The Score Magazine March 2020 issue

ISSN 0974 – 9128

Vol 13 Issue 03 March 2020

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INDIA'S NATIONAL PAN-GENRE MUSIC MAGAZINE

In conversation with

SUKANYA RAMGOPAL

India's first woman to play Ghatam talks about how she started , her influences and initial learning years

Studio Tour

BENCHMARK STUDIOS Into the recording world of Benchmark Studios, Thane

Exclusive Interview:

PRASANNA aka Guitar Prasanna who takes us through his style, favourite genre and much more

Also Inside: Indie Reviews, Band of the Month: The Yellow Diary, a handy glossary for music pros and more.

Point Source Excellence From Nearfield to Main Monitoring Genelec The Ones monitors are revered every day in thousands of studios around the globe for their perceptual qualities, technical brilliance and spectacular design.

Now introducing the new members of The Ones Family, 8351B and 8361, and the Adaptive Woofer System, W371: Unparalleled room-tailoring continued to the lowest octaves, for the most critical listeners and applications. You don’t know how great your room can sound before hearing it with natural direct sound, controlled reflections and pure neutral low frequency response.

Distribution by Sound Team T: +91 22 2881 4041 E: info@soundteam.in www.soundteam.in

THE ONES.

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T H E W O R L D ’ S F I N E S T U LT R A - N E A R F I E L D - M I D F I E L D M O N I T O R S

W W W.G E N E LEC.C O M / T H EO N ES

INDEX

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ON THE COVER

GUITAR PRASANNA

IN COVERSATION WITH

SUKANYA RAMGOPAL

ARTIST OF THE MONTH

VIVEICK RAJAGOPALAN

INTERVIEW WITH

MIKE BLACKMAN

READ ON

A HANDY GLOSSARY FOR MUSIC PROS

BAND OF THE MONTH

THE YELLOW DIARY

STUDIO TOUR

BENCHMARK STUDIOS

THE TEAM Director, Business Development Pragash VM Director, Marketing & Operations Sneha Ramesh Director Ajay Prabhakar Editorial Advisor Nikila Srinivasan Creative Director George Vedamanickam Creative Designer Manasi Doshi Content Contributors Shreya Bose Navya C Mukesh Amaran Souvik Chakraborty Aditi Sarawagi Kausthub Ravi Akarsh Shekhar

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http://www.motherteresafoundation.org.in The Score Magazine is proud to support the Mother Teresa Foundation and urge our readers to join us in giving back a fraction of what we have been given.

NAVYA C

"Sound of Music" conversations with Guitar Prasanna Guitar is one of those musical instruments which have a global appeal and scores much high in terms of expressivity and emotions.

Some of those emotions which cannot be expressed through a vocal performance were greatly expressed by guitar legends since the times immemorial. However, when it comes to Carnatic music, guitar was an instrument that was highly unlikely and unheard of. The main reason for it is because- Carnatic music tends to be more of gamaka based which involves the instrument to be suitable for playing sliding notes.

While Veena , one of the prime Carnatic music instruments is adoringly used for this purpose, the placement of frets and the spacing made it convenient to use. However, with guitar, there is one musical master who brought it the cult Carnatic status- along with fluidly playing any other genre under the sun- and enthralling the audience since decades.

His understanding of music is universal and doesn’t confine to just one genre. He keeps reinventing himself, brainstorming his ideas and keeping up the game with his unique thought and perception of the art form. This naturally led him to be the most admired Carnatic music guitar player in India along with a fantastic global musician who knows how to effortlessly fuse genres from one style to another. Despite being from a technological background, his roots remained in music and he continues to make waves with his unique performances that give electric guitar a cult status for sure. He also made the non-guitar lovers appreciate the beauty of the instrument through his mellifluously funky renditions. He is none other than Guitar Prasanna, a gifted musician with individualistic thought when it comes to making music and entertaining the audience with the same. He is one perfect example of the fact that- an artist needs to innovate himself continuously and stay at the moment! The Score has had a great privilege to speak to the fantastic musician on the eve of his performance hosted by Banyan Tree events in Hyderabad this month.

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Hello Prasanna.. it is a pleasure to meet you!

Hi..thanks a lot! The pleasure is mine.

Each of your guitar performances sounds so unique and different to one another. What is the reason and motivation behind such unique feature?

It is very simple. In a performance, I focus on giving a unique and personalized musical experience. The music is happening right at that moment and so that moment is unique. Also, I challenge myself to put together a diverse set list in each of my shows and also mix up the instrumentation and the musicians a lot, so that could be another reason why no two shows of mine sound the same.

Your guitar rendition sounds like it is actually speaking to the listener. How does this happen so effortlessly?

Two things. One is that I like to bring a vocal quality to my guitar playing so it can connect with the listener. The other is that when I play, I love to converse with my audience not necessarily with words but with the music itself and that creates a special experience for everyone.

Whether you sing or play an instrument, your music should ‘speak’ to the listener.

Which music genre is appealing to you currently?

(Laughs) my listening palette actually changes from time to time as I am constantly exploring. I have been digging into funk like Parliament Funkadelic lately but also some underground EDM music where lots of new ideas are being thrown in – DJs/Producers like Cedric Chervais, Gas Lamp Killer, Dirty South and the likes. I am also re-listening to a lot of great music that have been firmly in my DNA for a long time – Debussy, Schoenberg, Charles Ives, Steely Dan, Rush and Yes. And to my students many of whom are in their early teens, I am constantly aware of the latest Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift songs too…

Speaking modern pop, why do you think it doesn’t create a lasting feeling to the listener unlike the old school pop music from the yesteryear era?

The changing times has a great impact on the way music is made. Most music of the past from Mozart to Led Zeppelin were probably created with the intent and hope of being timeless. The listeners also probably had fewer choices before so they

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were doing a lot more repeat listening of their favorite music. Now we live in an internet era of 24 hr connectivity filled with the need for instant gratification.

Even if the music is not going to be timeless, its ok as long as its good now.

So, does that mean modern pop music serves the intended purpose?

Yes. Modern Pop music is all about what’s catchy and about new flavors and sound and very important – about the videos. It has to be a musical and visual experience now. So today’s Pop Artists have to focus on a lot more than just singing or playing, to get their music appeal to people. The producer and the Engineers play a huge role in the success of many of the pop hits. With all the fancy production tools available today, putting things together to create a song now is different from the traditional process.

But will it not make the very nature of music being eternal going off to the background?

There’s always Classic Rock or Jazz or Flamenco or Carnatic music and all that stuff which is still about a more timeless esthetic. Even ‘80s pop has come back thanks to Drama series like ‘Stranger Things’so people will find what they want, as everything is out there today. So, the old stuff is still there out in the open.

Does this mean the live music era has been put to a back step these days?

Live music is still thriving but today’s Artists have to be innovative and mix things up in live shows and make it a real experience for their fans, because it is getting more difficult to bring audiences to live shows with all the other options available to them. Whatever kind of music you play, it is your responsibility to find and nurture your fan base and actually make a personal connection with them through your concerts.

What is the one most fetching aspect of music which current day artists are focusing these days?

Sound. Let’s take the example of three of the biggest pop hits of recent times – Shape of you, Despacito and Havana.

Besides the song, singing, lyrics and what seems to be the ‘front face’, it’s actually the specific sound in the production that made each of these songs what they are - that repetitive marimba sound and figure in Shape of

You, the Spanish style acoustic guitar intro and the blend of Latin American instruments with modern beats in Despacito and that tinge of traditional Cuban music sound in ‘Havana’.

What are the other instruments you like to play apart from Guitar?

Apart from guitar, I sing, play Piano, Bass, Drums, Percussion.

What is your approach in creating your original music?

My approach is very simple. I draw on everything past and present that I have listened, absorbed and internalized and let that fall into my own signature in a natural and organic way. I have heard so much music in my life and they all come together in some way and reflect in my original songs and compositions.

I am always evolving as a composer.

A lot of electric guitarists use multiple pedals or effects processors in their shows.

What is your take on it?

I do the same too but I just don’t go overboard on that. While I experiment relentlessly with various amp configurations, guitars, pedals and sounds in the Studio, I try to keep my live gear simple – for two reasons – it makes me focus and get the best out of a few sounds and the other is that it is easier for me to travel. People also identify me with a specific style and sound. All I need is a few perfectly dialed in sounds that are used effectively for the show!

I tell many guitar plyers who come to me for advice about gear - Your sound is in You, not in the pedals!

Why do you think labeling music with different names and genres affects it the wrong way?

Labeling music into genres is what record companies did to distinguish some products from the other. While it does make sense and we all call our music something or the other, ultimately it is not that important at least for me. Many great Artists make music that transcend these genres anyway and cannot be labeled. Imagine labeling Frank Zappa’s music!

Is that the reason why you can effortlessly move in between genres in your performances?

For me they all converge. When I play a Hendrix song that somehow moves into an Illayaraja song, it happens spontaneously. I don’t have much filters

in my head and I am in the moment and most of all, my audience welcomes it. In that particular moment they become one and the same at least for that evening. I don’t see any point in playing so many genres of music if they don’t somehow converge into a single identity – at least for me. My fans enjoy the thrill ride just like I do.

Your solo shows feature you as the only main artist in your performances. Does it get pressuring at any point of time?

I love playing Solo. I will say that again, I love playing Solo. There is pressure of course, pressure of being the only one on stage in front a lot of adoring fans but its cool. I find it extremely motivating to see the fans coming for my solo guitar performances. Think about it- its just all guitar. Its terrifying in a way but also fun. I draw energy from the audience, from the place, the ambience, feel and vibe of the venue and that helps me keep a fluid program of music. In one way, playing solo has freed me from genre pressure and got me closer to my fans. I take a ton of fan requests in many of my solo shows and put some crazy mash-ups together like a Steely Dan song and a Dikshitar kriti or a Queen song and an A.R. Rahman song and we all have a good time.

When I play with a band its completely different - I have to be more prepared and have to give the band a much clear idea of the music for that evening and therefore I focus on giving a different experience and that is equally awesome. So, its like two completely different type of shows – both fulfilling experiences for me and my fans too.

You are one of those musicians who is quite active in interacting with fans in social media. How does that keep you uplifted?

