ISSN 0974 – 9128
Vol 11 Issue 2
February 2018
thescoremag
@highonscore
highonscore.com
India's National Pan-Genre Music MagazinE
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ARTIST OF THE MONTH
RITVIZ
BAND OF THE MONTH
SANAM
SHADOW AND LIGHT
COVER STORY
ALSO INSIDE: INTERVIEW WITH OCEANTIED, RECORDING IN DRUMS, MIXING IN MONO AND MORE.
I NSIDE Band of the BAND Month: When Chai Met Toast OF THE MONTH:
SHADOW AND LIGHT 18
SANAM
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ARTIST OF THE MONTH: RITVIZ
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INTERVIEW : OCEANTIED
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BEGINNERS GUIDE TO CYMBALS FOR DRUMMERS 21
INSTAGRAM FOR MUSIC
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5 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS THAT DESERVE A LISTEN 27
TIME TO MONITOR YOUR SOUND 28
RECORDING IN DRUMS
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DIRECTOR'S NOTE Director, Strategy and Planning Ajay Prabhakar Director, Business Development Pragash VM Director, Marketing & Operations Sneha Ramesh
Click-baiting took an ugly form last month with the usually sane "The New Indian Express" printing this awful headline “Dalit outreach with Ilaiyaraaja’s Padma.” published on Republic day no less, the newspaper came across as a torchbearer for regression in India. We stand by with our media brethren Scroll, The News Minute, The Quint and many others who named and shamed The New Indian express for its pretentious attempt at journalism. We would also like to call out the ugliness in Tamil Cinema that soon followed after Director Bharathiraja, who professed he knew nothing of the issue, went on to accuse Ilayaraja of "behaving like a Brahmin." This incident reminds us of how MS Subalakshmi accused of the same thing by TM Krishna only a couple of months ago. Is this a curious case of "Great Minds Think Alike" or is it that "Fools seldom differ?", We will let you be the judge. For us though, musician Ilayaraja has brought us enormous joy through his music, and we are thrilled that The Padma Vibhushan award given to him. We will continue to celebrate great music irrespective of where it comes from.
Editorial Advisor Nikila Srinivasan
For the New Indian Express we have a couple of suggestion: Consider printing an apology that equals in length to your original article. It's a small price to pay for recouping some of the severe blow to your reputation.
Creative Director George Vedamanickam
For Celebrated Director Bharathiraja who remains silent on other issues he is probably ignorant of (like caste-based honor killings), we request him to extend this courtesy to all issues he is ignorant of.
Creative Designer Manasi Doshi Content Contributors Shreya Bose Pramita Bose Amogh Rao Sriram Ravishankar Malik Arshaq
For the rest of us, I recommend developing a thick skin against regressive luminaries who unfortunately dominate our political space and our radio waves and prevent them from getting our mindshare as well.
PRAGASH VM
Director - Business Development subscribe to us at www.thescoremagazine.com
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SRIRAM RAVISHANKAR
Unstoppable! India’s hottest Independent Pop Rock band SANAM unwind as they grow on to be India’s largest digital platform artists and the fastest growing YouTube channel in the country with shows across the globe! 12
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the biggest names like Sonu Nigam, Vishal & Shekhar, and many others, Ben has been guiding us in the direction from the start. If you are doing a rendition of any song, it is always advisable to take all legal permissions before going ahead with anything else.
Where does critical acclaim stand for a band that runs on popularity? Venky S - Criticism is always welcome. It is important for any artist to take it in the right spirit. How the world reacts to your music is always a surprise that you will only see after you release your work. Just like anything else in the world, some of it might appeal to the masses and some may not. Since we record, program, compose, shoot, direct and edit most our songs and videos on our own, it takes up almost all our time. We also need to make time for rehearsals, shows and many other things. So, the moment we are done releasing one song, we forget about it and start working on the next one. This gives us hardly any time to read comments or dwell upon them. Criticism is good and will only help us understand our audience better and will help us grow as musicians and artists. Our advice to all budding artists is to focus on your work, don’t get too carried away in any amount of success or criticism. Just work hard and be cheerful!
How and when do you find the time to polish your craft amidst such busy schedules? Sanam Puri - Like the famous saying goes, ‘The busiest people have time for everything’. Over time we have seen this to be true! It is all about time management I guess. We prioritize our work and make sure we get everything done to the best of our abilities. In the creative field, we are five minds working together. So, on every project, each of us take on different roles and get things done. The role varies depending on our schedules and on the project. It's challenging but becomes possible with a strong and dedicated management that supports us all the time. So, together as a team, we work really hard and will continue to do so.
How do you internalize the magnitude of success coming your way?
How do you manage to cover so many songs without any copyright issues? Recently so many cover artist's videos were pulled down by record labels. Samar Puri - When we started out, even though we hardly had any subscribers and had no clue how far YouTube would take us, we still decided to do things the right way. From our first rendition till date, we always made sure we got all permissions from the owners of the copyright before we started working on them. Lucky for us, we have very strong management backing us. Our manager and 5th member of our band is Mr. Ben Thomas (Kurian & Company Talent Management). Having had many years of experience in the music and entertainment industry, after managing some of
Venky S - Success is really a relative term. To us success is measured in terms of happiness. Working together, making music, shooting videos, travelling the world, performing and entertaining so many different people makes us really happy. We are so blessed and grateful to be doing something we love. It also makes us really happy to see our music touching and connecting so many different lives together. We get so many messages from so many fans saying that our music has brought them together. People from different parts of the world, who would never have met each other, are now best of friends, enjoying our music together. We also get some really touching messages from fans telling us that in today’s day and age, where everyone is so busy staring at their phones and there are hardly any human connections between families at home, our music has now brought them together. Mothers, Fathers, Children, and even Grand Parents now sit together and enjoy our music videos. Things like these really make us happy and encourage us to work harder.
Does commercial viability and pressures impact you? Samar Puri - As creative people, our focus and expertise lie in making music. It is imperative for any artist to have a strong management backing them up. We are lucky to have our manager Ben Thomas so closely connected with us professionally and personally as family. He takes care of the business aspect for us so we are free to focus on the music and The
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on our videos. It is very rare to find such good management. We work in synergy. We make each other stronger. We are a team and will continue to work hard and grow.
When most of your repertoire is Bollywood film music, why have you kept away from playback or scoring for a film? Sanam Puri - I grew up listening to bands. Actually, so many different bands throughout our childhood have inspired all of us. Forming our own band and working on music together was always a dream for us all. When we got together, things just clicked! We knew immediately that this is what we wanted to do. After meeting Ben, we were finally confident that we can bring back independent music and band culture into India if we all worked together and worked hard. We knew that this was going to be a longer and harder route, but this is what makes us happy and this is what makes us strong. So since then there has been no turning back. We spend so much time every day, working on our music, videos, rehearsing for shows and doing so many different things that I hardly get any time to do anything else. I have sung for a few Bollywood movies before and I am open to lending my voice in the future as well. It’s just that I don’t get any time. Also, working with the band and working on our own music (originals and renditions) makes me really happy and comfortable. We get to do things our way, and as an artist, music is our expression and connect to the rest of the world. So, it is important to feel satisfied and happy with our work before we release it.
Introduce us to your stellar management who play such a major role in your success Keshav Dhanraj - Right on top of the list is our Business Manager and also SANAM Band's 5th member- Mr. Ben Kurian Thomas. He is so passionate about his work and about our band. It’s rare to see or hear him talking about anything else. It’s always just SANAM SANAM SANAM. Ben manages each of us individually as people and as a band. The trust and bond we share with together is really something special. Having had so much experience in the entertainment industry, he is by far the most passionate and amazing manager anyone can ever have. Ben is the mastermind behind the scenes. Everything goes through him. Sandeep Chaudhary is a part of the KNC family and the SANAM family. He is our tour manager so he travels with us for all live shows and other engagements. We have all grown so close! He is really responsible and works really hard to keep us safe and to make sure things are easier for us when we travel on tour. We have around 15 to 16 people travelling with us on tour. Sandeep manages
Quick riff: - A recent musical trend that doesn’t make sense to you - Mumble rap. - One piece of advice that you wish you took more seriously - Practice makes perfect. - A change you wish to see in the music industry - More live venues for bands to perform at in the country. - Your biggest cheap thrills at this point - Trying out guitars in music stores; not buying anything and leaving satisfied. - An artist you can’t stop fanning over - Bruno Mars
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everyone and makes sure things go smoothly and as planned. It is a really stressful and tough job but he makes it look easy and is always smiling. Priyanka Bhambhani is the newest addition to our family. She handles our PR and a number of other things as a part of the team of Kurian & Co Talent Management. I don’t think we have ever seen someone so well planned and organized. She has everything so well planned out. It becomes so much easier for us having Priyanka plan, schedule and execute everything that comes our way. She is constantly sending us reminders and updates on everything that needs to be done. She is so passionate about everything she does. You can tell that her passion comes straight from her heart. We feel blessed and fortunate to have such wonderful people in our lives!
Retaining the essence of pop music while blindly being labeled as a "sellout" Samar Puri - All four of us have always been interested in Pop music right from the start. Having said that, we grew up listening to all kinds of other genres as well. We each have rather different influences in music. While composing, we try to blend in all four of our ideas into one song. We don’t release a song unless each of us is satisfied. Yes, we make Pop/Rock music but we always make music that we enjoy and that we believe in. That’s the reason why we are taking it slow but doing only things that make us happy.
With over 3M subscribers, please elaborate on the challenges you have faced while garnering the interest of a virtual audience. And some gyaan to the newbies! Sanam Puri - While we started off, we had no clue how to do any of this. We learnt as we went along. I think the most important thing is to just start doing things. That itself is a big
learning experience. You will face challenges all along. But the idea is to be creative, work hard and think of ways to overcome each challenge one step at a time. I remember when we released our first few videos we sat for days on Facebook, sending links to all our family and friends. After that we would check with them again to see if they actually watched the video and would take feedback from everyone to make the next audio and video better. The best gyaan would be to keep things simple, work hard and be consistent. Everything else will follow.
Lessons learnt the hard way Keshav Dhanraj - When we first formed our band. We won a 3-year recording contract with Times Music. At first, we were really excited, with so many expectations. Being signed to a big music label seemed too good to be true. We managed to record our first album, which was released by Times Music. However, after that, everything went south. We had shot 2 music videos, which were released on YouTube. Those 3 years with Times Music taught us a lot about the entertainment industry and also made us stronger as a band. There were so many ups and downs during that time. We had no idea who to rely on and who to trust. After the management at Times Music changed, we went to meet the new CEO. He was brutally honest with us. He made us understand that a music label is only equipped to sell and distribute our music. Whatever else was promised to us by their predecessors, were only false promises. He encouraged us to go out and find a manager before we do anything else. Those 3 years with times music taught us a whole lot and made us understand that there are no short cuts. Since then we decided to do everything on our own, so we didn’t have to rely on anyone else. After meeting Ben Thomas, we felt strong and confident to go through this journey together. There will always be ups and downs, the important thing is that we go through them together.
