What Makes Two Electronic Tracks Sound Similar?

Has it ever happened to you that you hear a song and immediately think it sounds just like another? If so, why do you think that is?

It could be the vocal melody, or the chord progression. It might be the rhythm, or the energy levels.

It could be one thing that catches your attention, or a combination of characteristics that, together, create a certain vibe you can recognise. Sometimes the connection is obvious, but other times it's not so clear.

This is often the case with electronic music, where genre boundaries have become increasingly fluid in recent years. So what actually makes two electronic tracks sound similar? More often than not, it's the combination of multiple sonic traits working together.

How Two Songs Can Connect

Tempo: A song's BPM is one of the first things you need to know when building a DJ set. But tempo alone says little about groove, which is why BPM is only one part of a track's description. But when you think about it, it tells you very little about how a song actually progresses. Take two tracks at 125 BPM, one with a straight four-on-the-floor kick, and the other with syncopated percussion and a broken beat. Their tempo is identical, but their sense of movement can be completely different.

Rhythm: Kick patterns, percussion, syncopation and rhythmic density all define a track's rhythm and groove. Two songs might have similar drum patterns but feel different because of swing, accents or spacing. But tracks from different genres might share a similar groove. Sonic similarity isn't just about how fast the music is, but also about how it moves.

Harmony and Tonal Character: The same applies to a song's key. Two tracks in A minor don't necessarily sound alike; one might use a chord progression, while another is more like an evolving pad. The key might be the same, but the harmonic experience can be very different.

Timbre: Timbre defines the character of a sound and a track's sonic identity. A piece can sound warm, metallic and abrasive, or clean and spacious. In electronic music, where sound design is often part of the composition itself, these characteristics can define the very nature of a song. This is also why genre tags often miss the mark when you look for new techno by sound.

Energy: Energy is not static throughout a recording. A track might gradually build before reaching its peak, but another might start at maximum intensity. Both could be tagged as "high energy", but the journeys they create are very different. It's all about how that energy evolves.

Structure: Intros, builds, breakdowns, drops and outros create the journey of a recording. Structure gives all the other characteristics we discussed a clear timeline, showing not only what happens, but when and how it happens.

Taking Everything into Account

Here's the thing: taken individually, none of the characteristics mentioned above can tell the whole story of why two electronic tracks sound similar. But tempo alone says little about groove, which is why BPM is only one part of a track's description.

Two recordings could have the same BPM but completely different grooves. They could share a key but have very different harmonic structures. They might use similar sounds but develop their energy in completely different ways.

What gives a recording its sonic identity is the combination of these characteristics. That's also why describing similarity through a single tag or measurement cannot tell the whole story.

How Resomix Looks at Sonic Relationships

Resomix's Sonic Discovery analyses multiple sonic characteristics to uncover relationships between recordings.

PYXIS-1, our proprietary audio-analysis engine, analyses 70+ measurable audio characteristics across areas including rhythm, harmony, energy, timbre, spectral characteristics, and structure.

Instead of relying on a single characteristic to determine similarity, PYXIS-1 combines all of these measurements into a numerical sonic profile for each recording. When you start from a reference track, it compares that profile with the recordings in Resomix's pre-analysed index and gives you back a ranked list of sonically related tracks.

That means two tracks don't need to share a genre, release period or descriptive tag to appear connected; their relationship can be rooted in the sound itself.

Measuring What You Already Hear

Similarity exists somewhere in the interaction between rhythm, harmony, timbre, energy and structure.

Musicians, DJs, curators and listeners have always been able to recognise connections between recordings instinctively. Sonic Discovery gives you another way to analyse and explore those relationships, using measurable characteristics within the sound itself. The ranking is a starting point. You still audition the results and decide what belongs in your set or your playlist.

Are you ready to try it now? Start with a track you already know and audition a ranked shortlist of sonically related recordings.

Read more about Resomix Sonic Discovery