That’s what Social Media is all about, right? Interaction. I am fortunate to have a large following around the world on my social media pages and I try to make it meaningful and fun in return for the love and time they give me. I don’t use my pages as spaces for just promoting my shows. I like to give people a lot of fun content both in my videos and otherwise. I have developed a nice bond with my fans in the virtual world and thanks to that, they also show up in large numbers in the real world at my shows! My fans keep me on my toes, I guess!

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INTERVIEW WITH GHATAM

SUKANYA RAMGOPAL How did you first decide to pick up the Ghatam?

I was fond of percussion from my childhood. I used to accompany my sister’s vocal on table as my instrument. I learnt vocal along with my sister. Then I learnt Violin from Sri. T.H.Gurumurthy, brother of Sri. Vikku Vinayakram Sir. Even though I went for violin class, my attention was towards mridangam classes happening in the opposite room.

One fine day, I went to the mridangam class and requested Sri.T.R.Hariharasharma Sir (father of Sri. Vikku Sir) to teach me. He immediately accepted me as his student. With 3 years of rigorous practice and classes I started playing for small concerts. I used to go with Vikku Sir to listen to his concerts. I was mesmerised by his playing and requested him to teach me ghatam. But he refused and told me that it's difficult to produce sound on a mud pot. But his father advised him “Ghatam doesn’t know who is playing on it whether a boy or girl. She proved herself a good mridangam player in a short time. If we

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teach her ghatam, it’s a pride for our institution Sri Jayaganesh Thala Vadya Vidyalaya. Let us teach her”. At that time Vikku Sir went to USA to teach in Berkeley University. Sharma Sir challenged his son that he would train me on ghatam when he was at USA. He gave me several practice sessions and taught the fingering techniques and with hard work I was able to play well. After his return from USA, Vikku sir was surprised to watch me playing ghatam so well and he took me as his student.

This is how my ghatam musical journey started.

You’ve been trained under the Grammy award winning and vidhwan Vikku ji.

Tell us about your learning from him.

I am always a very special student for Vikku sir. He has been my greatest inspiration. Even now when I watch him play, I am mesmerised. During my training years with him, I would almost always be at the school. Except my school / college hours, most other times I would be in the school – learning

or watching others learn. Vikku sir would teach me the small nuances of ghatam playing. He would play any number of times and I had to observe keenly and learn. When I learnt from him, during the 70s, it was a golden period as many stalwarts visited our school. With them, I have had such memorable learning sessions. And sir also had ample time to teach. We used to have group sessions. These sessions inspire me even today. Even today when sir creates any new composition he teaches me.

What were some of the techniques you learnt from Vikku ji that you use a lot?

In Vikku sir’s technique the use of all ten fingers is key. All fingers have to be developed to produce equal pressure. He has developed special exercises to achieve felicity in all the ten fingers. Another speciality is the exploration of the entire instrument – all spaces on the ghatam are played on – the neck, mouth, belly everything. Composing shlokas / verses on the ghatam is another of his distinct aspects. A particular verse is explored in terms of its sound and that sound is executed on the ghatam. So when you listen to the verse on the ghatam you can actually hear the verse itself. That is another thing I have learnt from him.

How is Ghatam perceived amongst youngsters in India and how are you making it more popular especially among women?

Youngsters are taking considerable interest in the ghatam.

There are also some girls playing ghatam now. There was a time when girls were not allowed to step out of the house. Music teachers would come home to teach them or they had to learn from parents or siblings at home. It has changed a bit. Today while most girls are still encouraged to learn singing or playing melodic instruments there are some that have taken keen

interest in percussion. They are also exploring many other forms of music making. I think social media has been a great aid to learning. There is so much more exposure. Sharing your work has become easy. New networks are formed. And girls / women find encouragement and inspiration from a larger world. This is a great development.

Could you share some tips for aspiring Ghatam artists especially women Practice, Practice and Practice. There is no substitute for hard work. Practice consistently and practice sincerely. Listen to master musicians from the past as well as to your own contemporaries. Learn from them and create your own music.

Be updated with current trends in the field. More than physical strength you should have mental strength.

Highlight your upcoming projects I recently completed a wonderful project in Pune, playing with percussion master Greg Ellis, Flamenco dancer Bettina Castanos, guitarist Santosh Chandran, Sitar player Shakir Khan and Tabla player Unmesh Baneerji. It was such a wonderful experience playing with all of them.

I run the Sunaadam Trust through which we have been popularising the ghatam. We organise workshops, concerts and thematic ensembles to bring the ghatam to the forefront.

We want to take the ghatam to schools, orphanages and other places. My dream is to play Ghata Tharang and popularise it across the world. Another project is to document the lives and works of ghatam masters. I also want to document all the korvais that I know so that it can be of use to students.

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SHREYA BOSE

Someone Else’s Arms (Rivita): Sad songs make for great debuts. US-based singer-songwriter-

producer Rivita sings a charming ditty about losing love, and it is equal parts profound and endearing. There’s not a whole lot that stands out, but it's a widely relatable feeling she sings about.

Rivita’s voice is unassuming, but contains the seeds of much artistic growth. One cannot say if she is restraining herself on purpose, but her voice founders at moments, especially towards the end. She is yet to portray artistic conviction, but one can hold off on judgement, at least until the release of her upcoming EP “I Believe”.

Interestingly, Rivita’s blog hosts a number of articles about music production, and weighs in on issues that artists may face on the technical side of their creative tasks. It shows a deeper investment in the craft, and allows one to hope that she will show significant growth in her musical progression.

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Chalk & Cheeze (Chalk & Cheeze):

Another day, another debut.

Nitish Chachra and DJ Cheeze (who likes to stay anonymous) join hands (or consoles) with acclaimed Bollywood producer Sandeep Chowta to create what they call House Music without Borders. By this, they mean including more unpredictable elements into the mix, such as the winnowing strains of a sarangi in Shukravaar or slivers of a 90’s disco in Budhvaar. If you hadn’t noticed, the songs are named after days of the week.

There’s a fair amount of quirk in the album, which is how the duo tries to stand out from the glut of all-too-familiar house music saturating clubs and house parties. While the album does not feature any groundbreaking instances of fusion or eclecticism, that might be intentional. There’s enough variation to make listeners curious about a new musical aesthetic, but not so much that they might hit Pause or pick a different album. If this is true, ten points for strategy, though maybe not for experimentation.

Nonetheless, listeners are rewarding the duo’s choices.

As of writing this, Chalk and Cheeze have been #1 on the iTunes Charts as well as the iTunes Dance Charts for three days in a row from its release on 31st January 2020. They are certainly dabbling with a new direction, something which invites the audience to listen more closely to the space between the beats. This is a welcome act, especially in a musical realm which, atleast to the uninitiated, doesn’t offer more than a series of 4/4 beats that make most sense after way too much alcohol.

KAPOW! (KAPOW!): An absolute delight emerges out of the void, in the form of the eclectic, impulsive KAPOW! Barely a year old, they have already managed to release an album that is, in equal parts, all over the place and held perfectly together.

The band is audaciously experimental, and incredibly pleasant. Their music is fun in a million different ways. Sultana plays with dream-pop, rolling in secretive whispers and semi-cryptic lyrics. It seduces the listener to strange places in their own head, especially when the violin gently hits. “You’re just a tourist in your own life”, says the song - and you are inclined to agree.

Start Again hits all the right notes for a love-laced rock ballad. But the band avoids the hell of being repetitive by creating a song that is utterly charming. They used well-used riffs and play a bristling crescendo that sounds familiar, but never boring. It does the one thing every song must do - sound good.

Underwater Roadtrip is an homage to lovers of the happy green plant. It is appropriately quirky, upbeat and sprinkled with a few funky turns. Conceptualizing the plant as an ideal lover Mary Jane is an old trope, but these guys build an entire homage to her - from her backless to her tender fingers and how can melt your thoughts into smoke. This isn't a typical stoner anthem - it’s almost romantic, KAPOW! slightly misses the mark with Want Some Get Some. It’s a Wild West inspired rock ditty that channels enough ominosity to fit into Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. But they try slapping on a Mexican edge, and it doesn’t really come off as totally natural. Cries of “Arriba!” sound shoehorned in just for the sake of novelty. It doesn’t work too well.

Nonetheless, the album is impressive. It’s fun, eclectic and provides a fair number of pleasant surprises. There are songs to party to, songs to get pensive to and songs to lay back and zone out to. KAPOW! certainly tries to mess around with genre, and this has resulted in a good, good sound.

Baatein (Sudeip Ghosh):

Sudeip Ghosh called his album “a soundtrack for reminiscence”. There’s a ring of truth to that. Most of his songs are pretty heavy on the nostalgic element, whether in lyrics that dwell on the past or musical influences that clearly channel classic rock. Tere Liye, for example, sounds like a perfectly balanced mash of Boston and Deep Purple.

Aasman goes another way, summoning the saccharine tones of Indipop (I’m talking a touch of Euphoria).

Ghosh also weaves in touches of Indian classical tones.

He certainly does not feature them as prominently as he does the Dream Theatre-inspired shredding. Most of the time, the music is built on a steady foundation of the good old rock ballad. Dastaan is a prime example of this.

Udgam, however, is a departure from the norm. It's a spiritual paean that urges faith and letting go. It also features a spontaneous-sound sitar jam on (or is it a sarod?) that melds nicely with laid-back electronic textures. The song melts into Aum, a clear continuation, in which Ghosh ends Hindi lines with singular English words and claims the eternal one-ness of the primal syllable Om. The rockstyled riffs are back in this one, and the whole thing comes off as a fond memory of Colonial Cousins and their ilk.

Baatein definitely deserves a listen. It’s uncomplicated and chock full of familiar melodies. Anyone born in the 90’s will find themselves traveling back in time to an era of cassettes and loyalties to Pentagram. The album carries an element of authenticity - Ghosh is singing things he believes in. It just happens that he believes in pushing the right buttons for musical time travel.

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How would you describe your sound?

Rooted in its Indianness but also very modern and futuristic.

How did Ta Dhom project come about?

So, Ta Dhom Project was a personal journey of a different kind for me. I think, classical music for years has been restricted within a certain boundary if I may say so.

Artist of the Month:

VIVEICK RAJAGOPALAN

I started teaching rhythm, konnakol to young rappers who rap in their native languages.

They had never heard carnatic music before and it was quite a journey of sharing this traditional knowledge of rhythm with them. There are more kids who are keen to learn and its the love with which they learn that makes it all worth it.