SANAM consists of Sanam Puri (Vocals), Samar Puri (Guitar), Venky S (Bass Guitar), and Keshav Dhanraj (Drums and Percussion).
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Ritviz SOUVIK CHAKRABORT Y
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Ritviz, the entire nation is drooling on "Udd Gaye", did you expect this kind of a response? How did you come up with this after YUV? The nation wants to know what were you tripping on, when you came up with a groove that could rise up heads like it's an anthem.
YUV will always be my most intricate piece of work, I thoroughly pride myself on that EP and I feel like it’s always going to be hard to beat that one. After YUV, I was really keen to experiment with my own vocals and so I started working on the next album. “Udd Gaye” is the first single from that album and rest of the songs will also see me experimenting very extensively with my own vocals. So naturally I was really nervous about releasing “Udd Gaye” and I genuinely had no idea what to expect! I feel like I’m as surprised as anybody else by the response it has received!
How did Udd Gaye happen; tell us about the collaboration with Bacardi and AIB? I had been working on my new album for almost a year, when we heard about Bacardi House Party Sessions. We thought it would be good idea to send in “Udd Gaye” so we did, and they loved it instantly. From there on, things moved pretty quickly – along with the guys from CATNIP we decided on a music video concept, within a couple of week’s time it was shot and another week later the video was ready to be released! I have to mention Tanmay & Udyan (Nucleya) over here, they're both such amazing people and their support has been heartwarming! The fact that they've joined hands, and along with Bacardi are investing in up & coming talent is such a beautiful thing. Being a part of Bacardi House Party Sessions was a huge turning point in my career and I owe a big one to both of them for believing in me.
How do you think the internet helped in tapping the potentials of the independent music producers of our times? It’s definitely made it a lot easier to put out your music and showcase it to the world. But at the same time, it’s reduced the chances of discovery due to the
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humongous amount of content available out there in the open.
As a music producer how confident or optimistic you are with the internet, especially with a host of free looping websites and tools lying around to explore for the new comers; is it good or is it too scary that literally anyone with a musical ear can end up producing an album? That is exactly how I learnt how to produce and I would encourage others to do the same.
What would you love to call your music, other than 'original' of course? Classical / Hindustani
Also tell us the process of creating the aura that your music, a lot of musicians today are equally psyched about the technicalities of producing some thing which is high on bass and electronics, how important do you think it is to balance the form and the contents, the aesthetics and the technical aspects? Every song has its own process and I personally believe that there’s no one way to go about producing music. I prefer to concentrate on the aesthetics while creating the song and once the song is ready, I fix things up on the technical end. The second part is super important in order for the song to sound good while the first part is a more personal process that one should try and develop for themselves. I also have an additional step in between which is to get feedback from my manager, Rahul. He understands me and my music really well and gives me completely honest feedback, which is very important for me.
The next generation of independent music producers will look forward to icons like Nucleya, Su Real and Ritviz but how difficult was it for you to dig in inspiration from a country whose staple music is mostly romantic playbacks which regimented throughout on a heavy duty of melody lip synced on bare chest young men in cold deserts (visualize Bollywood song picturisations)? Whom did you look up to as icons for pulling up your music? The best part about the internet is that one doesn’t need to only listen to what is staple. Because of the internet, we have access to all kinds of music – popular or not. So in that sense I’m never tied down by anything in particular, I listen to everything from hip-hop to pop to trap and bass music. Nucleya & Su Real are definitely on my list of icons as well, I believe what they have done for the scene is clearly unmatched.
You are almost ghosted out in the internet amidst the flyers and banners of your own shows, share some memories you cherish about your childhood that you treasure in your career and life today? Singing with Ma. She is just amazing and I recollect as a child I would never hesitate to join her as she practiced every morning. I was only six years old at the time.
Did you always wish to earn your bread being a dance music producer or you dreamt of becoming somebody else when you were growing up? I wouldn’t say dance music but music in general is definitely all I’ve ever wanted to do and everything
I’ve done so far was done keeping that in mind. When I realized that I like composing tunes, I taught myself how to produce. Next, I needed a way to play my music to people so I taught myself how to DJ.
What is the most flattering comment you ever got in an after party? I’m not much of an after party guy so am still wishing for this..haha..
If there is one thing you would want to change in your life and music what would it be? Nothing really.
What is with your attire, you of course, look phenomenally different from a person who gets people head banging in clubs, pubs and bars on late night weekends? Why did you feel it is important to dress the way you do, has it got anything do with the music or is it the philosophy behind it? It’s quite simple actually – I love Kurtas! It’s not just an on stage attire, I wear kurtas all the time, no matter where I go. I’m all about Kurtas and cool sneakers
Your music is sprinkled with Eastern references, tell us about your background in classical? Is it a value addition or a necessity for the Indian dance music producers to have a faculty for the classical? I took formal training in two different forms of Hindustani classical vocals called Dhrupad & Khayal. I learnt Khayal from Ma when I was 5 years old, and Dhrupad under Pt. Uday Bhawalkar at the age of 10. I trained because I enjoyed it and not because I wanted to make a career in it. And I don’t think it’s a necessity because everyone has their own way of doing things. One should do something only if they like doing it.
What is the biggest difference between the EDM scene of India and the West? I feel there’s a lot more openness to collaborate in the west.
Is it not challenging that artists like you are finding a niche market while the rappers from north India are storming Bollywood like they are playing at their backyard? Do you envy this mainstream attention? Do you dream of playing for any genre of movie, kind of directors or actors? I’m an independent musician and I pretty much chose this path for myself. Also, I always want to make music that I’m proud of, irrespective of how many people appreciate it. When it comes to Bollywood, I don’t have a major inclination yet, but maybe I will chip in if something interesting comes my way.
Recently, Divine busted the charts with Raja Kumari, which are the artists you look forward to collaborating with, in the future globally as well as in India? I have a few collaborations in the pipelines but unfortunately I can’t talk about those right now
What is up next, should we expect an album right away in the new year, or is it going to be a long wait? We’re planning to release few more singles first. These will be songs from the album itself. Stay tuned!
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BAND OF THE MONTH
SHADOW & Light How did you get inspired to form this band and what was the story behind coming up with this name? Our friendship started with music and collaboration. It was never planned or structured but has led to what we are now. We had already written and produced 10 songs as individual collaborators before we decided to release an album, and form a band. We chose the name because the opening lines of our first composition was 'Shadow and Light'.. and that's how it all began. For us, Shadow and Light is the eternal contrast and duality that exists in the universe. There is nothing with it and nothing without. It encompasses everything.
Anindo has a strong background having been a part of the amazing band Advaita and Pavithra comes from a Hindustani background. How did you find the perfect mix and the idea to collaborate? Our collaboration never began with the intention of creating a band. We just felt a strong connect musically, even though our influences are very different. Each song that we write follows a specific narrative, that we do not like to restrict with genre specifications, but because we are just two people, there is a sense of cohesiveness that comes through in our songwriting. Our idea of a perfect mix is just is to bring out the best in each other, without overdoing or underselling our individual ideas. We strive for a balance of the various elements of our composition. We have surprised ourselves many times with how beautifully our musical sensibilities have complimented each other. We don’t know how it happens, but we are thankful that it does and we certainly don't take it for granted.
Tell us in your own words how you perceive your music to be Picture credits: Ishani Das, Pavithra's clothes and jewellery : Manjha Shot at: Serendipity Delhi
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We enjoy writing music that is deeply layered and thought provoking. Our first album was particularly pensive and intense, and the second album was a mix of bold musical ideas with edgier emotions. In the upcoming third album, we've remained grounded to our (semi)
Classical/Pop roots vocally, but our musical arrangements have elements of modern RnB/Jazz/Electronica and some textures inspired by the Classic Rock era. We're very excited to share this new direction with everybody. Lyrically, it's layered with emotions of depth and intensity. We want our listeners to react and express themselves through us.
In this ever growing scene, how do you look at the independent music scene 5 years from now? It’s ever evolving. Opportunities are increasing but there is a dearth of specialized/curated performance venues. We are forever trying to cultivate and encourage a true listening culture, where only quality music takes the spotlight. The pay scale for independent musicians is also something that needs to be better, a trend which is only seen amongst commercial acts/celebrity bands right now. The scene could also benefit from dedicated management which creates opportunities instead of just seeking them. We expect to see the independent music scene develop in smaller towns and cities. We would also like to see more independent music featured in films. We are hoping for all this and more in the next five years.
You have varied backgrounds and have also performed in different festivals and venues. Which has been your best so far and what makes it so special? We’ve had the honour of sharing the stage with Karsh Kale and his wonderful collective more than once. We also headlined Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa with our music for a special set curated by Ranjit Barot sir. Both experiences top our list primarily because such reputed musicians have shown incredible faith in our music. Beyond this, we've also played in the tiniest of venues with the most intimate, keen listeners. Such shows restore our faith in the scene. We also have two incredible collaborations/performances coming up in our debut USA tour which should top our list for sure. It feels special to play for our international fans who motivated us to keep writing music, right from the beginning.
How do you use technology in making music? Everything from designing the sounds and textures to recording and arranging our music, is through technology. We compose the melodies organically and the essence is created on the spot but we understand and embrace technology to capture and present all of it. We also rely on it for our live performances. Sometimes we joke that our Mac makes us a trio!
Living in an era where social media has sort of taken over the world, do you think it is important for a musician to be on it? How do you as a band leverage the digital space? It's important to have an online presence that keeps everyone updated about the music and helps them connect personally. But it’s important to use social media only for quality content, not for random posts. It’s also important not to overdo it or let it take over the musical creativity. The craft comes first. We understand that unfortunately social media has become more important than ever before but we always approach it with caution. Having said that, everyone reading this - Do follow us on instagram/facebook/twitter! :D
If there was one artist you would like to collaborate with, who would it be and why? Individually we have different artists in mind (for Anindo it’s Imogen Heap, Seal and Sting; for Pavithra it’s Anoushka Shankar, A R Rahman and Nitin Sawhney). But as Shadow and Light we would love to collaborate with the Vienna Philharmonic or London Symphony Orchestra and have live
musicians take our music forward. It would be an honour to experience Snarky Puppy re-interpret our songs one day! Maybe we can have a 'family dinner' with them too :P
Describe your perfect jam room The perfect jam room for us is our Plug ‘N’ Play Studios, New Delhi. Its cozy size and inspiring vibe has led us to write all 28 of our songs. It’s got the best energy for us and we wouldn’t change it for anything.
