Welcome 2000!
(Published in "Studio Systems" March-April
2000 issue)
The last few months have been hectic for the music industry.
The so called winter season in Mumbai is the occasion for many yearly activities,
music festivals, trade shows. Concerts etc. Things have slowly started coming
back to normal. However, I guess I speak that relatively ,as the years before
have been dismal. The recession had hit the entertainment industry in a bad
way and the poor law and order situation had made it even worse. The film industry
has seen a big hit with "Kaho na pyar hai" and although the festivities were
dampened with the shooting of Rakesh Roshan, the Industrial Q3 results showed
30% growth. Does this mean that the recession is behind us? I sure hope so!
The "millennium" fever passed off without a whimper, unable to be propped up
by all the hype surrounding it. What a damp squib! There must have been more
than 200 shows in Mumbai itself, and from what I hear, most of them did rather
poorly. The Mumbai roads, which are normally heavy with traffic on that night,
were relatively easier to travel on and it seemed like any other New Year's
Eve.
Went for the All Vocal Jazz Yatra at the open air Rang Bhavan.
Truly a wonderful venue for an international festival! The Jazz Yatra has been
a habit with me since its inception in 1978, and I have had the pleasure of
seeing some of the world's finest jazz musicians there. I don't think that I
could ever forget the very first Jazz Yatra, where I heard a Jazz Big Band live
for the first time in my life and was totally bowled over. There is just no
other audio experience more powerful than a great Jazz Big Band in full swing!
I have heard 100 piece Western Classical Orchestras but those 25 musicians with
trumpets, saxs, trombones, clarinets, flutes etc. truly provide a powerful,
passionate and emotional experience. They say that Opera has that magic, but
unfortunately when I am abroad, I am too busy catching up on the rock, pop,
jazz and Broadway acts to take that in. Maybe, with the inauguration of the
new Bhabha Opera House at the N.C.P.A., we will get the opportunity to listen
to a truly world class Opera company.
The first Yatra also had sound by the German Dynacord Company,
and they had truly displayed their very best. Handled by their very own engineers,
the sound, at that time, was definitely the very best that one had heard. Unfortunately,
what I heard this year was a tame and poor representation of the good old days.
The acts were uneven and there was hardly any jazz. I also had the misfortune
of seeing, for the first time, Kathak with jazz! Truly a sad commentary on what
was a truly pure event, untouched by crass commercialisation. I have no objection
to "fusion experiments" as such, but this was truly a new low! The desperation
of the organisers to please was obvious, as the turnout was also low compared
to other years. Incidentally, obeisance to Indo-Western cultural experiments
seems to have become the norm in Society circles. Even the American Consulate
concert on Country Music, which is truly an American tradition, saw the introduction
of a tabla player.
I attended two technical seminars organised by the AES India
Chapter. Air Conditioning Systems for Digital Studios and Super Audio CDs were
the subjects of these seminars and the information shared by H.V.A.C. consultant
P. V. Chitale and Daman Sood respectively, was indeed invaluable and India specific.
I have always felt that the getting together of the Audio fraternity is long
overdue and this void can now be successfully filled by the AES India Chapter.
At the present moment, AES is Mumbai centric, as a lot of major players are
based in Mumbai. However the enormous Audio Industry that exists outside Mumbai
make it imperative that AES spreads its wings to embrace the rest of its clan
throughout the country. In fact, this was a major topic of discussion at its
Annual General Meeting held on 27th Feb.2000 at the InSync Studios terrace,
where a record number of members got together and discussed the fate of their
profession. It was felt that in order to make a difference and get the required
clout in Government circles and otherwise, it is important to enlist the support
of the entire Audio community throughout India . There is no way that anybody
in the world can take you seriously as an organisation unless you have a membership
strength of thousands. The AES India Chapter is already five years old and has
had an excellent record under the aegis of such members as V.V.Merchant, Daman
Sood, K.J.Singh, Avinash Oak etc. It is time that all of us join in droves,
so that we make this Society worthy of its parent body AES(US) which is considered
the premier audio organisation in the world. AES(India) future plans include
numerous technical seminars and dependant on demand, some of them will also
be held in Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai etc. In fact, if there are more members,
each city could have its own division. For those of you who would like to know
more about AES, you could access their site www.aes.org and for activities in
India contact K.J. Singh email:kjs@vsnl.com
Received an interesting email from an aspiring Delhi musician,
Sandeep Dahiya. I thought his questions were thought provoking and the answers
could prove beneficial to the readers of this column. Here goes!!
1) A person who is into sequencing should be a multi-instrumentalist.
Is it true?
You don't need to be a multi instrumentalist to be a sequence
artist although an understanding of how other instruments work will make your
creation far more credible especially if you are trying to sound like a real
orchestra/band. In fact, in the Techno, Trance and avant-garde movement this
inability can prove to be an advantage as the synthesiser affords you the capacity
to play one musical instrument in the style of another i.e. toms like a flute
melody etc. However in the real world, you do need to have a good idea how a
lot of instruments sound and are performed. For example, the breathing of a
wind instrument should be considered when you sequence a sax line so that it
sounds more credible etc. However, you can only get into all this after a lot
of sequencing experience and what you need is totally familiarity with your
sequencing software. A lot of us have stuck to old sequencers just because we
cannot get through the process of learning a new one, even if it is more powerful!
2) Is it true that a musician who cannot express the melody through
his vocals (but can play it on an instrument) can never become a successful
music director?
Vocal ability is not necessary to be a successful music director.
I have heard quite a few horrible sounding music directors who insist on singing.
There is no doubt that a good singing voice can help sell a song to the client.
Your best bet is to get a singer to demonstrate your songs so that they are
properly highlighted. Also a singing music director can help the singer to deliver
the song to the client's satisfaction and even take it further. Every musician
brings his own musicality to the project to enhance it's inherent worth.
3) How many music directors in Mumbai have perfect pitch? Is
it an eligibility for a good programmer?
Perfect pitch is not at all necessary to be a musician and I
am not aware of any famous music director in Mumbai who have this gift. I'm
sure there are people in the film industry who do but that has not made them
superior to the one who do not. A few musicians do have perfect pitch and it
is very handy to have them around. However relative pitch is extremely important
and essential both as a composer and a musician. Please develop this as it can
help you at all times.
4) Is it acceptable to use midi-files or pre-recorded music for
documentaries or corporate movies?
This is an ethical question and involves the use of copyrighted
material illegally. Unless you have the permission of the copyright owner, it
is a definite no no. Not that it stops anybody in "Mera Bharat Mahaan"! Kenny
G would have become a millionaire just on his earnings from India!
5) How are these swirls and sweep sounds created?
Swooshes and Swirls are created with the use of the noise waveforms
that you have in your synth banks and the use of the ADSR envelope in combination
with the VCF envelope and Resonance filter. I'm sure your synth manual has all
the details on how to use these functions. Try and build a sound from the waveform
upwards. The different envelopes will determine how your sound will travel over
time. This requires a lot of experimentation on your part but it is quite easy
when you get the hang of it. I'm sure your synths already have patches that
sound somewhat like what you want. Go into the parameters of the patches and
see how their envelopes are build. You need to interact with musicians who use
your main axe and there are numerous mailing lists on the net where you can
interact with like minded souls. Try www. synthzone.com
Thanks to all for the email response. Its nice to know that there
is someone on the other side, who cares as much as I do!
Nandu Bhende
homesite :http://nandu_bhende.tripod.com