I have always believed that to be original you just need to be "you" and don't have to copy the west or the east or anyone else for that matter.

If the rappers learnt the Indian system of rhythm, they can use it to write in different flows and also explore time signatures and that was the motivation for them too.

I also envisioned the possibilities of using the sound of the mridangam, but approaching it like a drummer to create grooves and that’s how this project manifested.

WOMEX is an exhibition where artists, booking agents, publishers etc come and it is one of the biggest music exhibitions that happen.

I found out about it in 2008 when I released by first album ‘Moving Images’ and wanted to go, but it’s very expensive.

The first joy happened when we were selected amongst the top 18, out of approx.3000 applications. I am grateful that I found sponsors to get us there.

The audience is from the industry and you actually get briefed about how tough it is to please that audience.

It was through our WOMEX performance that we got invited to Womad, Shambala and a few other festivals

Can you tell us about SUNOH Almost 4 years ago, my partner Aishwarya Natarajan and I started SUNOH. It’s basically a brand audio consulting firm.

I got a chance to take Ta Dhom project to Europe. It was on my bucket list to perform at Womad and another big festival, Shambala. When the invitation happened, I was in seventh heaven.

I have done about 300 Advertisements in my career.

One of the reasons that this felt like a need in the industry, came from the fact that the brief would be very vague and you could say

Photographer - Shashank Sharma

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Thankfully, in these festivals, it’s the music that matters

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Tell us about your experience at Womex & Womad

For me personally its an extension of my passion towards music and sound.

Taking the rappers and presenting them on big stages was something that I desired from the bottom of my heart, and that happened too.

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It feels great when the music that you create gets appreciated on its merit.

How was your experience touring Europe and taking your music worldwide?

It was in many ways a dream come true. Whenever I think about it even now, it feels surreal and seeing the mridangam take centre stage was another hidden dream that i saw come alive.

The

and not "names or surnames" . We also got covered by BBC World Service on Arts hour, BBC 3 and BBC asian network ,which I am so grateful for.

that there was no audio strategy as such. But when it came to colors they were particular about their logo, fonts and so on.

So we started working on how a brand can actually have an Audio DNA ,and a scalable audio strategy.

We now also have Tyuns™, a proprietary tool which can show you options of musical notes to build your scale/ raga ,by just using the R G B of the color of the brand.

ADITI SARAWAGI

Styles and Types of Music in India Part 1

India is a country full of diversity and as diverse is the culture in every corner of the country, so is its music. Each state speaks a different language and has a distinctive form of music indigenous to it. Every style of music has a unique sound and Indian Music is acknowledged worldwide for this. Starting this month, in a two-part series, the focus will be on the different styles and types of music in India.

Hindustani Music and Carnatic Music Indian classical music has been broadly divided into Hindustani and Carnatic music. Hindustani music is essentially the music of northern India which has been influenced by music from Persia and Central Asia.

Carnatic Music is the classical music of southern India.

The overall structure of Carnatic music is similar to that of Hindustani Music in the sense that both have ragas but the rhythms and musical instruments are different.

Carnatic Music lays emphasis on vocal music which is more open to improvisation. Purandara Dasa is considered to be the Father of Carnatic Music. Annamayya is the first known composer of Carnatic music. The Trinity of Carnatic music, also known as The Three Jewels of Carnatic music, refer to the exceptional trio of composermusicians of Carnatic music in the 18th century, being Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri.

Music from the north or Hindustani Music can be divided into classical music which includes dhamar, tarana, sadra and semi-classical music which includes vocal styles like dadra, ghazal, qawwali and thumri. Dhrupad is an austere form of classical singing and playing which is widely associated with the famous Mughal singer Tansen. Instruments used are tanpura and pakhawaj barrel drum. Khayal is a form of classical singing not as rigid as Dhrupad-the singer mainly concentrates on the

notes of the raga and improvises the structure. Khayals are considered as Hindustani semi-classical pieces.

Thumri is another fixture of Hindustani semi-classical music. It evolved in the 19th century by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and is an emotional style known for its lyrical strains. It is more accessible than dhrupad or khayal and is associated with the kathak dance form. Thumri is sung in a literary dialect of Hindi called Braj Bhasha.

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Begum Akhtar are well known connoisseurs of this form of music. Dadri, Hori, Chaiti, Kajri and Jhool are all sub-genres of Thumri.

Qawwali is a kind of Sufi devotional music which has a fast-paced style of singing. Developed in the thirteenth century, it is basically performing Sufi poetry to music.

Qawwali songs are based on spiritual Sufi poems usually depicting the relationship between a higher being and man or between humans. Qawwali has a very distinct sound, is easily recognizable and is quite popular too. The origin of qawwali is attributed to Amir Khusrau, a Sufi poet and composer who is also known to have invented the sitar and the tabla. His poems form the centre point of Qawwali.

A ghazal is originally more poetic in form than musical and is based on both folk melodies and ragas with rhyming couplets. It is an ancient music form with its origin in Arabic poetry. Essential elements found in ghazals are shayari or love poems often taken from Urdu poetry and transformed into ghazals with slow paced music.

Classical music is part of the rich heritage of India and apart from the above mentioned broad based categories, there are other varied types of Indian music as well. In the second part of this series we will look into those other forms which are part of the huge Indian music repertoire.

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SNEHA RAMESH & PRAGASH VM

In conversation with

Mike Blackman Founder & Managing Director, Integrated Systems Europe

How did the Corona virus threat affect the show this year?

Corona virus has been a major theme of discussion here. As it all started, we started to prepare and firstly talk to our Chinese exhibitors. We had 258 Chinese exhibitors booked to exhibit at ISE 2020 and we started to contact them and reached almost all of them.

About fifty of them had to cancel either because they were restricted from traveling or had their flights cancelled.

In addition to that, about twenty two companies cancelled because they were concerned about the health of their staff and customers. We respect their views. People come first and if that’s the decision, they need to stand by their policies and their feelings. We tried to help our Chinese customers in every way we can.

Secondly, there was a lot of nervousness from the attendees wondering if they could be here. The entire time, we

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took advice from the World Health Organisation, from the RVM (Dutch Health Organisation), the European centre for disease control and also the GGZ (Amsterdam Health Authorities).

We constantly monitored their websites for advice and took that to move forward.

We put in additional sanitary facilities here like hand sanitisers all over the show. We also spoke to our exhibitors to find out the kind of sanitation devices they would have and in addition to that we had another fifty thousand small hand sanitisers that attendees could take with them.

This is your last year at Amsterdam.

How has the show been and how has it changed over the years?

When we started the ISE show in 2004 in Geneva, we had only about 3500 attendees and moving to Amsterdam was quite significant in giving us the opportunity to access people from all over Europe and beyond.

Having a city that is very charismatic, helped in attracting attendees. It has been a successful growth. We have seen it develop, the attendees have grown and this venue has become too small for the show.

We are moving to Barcelona. Everybody is looking forward to the move. It is both a sad and a happy phase. We are leaving a city that we like and have enjoyed but also moving to another city which is nice as well and also has the charisma that can match Amsterdam. We have twice as much space in Barcelona to accommodate exhibitors and attendees.

What new additions do you have to the show for ISE 2021?

As our show has grown, we have included more sectors and that is a reflection of where our industry is going.

AV touches everything and we are seeing technology being encompassed in what we do as a business. We have to show that to our customers – the AV channel and commercial end users – to show them how AV can be embraced.

We have seen a demand in the Pro Audio sector at ISE that unfortunately we have not been able to fully accommodate. Moving to Barcelona will give us the opportunity to give more space to Pro Audio companies.

On the other side, live events is also a sector which we have touched upon but haven’t had space for all those companies to be involved in the show.

Now, we will be able to do that as well.

You will also see a much larger section for collaboration that can accommodate all those companies.

Broadcast, Residential and digital signage will also be much bigger.

We are also putting up a bigger conference program because we believe that content is important!

How does ISE manage to grow in the number of attendees while all other major shows across the world are seeing a decrease in footfall?

ISE is not just about Mike Blackman, I have a big team of specialists behind me. To make this work, we have a team that looks after logistics

and others that look after the sales, marketing, accounting and so on.

We sit together after every show and look at what was good or bad, what worked and didn’t work. If it worked, should we continue. If it didn’t work, should we stop or change it. We try to improve it!

We are the biggest AV show in the world and I make it clear to my team that we must not become complacent, we must try to better ourselves every year.

That’s the reason why we are growing and getting more attendees and exhibitors. We had 200 new exhibitors at ISE this year. So, this reflects on our success and the efforts of my team to continue that success.

On top of our direct team, we have our associations as well who are offering certifications, training and education.

All of these make our business run.

How do you look at emerging markets globally?

We are in a group of several shows worldwide. The AVIXA organisation is one of our co-owners – the other one is CEDIA. This means there are shows in virtually all regions including India, Asia, North America, South America etc. So, we are offering opportunity for attendees to visit the shows in all regions.

ISE is a show that covers both sides of the market, both residential and commercial.

Secondly, ISE happens at the beginning of the year which is the start of business for many companies.

Companies from global markets join the show to do business. They want to keep ahead of the market.

What are your plans and message for India?

AVIXA has the InfoComm show in India, a very successful show. We also welcome Indian attendees to ISE if you want to see what’s in the market in the beginning of the year rather than waiting till September. It is a good opportunity to meet manufacturers and other colleagues in the industry.

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LAVANYA NARAYANAN

With an Air of Mystique: Flautists J.A. Jayanth and Rasika Shekar On Delving Into The World of Bamboo and The Scope of Flute Playing It’s been a few decades since flautists J.A. Jayanth and Rasika Shekar first took the stage. Bamboo flute in hand, they presented the music they knew best, Carnatic music, to the adulations of friends, family, relatives, and wellwishers that would soon become some of their most avid of rasikas. They called it the ‘pullankuzhal,’ or Carnatic flute, and equipped with this seemingly small instrument, they wove melodies in a variety of ragas, talas, and rasas.

Pretty soon, the young artists found themselves drawn to sounds from Northern India and with that, different types of flutes all together.