What personal advice would you like to give someone who is on the verge of choosing this path? The first thing is to master the craft. Nothing comes before that. It's also got to be a one way street, if one starts pondering back up/fall back options right in the beginning, then it's not going to be a worth the struggle. It's a game of a lot of patience and self believe. Once you've put in the hours, it’s wait and watch (be prepared for a lot of waiting..)
What were the challenges you faced as a duo when you started out? The main challenge has been to get the music out there. The internet in this regard is both a boon and a curse but we feel like we’ve pushed hard enough to spread the music and we’re thankful for magazines like yours who’ve taken notice and reached out to us. Sometimes we felt that it would be nice to feature more musicians in the live performance, so we brought on board Steve Peter and Aveleon Giles Vaz as the rhythm section for bigger venues and festivals. Another challenge has been to drive home the thought that art doesn't exist only to make listeners feel happy and light all the time. Art has to make you think and react.
Your influences/ inspiration in the music space We do have many greats in mind, but we feel we inspire each other a lot. What also adds to our process is the time of day, and our state of mind. But we’ve noticed that our best work happens when we don’t mean to write anything. Beyond musical knowledge and caliber, we also respect and admire artists who are humble and down to earth. For example, we appreciate artists who thank their crew after a show, who are approachable and encourage upcoming talent and who are ready to speak their mind at all times.
What's the strangest thing you've heard from a fan at a festival/ concert? "You guys are good but you should start and end your set with Bollywood music. You can do a few of your songs in the middle if you really need to." Another ‘fan’ tapped Anindo’s shoulder in the middle of our performance to asked him to play ‘Happy Birthday’ for his girlfriend.
What's your plan for 2018? Tell us about your upcoming projects We are releasing our third studio album next month, in March. We have an album launch India tour planned and we’re happy to share that we’ll be going on our first USA tour this year. We would like to extend our gratitude to each person who helped put the tour together. We’ve also collaborated on two songs for an upcoming album with Karsh Kale, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash. And we have some more incredible collaborations and associations to announce very soon. So loads to look forward to in 2018! Stay tuned for more! The
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SOUVIK CHAKRABORT Y
The Sound of aNation
The Indian classical music can be broadly categorized into Hindustani and Carnatic or Karantak of the south. Dhrupad, Dhamar, Khayal, Tappa and Thumri are some of the styles that are included in the Hindustani styles. Hindustani form of singing also culturally seeps down deep into the spiritualism and that is how the bhajans and the qawaalis had originated from the olden times. Dhrupad is a non ornate style of singing and finds its genesis from the classical singer, Tansen. The performance starts with a long complex alaap and focuses more on the nuances of the raga and tries to do away with the technical embellishments. A dhrupad might enthral like a chant but end up conjuring a house packed in audience within minutes. This also means that the vocalist enjoys a lot of liberty in weaving the magic donning the hat of the composer, singer and the lperformer all at once. Khyaal on the other hand is more ornamental with a higher dose of embroidery. The focus is purely on the subtleties of the raga and the characteristics of the raga is gently pulled up a gradient of melodies. Then comes the bandish or the first composition once the raga is introduced. Thumri stands out for being an emotional, lyrical and graceful kind of melody, it incorporates a lot of the taal and rhythm that finds a space in the dance form of kathak. Thumri is more about the perspective of the feminine self on romance and life while it was incredibly sung by some of the greatest male voices that the sub continent has produced like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali khan. Bhajans largely form the most integral part of the main course devotional genre of the Hindustani music. Bhajans are culturally important because they had found its roots and base at a time when Buddhism was literally sweeping off any other religion from the face of the sub continent. Bhajans became very important to actually validate the importance of the philosophies and faith of a religion across the valleys and baanks of the sacred river Ganges. Ghazal is perhaps the most popular and the most talked about form of music because it has been made popular in the pop culture of our times, be that in Bollywood or the Indian popular music. Genetically stemming out from Urdu poetry and the Mughal sentiments, these songs were by and large retrospective or memoirs of the romantic infatuation of the kings and the spoils of their taming games. Shayari, Mausiqui and Jazbaat forms three different elements of a Ghazal. Likewise, matla, makta, misra and antara are the various couplets in a Ghazal. Every single Ghazal carry along a baggage or a slice of legend which is associated with the emperors and their scandals or spoils.
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Sufi is trance music at its best. When philosophies are peppered along with a dash of spiritualism and a whole wheat bread of devotion you just cannot afford to not lose control anymore. This songs are ingrained with the emotions of love but not necessarily with the hint at the carnal affair between men and women but rather primarily with the prophet himself. Soofiyna Moosaqi is a traditional choral music of the kashmir which is performed by a group of four to five musicians played along with santoor, sarang or surnai. Chakri is another folkish song genre of the northern India usually rendered with the harmonium, the rubab, sarangi etcetera, mainly employed for singing out love poems or legends on love. Qawaali is even a purer form of the sufi singing and is more passionate and fast paced than the classical ways of singing. Aamir Khusrau is credited with this style of singing and is again a romantic beckoning of the lovers or the devotee to his God. Qawaali has been known to endow a mehfil-e-samaa and is religiously sung on the day of the dead and the days of the prayer like Fridays. A pilgrim will rollick at the idea of a visit to the shrine for a session of qawaali. It was a common custom that the performers of qawaali will get nazir or a token of appreciation; usually in the form of money. And, this is followed till date in many sessions across the shrines. While the southern style of the Carnatic is more varied and slightly complex yet upbeat and free from the influence of the Persian and Asian tunes. Purandara Dasa is regarded as the father of the Carnatic music. The ragams and the thalaams make the music sound rich and complex leaving a lot of room for improvisations. The maestros of this kind of a music is revered to as the saints like Syama Sastri, Tyagaraja, Mutuswamy Dikshitar etcetera. A performance usually begins with varnum containing pallavi, anupallavu and chittaswaram which is a devotion to Ganesh and is immediately followed by alppana or the alaap and thalaam. The shorter pieces of this kind of a musical do away with the verses of long tempo and thus sounds characteristically different from the Hindustani form of singing. In the eastern part of our country the travelling minstrels or the bauls have emerged as the musicians of secular and universal importance. Baul does not only confine itself to a style of singing but gently ascends to a higher form of philosophy both in terms of the words that are sung and the way of living and dressing. While some of the musicians submit to the tantric Buddhism, some others delve deep into the whimsies of an ascetic life and some descend to a madness in search for God!
AMOGH RAO
Beginners guide to picking up
CYMBALS FOR DRUMMERS
A dilemma that most musicians face in their initial years is that of choosing gear. Be it analog pedals and digital processors for guitarists, or patches and presets for keyboard players, all of us have gone through the ambiguity of too many choices and not enough knowledge. We’re here to break down one such problem for budding drummers – Cymbals. These tools occupy a range of frequencies like none other and require very responsible usage in order to communicate and not just add incomprehensible noise. As a starter guide, we can break down some major ideas here that you could further explore with the idea of listening as the most important tool in your quest for the right sound. So look them up, do your research and keep your ears perpetually open.
The Ride Arguably the most defining sound for drummers in most genres, there are three major sounds you can look at when approaching this cymbal. First is the attack or the sound you get when the tip of your stick hits the cymbal. Depending on the kind of music you play, this would be anywhere from a bright, warm sound to dark and dry sound. The second is the wash. This is the range of overtones and reverberations as a consequence of hitting a cymbal. The lighter you hit, the more short-lived the wash. If you’re looking to explore this sound, it would make sense to strike the cymbal using the shaft of your stick instead of its tip. The third is the bell. This is the swollen centre of the cymbal that produces a very defined, sharp sound that decays quickly and cuts through every other instrument in the mix, and has to hence be used very responsibly. There are practically limitless different sounds a bell can make depending on the cymbal itself, and hence it makes for a major parameter when choosing the perfect ride. While some of these terms might seem ambiguous, as you listen to a variety of cymbals you will understand the meaning attached to this jargon.
The Hi-Hats This pair of relatively smaller cymbals forms the backbone of practically every genre of music and has such a wide usage in technique and sound that it makes for a very crucial element in any drum kit. Instead of delving into the complexity of its possible use, it would be better to consider a few major aspects that can define your own sound fairly well. The first would be its sound when played shut. This is usually a quick attack, quick decay sound made by hitting the closed
hi-hats with the tip of the stick and serves as the time-keeping spine for a countless number of songs and genres. The second would be the open sound, played when the hihats are left loose and usually hit using the shaft of the stick. This creates an excessively washy and loud sound, but also a relatively quick decay, making it perfect to bind together loud and heavy music. The third and often overlooked sound is that of a clap. The sound made when pressing the two hats together, which is similar to a closed hi-hat sound yet characteristically different. In order to make an informed choice it’s important not to overlook any of these.
The Crash Probably the most commonly known and heard sound in the drum kit, the crash has such wide applicability combined with a lack of any definitive rules to its usage, that there is no way to make an informed choice without listening to each one individually. Two ideas to keep in mind, however, would be the overall pitch and frequency of the crash sound that is usually determined by its size, and the length of decay of sound and overtones, which would again decide how often and in which context to use the crash.
Effects Cymbals This group of cymbals is pretty much every other cymbal outside of the three main ones above, including stacks, chinas, gongs, splashes and more. It would make sense to explore these only after getting a grip on the fundamental cymbals and their aspects, as these are born out of more niche needs and individual preferences, along with usage in specific genres. Again, it would be important to emphasize on how impractical this guide will be without actually listening to every element of every cymbal you can. Not just virtually, but in studios and stores and a live context. Your ears are a priceless tool, and with some initiative and a small head-start using this guide, we’re confident you’ll be capable of expressing yourself in the best manner possible. The
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MAHAK RAJGARHIA
Redefining Work Showcase, via
Instagram. That is the name of the latest secret weapon that the new and upcoming artistes are using to get their foot in the door. An informal and a flexible medium, this social media platform has given the Snapchats and the Facebooks a run for its money when it comes to music. According to a Nielsen study authorized by Instagram, people who use Instagram are more musically inclined than the others. They tend to spend 30% more time listening to music than people who don’t use Instagram. Point of the matter being, this encouraged the new entrants in the industry to get on with their promotion and marketing themselves than hire someone to do it the old way. Omkar Potdar of the indie-soul project Flying Shoe has ‘scored gigs’ as he puts it through Instagram. “Instagram is very flexible because it is visual and is very raw. Writing requires more thought unlike pictures which are way more engaging and natural than Facebook or Twitter,” says Omkar. So much so that he does on-request live performances for his fans from the comfort of his house. An artiste or a performer in his/her element is much more organic and FOMO-inspiring than a dry post which JUST announces an upcoming event. And that is exactly what Instagram aims to provides, a tiny peek inside what goes on behind the curtains. It makes you feel a part of the journey. And given that our attention spans are now that of a goldfish, Instagram has a solution to that problem as well, short videos. A 15 second video is what you can make on the platform and that has proven good enough to spread the word. And to illustrate that, let’s look at Dist II, a music duo from north-east who play the guitar, the violin, keyboard and
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who knows, what else! They do a lot of lives when they are practicing at home but prefer properly captioned posts above all. “Posts get us more followers than live streaming because people can watch and follow our work when they want at their convenience,” says Noah Chettri, the violinist of the two. Although they do find Instagram easier to use, Dist II has a social media manager who words their captions smartly and posts to milk whatever traction they can get. Remember Beyoncé’s baby bump photograph that went viral -- Well, it was not a clip from a magazine or a shoot, it was clicked only for Instagram and that’s the power that this pictorial media platform commands today. Who wants only information? A little dirt or cuteness never hurt anyone. And to prove the point, let’s look at Omkar’s room décor which has more likes than his cover of Budapest by George Ezra. And that is what Instagram is, a medley of personal and professional life which makes it a more popular platform. Self expression counts and Instagrammers do take note of it. A smarter discovery and recommendation algorithm has also helped the newbies. A few shout outs, likes and posts from friends make it easier for other people on the platform to find out who the musicians are and discover their work for themselves. So, lives, stories and posts are all what helps an upcoming artiste to gravitate to Instagram and go about making their work recognized out there. Add DMs (stands for direct messaging) and prompt replies to it and BAM! It could be the next gig knocking at your inbox. An imperfect medium for a perfect display of who and what the artiste is!
