MUMBAI: Music producer-singer of the popular Synchronicity mashups on YouTube, Gaurav Dagaonkar has also composed for Bollywood movies such as Lanka (2010), Joker (2012), Will You Marry Me (2012) and Heartless (2014).

He recently did a rendition of ‘Ek Ajnabee Haseena Se’ for an ad film directed by Shoojit Sircar. In a conversation with Radioandmusic.com, he shares his musical journey, his band, upcoming projects and more.

His rendition of ‘Ek Ajnabee Haseena Se’ was done two years ago for his YouTube channel using just four instruments, guitar (Shomu Seal), cajon (Nitish Ranadive), bass (Rahul Singh) and his voice. There was no programming whatsoever and Gaurav recorded everything at his home studio and mixed it himself.

“Then last month I got a call from Shoojit Da's production house ‘Rising Sun Films’ that they wanted to use my cover for their music video. I love his work and was quite glad to collaborate,” said Gaurav.

The musician started off as a self-taught college kid wanting to become a professional musician to making music for movies. “I think I've come a long way. Of course, I've had my ups and downs, but my love for music has shown me the way, always. l listen to almost everything, but I personally love music that's melody driven. A great tune will work even if it's sung without any accompaniment,” said Dagaonkar.  

Gaurav, who grew up listening to a lot of Bollywood classics such as Shankar Jaikishan, Salil Chaudhary, S D Burman, OP Nayyar and then Jatin Lalit and then AR Rahman, feels that most composers from that era were very well versed with Indian classical, their songs were very melodic and the tunes were flowy. He also loves the tunes made my Mithoon, Sachin-Jigar and Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

About his own style of composing, he says, “My approach is always towards creating a strong melody first, I think of the arrangement and production later.”

On talking about his musical course of action, he said he listens to a lot of new music, creates songs almost every day which open up his mind. Explaining the same he said, “A tune might pop up in my head anytime, while listening to music, having a shower, driving. I record it on my cell phone and then listen to it later if it still excites me or not. If it does, I send it to a lyricist. Generally, along with the tune, I also think of a song idea. Like a hook or the central thought. Sometimes I also work on composing a tune over words that a lyricist has already written. So it works both ways. It's great to work as a team, jamming with musicians, taking their inputs and working on the song till it becomes what you want it to be. I then work with programmers on the song's production and arrangement in my studio.”

Gaurav also spoke about the recent craze on EDM (electronic dance music) and the youth who are inclined to electronic music. According to him, “Electronic music to today's youth is like what rock music was to them 15 years ago. It is energetic and powerful and is about celebrating the life which today's youth is majorly into. Some electronic songs have extremely catchy and memorable hooks and drops. I like DJ Snake, Avicii, Afrojack and Hardwell.”

The sought after composer thinks that musicians should grow their musical knowledge over time, else they'll stagnate. He believes that apart from practising own instruments, music composers also have to listen to a lot of new music, understand sounds and production and keep updating themselves every day. It's a never ending process. “Ranjit Barot once told me –‘When you learn, you don't earn and when you earn, you don't learn’. It's so true, but if we take out time each day, practice is possible,” added Dagaonkar.

Fan of Pearl Jam, Greenday, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Gaurav used to sing Pearl Jam's ‘Black’ in almost every singing competition he took part in college.  Also, he is a big fan of contemporary songwriters like Max Martin, Ryan Tedder and Dr. Luke.

Apart from classic rock music he is listening to The Chainsmokers, Twenty One Pilots, Bruno Mars, John Legend and a lot of new artists these days. “In the Indian scene, I like Arijit Singh and songs by Amaal Mallik. There's also a band called The Local Train that I quite like. Currently, I’m listening to Martin Garrix's new album and I like the song 'Hold On And Believe'. It has a catchy drop,” added he.

He is presently working for a Nepali film. Read here: Composer Gaurav Dagaonkar to compose, sing for Nepali film

“ I work with One Digital Entertainment for my digital content. I also work with Farout Media, they publish my non-film originals and work with me on creating songs for certain advertising projects. I'm also composing the music for a movie called ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’. I am a big fan of Nawazuddin, so I'm just stoked to be doing the film. There's a web series for ALT. Next year, I shall also begin work on my first solo album in Sinhala (for my Sri Lankan fans),” he signs off.