“The world of ghazals really fascinated me – the way in which Hindustani artists express emotion and poetry in ghazals, specifically. I was hooked,” Rasika smiles. A vocalist born and bred in the U.S. with generations of musicians before her, she found the system helpful in improving voice culture. Soon enough, the emotive quality led her to the way she views music now ¬– a large pool of different vocabularies, each a different ornament used to display the same, artistic thought process.

Across the globe, Jayanth, a product of equally-impressive lineage, found himself veering towards a similar system.

Exposed to the distinct tones of the bansuri – a longer, bamboocrafted flute used primarily in Hindustani music – through the works of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pt. Ronu Majumdar, he found himself enamored by the deep, rich tone of the bass flute.

“I was in my teens when my flutemaker came home and, as I can vividly remember, I asked him to make me a direct double bass, D# flute. Flutemakers down South weren’t acquainted with this type of flute whatsoever, so making it was a process,” he laughs. Eventually, it’s become a mainstay in many of his Carnatic concerts today, so much so that photographers wait until the end just to capture him playing an Aahir Bhairav on this rare instrument.

Their journeys couldn’t be more different. While Jayanth is known primarily as a Carnatic flautist, the

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traditional kutcheri his medium through which he expresses his music, Rasika has found her footing as a collaborator. Her involvement with trio Shankar-EhsaanLoy is probably the most notable, with a jugalbandhi video of her mimicking Shankar’s vocalizations on the flute continuing to go viral on global social media.

“The minute I started playing jazz, for instance, or simply collaborating with other artists and ensembles, I became sensitive to how my instrument could respond to the occurrences around me. All of a sudden, it became about musical conversation. Is this translating what I’d like to convey?” she questions.

A valid question to ask, Jayanth notes, for interactions abroad and careful study of other flutes such as the Japanese shakuhachi have led him to his own path of inquisition.

“I’d call it an endless quest, to be honest – the more you master your instrument, the more curious you become.

And the more you investigate, the more you realize how far away you are from the benchmark you’re aiming to reach,” he explains. It’s a quest that’s led him to experiment with carbon fiber and glass, among a host of other variations.

And yet, after all is said and done, both artists say that they can’t help but revisit their own collections of bamboo flutes with renewed vigor.

“The bamboo is best suited to the type of music we represent,” Jayanth says simply. This acknowledgement seems to be what carries the two forward as they continue to innovate with flutes of different lengths, breadths, and tonal qualities.

Of course, this begs the question, what exactly are they searching for?

“Right now, it’s simply about self-expression,” Rasika tells us. “What is the truth behind it, and how does the ornamentation and technique of each genre feed into the greater picture of expressing oneself musically?”

KADAMBARI SRIVASTAVA

NOSTALGIC NOTES Mehbooba - Sholay

Sholay was an iconic movie, it still is. Who can forget the legendary characters, dialogues, and even the music. RD Burman’s tunes breathed life into this ambitious drama which was a big box office failure upon its immediate release, but turned out to be the biggest blockbuster with time. From Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai and Dharmendra’s Veeru, to Hema Malini’s Basanti, Amzad Khan’s Gabbar, Sanjeev Kumar’s Thakur, and many more, Sholay rings out loud with its legacy, to date. The movie has a plethora of trivia and is a study material on cinema itself. If one opens pages of the past, one would find many gems that would spill out, narrating stories in bits and snippets.

One such story is about the making of the iconic track ‘Mehbooba’.

Remember the song? How can one even forget. ‘Mehbooba’ featured Helen, in one of her most seductive yet graceful songs ever, with quintessential RD Burman tunes and croons which went on to become a cult favourite. But do you know the interesting story behind its making? Even more interesting, do you know that the actor who discovered the making, was not even a part of this magnum opus? Well, let us enlighten you.

It happened so that the actor who chanced upon this extraordinary quest to find the perfect tune, was Randhir Kapoor. The Kapoor scion, who was a sought-after actor

himself at the moment, walked in upon Pancham Da’s tunefinding process. When he reached RD’s office, he found the latter doing something weird. The music director, along with his team, was blowing air into half-filled beer bottles. Kapoor, while narrating this at a later interview, said that at that moment, he thought that everyone in the room had gone mad.

However, turned out that they were trying out a new type of sound. This is the sound that you get to hear at the start of ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’.

Fascinating, isn’t it? Who would have thought that empty beer bottles and air could create something which would go on to become a part of one of the most iconic numbers in the history of Bollywood. ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’ rocked the charts then, and it surely is on the playlist of many, even now. We have numerous gadgets, applications, and electronic appliances today to create new tunes and sounds. Hence, it is simply enthralling to know how brilliance was created with the help of basic minimum, at that time. Pancham Da truly was a rockstar. He surely knew how to make his own tune dance to his nuances. He made his own ‘Mehbooba’ and created an eternal muse. ‘Sholay’ would never have been complete without legendary number, one with Helen’s moves and Pancham Da’s tunes.

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MUSKAN GOSWAMI

7 Sensational MTV Unplugged Songs that You Need to Listen MTV Unplugged India brings some of the best singers and musicians together. With their melodious voices and breath-taking sounds, MTV Unplugged offers songs that are bound to make you lose your senses in a good way. To help you enjoy the best of music, we have curated a list of some of the finest songs that MTV Unplugged India has to offer:

2. Illahi

1. Iktara Iktara is a melodious song which is from the music album of the movie “Wake Up Sid!”. The MTV Unplugged version of the song is sung by Amit Trivedi and Kavita Seth. The duo infuses a whole new vibe to the song by giving a good twist to the original one. The background singers further add to the melody of this beautiful song. The song is written by the legendary Javed Akhtar.

4. Tum Itna Jo Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho is a song that was composed by the legendary Kaifi Azmi and performed

by Jagjit Singh in the movie "Arth".

In the MTV Unplugged version of this song, Papon amazingly sung it.

The entire team of musicians along with Papon have given a completely different direction to the song. This version of the song is absolutely going to engulf you in its beauty.

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A song from the very popular movie “Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani” has been a favourite travel song for many. The MTV Unplugged version sung by Arijit Singh is completely mind-blowing. On days in which you need that extra cheer, simply play this gem of a song and enjoy! This feel-good song was written by lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya

5. Saibo Saibo is sung by the perfect duo Sachin- Jigar in MTV Unplugged Season 3. Together, they have taken the song to a whole new level. The song was originally sung by Sherya Ghosal and Tochi Raina in the movie "Shor in the City".

Sameer Anjaan is the man behind the beautiful composition of the song.

7. Tu He Re Tu He Re is an old classic from the diaries of A.R. Rahman. The song was in the movie "Bombay" and gained immense appreciation from the audience. With this MTV Unplugged version, Hariharan along with the musicians have introduced a modern vibe to the song. This brilliant song was written by the talented Mehboob Kotwal.

3. Rehna Tu Rehna Tu is sung by the maestro A.R. Rahman himself in Season 2 of MTV Unplugged!

This impeccable song is a part of the movie "Delhi 6". The MTV Unplugged version of the song is as breathtaking as the original one. This song is bound to take you to another level all together. Even the lyrics of the song are wonderfully carved by Prasoon Joshi.

6. Aankhen Teri Aankhen Teri or Maula Mere is a heart-warming song which was in the movie "Anwar". The song was sung by the legendary Roop Kumar Rathod.

In the MTV Unplugged version, you will see Mithoon give it a spectacular twist. The two versions are truly good in their own ways and are best not to be compared. The song was excellently composed by Sayeed Quadri.

NAVYA C

Labeling Music Good or Bad?

Living in an expressive world where we label almost everything we come across-whether thoughts , emotions or whatever we encounter with, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to know that music is classified in various aspects. Depending on the genre, region, style and language- the classifications of music are unparalleled.

However, we fail to realize that the universal aspect of music says that the ultimate reality of it is seven notes.

Whether you call them sa, ri ,ga, ma in Carnatic Music or Do,Re,Mi,Fa in Western Music- the tone is the same. Even when it comes to tempo, there are different names for it in different genres. Western Classical Music classifies tempo in numbers such as 4/4 or 6/8 beat pattern but Hindustani and Carnatic Music call them with names such as Teen Taal in Hindustani or Aadi Taalam in Carnatic.

While the musicologists say that labeling is important to communicate about music on a daily basis, and keeps things uniform- they also divide the universal aspect of music. The feeling of limitation that entire music is confined to only one “superior” genre starts coming into picture. But is it true? Every music form- whether it is classical or freestyle speaks of freedom in expressing one self. Irrespective of the style, a song writer’s main aim in writing a composition is to enthrall the audience through his/ her thoughts. But with excessive labeling of scales, ragas, tempos, and arrangementsthe universality goes off the center somewhere.

There is a popular opinion in Western Classical Music that says all major scales (the ones with natural notes) are more pleasing to the ears and used often for happier occasions when it comes to composing, but the minor scales (the ones with accidentals, the oddsounding notes) are eerie, unpleasant and used mostly for melancholic occasions. But as art is perceptive, the minor scales can actually bring out a different light on the feeling of happiness or delight. In the same way, the major scale can bring out a sad aspect to the scenario. Even Carnatic and Hindustani music has been grounded over such opinions on ragas. For example, the raaga Shivaranjani is often associated with pathos and Kalyani is associated with devotion and love.

But many composers such as Maestro Ilaiyaraaja and R.D.Burman proved it otherwise by experimenting in such raagas that are not too obvious to labels.

Labeling any art form, not just music in an excess manner actually limits the unbounded possibilities it offers to us. While certain terminologies help us to communicate about music while we talk to other experts, the learning and understanding of music doesn’t stop there. When music is seen unbounded and as it is- the entire perception of it changes dramatically! Let’s take some time out in this beginning of new decade, just when the spring season starts – by exploring music without attaching any labels whatsoever!

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KARISHMA D’MELLO

A Confluence of Cultures:

The Origins of Folk Metal Metal has always been universally acknowledged as a musical act of defiance. Regardless of how much the genre mutates or divides itself, the sub-genre variants are only a supplement to the underlying core that always remains defined by the culture of rebellion.

Of all of metals curious pairings, folk metal is perhaps, the most profound example of the influence culture can have on music. However, tracing its origins to “culture” is far too simplistic. In fact, while the statement itself might be true, folk metal, in many ways is considered a product of another notorious heavy metal genre – black metal.

but still maintained the distinctive tones of heavy metal. Over their next few albums, the band evolved into, what is almost universally recognized as, the first folk metal band in music history.