SHREYA BOSE
There’s a SONG FOR And every night deserves a song. Look, life throws us lots of lemons, and there’s a song for each lemon. Life throws us some apples too, which also come with their set of tunes. I can’t tell you the first thing about how to endure lemons and celebrate apples, but I can point you to music that will make some of them easier to deal with.
every nighT Date night: Most obvious night. Often, the best night. Incomplete without the right song. And guess what? We have the right song. I Love you Baby, I Love You Doll Parekh and Singh. Sure, it’s about a love that is a tad dysfunctional in about 7 ways, but it’s got the most adorable lyrics. Parekh and Singh understand half-light dreamscapes too well. The tune is upbeat, and the video is deliciously surreal. It’s like Alice in Wonderland on meth, but you know, the good kind.
Let’s get started… Guitar night: We’re talking about the kind of night in which you get your guitars out, jam for hours, then intensely listen to great music, marvel over how these guitarists got so good, then jam some more. Maybe pour a drink in between sets and/or arguments over “Is rock truly dying now that Eric Clapton is going deaf?” (Real discussion I heard in the bus). We go old-school. Sometimes this world (is not such a bad place) - Blackstratblues Yes, it’s from their newest album, but they sound like their first one. I’m not saying older is necessarily better, but Mendonsa manages to make it sound like the biting, earthy rock saga that the band built its sound on. You’ll listen to it, pause, shake your head in amazement. Then you’ll jam because you need more practise.
Artsy night: By this, I am referring to the night when you want to write, paint, knit, create art. You lock yourself in your room, you let the night sky peep through the window, you build entire worlds in your head and out it to paper or silk or wool or strings. A potent night for a song like this? Shaad - Parvaaz Magical band that have never created a sound that is short of ethereal? Speaks for itself.
Bitter night: You know those nights when you feel like the world is out to get you? That everything seems to be going wrong on purpose? You hate your job and it’s going terribly, you got dumped again and can’t figure out what you are doing wrong, landlord hikes your rent again, you are too tired to cook and too broke to order takeout. What helps? 100 words (acoustic) - Prateek Kuhad Other than the fact that Kuhad creates melodies that can soothe the most aching minds, 100 words is a very beautifully sung complaint. It’s not venting; rather, its like a whispered, shared story. You kind of sit with Kuhad and let him make you feel that he gets it. It helps to know that someone else gets it.
Classical night: This is when you look up Ustad Vilayat Khan and Liszt on Youtube because you feel like a sense of history can do you good. But if you feel like the best of both worlds... Yumeji's Theme (In The Mood for Love) - Sarod cover by Pandit Mukesh Sharma Imagine translating a piece of Won Kar-wai to a sarod. Originally one of the most authentic representations of longing on violin strings, Pt. Mukesh Sharma converts it into a goosebumpinducing, engulfing piece that manages to confound any concerns you might have about the existence of beauty in the world. The
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Ketan Bahirat a.k.a
OCEANTIED Your sounds are very unique and different from each other. Tell us how you go about deciding the way a particular track has to sound. I usually never "decide" the way a song is supposed to sound. Usually, I just sit on my desk and start trying out different sounds and putting down ideas, and then work on it more only if I've liked the initial idea. It's usually a mixture of trial and error and experimentation.
Tell us a couple of artists you look up to and are inspired by in your space. There's many artists I look up to in the huge world of electronic music. My biggest inspiration in India comes from my Dasta crew (Kumail, Tarqeeb, Sandunes, OX7GEN, Zokhuma), they're always around and ready for a conversation when the going gets tough, and it's always great to have such freat musicians and producers giving you such valuable feedback. They really inspire me a lot constantly both as producers and as people.
If you had to come up with a wild idea of mixing two different sounds, how would you go about it and what two genres would you mix? I think the music I make is a mixture of a lot more than 2 genres already, this is quite a tough one to answer to be honest. But to give you an example, Dasta did a Six Sample Project (SSP) recently where we used only bird sounds to make tunes, and I ended up making a techno track, so.. Sounds pretty wild to me!
Considering how popular EDM music is in India, how do you place yourself in the Indian music scene? Do you think it is challenging to get your music across to people? People being interested in EDM is in a way great for electronic musicians of all kinds, there's going to be some familiarity with certain sounds across the board between pop-culture EDM and sounds from other electronic musicians, which paves a way for listeners to get very interested in all sorts of electronic music, which is what makes things very exciting in a place like India. As much as it is challenging to get this music heard there's many new channels opening up and raising the bar and shortening the gap between big stage EDM and smaller stage electronic music.
For aspiring producers who are intimidated by the complexity of the music tech world (plug-ins, DAWs etc.), what advice would you give to simplify music making? Making music may seem simple at times to a lot of people, but my advice is to never get carried away with the market, start small. All you need is a DAW, and some sounds. Take it step by step and spend your time trying out new methods, just creating music as much as you can. Practice is key. When you keep working hard on your skills and create your own methods, it will also help in creating your own "sound".
Tell us about your tech set up When I'm producing music, it's just my laptop with Ableton, headphones/ speakers and a midi controller. When I'm DJ-ing it's CDJ's and a mixer.
If you had to create an ideal producing environment, what would it be? A completely solar powered,as eco-friendly as possible hi-tech studio with all the synths and drum machines I've ever wanted, with perfect acoustics, somewhere in Iceland. Oh and in a house like Deadmau5.
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Picture Credit: Maria Jose Govea
Music at
ADITI SARAWAGI
SPORTING EVENTS
If there’s anything better than silence, it’s music. Add to it the buzzing energy of sports and sports fans, and you have epic theme songs bringing millions of people together singing the same tune. Sports has the power to bring together people of all castes and creed to cheer for one team or one country or even a player. No age, colour or country comes into play when one is cheering for one’s team and music has even more power when played at sporting events. Not only does it bind the fans together but also keeps them energised to keep cheering their favourite teams and players on. Music has been used at sporting events since as far back as the Olympics in 1896 where background music was played. The ancient Greeks are known to use music widely during festivals, tournaments and sporting events. Theme songs are often also known as stadium anthems or arena anthems as they are played over the public address systems at sporting events at the start as well as during intervals. Music has been used in sporting events since thousands of years and with the spur in digital downloads and international collaborations between artists of different countries, the craze regarding music at sporting events has seen a manifold increase. These days each sporting event has its own theme song and a new one is recorded each year. Audiences love the theme songs and it is often released several weeks prior to the actual event to engage the spectators and build up a hype. This is also a clever marketing strategy wherein the anthems also bring in money to the channel vis a vis record sales. Sometimes teams record their songs, other times it’s channels promoting a sporting event, sometimes it’s the sports federation promoting an international event. Music is played at the beginning of the
event, during intervals and at the end too. The Indian Premier League matches play music after every big hit or a wicket-it denotes overall entertainment instead of just a sport. Playing the national anthem at the start of any sporting event is also a tradition religiously followed across the globe and at a lot of sporting events like cricket, football and even baseball. The national anthem is played at all major events and even at smaller college or community driven sporting events adding to the universality of the matter. It is played in honour of the country and to promote audience involvement and to invoke in the players a sense of patriotism, hence encouraging them to play for the country and its people. Not only theme songs but there are some popular songs which are played during matches are We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions-they are commonly heard at sporting events and have become cult classics in this genre. Some popular anthems include the FIFA Anthem and the UEFA Champions League Anthem. Stadium anthems are usually characterised with catchy rhythms and an upbeat tempo. They are usually inspired by genres like rock and roll, dance music or even rap. Music is also used to build the energy of the fans and keep them integrated with the event. Music fires up the unenthusiastic crowd and fuels the already excited fan. With music and its profound effect, there is an even higher amount of emotional investment in the game. Be it the epic world cup song by Adnan Sami celebrating cricket or the various league level of sports like Indian Premier League(IPL) or Indian Super League(ISL)they all have a different theme song for every year. These songs are usually as popular as the tournament itself and have earned a place in every sporting fans life.
