I Love Music Academy launches the third session for their new series of genre-based workshops. The Genre: Session III ft. “House” with one of the most prolific artists to break through the Indian dance music scene, Anish Sood. The academy invites practising musicians, DJ’s and producers to “The Genre” sessions. These artists break down and explain their genre or style of music. From recording sound to mixing, to step by step explanation of his/her music production process. Learn about what DAW they use, the different equipment in their studio, how they incorporate hardware in their music, their overall workflow and much more.
A brief part of the workshop was recorded, an extract of which is below:
Anish Sood: I started producing when I was 18, that was about -10 years ago. I started Dj’ing in college, and when I was djing someone gave me a copy of FL studio, which I couldn’t understand at all. Then someone gave me a copy of Reason, have you heard of reason? 🙂
Like I said I started Dj’ing when I was in college, and I was a mechanical engineer when I graduated and started working for my family business, which I still do actually to a certain extent.
So when I started Dj’ing, I was just doing it for fun with Friends. I never thought of a pseudonym and when I actually thought I could do this seriously as a career by then it was too late for me to take on a pseudonym.
How do you approach Production?
Anish Sood: There are 2 approaches to music production or 2 ways to approach songwriting. One way to be creative, that is an expression based on what you are feeling at that point in time. It may be a jam or experimentation and you see how it goes from there. The second is when you start writing a song and you have only one goal in mind that is you want to write a hit song.
How do you sidechain?
Anish Sood: Two ways of using side chain, either you use it creatively using it on hit hats, white noise and all or you use it for mixing. When you use sidechain for mixing, you sidechain to the Kick. I think! You side chain to the kick, I don’t see any other reason to sidechain to. So yeah, many a time I don’t even side chain, When you have a great baseline and a great EQ done, sometimes you don’t need to side chain at all.
How do you programme Drums?
Anish Sood: I have put all my drums down in Machine (NI), so everything is coming from the machine. I build 3-4 different kits and then I export them to audio, but I will keep the final drums in audio.
Creating a big sound.
Anish Sood: If you have a sound in mind, try to achieve it in 1-2 channels, whether its a synth or a base or a lead. If you can’t do that, like your using 6 channels to achieve the same sound, then you are making a mistake somewhere.
Top Tip for Vocal Chorus
Anish Sood: For choruses and for overpowering vocals, I like to double the vocal layers. With this technique, each vocal becomes more fatter and rounder.
Time spent to produce a track
Anish Sood: In the number of hours I work on this (a track) – 15 to 20 hours. (For me) if the song does not happen in the first 2-3 hours then it is not gonna happen.
About Anish:
Anish Sood is one of the most prolific artists to break through the Indian dance music scene. His latest single Superfly featuring Anushka Manchanda and Nanok peaked at #3 on the iTunes India chart and his weekly podcast ‘ SUNBURN Festival On Air’ has racked up close to a million plays in just over a year. His originals and live sets effortlessly blend across House, Electro and Techno and his distinct understanding of dancefloors, moods, trends and audiences ensure that he’s just as comfortable playing arena-sized crowds and intimate nightclubs. He’s also performed alongside some of the biggest names in dance music including David Guetta, Dmitri Vegas & Like Mike, Steve Aoki, Afrojack and Axwell to name a few.
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