Though their music was rooted in rebellion, they were still able to separate themselves from their black metal counterparts. However, while these bands weren’t necessarily associated with Satanism, they were still keen on maintaining an anti-religious front.

So how does a genre like black metal, with all its satanic undertones become associated with the folk?

Another example of this is sentiment is “Bathory”, a Swedish band who believed in the opposition of both Christianity as well as Satanism.

The idea behind this was that both, Christianity as well as Satanism were products of the Catholic church, and so both must be renounced.

It is important to recognize that though there exists an undeniable fascination with death, criminality, and a somewhat disturbing darkness, these themes are generally explored within the context of Nordic culture, Viking history, and Scandinavian mythology. Folk metal simply evolved to isolate itself from the somewhat darker parts of the black metal culture.

A lot of the themes within folk metal include the evolution of humanity’s relationships with nature and other universal concepts like greed, superficiality, existence, and spirituality. As we progress, these themes continue to diversify and evolve to include more social issues, ancient philosophies, mythology and elements of fiction.

In 1991 a British band called “Skyclad” released their first album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth (1991). The album was inspired by their pagan ideology,

The music itself borrows from regional folk instruments. While the set up generally features a typical heavy metal ensemble, instruments like

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flutes, bagpipes, mandolins, and banjos, (depending on the roots of the band, or their country of focus) are what allow the band to incorporate that folk sound into their music. Some bands rely on electronic keyboards or software.

As more bands, embrace this style of music, you find an increasing number of very specific sub-genres beginning to take shape. Celtic, Viking, Medieval and Oriental metal are some of the most prominent of these sub-types, with bands like Cruachan, Subway to Sally, Orphaned Land leading from the front. The integration of folk with metal is not particularly unique in its practice. Western classical has long been borrowing elements of folk tunes, imagery and music structure.

Self-proclaimed connoisseurs of heavy metal might make the case that folk metal is all too “goofy” to be considered “real metal”. And there’s undoubtedly some merit to that argument with regard to a few select artists/ albums that often sound alarmingly close to parodies of themselves. However, to put a blanket label on every artist within the genre does a disservice to incredible folk metal artists who do an incredible job of combining story with song.

In the wake of the digital era, where the confluence of culture, metal, and storytelling, is so often overshadowed, these artists remain a breath of fresh air.

Getting the Hang of

SHAURYA SINGH THAPA

‘the Hang’ A Unique Drum and its Drummer

In 2000, a new millennium was born as well as a unique music instrument called the Hang. It was a drum that was played by hand, placed on the player’s lap. The people behind its creation were two individuals from Switzerland, Felix Rohner and Sabina Scharer. After introducing this percussive instrument in a German trade fair in the next year, the Hang began to draw quite some attention.

In terms of anatomy, the Hang comprises of two metallic shells glued to each other in a concave fashion, wit the inside of the instrument being hollow. The creators have acknowledged the fact that steel drums from various countries Trinidad and Tobago, and India, have been a large influence on the Hang, but it differs from its predecessors in terms of sound. The Hang has buttery, raindrop-like sounds, rather than metallic notes.

‘The Hang in its original form was of Swiss origin but the company building it has stopped production. There are other variants but the Hang or the handpan is virtually an extinct instrument.’, says Delhi-based handpan player Ashim Bery.

Bery is referencing to Felix and Sabina’s company PANArt Hangbau AG, which announced in 2013 that they wouldn’t be making any more specimens of Hang, as they are focusing on other sound and instruments.

The handpan is extremely similar to the Hang. For laypersons, the handpan can be described as the nonpatented Hang. Production of handpan is being taken over to India too recently. Bery remarks that some of his fellow musicians have been making their own handpans.

An already-trained tabla player, Bery got introduced to the handpan through another vaguely similar instrument called the steel tongue drum.

It was on a Goa beach in 2016 when he saw a man playing the same. This introduced him to a new world of percussion.

‘The steel tongue drum on the surface might look similar to the handpan but its sound is too metallic. The handpan on the other hand, has a wavy, more resonant sound.’

Bery explains the differences between the two instruments.

Studying tones and sounds in metallic drums, he finally picked up the instrument in 2018. He has been ‘playing around with it’ ever since.

Bery is one of the rare few proponents of the drum in India, a country where we aren’t totally aware of even the sound of a handpan or the Hang.

Bery laughs at this, describing how his audiences are charmed as his fingers tap the notes of the handpan. ‘It is really hard to explain the tonality of the instrument in a simple manner.

People are quite amused when they see me playing this ulta tawa (inverted pan)!’.

As he continues to play and promote the handpan, Ashim Bery doesn’t stick to the instrument for just music. He tries to explore the handpan’s rhythmic influence further by collaborating with dancers and theatre artists too. Having already dropped an instrumental album called Kalkaji to Khirkee-The First Draft, he’s working on an EP where he’s planning to combine the handpan’s sound with other varied elements and influences like violin or electronic music.

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SOUVIK CHAKRABORT Y

A HANDY GLOSSARY FOR THE MUSIC PROS Working in the industry or a plaintiff curious cat, it's your right to knowledge to these swanky terminologies of the music industry. Be a nerd dig in.

AAC

Bumper

FOH

Advanced Audio Coding or AAC is basically an encoding scheme for the next generation of the MP3 format. The AAC encoding helps in producing better sound qualities despite similar bit rates of an MP3 track.

Bumper is probably one of the most popular term in the audio visual industry. These are extremely short stings which are used to the effect of a show identification, a short scene or something far more snappy yet impactful.

The Front of House, is a term used to refer to the area where the sound and lighting boards are usually located. It can be situated within 100 feet of the centre stage.

A&R Artists & Repertoire is often used to call a division of a music company who are responsible for for seeing the scouting and overseeing the artist's image management and other business developments until the release of the records.

ABR Average Bit Rate can be interchangeably used for coining the bit rate of a song. It refers to the amount of dta transferred per unit of time. this is measured per second for a digital piece of audio.

Click Track A very common studio term for a signal used to facilitate the artists perform to the exact tempo or beat of a song.

Cue Sheet A very important piece of information for any TV show or film; a cue sheet contains all markings like the title, durations, publisher, timings and kind of use.

Derivative Work

Also called as royalty-free music, backend deal usually categorizes only those songs which can be used without a fee or license for synchronization. The model for income from these kind of music varies with the deal.

This is one of the most important terms that musicians need to familiarize themselves with. It is important to know that it is only the owner of the copyright who can authorize someone else to create a new version of an existing work.

So, coming back to basics; a derivative work is just another new version of an already extant piece of art.

Breakdown Notes

Digital Sampler

Timing Notes or Breakdown Notes are the notes an editor makes. This is a very detailed timing for the scenes for a composer to use as reference for the cues spotted at a session. This Notes contain details like dialogue, camera moves and sync codes.

Synthesized sounds are often used directly from a machine to produce impact and give variety and texture to the overall arrangement. These are usually set template samples and are always to be kept handy.

Back-End Deal

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ISRC The International Standard Recording Code is for the music recordings. It consists of a 12 character alpha numeric code. It is kind of a mark for unique identification of each track. Despite any ownership changes, the track identification remains intact. The code helps largely in curbing piracies or other malpractices across the music industry. It also facilitates the collection of royalties of the tracks.

One-Off Agreement The OOA or the One-Off Agreement works between the publisher and the songwriter. It usually takes place when a writer assigns to the producer or publisher, the copyright of one song against a percentage of the royalty. It is also termed as a 'Single Song Agreement' or just a 'Song Agreement' as well.

Rider A rider is an important term to know for anybody dealing with legal documents of music. It comes as an addition to the preexisting clauses. It may alter or amend the pointers of the document attached.

Recording in The Studio Grand pianos are heard over a symphony orchestra, but they can also whisper like a lullaby.

Here are some tips for recording them: • Let the style of the music dictate the microphones and mic placements.

• Sometimes a given type of music will cause you to move the piano into a different physical space to take advantage of its distinct acoustic properties.

• The best way to learn which of mic placement works best for you is experimenting.

Cutting Through a Mix If you need the piano to cut through a mix, try a spaced pair of small-diaphragm microphones with a cardioid pattern about six inches above the hammers. This enhances the percussive aspects and the sounds of the hammers hitting the strings.

Begin with mics about 15 inches apart and listen to the balance between the low and high strings. Ensure two mics are spaced far enough so that both the highest and lowest notes are pretty similar in level, but close enough together that the notes in the middle of the piano don’t disappear.

Sitting in the Track When the piano’s primary role on a session is support rather than being the featured instrument, a spaced pair of large-diaphragm mics inside the piano can be great.

To do so, place a pair of largediaphragm microphones with a cardioid pattern facing toward the strings, about 18 inches apart, four to six inches above the strings, and six to eight inches behind the hammers.

The sound now will be mellower than mics placed directly above the hammers. If you want to darken the recorded sound of the piano even more, move the mics farther from the hammers, closer to the end of the piano.

stereo mic configuration with two omnidirectional mics placed at the lip of the piano.

The amount of ambience in the recording can be increased by moving the microphones farther away from the instrument.

To do so, start with a pair of omni mics placed in the bend of the piano, 15–20 inches apart, and pointing at the piano lid (most of the sound the audience hears is the reflection from this lid). Experiment with the distance, the farther away you place the mics, the farther apart you can put them (up to about five feet, if the pair of mics is five or six feet back).

Contemporary Commercial Recordings For day-to-day work for rock, pop, or country radio, use a pair of AKG C414 microphones: one near the hammers up high and the other roughly where the bass strings cross the lower-mid strings. This setup combines some of the top end of a mic near the hammers with the enhanced low frequencies of a mic over the bass strings.

AKARSH SHEKHAR

How to Record the Piano Like a Pro

The C414 microphones are large-diaphragm mics, one mic is placed about 18 inches into the piano from the highest strings and about four inches behind the hammers. The second mic is 18 inches into the piano from the low side and 36 inches away from the hammers, or almost 30 inches from the foot of the piano.

XY Miking Cardioid microphones in XY pattern is for phase coherence. An XY stereo setup is a coincident technique, meaning the capsules of the two microphones are as close together as possible and angled 90 degrees to each other to produce a stereo image.

Experiment or start with the XY pair between four and eight feet in front of the piano and five or six feet off the ground. If that doesn’t work (or captures too much of the room), move the microphone closer to the piano.