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SHREYA BOSE
The passing of a quiet goddess. Jayashree Singh (From always till forever) On a winter evening ( I do not remember the date) I was sitting at a restaurant somewhere in South Kolkata when in walked Amyt Datta and Jivraj Singh. They were accompanied by a woman with an elegant coif of silvery hair to whose presence I was unaware. I had just discovered Singh and Datta through their album “Ambience de Danse”, reviewed it and chalked myself up to a superfan of the duo. The friend I was sitting with and giggling to about the two men at the table beside us rolled his eyes at me. He was personally offended that my schoolgirl-ardour did not extend to their dinner companion. “That’s Jayashree Singh. From PINKNOISE. Skinny Alley?” I had no clue what these words meant. “Who let you write about music, man?” He asked, the very image of exasperation. I came back home, found PINKNOISE on Bandcamp and realised why he was annoyed with me. Jayashree Singh’s voice was a protean thing, a changeling that shifted skin and character like that. She went from seductive to fearsome to sardonic to challenging to zen in seconds. The music itself was so unashamedly experimental, something I had not yet started to expect from Kolkata. I’ve been listening to both PINKNOISE and Skinny Alley’s existing repertoire endlessly ever since. Even though there isn’t too much material, you couldn’t get bored. These pleasantly mad scientists of sound kept things ceaselessly fun, and were flagshipped by Jayashreedi. In an era of cover bands, her voice was one of those that gave identity to original rock music in this country. She had been trained in Carnatic music, but found her avatar when she found her mentor, the original diva of Calcutta - Pam Crain. Her voice conveyed a sense of
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secret identities and unspoken history. At her time, she was a woman fronting two rock bands with inimitable sounds. She was the very definition of a woman who was writing her own story. Her sentimentality was without any flamboyance, but you could never mistake her for someone who held anything back. I watched her live at Sienna Cafe : her way of being was just that of great conviction. She sat back and sang her piece with unconcerned enigma on her face. Watching her, I had the feeling that she knew exactly how incredible she was to the rest of us, and didn’t really care. In particular, it was Skinny Alley’s debut album “Escape The Roar” that gave us the image of the quintessential female rocker. Outside of Usha Uthup, I hadn’t heard any Indian female vocalists in India doing a rock n roll croon and then shooting straight up into bass-heavy confrontation. She kept pace with those unpredictable guitars and drums, and eventually ended up giving them direction. What always charmed me was that despite her musicmanship, what defined her was her kindness. Jayashree Singh was known for being a beacon and mentor to musicians in Kolkata. So many of the artists I have spoken have told me how generous she was with advice, affection and encouragement. Everyone gravitated to her easy kindness and her expansive artistry, both personally and musically. Her passing is an irrevocable loss. No one can pretend otherwise. We’ve lost much of what created that Calcutta post-colonial phonetic magic. We’ve lost a voice that made nights come to life and filled them with one heady rush after another. But make no mistake, the stars are rushing for front-row seats to her great gigs in the sky.
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AWESOME ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS THAT DESERVE A LISTEN
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer Keeping up with his reputation of churning out mind bending movies, Cristopher Nolan made Interstellar. It was his first movie after the infamous Batman trilogy and this science fiction divided opinions like no other. What didn’t divide opinions was the soundtrack. Trusted with the soundtrack of another Nolan movie, Hans Zimmer proved why he is one of the most prolific music directors of this era. Slow and scattered, the Interstellar takes you into a zero-gravity zone where a string of his music is holding you in place. You’re at the mercy of Hans Zimmer’s music and you cant help but, be a part of Cooper’s journey back home. A beautifully shot movie loses its charm if the music doesn’t match the beauty of what you’re seeing. This space epic gets a more than worthy partner with organ and strings flowing fluidly around your ears.
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The Godfather - Nino Rota One of the greatest movies ever made, the Godfather trilogy is more like a tale of two movies than three. When you think about The Godfather, very few would think anything other the infamous dialogue “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” But, there is something about the soundtrack that leaves a n impression that lasts longer than the 177 minutes of the movie. The movie set in the late ‘40s and there is something about the trumpet and string tones by Rota that somehow take you out of the mean streets of New York and calmly thump you in the lanes of Italy. When a movie revolves around a Mafia, the soundtrack has to constantly keep you on your feet. Rota doesn’t do that with anything more than accordion driven swing music with a blend of jazz with a sombre theme.
VIPUL VIJ
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The Artist - Ludovic Bource Released in 2011, The Artist is a silent film that swept the Oscars that year, and also won the award for the best original soundtrack. It is hard to argue otherwise when you watch the movie or even just Google the soundtrack. The movie follows the rise and fall of a famous silent film actor, and the soundtrack takes you through that journey. It makes you tap your feet with George Valentin and the very next moment you feel the agony of him losing the grip on his career. Music has an even greater role in silents films and Ludovic delivers an absolute peach with The Artist. The film's climactic scene is set to Bernard Herrmann's "Scène d'amour" from his score to Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo. If you like orchestral music, The Artist soundtrack is a beatiful rendition of French and American influences.
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Jaws - John Williams Released in 1975, Jaws is one of the most iconic movie franchisees of all time. Apart from Spielberg’s vision behind the camera, John Williams’ Academy Award Winning score takes you into a journey to the centre of the ocean. Slowly building up the music throughout the two movies, John Williams produced some of the most iconic tunes of an original soundtrack. Even when you hit the play button and your eyes are closed, you can feel the breathlessness that comes with the fear of a giant killer shark that is after your life. Similar to what Spielberg does with visuals, Williams comes up with dark tones that eventually burst into your ears and catch hold of your attention like the sharp tooth a killer shark.
Dunkirk - Hans Zimmer Released in 2017 is another Nolan masterpiece that revolves around the World War II. A movie that confuse people if they blink for an extra second than usual, the disjointed nature of the movie blends in with the soundtrack produced by the man who is a synonym to Christopher Nolan. Hans Zimmer’s music in this movie is a 106-minute masterclass about how to put the pieces of a spatially disjointed movie together through music. The movie goes from land to space to water and the score binds all the three storylines together by fourteen cellos and a double bass. The tension and violence of war that results in nothing else but demolition is ironically stitched together by Has Zimmer and his intelligent scoring. "Nimrod" from Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations was slowed down to six beats per minute to avoid it from sounding too sentimental. The
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KAUSTUBH RAVI & SIVANESH BABU
TIME TO MONITOR YOUR SOUND!
Monkey Banana Baboon 6 Active Studio Monitor WHY FIT IN WHEN YOU CAN STAND OUT? Studio monitors usually invoke a pretty boring and standard image of a speaker. There haven’t been many interesting design variations and while this works for most people, here are a few products that might add a little colour to your studio, a little aesthetic touch. The Monkey Banana Baboon 6, as the very name suggests, is quite the quirk in studio equipment. The case shape is unusual - and very embellishing for a home studio. The manufacturer's logo on the front is backlit in soft orange when the speaker is on. The rather oddly shaped active studio monitors have an Air Motion tweeter (7.4 inch AMT) and a Kevlar woofer (6.5 inches). It features a biamp module with 60 watts for the low-frequency range and 30 watts for the high-frequency range. The German com-pany is just making an entry into Indian markets as a midrange priced product. On the input side, it features an XLR:1/4 inch combo jack and S/ PDIF inputs as well. These feautures are aimed at the hi-fi audio market, allowing them to digitally connect to high-quality audio interfaces. There is a continuous volume knob, which snaps at the median position, along with an LP filter adding between - 6db and +6db at 100 Hz and an HP filter adding between - 6db and +6db at 10Khz. The frequency response maybe described as controlled and soft. Some may feel the bass could use some more oomph compared to other speakers in the price range, but otherwise the bass sounds quite tight and full. The ribbon tweeters bring quite some detail without being too harsh with some tweaks of the HP filter. The sound field was also impressive with a good deal of separation and clarity. There are better speakers in this price range for those looking for more bass and oomph, but the Mon-key Banana does deliver quite a bit in the sound department while being quite the showpiece in a stu-dio. It is certainly an ideal monitor for professional recording and mastering.
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Prodipe Pro 5 V3 Active Studiomonitor Active Studio Monitor GREAT WAY TO BEGIN! French company Prodipe surprise us on a regular basis with the quality, value, and pricing of their pro-ducts. Their latest contribution to the table is the Prodipe Pro 5 V3 Studio monitors. On our previous month’s issue, we had featured the overly impressive Prodipe TT1 Dynamic microphone for the quality that it delivers for the price. Have the French makers managed to level expectations with these moni-tors? Appearing fairly plain at first sight, the build quality is quite good with a well-finished exterior, making it ideal looking for a professional studio environment. The bass reflex port in the front finishes the look and makes it easier to position the speaker. Moving on to sound, the speaker performs well for its price. A beginner-level producer is certainly going to enjoy these. They have a very non-fatiguing and soft sound profile. Ideal for programming, you can find yourself working on tracks for extended periods of time. The bass response is good but could be a little tighter. The speakers may come off as too soft for mixing, with the top end being a little too smooth taking away some accuracy in those regions. We also noticed that the speakers don’t get too loud for their size, compared to a lot of the other products in the range. To sum things up, these are great monitors for beginner producers. You can work on them for extended periods of time and makes for an enjoyable programming experience. However, if you are looking for a loud speaker with very tight bass and sparkly highs, you might have to look elsewhere.
A MUCH NEEDED CHANGE KART PRO VLA 2 Compressor Plug-in ANALOG GIRL IN A DIGITAL WORLD! While plugins have been getting better in recent times and make you really question the need for hard-ware units, there have also been some affordable hardware units in recent times in an attempt to make it more accessible to the masses. The ART Pro VLA II compressor is a very good example. It is a Vactrol based optical compressor. Why would you want one of these when you have dozens of up-to-date emulations in the box? For starters, it's an excellent way for beginner producers and mix engineers to get into the analog world. It sounds quite natural and transparent and shows more character when pushed quite hard. The warmth comes from the 12AT7 vacuum tube used in the clean transformer-less signal path. The construction of the unit looks pretty solid. It has a 2U chassis and two handsome VU meters up front, along with standard looking knobs for threshold, ratio, input level, output
level, attack, and re-lease. The light up switches for VU meter sources and the LED gain reduction meter might seem gimmicky and take away from a vintage hardware unit image but they do the job pretty well. The compressor can be unlinked to act as two mono compressors and in stereo mode, the same gain reduction is ap-plied to both channels. In initial tests, the compressor performed extremely well on bass - creating a nice tight sound that sat well on the track. It also performed quite well on vocals and had the transparent smooth compression characteristics of hardware units, the soft knee really adding to this character. In conclusion, this is an excellent place to start with as far as hardware compression goes. It could’ve used a mix knob for some parallel compression options. The transparency, unless pushed, may be seen as a bit of a downside for someone looking for a very character-rich hardware compressor. But for most applications, it works quite well.
