked with creative agency Rizer to deliver a presentation that captured marketers' and agency leaders' attention with Nine’s offerings, from new programming to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The LA Olympic Games segment transported guests to a Los Angeles street where a motorcycle slowly growled to ‘Can’t Stop’ before pedestrians and skateboarders broke into a dance to ‘California Love’.

“We had three minutes; we knew that there was going to be a motorcycle moment. We started talking about and curating other pieces of music, and we would look at Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dr Dre, Tupac. But then how do we make versions that feel unique and specifically for that moment?”

Over two or three months, Farland said he collaborates with creatives such as choreographers, directors, lighting designers, and sound engineers to develop visual ideas, soundscapes, moods, and cue sheets that deliver the perfect moment.

“I think it's increasingly become more like a film in how we plan things out, literally cues and feels,” he said.

He shared that after working on the track, he’ll send an edit to the choreographer, movement directors and creative directors. They then go back and forth on ideas for dancers and changes and additions to the music.

“As an audience member, it becomes intoxicating because you're seeing this film in front of you. Also, in the back of everyone's head is, ‘Oh, this is California. This is the Olympics.’”

“I think that's just the visceral link between an audience and the music.”

The event opened with a Welcome to Country, which Farland described as “very emotive”. He said getting a room to focus is something he and the team are always talking about.

“You have to earn that attention. You have to earn that curiosity. The only way you can do that is by building tension and playing with tension and release the whole time. I think you build that tension, and you give them something iconic,” he added.

Reflecting your audience’s brand experience live

Farland also music-directed the past TikTok Awards, a big production he has overseen for the past four years. The opening sequence's main concept was to reflect the upbeat pace of scrolling through the app.

“How we did that musically was to jump cut from styles to styles. We went from ‘Monkeys Spinning Monkeys’ to a deep trap beat; one of the years we used ‘Down Under’. Then we went as quickly from that into a segment with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki,” he said.

Farland explained that making audiences feel and remember through the music came down to showcasing a song for no more than 20 seconds.

“I can't remember how many songs we've been through, but a lot.”

But sometimes that shifts with a moment. That pace dropped with Jude York’s rendition of ABBA’s ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ last year with his mother, a former opera singer living with Parkinson's disease.

Farland said: “Oh man! There wasn't a dry eye in the audience… I was a wreck watching it and I'd been involved in all the rehearsals and planning for months. That's why I'm addicted to this stuff.”

Creating elevated brand experiences

Earlier this year, Farland Music directed Rita Ora at the Vogue Summertime Ball, an exclusive moment staged in the Northern Foyer of the Sydney Opera House.

Director Baz Luhrmann chose three Aussie classics for Ora to cover: INXS’s ‘Never Tear Us Apart’, ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ by Gotye, and ‘On A Night Like This’ by Kylie Minogue. Farland wrote new arrangements for a small string orchestra for Ora to sing with.

Farland said the performance was not broadcast or recorded, but rather experienced live by the A-list guests including Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hailey Bieber and costume designer Catherine Martin.

“That's what I love about what it created: this scarcity, this elevated, money can't buy it. It was everything that people know Vogue to be, and it made people want to be in that room. It was 100%, Rita. It was 100% Vogue.

“When it comes to what that means for brands, we knew what we had to do. It was Rita with an orchestra in a way that she'd never played before.”

Why the jingle deserves a comeback

The jingle, once a fixture of 80s and 90s advertising, is a format Farland could see being revived. When asked whether it could come back, he said, “I think so.”

He pointed to his own family. His young daughters, aged five and seven, “will sing absolutely everything”, and his youngest “will just sing at the top of her lungs, anything which is short and hooky”. “I really hope that there’s more of a resurgence of that,” he said.

In one of his projects, a familiar tune has done similar work. Farland scored and produced a reworking of Empire of the Sun’s ‘Walking on a Dream’ with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and singer Billy-Jo Shoveler for Tourism WA, giving the song a cinematic, orchestral new treatment.

“People are still singing the song, but now they’re associating ‘Walking on a Dream’ with Western Australia, with adventure, with the wine region, with something otherworldly that is over the other side of the country,” he said.

“How do we get that association between the home and the brand away from the screen? I don’t know if there’s much else other than music that can do that.”