A-B Stereo Mic The classical version of closemiking uses a traditional A-B

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How do you think your music and sound has evolved over the years?

With evolution of technology the medium with which we translate our imagination to sound has been changing constantly. That added with our developing understanding of self and each other, let's us define and sometimes push our boundaries for better expression of our ideas.

Your newest single, “Rab Raakha” is described as a “poetic ode to self-discovery.” What message do you hope to bring across with this song?

While you look for yourself, life gives you situations that resemble a trust fall. The belief that the ones who love you, your family & your friends, are being protected by someone up above (who/whatever you believe in), can free you from the chains of worry that hold you back from taking that leap of faith.

Your music has always had a very specific aesthetic to it.

What goes into producing songs like that? What kind of tech do you use?

We make music with one intent , whatever sounds good for the song. We compose and produce music simultaneously so we always know what the song is shaping up to be. We use a bunch of synth sounds from the Nord , Moog sub 37 and sounds from a lot of libraries. We use PRS guitars, Gibson bass, Roland Spd sx , Pearl drums and Istanbul cymbals.

Every band has its creative differences, and these have the potential to create conflict. As a five-member band, how do you deal with these differences in ideas when it comes to song-writing, performing or just your music in general?

Over the years we have learnt to separate the idea from the person. There's immense trust in each other's ideas.

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Not being dismissive of someone's opinion and checking our ego at the door before entering the studio helps us minimize conflict and focus solely on the music.

You’ve described your music as “poetry with rock”, and there’s a strong emphasis on poetic lyrics within your music. Tell us about some poets whose works would make good lyrics to a rock song.

People have turned Kabir dohas and Bulle Shah poems into rock songs. On the other hand, pick up songs by the likes of Gulzar sahab, he's written poetry in so many genres. Rock as a genre isn't confined to a certain emotion only. From love to people's frustrations, it caters to all and beyond. Poetry is the quality of these expressions and not just a cluster of beautiful words by celebrated poets.

If you could pick one artist as your band’s singular source of inspiration. Who would you pick?

It would be hard.. we can give you five.

Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, Alterbridge, Anderson Paak and Billie Eilish.

If you could change one thing about the music industry in India, what would it be?

The music industry is moving towards a more accountable and data driven industry which is great for artists across the board, but what is lacking is an awareness of these choices, as artists we would like to change the understanding in the industry towards the copyrights and royalty share involved in music making, so that other artists realize the potential in releasing their music.

AKARSH SHEKHAR

The Importance of an SSLXL Desk in Your Studio

Today we thrive in an incredible time with very affordable hardware and software tools. With all of the software-based tools and technological advances that we are experiencing, why would anyone bring an analog desk back? Consoles (and hardware in general) are limited, because you have what you have and no more. Most of us with DAW already start out with dozens of plug-ins or beyond that, and with computers becoming absolute rocket ships of processing, there’s almost nothing stopping us from throwing endless tools and options at our projects. Some find this confusing, others find it helpful but sometimes, it can be an absolute waste of time. For example if you only had 16 EQs to use, do you change the way you record or do you decide that a track doesn’t even need EQ in order to preserve that EQ for another track that definitely does need it?

Analog Consoles Most of us make music because we love it, not because someone is paying us to. Since it’s a labor of love, we come back to projects again and again, remixing, reediting, retracking, adding new plug-ins or gear, etc., rather than just calling it finished and moving on.

When a console like the XL-Desk doesn’t have recall or automation, there is no saving your project and coming back later. Sure, you can photograph the knob and fader positions or try to recall it from memory, but it’s not practical to think that you will do either as you switch from one song to the next. If you want to move on from this project, you need to be done!

The Importance of an SSL- XL Desk: • The XL-Desk as we’ve already mentioned houses an inbuilt 500 Series chassis, but it isn’t hardwired. It’s got its own patch points that can either be jumped right to the board or routed out to a patchbay.

• A button on each channel brings it into the signal path or you could just as easily patch a different piece of gear into that

point, giving you two inserts on each channel lending a lot of versatility.

• With the 500 Series chassis, you can tailor the sound of the console to be what you want.

• SuperAnalogue, the technology behind SSL’s flagship products, is meant to be transparent and clean, so it makes sense to drop in whatever modules you want for color.

• Great if you love vintage Neve-style EQs on guitars and vocals.

• Great for an API tone on your drum bus • Great for SSL compression on your mix bus • At the press of a button, it becomes a box of crayons, and you get to choose the colors which are imposed onto individual channels or mix buses.

• The workflow of this board is unbelievably flexible with both cue mixing and talkback built in so it could just as easily be used for tracking.

• This board is so fun, as we often just want tools to help take the music out of our head and simply get it into the real world and if there’s a tool that can help us do that more fluidly, more efficiently, more creatively, and in a more fun and inspiring way, then this is the tool for that.

Last but not at all least, we generally play and create music because we like the sound coming from our system and feeling more creative while operating that system is definitely something worth pursuing. The XL-Desk delivers so much as it is clearly meant to be part of a DAW-based workflow, built to leverage the power of computer-based music production without sacrificing any of the benefits of an analog workflow.

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Studio Tour

Benchmark Studios

Tell us about the space Benchmark Studios is 2500 sqft state of the art recording & music production studio which marries exceptional audio output with a truly immersive space to create benchmarks & push boundaries together.

Benchmark studios is – Studio A - our principal control room, capable of live recording, re-amping & is ground zero for all our mix and masters.

Studio B - our second medium-sized control room great for music production, VO’s/dubbing etc.

Vocal Booth – a complementary booth available for Studio A & Studio B for Dubbing, recording vocals, single acoustic instruments etc.

Live Room - our 380 sqft acoustically treated live room is equipped to record string quartets, live drums, up to 15-piece choir and most importantly, we’re equipped to live record bands with up-to 6-7 members. The Live Room also doubles up as a rehearsal room for up to 9-10 members.

We at Benchmark, in no way believe in all work and no play, which is why we’ve made pockets of entertainment and hang spots all around the studio to unwind and refresh between studio sessions. Amenities like - Free Wi-Fi, PS4 Play stations, the Bose listening den (connect your aux and press play!), a fully functional pantry and

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an air-conditioned smoking room are available in our spacious lobby. P.S you may never want to leave!

Take us through the process of setting it up – Located in Thane, we noticed how centrally located artists and creators in Mumbai had a tough time finding premium recording quality and jam room facilities closer to home & that’s where we stepped in. Our core value has always been to be a one stop shop for everything audio!

Next, we got on board acoustic consultant Rahul Samuel who worked in tandem with our interior designers to give us a studio space which will transport you both aurally & aesthetically! Co-founded by members of Paradigm Shift, a progressive rock act from Mumbai, we wanted the studio to be able to accommodate to indie bands & give them access to top notch recording and production facilities. Our multiple -room set-up is such that it can also host music video-shoots as well as listening sessions & intimate gigs!

What are some of the studio essentials you would recommend?

Loads of coffee! Definitely invest in good preamps, DAC and monitors along with a proper HVAC system accompanied by great acoustic treatment.

What equipment do you use?

We house a wide range of gear, each dedicated to a particular room.

In Studio A, we have 16 preamps out of which we have - 2 channels of Neve 8801, 2 Channels of SSL XLogic Alpha, 12 channels of Focusrite ISA 428 MKII, the UAD Apollo 16 MK II as our AtoD converter (essentially our sound card) and the Manley Elop Stereo Compressor. We also have the Fractal Axe FX XL II and a Kemper Profiler as our guitar processing units. We have the Focal SM9 as our main monitors.

Describe your work day

In Studio B, you will have access to the RME Fireface UFX- a 32 channel sound card, a TDK10 Roland E-kit to name a few.

Our philosophy was very simple actually. Pick the gear that sounds the cleanest yet also holds true to the actual tone of the source instrument or voice.

In the live room, we have Soundcraft SI Expression II as our mixing console used specifically for Rehearsals and Jam Recordings As for our drumkit which we use only for recordings – we have the revered 8-piece Pearl Reference Kit with a 5-piece Zildjian A Custom Cymbals.

It’s not really possible to describe a typical work day.

With the different kinds of artists & musicians coming in, every day is a new adventure! And since we’re a 24*7 studio, every day (or night) is different!

Philosophy or reasoning behind gear choices

What’s your next buy for the studio?

That is going to be a very, very long list! But, in the near future we hope to get our hands on the Telefunken TF39!

Tips to aspiring owners of studios

We also home to a wide range of mics, for recording instruments & vocals. For vocals we frequently use the AKG C414 or Neumann U87.

We could go on all day giving tips but most importantly, would like to stress on the fact - that no matter how difficult it gets with business (and it does get difficult) never give up or lose hope. The world needs more music!

Pieces of gear you cannot live without

If you are good at what you do and have narrowed down on the right equipment for you, accompanied by appropriately treated rooms, then you will certainly find people coming back to you for the kind of service you provide. And that will stay unique to you and will help you make your mark.

NOT fair but our top picks would be the Neve 8801, the SSL XLogic Alpha, the Axe FX, our Focal SM9 monitors, the Manley Elop Stereo Compressor, our Pearl Reference Kit, the Neumann U87, AKG C451b matched pair, and AKG C414 matched pair.

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Sennheiser Evolution 900 Series Microphone: Designed for Musicians with best set of microphones Drummer can imagine Sennheiser has the right microphone for everyone in Evolution Wired Microphone line - the 900 Series. The evolution wired 900 series: conceived of as a harmonically calibrated family, these high-end microphones combine demanding sound with unmatched reliability. Uncompromising stage equipment for uncompromising professionals. The evolution wired mics simply evolve along any sound.

All the microphones in this series have in common is impressive sound, a clear focus on the job at hand and extreme ruggedness. These mics have been created in the best tradition of German engineering and are the result of the dedication of our engineers, of countless tests, and of the most meticulous manufacturing processes.

All 900 Series microphones are designed to offer transparent sound, be insensitive to handling noise, and feature excellent transient response and feedback rejection. Tight and uniform polar patterns, tighter manufacturing tolerances and gold XLR pins are common to the entire line. Targeted to professional musicians, PA rental companies and rehearsal studios, the 900 Series is optimized for all measurable parameters. While there are microphones for every professional in Evolution 900 Series, we will focus on mics designed for drumkit Sennheiser E901: The e 901 is a rugged boundary microphone that handles high sound pressure levels extraordinarily well.

