Musical high

Music-producer and songwriter Anish Sood’s musical journey as a DJ began during his college days and quickly escalated into him being direct support for David Guetta on all his India tours. But now most recently, one of Sood’s songs emerged as the winner of American songwriting competition series SongLand.

As a result of the win, his song Be Nice – that Sood co-wrote with Adam Friedman – is now part of The Black Eyed Peas’ upcoming album that also stars US rapper Snoop Dogg. “I go to Los Angeles every year to write music. Last year I was introduced to Adam, we did a session together where we wrote Be Nice and forgot about it. But in January he got in touch and told me that SongLand is interested in our song and want to feature it in the competition. Next thing I know the song won,” smiles the 29-year-old.

While his style of music is electronic dance melodies, Sood describes Be Nice to be a funk-pop track. For someone who started producing music from the age 20, in nine years he has released singles including Don’t Stop ft. with LA-based singer/songwriter Charlie Sputnik that made to number 6 on the Music Week Club Charts and was supported by names like Flash Brothers, Anna Lunoe, Lost Frequencies, to name a few. Another single Going Under hit the number 4 on the iTunes India Dance charts.

But when it comes to composing a melody, for Sood - who has no formal training in music — the idea strikes with the end-result he has in mind or even the genre. “It depends on what I am starting with and what the idea of the song is. When collaborating, I start around the vocal performance or melody and build the song around that. But if the vocals are in a specific genre, then you have to produce around it,” says the singer who is a mechanical engineer by qualification.

However, on any given day Sood will opt to produce music over writing melodies. “There are days, especially when I am in the songwriting phase, where I write new ideas and melodies all the time, but just don’t want to produce them. Then on other days I just want to produce others’ music,” he shares.

Though his influences change weekly, barring a few constants — Disclosure, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, Joris Voorn, Moby, and Eric Prydz — Sood draws his inspiration from writers too. “The reason I like to work in LA or with different writers is that I like feeling their inspiration. When you put two or three people in a room who bring so much creative energy together, that is really what creates magic. I find it extremely hard to sit in my studio and be creative. The moment you sit with the purpose to create something, it becomes even more elusive,” he reveals.

On days when inspiration strikes the musician on the go, he quickly records the melody with his voice on his phone and plays it back in the studio. Having produced songs like Superfly with Anushka Manchanda and Castles with Jonita Gandhi, the electronic dance music artiste dreams of working with AR Rahman one day.