AVINASH OAK SET TO LAUNCH MEMOIR TITLED ‘UNSPOOLING MEMORIES’

Avinash Oak, Sound Engineer and Owner, AVISOUND, is a well-reputed name in the world of music. A Life Member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), Founder Member of the India Chapter of AES, and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient of Indian Recording Arts Awards (2015), Oak has worked as a Sound Engineer for several feature films, Indian classical, ghazals, and Indi-pop albums, Radio and television commercials, and more. To bring together his myriad life experiences and to translate all of his life’s memories into ink, Avinash Oak is set to launch his memoir titled, ‘Unspooling Memories: Sounds & Music of My Life’.

Sharing more about the idea behind naming his book thus, Avinash shared, “I have tried to dip into the pool of memoirs and come out with a series of select few. It is but natural for an ‘analog’ man like me to use some relevant motif from my professional life. What could be a better choice than the media I used most –spool tape; then it was in a spur of a moment I coined a new - ‘Unspooling’. Thus the name –Unspooling Memories.”

Sharing more about the overarching theme of his book that spans his life’s journey in the field of music, Avinash commented, “It is a broad overview of our music industry; especially Bollywood, Indian Classical and Gazal music. What ties this book together are anecdotes about the problems faced by the artists, the musicians and sound engineers in the music industry. The stories of the interactions amongst them are as entertaining as they are informative.”

A Deeper Insight Into A Sound Engineer’s Life

Describing how the chapters in his books are divided after an intense deliberation, Oak emphasises, “Apart from a very ‘generous’ foreword by none other than the AD Guru, Bharat Dabholkar, the book is divided into 13 chapters - of course I call them ‘spools’. This is more appropriate and very much in line with the title of the book. The ‘unspooling’ starts in Nagpur, my hometown, my entry in the famed FTII, Pune and my formative years there. The second spool is named ‘Mumbai – Roti Kapada aur Makaan’, the film which was my first assignment as an assistant in Bollywood. The third spool is ‘Western Outdoor Studio Side # A’. Next chapter is ‘Ghazal & Jagjit Singh’. Obviously my recording journey can’t be complete without him. Next spool is ‘Sound & Light Show’ depicting the various shows I designed soundtracks for.”

He further adds, “The next chapter is ‘AES – Audio Engineering Society, India’ which has all the details about forming and running the society for almost 30 long years! The seventh spool is called ‘Indian Classical Music’, my reminiscences of several magnificent artists and my recording sessions with them. Next spool is called ‘Filmi’, where I reveal about the vast number of song recording sessions which took place at WOA. The ninth spool is about the two most revered personalities from Indian film music industry – Lata Mangeshkar & Asha Bhosle. The next spool is titled ‘Padmaja & the Two Prime Ministers’, where I shared very interesting anecdotes about my poetry recording sessions with the late Mr. Atal Bihari Bajpayee and Mr. V.P.Singh alongside Padmaja Phenany Joglekar.”

But the story doesn’t end there. Avinash Oak delves further into the last three chapters from his upcoming book, “The next spool is ‘Western Outdoor – Side B’, which is an apt conclusion to my studio life. The penultimate chapter is titled, ‘Life After Western Outdoor’, where I recount my slightly challenging but vastly interesting experiences with The Neosonic Studio, ZIMA, Soundideaz and my own studio in Pune called Studio Samarth. The book ends with a chapter called ‘My Personal Spool’ – where I share stories of my achievements and ‘occupational hazards’ that all sound engineers face at one point or the other.”

Every good book has a bibliography. Mine has one too – it’s called ‘Discography’ – which has the list of the albums I recorded and remember.

A Resource For Future Sound Engineers

Talking about how the upcoming book will be a relevant source material for aspiring sound engineers and pro audio enthusiasts, Oak concludes, “Unspooling Memories will be of interest to the aspiring sound engineers and the Gen-Z pro audio enthusiasts, especially because they may find themselves in so many situations which I initially faced. They may be able to take a cue out of these pages and make positive decisions, I am sure. The pro audio enthusiasts may gain an all-encompassing overview of the recording industry as a whole and a special insight into the professional studio life.”

Unspooling Memories will be available to purchase at the end of February, 2023.