Tailored to give the kick drum a highly precise, very dry sound character, the e 901 makes every attack lightning fast and realistic. The integrated preamp and gold-plated XLR connector have proven themselves to be exceptionally practical on stage. With half-cardioid polar pattern, the 901 delivers faster transient response, does not require a stand, and comes with a non-skid pad and slots for permanent mounting.

Sennheiser E902: If we have to describe this mic one line, you can clearly say, “Clean bass meets precise punch�. The e 902 is especially designed for the low sound spectrum and

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convinces with firm, clearly defined bass sounds with a tight punch. The strongly contoured frequency response features a pronounced damping of the mid-range and an accentuated emphasis of the high-end and bass. It offers a clear, grainy sound with a full body and a precise kick that effortlessly asserts itself in a band context. The sound of the e 902 can be flexibly shaped by its positioning in the drum set: from warm and round to sharp and direct. The rugged housing meets the hardest of demands during live gigs. Evolution 902 offers higher resonant frequency (65Hz), a shock-mounted capsule with integrated clip mouth, and delivers more punch and tighter response of the lowest bass signals.

Sennheiser E904: It’s consistent frequency response creates a sound that is as transparent as it is harmonic and that can be wonderfully shaped. It can be cleanly embedded in the drum mix thanks to its precise attacks and voluminous body.

The set receives an extremely energetic and defined sound with this microphone. The e 904 reliably withstands even the hardest direct hits. The dynamic cardioid Evolution 904 drum instrument mic features a high mass metal chassis for greater stability with powerful, punchy sound characteristics suitable for a variety of musical styles. Thanks to its practical clip, it is child's play to attach to the rims of snares and tom-toms. And, with its compact form, it takes up a very small amount of space.

Sennheiser E914: The e 914 is a condenser microphone of the superior class with a full-bodied sound and excellent dynamics. Its silky character, never headstrong, is developed from the gentle emphasis of the sophisticated treble. Its straightforward transient response accurately captures the temperament of each set, even at very high sound pressure levels. With its detailed resolution, the e 914 makes every live drum sound more refined. The capsule has extraordinary feedback resistance and can be individually adapted to various needs with three positions of bass roll-off/cut-off and pre-attenuation can be set.

While there are tons of variables (and fad trends) to taking your studio to the next level, the key is to figure out the weakest link in your studio and focus your attention there first. Once you solve that problem, you can then move on to the next weakest link, and so on. As you keep doing this, you’ll see where you can most dramatically improve things and eventually get to things that make a difference but may not be as dramatic as the earlier weak links you fix or improve.

The mistake that most people make is focusing on the “fun” or “sexy” things first and then worrying about other stuff later — and that’s okay, but it may not be the best approach to making quick improvements in your studio. It all depends on what you want.

With that being said, here are some tips for your studio but keep in mind that what you address first depends on where the weak link is in your chain.

The Room What you record or listen to in your studio is affected by the room. It’s the area where many studios are weakest but also the area where improvements can affect every aspect of the music you create. To take your room to the next level use complete room packages such as Auralex Roominators and Primacoustics London systems.

Mics Other than your room and your monitor system, your microphones also affect the front-end capture of audio for what you hear in your room. Get the best mics you can; having a few great mics is better than having a bunch of less stellar choices. To start with, get a great largediaphragm condenser and a great dynamic mic and then fill in your selection from there, depending on what you record.

Monitoring Like with the room and the mic, everything you hear with regards to the audio you record is affected by

your monitor. Affordable monitors offer incredible quality at really good prices and stepping up the quality of your monitors will have a drastic effect on the quality of your productions. Cleaning up the monitor path with a pristine monitor controller can also make a big difference.

Alternative Monitoring Not only can you upgrade the quality of your monitors, consider adding a second or even third set of monitors and a great set of headphones.

Each set of monitors and headphones has a sonic signature and a certain response. After listening on a variety of playback transducers, you’ll get a better overall picture of what your music sounds like and make it more “transportable” to consumer systems.

Tips to Take Your Studio to The Next Level

AKARSH SHEKHAR

Preamps, Processing, Converters, and Audio Interface Once there is clarity in your room and you are capturing quality audio with your mics, look at upgrading your preamps, converters, audio interface, and other hardware processors. This might go higher up on your list if you’re looking for a specific color or response for your recording like a particular flavor from a preamp or compressor, for instance. Or if you’re looking for a much greater sound from your mics, then maybe you want a high-quality uncolored preamp or a better converter.

Cables There’s a simple philosophy on cables: buy the best that you can afford. By buying the best value cables, you eliminate most concerns about any impact the cabling may have on audio or data transfer.

Inexpensive but good cables can work well for some time, but let’s face it, they have a higher tendency to degrade quickly. So instead, enjoy the peace of mind you get by going with great cables. It’s just one less thing to distract you from making music and enhancing creativity.

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UNDERSTANDING MUSICAL PREDISPOSITION THROUGH CONDITIONING, HABITUAL & PREFRENCE MECHANISM IN BRAIN. Key Words : Music Predispositions, cognitive response, Perceptive response, Motivational centers ,cognitive reserve written by Prof B.Sai Kiran Kumar Consultant neurofeedback trainer BCIA USA, Adithya Malluri Psychologist and certified Neurofeedback trainer Presidency college, Bangalore The Permeation and processing of music in the human brain has always been a mystery because of the effect it produces.

Musical predispositions have a significant role in elucidating these processes. Our affinity towards a particular sound is associated with repetitive sequences of a particular melody played, which conditions the brain to understand musical sequences of similar origin. This explains a reward based interest created towards a particular melody causing the listener to memorize and also reciprocate the sequence through mirror neuron related mechanism.

The adult brain understands melodies and starts registering the sequences played in the form of a patterned architecture in the brain. The subsequent stimulation is the activation of motivational centers in the brain in creating cortical cells associated memory networks for a particular tune. Through consistent conditioning of these melodies, the listener’s ability to identify the finer details of the respective melody is alleviated thus creating recognition of any dissonance in the particular sequence played. This can be explained through jingles of advertisements when illustrated with different context equated with music. Some of the other important factors that help in the following process include recognition of pitch, contour of the sound, duration and interval processing. Musical predispositions determine the inclination of the listener to particular form of sound thereby creating neural network synchrony.

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When a synchrony associated with neural networks is created, the regulatory pathways of memory and reward networks are strengthened. In some situations, these reward mechanisms can enhance the cognitive reserve and help in coping stressful situations. Musical perception has a stronger coherence in improving the brain’s activity and hence metaphorically it is referred to as “auditory cheesecake experience” when a rewarding tone is played.

1. Merriam,A.P.(1964)TheAnthropologyofMusic.

Evanston,Ill:NorthwesternUniversityPress.

2. Blacking,J.(1995)Music,Culture,andExperience.

London:UniversityofChicagoPress.

3. Dowling,W.J.(1999) Thedevelopmentofmusicperceptionandcognition.InD. Deutsch(ed.) The Psychology of Music. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 603–25.

4. https://shapeamerica.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/106 71315.1978.10615514#.Xl_HsKgzbzY – positive effect of music on physical performance 5. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ abs/10.1177/0305735605050650- postive effect of music at workplace

AKARSH SHEKHAR

THE TWO GREATEST STUDIO CONSOLES AND THEIR IMPACT ON MUSIC Although the first “ready-made” console manufacturers emerged in the 1960s, a studio’s console gave its rooms their own distinctive sound due to its unique circuitry and components.

Cher’s sixth album was recorded at Muscle Shoals, “Kodachrome,” the number two Billboard Hot 100 lead single from Paul Simon’s third solo album, 1973’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, were all cut there. And not to forgot, there was Lynyrd Skynyrd, who put Southern rock on the map with their platinum-selling 1977 breakout album Street Survivors.

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio: Universal Audio 610 When the Rolling Stones rolled into Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for three evening sessions in December at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, the story of the “burlap palace” was barely up to the task. The recording studio, with its burlapcovered ceiling and acoustic-tile wall panels, had a 1-inch 8-track Scully tape machine, no outboard equipment, and a sonically excellent but basic Universal Audio 610 tube console. It had 10 inputs with simple fixed-frequency low- and high-shelving EQ. But that didn’t stop the Stones from making what would become timeless music.

The Rolling Stones recorded three tracks at Muscle Shoals Sound: “You Gotta Move,” “Wild Horses,” and “Brown Sugar.”

Released as the first single, the opening track, “Brown Sugar,” shot up to number one in the United States of America and number two in the UK. So what brought so many artists to this bare-bones recording studio tucked away on the Alabama/ Tennessee state line? It was the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, lovingly referred to as the Swampers, with a distinctive, organic sound and infectious grooves that drove hit records by Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and other singers of that era. It was Jimmy Johnson (guitarist/engineer), Barry Beckett (keyboards), David Hood (bass), and Roger Hawkins (drums) that drew artists from far and wide to work in this tiny “burlap” studio at 3614 Jackson Highway. When they purchased the modest property with financial backing from Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler in early 1969, they never suspected they’d soon be hosting the Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the World.

After the Rolling Stones worked there, Muscle Shoals Sound Studios became THE recording destination for artists of all genres. But let’s not forget that before that, it was the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section that attracted the attention of artists and producers.

Abbey Road Studios: TG12345 In the 1960s, EMI Studios London had a staff of innovative technical engineers and racks of the best gear available at the time, much of it either designed from scratch or heavily modified by EMI technicians. The Beatles were the most famous beneficiaries of EMI’s technical prowess. In the beginning, they recorded on EMI REDD.37 valve consoles built by EMI Central Research Laboratories in the late 1950s, although the updated REDD.51 captured their 60s creativity even better.

Other musicians whose music was shaped by Abbey Road’s TG consoles include a veritable who’s who list of rock royalty: Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wings, Pink Floyd, the Hollies, Al Stewart, the Shadows, the Raspberries, the Buzzcocks, XTC, and more. Abbey Road’s increasing success with record projects overshadowed the fact that their Studio One was the world’s largest purpose-built recording studio and had been hosting full symphony orchestras since the 1930s.

During the mid-’70s, the studio was moving away from large orchestra recordings and by 1979, management was considering a plan to break up Studio One, which would give them another smaller “rock” studio, as well as expanded parking. Then fate intervened. A company called Anvil Post Production approached them with a partnership deal that would make Abbey Road a major player in the film scoring business.

