Drum Loop and News Blog From Drums On Demand Team

I was reading this interview with Lifehouse's Jason Wade in American Songwriter and he discusses how he wrote "Hanging By A Moment" in a matter of about 10 minutes.

This is one of many anecdotes I've heard about some hit songs being written in a very short amount of time. Some songwriters say there are the songs that really are work and take sometimes years to write and then there are the magic ones that come in a dream or in a channel-like state as Wade describes.

Are you a "sad songwriter?" Last year Rolling Stone made a stab at picking the saddest song ever written. If I could have written that article, I might have changed it a bit. Would you? Plus from a songwriting perspective, I identify some basic characteristics of "sad" songs.

There's a very cool hand-snare drum loop thing happening at the very start of Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." Hand snares and other underlying rhythmic percussion build a strong foundation that are many times more felt than heard. They really have a way of gluing a tracking together. Plus, percussion loops are great for songwriting at the song start stage. 

DOD is easily my favorite and go-to source for live drum tracks. The variety of performances within each selection are indispensable. Way too often have I found a great drum part from another library, only to be disappointed by the lack of variety in sections and fills. My workflow in writing sessions never suffers when I Have DOD available to drop into my Pro Tools sessions.

“Drums On Demand has changed my life.” A bold statement, but that’s just how guitarist/writer/arranger/producer/studio owner Marty Walsh describes his relationship with DOD.

Walsh's compositions have appeared in films and TV shows ranging from “Entertainment Tonight” to “Everybody Loves Raymond” and his guitar work can be heard on such mega-singles as Donna Summer’s “She Works hard For the Money” and Neil Diamond’s “Heartlight.” He was also a member of the band Supertramp and currently teaches at the renowned Berklee College of Music.

So you're a college student at NYU and your dad happens to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Next thing you know your dad is there with you too -- teaching songwriting. The Eagles' Glenn Frey has been teaching a class in the music department over the last few months, which culminated in an Eagle's concert at The Beacon and a few students from the class as the opening act.