UNIVERSAL AUDIO ARROW
Compressor Plug-in The 500-600$ range space is fast filling with a lot of interesting entries in the audio interface depart-ment. We saw the recent release of the Arturia Audiofuse which, at 600$, offered quite an impressive array of features with some extremely clean pre amps, a ton of inputs and can neatly fit in the front po-cket of your laptop bag. UAD has just released their counterpart and the fact that it’s bus powered is noteworthy as up until now UA’s most portable interface, the Apollo Twin, required an external power supply. The UAD Arrow is a thunderbolt interface with two Unison preamps fed by two XLR inputs at the back with high class 24/192 converters. While some may prefer front XLR inputs for accessability, the rear ports give it an overall cleaner look. There is a single 1/4” Hi-Z guitar input and a 1/4” headphone jack in the front. We see the familiar multifunction rotary wheel to adjust the preamp and monitor levels. Again, like the case of the XLR inputs, it puts form over convenience. There are
buttons for high pass filters, phantom power, pha-se flip, pad and control inputs. The single Thunderbolt cable for power and connectivity really completes the simple and minimal experience. Although the interface offers a decent bit at the price range, the one that will seal the deal for most people is the integration of the UAD software/hardware combo. There are 14 UAD-2 Plugins included with the unit and is powered by a UAD-2 Solo core DSP. This allows for tracking and mixing through the preamp and guitar amp emulations, which as we’ve seen before, are quite good. On paper, the unit sounds like a fantastic buy for the producer looking for a sleek, elegant and compact interface. The solo core DSP and the consequential limits of the unit to run multiple plugin instances along with the lack of more inputs may end up being the deal breaker for some. But for most intermedia-te users, it may be exactly what they’ve been looking for. The
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MALIK ARSHAQ
Recording
Metal drums Nothing hits the spot like some blisteringly massive sounding metal track. As a huge fan of the genre, I’ve observed and appreciated the detail and the effort that goes into the overall production involved in achieving the hard-hitting sound. Since, the music is generally loud and abrasive, with a lot going on, it’s very easy to go wrong in the process of recording metal, especially the drums. In this edition, we’ll be looking into the different recording techniques that you can use to achieve that ideal drum sound. Before we get into the mixing and editing, the first thing that we need to understand is that to achieve a good end product, we need to get a good recording. This includes the choice of equipment and microphones, the way they’re positioned and the environment that you’re recording in. Take a good look at the space that you’ll be recording in. Make sure that you have basic room treatment that cancels out your standing waves and bass build ups. Correct placement of diffusers and bass traps should suffice. Ideally, recording in a room that does not have parallel walls would give you the best results. The next thing that you’d want to do is to make sure that your drum kit is sitting on a riser or an elevated platform. If not, a DYI 8x8 plywood platform should do the trick. This helps you brighten the tone of your drums and saves a lot of effort in the later mixing and editing
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stages. Having sound absorption on the ceiling above the kit also helps. Make sure that your kit is in good shape, whether any of the cymbals are broken or the skin is torn or if there are loose lugs in your kit that rattle. Fixing all these issues will result in a cleaner, more professional mix. Now, it is very important at this stage to start considering your options and decide the kind of tone you’d want each piece of your kit to have. It is essential that your kit is properly tuned. Since a lot
of drummers have trouble with being precise with their tuning, devices like the Tama Tesion Watch TW100 help you get your drums tuned accurately. Invest on the best skins and cymbals that you can afford as the quality of the recordings that you hand out to your clients will be heavily dependent on them. For example, you’d want to use a muting ring on the snare which will kill the sustaining overtones while retaining the attack. The type of the beater that you’ve used on your kick pedal will also
them to receive the full impact of the stick and sound like massive cannons. If the toms are heavily angled the stick will hit the tom at an angle causing it to sound weak. A muting ring should also used on the floor tom to achieve that explosive sound, to cut through. Set up your cymbals a little higher as you do not want them to the hit the tom mics when they’re being played. Since avoiding cymbal bleed into the other mics, increasing the vertical distance between them helps. For instance, to avoid the hi-hat bleed into the snare mic, you can increase the height of the hihats. Similarly, the distance between the ride and the floor tom must be increased to avoid bleed.
make a difference on the kind of tone that you get. Push up a feather pillow against the beater skin to dampen the sound since we’re going for a heavy attack/short sustain kind of sound. Using bass drum impact patches like the Remo Falam Slam pad help you get an improved attack from the get-go. While it may not be required, a lot of engineers take off the front head of the bass drum while recording. While setting up the drum kit, it should be noted that the kit should be built up around the kick and the snare and not
the other way around. Also, make sure that the drum throne is set very high, with the toms set at a level so they’re at the apex of a stick strike. Since, metal is a genre where there is heavy use of double kick pedals, having the drum throne set high allows the drummer to work with gravity and not against it. Setting your drum throne lower down can also result in fatigue while doing extensive double bass runs as you’ll have to raise your legs higher up to hit the bass drum. Keep your rack toms as flat as possible as you want
Now, let’s can get into microphone/ equipment choices and mic positioning and placement. For the kick drum, we can either use a single kick mic or kick in/ kick out mic setup. Contrary to popular belief, you’ll able to get a thick, punchy kick sound even if you use a single mic setup. Place the mic at level with the point where the beater strikes the skin and around 10 inches away form the beater. Microphones like the Sennheiser E602 or the Audix D6 can be used on the kick drum to get amazing results. In the case of the snare drum, an SM57 with a mild angle facing the centre of the skin will do the trick. A second snare mic can be used underneath to highlight the sound of the snare wire. Personally, I would also have a separate SM57 set up as the hi-hat mic. Sennheiser E604s can be used on the toms while rode NT-5s can be for the overheads. The positioning of the overheads is extremely important as the decide the overall character of your drum sound. The lower your over heads are, the bigger the stereo field will be while the higher up they are, the more of the room sound they’ll pick up. An XY set up of the overheads around a couple of feet above the drummer’s head should give you the right balance. A very important factor that you need to look out for are phasing issues. Collapsing two microphone inputs into mono will let you detect whether both the mics are out of phase with each other. If the low end suddenly seems to drop, this means that the microphones are relatively out of phase with each other. This issue can be solved by phase inverting one of the channels. Using these recording methods and tips you should be able to organize and improve your recordings to make them sound like the colossal metal drums that you hear on your favourite records. The
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How to Record ELECTRIC AND BASS GUITAR at home? Recording electric guitar or bass guitar is a similar process as far as recording in a home studio setup is concerned. Most audio interfaces come with a built-in direct input interface or a direct injection which allows us to use an unbalanced cable TS (Tipsleeve) cable in which the tip and sleeve connectors carry -10db of the signal. Since the D.I is built internally into most interfaces, we won’t have to invest in an external D.I.
EQ Tips on your Electric guitar
Here are my few tips to get great recordings of your Electric Or Bass guitar. (using D.I Connection)
3. Now shelf up the frequencies above 6Khz by around 3-4db depending upon how it sounds in the context of your track. This should help your guitar to sit well in your mix.
1. Connect the TS cable from your Electric Guitar or Bass Guitar into the Audio Interface and set it to instrument input or HI-Z level. This way you are feeding the impedance from the pickup of your guitar to the audio interface so your guitar tone is captured efficiently by the AD/DA converter. A common mistake is that a lot of people switch the input to line level. 3. Set the gain or trim on your interface so that the signal peaks around -10db to -15db in your audio meter on your DAW. This leaves you with plenty headroom to mixing with. 4. Make sure that you record your input into a mono audio track in your DAW, arm your track and begin recording. Amping your Electric or Bass Guitar This requires a little bit of acoustic panel treatment in the space that you’re recording in as you’ll need to mic the Guitar cabinet and record. The acoustic panels will reduce the sound reflections and the bass build up in your room in order to get the best result into your recordings.
1. First, we use a High Pass Filter to remove any low rumble in your room noise, about 90-120Hz is usually the sweet spot 2. Next, we can cut out muddy frequencies around 250Hz to 800 KHz by setting the Q value like a notch filter and dipping it down about -2db to -4db depending upon how much it requires.
EQ Tips on your Bass guitar 1. Removing the low rumble in your recording by using a high pass filter and setting it to around 70-80Hz. 2. Next, find the muddy frequencies between 250-400 KHz by setting the Q value like a notch filter and dipping it down about -2 to -4db. 3. You can also use a Low Pass Filter to cut out some of the top end frequencies were the Bass has too much of the string ringing sound. This will help your Bass sit well in your mix. Compression and mixing tip on your Electric or Bass guitar: A compressor will reduce the dynamic range and make your recording sounding equally loud throughout. Therefore, heavily compressing your signal will make you lose the natural dynamics of the instrument. Here are few tips:
1. My go-to mic for recording an electric guitar is the Shure SM 57 as it captures the amp character accurately.
1. Set the Ratio around 2:1 or 4:1 so that we don't squash the dynamics of your Electric or Bass Guitar.
2. Position the mic off-center and very close to the cone of your .
2. Now set the threshold so that the Gain Reduction meter reads around -3db to -5db. Again the amount of compression that you need in your guitars depends on the genre and the kind of sound that you’re going for.
3. You can also place a condensor mic around 1-1.5 feet away from the cabinet to capture the body of the Amp if your interface has two mic pre inputs. 4.Now record with both mics onto two separate MONO tracks. You can also choose to record one signal through D.I and the other by miking an amp. You should also keep in mind that the dry signal through the D.I Connection will reach the DAW a milliseconds earlier than the Mic track. This latency between the two tracks can also give you a great result in your recording.
3. If you want your guitars to be loud and powerful, then I would suggest compressor plug-ins like the Waves CLA 1176 which is very aggressive and heavy. 4. By recording two tracks (one by miking the amp and the other D.I) you can blend both with different levels of compression and pan each of them to either the left or right to give you a natural stereo effect.
Author: Baba.L.Prasad. He is the owner and chief Sound/Mix and Mastering Engineer at Digi Sound Studio. He also teaches Sound Engineering and Music Production courses. For more details, visit www.digisoundacademy.com
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YUKTI SHARMA
EVOLUTION IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC “When words fail, music speaks.” Shakespeare once said. And it’s a true saying as the evolution in music is speaking its heart out in today’s era. Where Launchpad is becoming ubiquitous with the evolution of electronic music, letting us launch clips, play drum racks and control the mixing, all the while creating impressive lightshows. While music production techniques made great strides over the last fifty years, resulting in our current era of digital sound recording, live electronic music has proven to be more difficult to perform. Most traditional genres of music carry an inherent component of performance, but as music technology advances, this aspect of live creation seems to diminish. The emphasis on traditional instrumentation is reduced in electronic music, as the producer utilizes the full range of studio trickery from synthesizer and drum machines to MIDI devices and sampling to create their material. As the studio began to shift from a mere recording device to full blown instrument, the art of music production evolved and became more complex. The means to create electronic music didn't happen in real time; it was well thought out and calculated, finely detailed and laboured over in studios for countless hours. Replicating this material in a live setting is a challenging task, and most electronic artists have historically been happy to stick to DJing as their method of performance.
Create Eye-Catching Performances:Bright, colourful pads make the unit stand out just from USB power, on stage or when creating exciting Launchpad lightshow videos that are all over You Tube. One can turn it into a step sequencer, trigger videos from drum pads or use it to create just about anything one can imagine.
Easy to carry:Launchpad is totally portable, lightweight, easy to pack and carry around and fully USB bus powered- so there’s no need for power sockets. One can also combine it with more Launchpads or other Launch products to build a fully handson live studio.