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KAUSTHUB RAVI & SIVANESH NATARAJAN

PRO-AUDIO AUDIO AT IT’S BEST! Shadow Hills Mastering Com-pressor Class A TRULY CLASS A! The shadow hills mastering compressor class a limited edition is one of the most exclusive and powerful compressors ever built. vintage king released the class in 2012, limiting production to on-ly 50 units.

This very expensive and high-end compressor sits very nicely in some of the best mastering houses in the world.

The Brainwork plugin could be the closest we can get to this beautiful piece. The plugin models the limited edition piece quite faithfully down to the updated Class A discrete compressor section utilizing Lundahl input transformers as well as the hand-wired Mogami Cable.

The plugin features all of the same controls as the original hardware including the control to choose between different transformers for different colors.

This makes this quite versatile. The compression is

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extremely smooth and transparent. It delivers a thicker and richer tone to whatever is running through it.

Among the controls, Brainworx included its wellknown retractable Extra Unit. The BX Extra Unit provides the following features: Brainworx´s TMT (patent pending Tolerance Modeling Technolo-gy), MS - processing, Mono-Maker, Stereo Width, Parallel Mix, Sidechain Filter continuously vari-able 12 dB per octave high pass filter and a Headroom parameter.

Visually, this version can also be distinguished by red LEDs on the front panel versus the green ones found on the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.

GREEN for the Drum Buss - RED for the Master.

All in all its a great plugin to have and is surprisingly very noticeable different than the normal edi-tion of the Shadow Hills compressor. It has its character and adds a very distinct punch to mixes. It works well for electronic music to give it some overall character and vibe.

Slate Digital Infinity EQ Plug-in PULSAR SMASHER CALL OF THE RAW AND GRITTY SOUNDS! Pulsar is a new kid on the audio plugin market. They have one other plugin which is the Mu com-pressor and we reviewed that one very shortly before. It's one of our absolute favorites. The smasher is their new offering and is free for a limited period!! It's a custom modification of the 1176 compressor circuit, a twist on the famous all buttons in mode. It can add thickness and grit to any drum or bass track, or completely crush a bus, producing an aggressive sound It is is very easy to use the plug-in with an input, output and mix knob. That's it! The compression style can only be described in one word - Aggressive. They say the modeling technology guaran-tees a perfect emulation of the original device’s behavior. From the saturation of the magnetic flux in the inductors to the precise response of the transistors, to the effects of tiny calibration de-fects, everything is perfectly reproduced. While we don't have a real 1176 to test it out, it does sound amazing for what it does. It's ideal for raising the level of ambiances in a drum bus, but al-so for adding presence to vocals or warming up guitars or basses. It does not treat vocals with too much love unless your intent is some extreme leveling/parallel saturation.

The Mix knob of the Smasher allows precise adjustment of how much thickness you want to add to your sound.

Pulsar Smasher consumes as few system resources as possible – despite the complex algo-rithms at work.

Smasher takes full advantage of modern CPUs to do more with less. But if your computer can stand it and you enjoy making it suffer, you can always turn oversampling on, pro-cessing at rates up to 384kHz! Its a really fun bit of kit to have and its currently free! Grab is ASAP!

ONE STOP SHOP! Another tool in the arsenal of slate digital! It's a 24-band graphical EQ aims at the modern engi-neer who wants to work fast and get great results. It claims to be optimized for mouse control and touchscreen surfaces, with compact control groups for the ultimate economy of motion. It looks fairly straightforward, although the interface looks slick and modern. Its control groups are truly unique.

It allows you to chain multiple bands together and have them behave with each oth-er. This allows for quite a unique and interesting workflow and in some cases, allows for some pretty unique EQ moves. The EQ itself is extremely transparent no matter if you use it for subtle carving or dramatic tonal transformation. And, with continuously shapeable slopes, simultaneous cut and boost, and powerful Mid/Side and Left/Right processing, the Slate Digital Infinity EQ is extremely versatile.

They stress a lot on the workflow of this EQ. Its intuitive interface is laid out to minimize mouse movements, with tight groupings for related functions and no rightclick drop-down menus. Dou-ble-click on any point to create one of up to 24 filter bands, and use the sliders that hover above or below the band to shape the slope and adjust the Q. For pinpoint listening, you can click the headphone icon to solo a band. And, the Infinity EQ lets you affect multiple bands simultaneously by selecting and linking band groups. Paired with automation, the tone-shaping possibilities of the Infinity EQ are endless.

On the sound front - there’s zero-latency analog matching and it sounds good even as you push quite a bit with no brittle highs or flabby lows. They’ve included a slew of helpful presets to speed up your process and inspire creative tone-crafting.

This EQ is quite interesting and we are quite intrigued to see how it fits within the workflow of dif-ferent engineers.

Digital EQ’s are seen as a purely functional tool and its hard to switch from the ones that an engineer is truly used to. This plugin could very well take its spot, especially because it comes included if you already have the Slate All Access Pass. If you think about it, it's quite a sweet deal!.

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MUKESH AMARAN

ALBUM ARTicle

AKSHAY AGRAWAL Hello, a little bit about yourself and your background in arts and music?

I am Akshay Agrawal and I am a Wonder Junkie!

Amidst the engineering trauma, I became a self-taught designer! I started off doing UI/UX designs for projects, posters, illustrations and branding for college events like TEDx, pushing me out of my comfort zone every time.

Also, the love for art, philosophy, and music has always intrigued me to imagine the meaning behind them, thus giving me opportunities to render my imaginative fantasies!

At this point in your career, what role did music have to play in you getting to where you are?

Visual representation of music has always been part of my life directly and indirectly! My other passion, dance has always taught me how the music makes you feel, learning the right intention always helps you to deliver the right message.

I wanted to convey the same story in the art using similar metaphors. Darkness and Bright Sky representing integral part of life, Sun and Moon to describe beauty in both situations, Stars and Birds to represent opportunities and freedom, Dead and Blooming Flowers in the heart to represent one’s own grief and desires, and absence of stars in front of eyes to show that how a person becomes blind to opportunities and happiness because of selfdoubts! Bringing all this together to convey the meaning and exporting the last iteration at 4 am surprised me with output, thus ironically clearing my own self-doubts!

Tell us a little bit about the process that is involved in making a piece by Akshay.

Music is an integral part of my work-life, as every project nudges me to hunt for the right playlist to set the mood. Music and Pop culture have always fascinated me, I always wanted to part of it and visual arts has helped me make my way into it.

I always believe in investing the major time in researching and understanding the concept. Curiosity helps in boosting creativity. Without the research, anything remains meaningless. Once the idea is there, It just takes playing with tools to portray it.

Tell us about your collaboration with Kenji Distobot from conception to creation and the end product.

Tell us about your art style and the concepts behind your artworks.

Kenji is a good friend of mine and we have previously worked together on other projects. When he pitched me the concept, it was quite experimental than his other projects and he allowed me the liberty to experiment myself. The song Khoj is about a person’s introspection

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of his own split nature. How he views the world in a negative way and motivates himself to look for the positive side. It was an attempt to spread awareness about self-care and mental health. The lyrics are very metaphorical and relatable to my own life on goings.

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Good storytelling always gets sold. I try implementing this with vector arts, typography, and minimal approach. Photography makes one relate to reality, and illustrations let them imagine, and I always aim for that.

GIG CALENDAR March 2020 New Delhi Date

Mumbai

Name

Location

Date

Name

Location

Mar 10th

Rythem & Shashank

The Pianoman Jazz Club, New Delhi

Mar 7th

AntiSOCIAL presents Framed w/ Luuk Van Dijk, Blurry x Orbs

AntiSocial, Mumbai

Mar 12th

Frolic in the Forest

The Pianoman Jazz Club, New Delhi

Mar 8th

The Finch, Mumbai

Mar 13th

Intimate | Lexer (Einmusika/Katermukke)

Summer House Café, New Delhi

International Women's Day Feat. WFM

Mar 13th

AntiSocial, Mumbai

Mar 14th

Wild City Presents: Various Artists w/ Perera Elsewhere & Versa

Bebetta at antiSOCIAL Mumbai.

In honor of women’s day!

Mar 14th

AntiSocial, Mumbai

Mar 14th

Karpatt

The Pianoman Jazz Club, New Delhi

Krunk Presents: Teebs [US] & GiGi FM [UK]

Mar 18th

Madness JAMS : Blackstratblues

AntiSocial, Mumbai

Mar 16th

Sean Halls

The Pianoman Jazz Club, New Delhi

Mar 28th

Krunk Prsnts: Hotbox 13 ft Radio Slave (UK)

AntiSocial, Mumbai

Mar 21st

Submarine in Space

The Pianoman Jazz Club, New Delhi

Mar 25th

Boxout Wednesdays #153 w/ Stalvart John & Farhan Rehman

Mar 26th

Noontime Starling

Mar 28th

Ascension 002 feat. YANT + dotdat

Mar 31st

Chezin

Auro, Delhi

Summer House Café, New Delhi The Pianoman Jazz Club, New Delhi Auro, Delhi The Pianoman Jazz Club, New Delhi

Bangalore Date

Name

Mar 8th

Samar Mehdi // Guruub Tour // Bangalore

Mar 11th

Wednesday Live ft. Alexis Kings

Mar 18th

Home Brewed: Peepal Tree, Jatayu & Param

Fandom, Bangalore

Mar 20th

Bangalore Open Air 2020 Pre-Party

Fandom, Bangalore

Mar 21st

Madness JAMS: The F16s & Jbabe

Fandom, Bangalore

Mar 22nd

Sunday Unplugged ft. 24 Carat

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Location Fandom, Bangalore Hard Rock Café, Bangalore

Hard Rock Café, Bangalore

Pune, Kolkata, Gurugram Date

Name

Location

Mar 8th

Women's Day Special ft.

Astrid & The Misfits

Mar 13th

Bhayanak Maut

Mar 14th

Saturday Live ft. Thermal and A Quarter

Mar 20th

The Tram Lines Project

Hard Rock Café, Pune TopCat CCU Hard Rock Café, Gurugram TopCat CCU

If it isn’t here, it isn’t happening! Write to us at contactus@ highonscore.com to get your event featured!

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