Make Music Straight Away:A Launchpad consists of Bass music, many instrumental theme songs, upbeat tunes and even AU plug-in synthesisers. It comes with everything you need to start making a great music. The Instrument of Electronic Music:The technology is advancing to the point that musicians can hobble together some compelling live kits, and it's going to be exciting to see how this aspect advances in the future. While DJs won’t be going anywhere, it’s a great time for performers to push the limits of live electronic music and fill a longstanding void in the genre. While obviously not every artist will be able to commission the kind of rig The Glitch Mob now tour with, there are plenty of affordable options on the market for the aspiring musician to build their own setup. Live shows give artists the opportunity to engage with their audience in a unique and memorable way. The nature of electronic music grants a futuristic wave of musicians the ability to stretch the limits of traditional performance. With major electronic acts like Disclosure and Nero switching up their live methods and a number of promising up and comers continuing to explore new ideas, now may finally be the right time to get your EDM garage band together and start booking gigs.
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MIDI Controllers Since a lot of modern day music is heavily dependent on computer processing and midi controllers, we will be reviewing a bunch of Midi keyboards and controllers in this edition. From the staggering number of new products that have been flooding the market this year, we at Score have narrowed down the list to just five.
Novation Launchkey 49 Controller The Novation launch key 49 is one of the best controllers you can find because of the amount of features it offers for its price.
The pros
Nektar Impact GX49
• Lot of faders and knobs • Integration with Ableton • 16 Drum pads
The Nektar Impact GX49 is a basic MIDI controller. This is all you really need to make good music.
• For logic users, you can download the apple integrated templates
The pros
• No Fader ports • No drum pads
• Cheap pricing • Easy to use without any syncing issues
• Comes with ableton lite and a set of sounds and loops.
The Cons
• Since this keyboard is only integrated with Ableton, mapping of knobs and pads become complicated when you use any other DAW
The cons
M-Audio Code 61
CME Xkey 37 Air MIDI Keyboard
The M-Audio Code 61 is for the advanced music producers who wish to have all the controls mapped so they don’t have to use their keyboard or a mouse for toggling between inserts.
The CMEXkey 37 Air is a wireless keyboard that uses Bluetooth technology to connect and work. This is a budget controller and is very helpful for people who travel a lot and work on the move as it is very sleek and handy.
The M Audio Keystation 88 II is an 88 key semi-weighted MIDI keyboard that is worthy of being mentioned in our list. M-Audio is one of few proaudio brands that make keyboards with legitimate key-action & touch.
The Pros
The pros
Set up the Keystation 88 II in your
• It comes with semi-weighted keys with aftertouch. • The aftertouch can be mapped to volume or portamento or any of the other parameters. This opens up to a whole new level of playing the keys. • It has X/Y touch pad to control effects of synths and other plugins
Thet cons
• A lot of patience and technical knowledge is required to set up the controller to make use of its complete potential. This is easily one of the best controllers, especially if you are looking for a one time set-up and keep producing music without any hassle.
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• Easy to carry • Good keyboard and has aftertouch • Wireless
The cons
• No sustain pedal input • Need to get used to the keys • The device might run out of charge without indication
M-Audio Keystation 88 II
home studio & you’ll begin to appreciate how well-designed this MIDI keyboard is.
The pros
• Keystation-88 does not take up a lot of space on your desk because of its compact build. • It is a rugged controller and can last for years together and is a great choice for piano and keyboard players.
The cons
• The semi-weighted keyboard got mixed reviews, with a number of people claiming that the feel of the black and the white keys are not quite right.
Author Vishal Ramakrishnan, Global Peace song of the year award winning and music producer. He is also a music production trainer. For more details, visit www.vishaladitya.com
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MALIK ARSHAQ
MIXING IN MONO
It was not until the late 1950’s that stereophonic sound was being offered for public listening and even after it was, not a lot of listeners had a device that allowed stereo playback. What might come as a surprise to a lot of people is that, even today, our music is not usually heard in true stereo. Whether it’s from your phone, Bluetooth speaker or even even car stereos, you might either be sitting closer to one speaker or you’re so far away from both the speakers, that by the time you hear it you might not be able to make out the stereo separation and are probably listening to the audio collapsed into mono. This means that it is very important that sound engineers check for mono compatibility while mixing. Not only does mixing in mono make your mix safer across different listening environments, but it also allows you pinpoint certain issues with your mix that could ultimately help in making your final stereo mix sound better as well. If your interface has a mono option, you can activate it or using stereo width plugins and turning them all the way down can also give you an accurate enough mono representation. You might start noticing that a lot of elements that felt like they were sitting quite well in the mix, are now maybe a little loud and upfront or lost in the mix. The three things that you need to look out for when you’re mixing are the volumes of the tracks relative to each other, the tonal quality of each individual element and the positioning of each element in the stereo spectrum. After having panned all the elements
into their intended positions, collapsing the whole mix into mono will let you focus on the other two aspects without being distracted by the width. Certain elements, you might notice, sound thinner and maybe a little lacking in the low end. For example, a guitar that was recorded with two mics, one right in front of the cone and the other a little further away from, it is possible that when both tracks are played together in mono, they are out of phase with one another. This causes them to partial cancel each other out. This issue can be fixed by simply phase inverting one of the tracks. While you may not notice the phase cancellation while listening to the mix in stereo, it becomes when collapse it down to mono. Since in a lot of cases, the listener might be hearing your mix either from a mono system or in an environment where the stereo separation doesn’t translate well, it is important for to look for elements that are out of phase and correct them. Finally, after switching to mono and making sure that the levels of the separate elements are just right, that each track is EQ’d so that it fits in its place in the mix and it sounds pretty good overall, you can be assured that after you switch back to stereo your end-product is going to sound amazing. Regularly switching back and forth between stereo and mono throughout the process of mixing will allow you to check efficiently for mono compatibility. The
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Focusrite
A review by MT Aditya
The Scarlett Series
Focusrite, they have by and large taken ownership of the entry level interface market with their Scarlett range of interfaces, which provide incredible functionality at an unbeatable price. Then, a few years ago, they successfully incorporated Audinate’s Dante protocol to create ultra high end ethernet based interfaces, with pristine A/D-D/A conversion, which essentially reimagined connectivity in the modern recording studio. But this left an entire mid range price point occupied by the likes of the Apogee Duet, The RME Babyface and the UA Apollo Twin. Enter: The Focusrite Clarett series of interfaces. Yet again, Focusrite delivered top of the line form, function and quality at an incredible price. In its early days, Focusrite, established by the legendary Rupert Neve, was commissioned by Sir George Martin to build channel strip extensions for the Neve consoles at AIR studios in London. The resultant preamp, flush with the Rupert Neve pedigree was the ISA 110 preamp. Over the years, this evolved into the ISA430 mkII input channel. In signature Rupert Neve style, these pre-amps included an “air” switch, that added some sheen to the high end and sweet, silky, open flavour, akin to the “silk” button available in RND preamps today. This is the channel strip pedigree that has been emulated in the preamps of the Clarett series of interfaces, modelling the signature input impedance and clarity of the ISA preamp with an individual “air” button available for each preamp. The quality of these preamps and converters belie their price point. Across the range they have a generous 118dB dynamic range for the microphone inputs, 116dB for the line inputs and 119dB for the line outputs, with very impressive figures for EIN and THD+ Noise, with a near 10 dB advantage over the Scarlett range of interfaces. In what seems to be a challenge to competitors, the feature set in the range has to be seen to be believed. Even the most compact of the three interfaces, the Clarett 2Pre provides two mic/line/instrument inputs, four line outputs, MIDI I/O and
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an ADAT input. For a similar feature set and quality, the real competition is at least 1.5 times the price, if not more. In Use I personally own the Clarett OctoPre, the 8 channel rack mount preamp with ADAT connectivity, which has been a great addition to my portable recording rig. They sound incredibly clean, and the Air button gives a beautiful smooth high shelf EQ, that I have enjoyed especially on string instruments (acoustic guitar in particular) and Drum Overheads. The transient response is quite smooth. There’s even enough headroom for me to drive my high gain requiring ribbon microphones on quiet sources without worrying about noise. The individual insert points for each preamp, combo 1/4inch-XLR jacks and direct line outputs over D-Sub are a nice touch. The only small drawback for me is that phantom power switch isn’t individually assignable per pre-amp but toggles for 4 preamps simultaneously. But with today’s microphones, this isn’t really an issue. Initially introduced with only a thunderbolt option, the Clarett series now has a new range with combination USB2 - USB-C connectivity. This is the best connectivity decision I have seen come from Pro-Audio manufacturers in the recent past. The USB-C format has a much improved bandwidth capable of delivering much more power and this means that the new Clarett range can be bus powered. If however, your system is not equipped with USB-C, the USB-2 mode will work just as well, with the provided external power adapter. Focusrite has really done this right, The Clarett series of interfaces is a great choice for everyone from amateur producers looking to step up from their entry level interfaces to proper recording studios that are looking for a new or interface or simply to expand their preamp count. The cherry on top - the Clarett range comes with the Red 2&3 plugin suite, which are extremely well designed, simply without the marketing push like other brands. And a nice little after touch, the entire range comes with 2 year warranty.
Yes, It’s here, the first publicly available thunderbolt 3 equipped audio interface. Welcome the baby of the Universal Audio kingdom, The Arrow. If you, like me in my geekdom, frequently troll the world of ProAudio forums, you will have seen several arguments about how pro audio interfaces do not actually need bandwidth in excess of what is available from USB 2. While this may be true, thunderbolt 3 is a whole new paradigm because of one primary reason - it’s capability to deliver power.
UNIV ERSA L AUD I O
THE AR ROW
Universal Audio’s technology has resulted in arguably the most versatile audio interfaces on the market today. Their revolutionary unison technology preamp modelling enables you to emulate the sound of legendary analog gear with incredible accuracy. The Unison plug-in actually adjusts the preamp circuit itself, including parameters such as impedance, analog gain structure, and much more. When you adjust the Arrow's preamp gain knob and physical controls, the plug-in adjusts the preamp's behavior to match the target preamp. So you're not simply filtering your audio to approximate the character of a famous preamp — your microphone is now interacting with the Arrow's input the same way it would behave with the "modelled" preamplifier. But this technology requires a massive amount of power, which has never before been deliverable over bus-power, so even their portable desktop interface, the Apollo Twin, needs an external power supply. But with the Arrow, Universal audio opens the door to explore the phenomenal potential of the thunderbolt 3 format, which is now capable of providing enough power to build a bus-powered, truly portable interface, that comes with Unison technology.
A review by MT Aditya
compression, EQ and reverb. Stage performers - vocalists or guitarists - pay attention - this vastly simplifies your rig. All this at an entry level price point.
There are some things to be aware of though, before you purchase one. You do need a thunderbolt 3 equipped computer, like the 2016-17 Touch bar MacBook Pros or some of the latest Razer windows laptops. Thunderbolt 3 will not work when connected to a thunderbolt 2 port of previous generation MacBook pros. While the thunderbolt 3 format uses the same connector as USB-C, a generic USB-C cable is not capable of delivering thunderbolt 3 protocol, an issue thats caused a lot of confusion in the market, which makes me wish UA had included a thunderbolt 3 cable in the box.
I cannot contain my excitement for the possibilities this entails. This means I can be outdoors, in the most amazing locations, and record music on a console emulation of my choice, without having to worry about power sources, with best in class A/D-D/A conversion (by a mile).
While UA essentially designed this interface for the entry level college musician, I truly believe they are going to see some strong demand from professional sound engineers, like me, who travel a lot and need to access UA plugins on the go. The thunderbolt format also means that the Arrow can be daisy chained, just like all other UA interfaces, so essentially, this can also function as the monitor controller for your rack mount UA Apollo interface (for which thunderbolt 3 option cards are now available, FYI).
The arrow comes in a nice-neat-small form factor, with a headphone output, a DI-line in, 2 Unison pre-amps, a pair of monitor outputs, a Solo Core for UA processing and comes included with the Analog classics plugin bundle . While a Solo core might not seem like much, it is enough to run the top of the line Unison enabled API or SSL console emulations, or a custom channel strip with your choice guitar amp,
The Arrow is for me, the coolest portable, future-proofed interface available on the market today. This is barely the beginning of the possibilities that thunderbolt 3 enables though, and I trust that not before long, we will see much more powerful interfaces from Universal audio, with several cores of UAD-2 processing available over bus power - the wet dream of the 21st century sound engineer.
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ROLAND RELEASES
RP102 DIGITAL PIANO Roland releases the RP102, the latest addition to the awardwinning RP series of affordable digital pianos. Featuring advanced technologies derived from Roland’s premium pianos, the RP102 offers best-in-class sound and touch in a compact, space-saving design. The RP102 is ideal as a first piano for the home, and also a great fit for lesson studios, practice rooms, and other music education settings. With its simple, direct interface, the RP102 allows users to enjoy great piano sound with zero hassle. A variety of piano and non-piano sounds are available to play, and it’s possible to layer any two sounds together. The RP102 is equipped to inspire music making with over 200 ready-to-play songs, including traditional music, classical masterpieces by Mozart and Beethoven, and famous piano etudes from Hanon and Czerny. There’s also an onboard metronome with variable time signatures, an essential practice tool for players of all levels. Twin Piano
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mode splits the keyboard into two 44-note pianos, allowing two people to play together side by side. Offering piano sound and touch inherited from Roland’s premium home instruments, the RP102 will continue to inspire as the user’s playing grows and evolves. SuperNATURAL Piano technology delivers the rich, expressive tone of an acoustic grand piano, while the responsive PHA-4 Standard keyboard accurately translates every playing nuance. A dynamic onboard speaker system provides rich, satisfying sound that fills the room. It’s also possible to plug in headphones and mute the speakers, allowing for late night practice without disturbing others. The RP102 features three integrated pedals made of metal for an authentic feel. They also support half-pedal control for playing more advanced piano pieces, a feature not found on typical entry-level instruments. To learn more about the Roland RP102 Digital Piano, visit www.roland.co.in
Bose Professional Debuts Powerful T8S and T4S ToneMatch® Stereo Mixers Compact stereo mixers without compromise, the T8S and T4S are the ultimate on-stage companion for performing artists.
The new eight-channel T8S ToneMatch mixer and the four-channel T4S ToneMatch mixer from Bose Professional. Bose Professional has extended the ToneMatch® audio engine series with the powerful new eight-channel T8S ToneMatch mixer and the four-channel T4S ToneMatch mixer, representing the next generation of the ToneMatch line and offering unprecedented connectivity with intuitive control. Compact and portable, both the T8S and T4S are gig-ready. Craig Jackson, Product Line Manager for Bose Professional, remarks, “Typically you need to invest in larger, more complicated consoles to get the audio quality and powerful effect engine in the new ToneMatch mixers. Performers value audio quality and options, but we know that in-performance usability, portability and reliability are just as important.” Their rugged enclosures have a protective, magnetically-coupled cover to protect controls and connectors. A chassis-bottom insert allows the use of standard mounting accessories to keep the mixers in reach during performances. About the T8S ToneMatch Mixer: The performer-focused and compact eight-channel T8S ToneMatch Mixer is intuitive to operate, with illuminated, stage-friendly tactile controls, an easy-to-read display and scene recall. ToneMatch processing presets with the powerful and advanced DSP engine (including studio-quality effects and Bose zEQ equalization, which redefines low, mid and high ranges for each ToneMatch preset) making it easy for musicians to take control of their music. When used with Bose® L1® and F1 systems, the T8S provides full end-toend tonal optimization. Each T8S channel has dedicated ToneMatch, EQ, dynamics and effects. The T8S effects includes compressor, limiter, de-esser, noise gate, chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, delay and reverb functions. Tap tempo delay and a chromatic tuner are built-in. Aux send 1 has a dedicated reverb of its own while a master output EQ helps compensate for venue acoustics. The T8S offers high-density connectivity unparalleled in a small digital stereo mixer. Eight high-quality audio preamps with XLRcombo jacks accommodate microphones or instruments, with switchable phantom power. Two Aux inputs allow for additional source inputs. Outputs include four aux sends, balanced quarterinch TRS and XLR stereo outputs and an independent headphone output. USB-A and USB-B connections allow for USB drive playback or PC/Mac interface. The T8S includes a ToneMatch power supply. Dimensions: 8.4” x 12.25” x 3.25” (214 mm x 311 mm x 83 mm).
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About the T4S ToneMatch Mixer: The four-channel T4S offers most of the same features as the T8S, except for the following differences: the T4S features an Aux send count of two, and outputs to either quarter-inch TRS balanced stereo or dual ToneMatch links – designed to send digital audio to L1 Model 1S/II systems while receiving power on the same provided ToneMatch cable (note: when not used with an L1 system, the T4S can also be optionally powered by an accessory ToneMatch power supply). The final difference between the mixers is the T8S exclusive output meter. Dimensions: 8.4” x 7.25” x 3.25” (214 mm x 184 mm x 83 mm). 45-Day Better Music Guarantee: To make it convenient for customers to experience Bose T4S/T8S mixers in their own environment with their specific gear, Bose has included the products in its 45-Day Better Music Guarantee. Exclusive to Bose direct sales channels, users can buy and try a system, and if for any reason they are not satisfied, they may return it for a refund. Optionally, customers can easily try out the mixers at participating MI retailers. The T8S and T4S will be available late February 2018 with U.S. MSRP’s of $899 and $599, respectively. For more information, visit PRO.BOSE.COM. About Bose Corporation Bose Corporation was founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, then a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Today, the company is driven by its founding principles, investing in long-term research with one fundamental goal: to develop new technologies with real customer benefits. Bose innovations have spanned decades and industries, creating and transforming categories in audio and beyond. Bose products for the home, in the car, on the go and in public spaces have become iconic, changing the way people listen to music. Bose Corporation is privately held. The company’s spirit of invention, passion for excellence, and commitment to extraordinary customer experiences can be found around the world – everywhere Bose does business.
SENNHEISER MKE 440
German audio specialist Sennheiser unveiled the MKE 440, a stereo camera microphone that solves a typical challenge encountered by DSLR users: capturing focused stereo sound from the filmed object.
powered by two AAA size batteries, with the green LED of the on/off switch doubling as a low-batt indicator. The LED will turn red approximately four hours before the batteries run flat, ensuring sufficient time to finish shooting.
DSLR filmmakers have always had a hard time getting good sound from their camera-mounted stereo microphone. The new MKE 440 achieves this task: Thanks to two mini-shotgun microphones and a new stereo technique, it records the sound from within the camera angle, beating any mini AB, MS or XY arrangements. While these classic stereo set-ups also capture sound and noises from the sides – including any comments from the camera operator or people next to them – the two mini-shotguns of the MKE 440 are mounted in a V-shape arrangement that predominantly picks up the sound from within the direction of filming and rejects the majority of off-axis noise from outside the camera focus. The matched mini-shotguns of the MKE 440 feature super-cardioid pick-up patterns that overlap to create a front focus.
About Sennheiser Electronics India Private Limited
The microphones are shock-mounted internally to reduce any handling noise and are protected against wind noise by a stainless steel micro-mesh. For strong wind, a special hairy cover is available as an accessory. The compact, all-metal MKE 440 attaches to standard camera shoe mounts. It features a three-level sensitivity switch to adjust to softer and louder sound sources and has a switchable low-cut filter to eliminate low-frequency noise such as wind noise. The microphone is
The Sennheiser Group based in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, was founded in 1945 and has gone on to become a leading manufacturer of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. Sales in 2013 totalled 590.4 million euros. Sennheiser employs more than 2,500 staff worldwide and operates plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company has a worldwide network of subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hongkong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, and the USA. It also has long-established trading partners in other countries. Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin, a maker of studio microphones and monitor speakers, and Sennheiser Communications A/S, a joint venture making headsets for PCs, offices and call centres, are also part of the Sennheiser Group. For further information about Sennheiser India please visit en-in.sennheiser.com The
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TOP 7 REASONS WHY THE NEW CELVIANO AP-270 FROM CASIO IS THE ULTIMATE JOY TO PLAY ON.
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Casio is really famous for producing millions of great electronic products and have been designing and building digital pianos for well over 40 years. The new AP-270 is part of a traditional furniture cabinet line of digital pianos called Celviano. The new AP-270 is the lowest price digital piano in the Celviano line and has now been released in India. It will be available in satin black finish including a matching piano style padded bench. The new AP-270 has some very distinct upgrades over the previous model AP-260 in a number of ways and the AP-260 was the same price as the new AP-270. 1. Redesigned cabinet – Casio has given the piano cabinet a good overhaul with fewer seams, smoother installation, more piano-like in appearance. Even the speakers under the piano have been redesigned to be more "invisible" and less obvious to give the cabinet a more realistic look. 2. The piano sound chip – The sound engine has been noticeably improved along with an exclusive stereo piano sound sample from a handmade New York Steinway 9' grand piano. Up until now Casio and others have used sound samples from a variety of pianos including from Europe, but never from a real New York custom 9' concert grand. The new AP-270 is the only Casio piano made out of all models with this new Steinway piano sound and I can tell you first hand that it is the best piano sound for a traditional piano cabinet digital piano in this price range that I have ever heard. Beyond that, the New York Steinway sound has a couple of variations to it which also sound great. I was very impressed when I played and heard this new piano sound and did not expect the AP-270 to sound as good as it did. Also when you use a good pair of stereo headphones the stereo Steinway piano sound is even better because you get to hear all the tonal nuances coming directly into your ears. 3. The sustain pedal – The sustain pedal and its ability to hold the piano sound out over time and then to have that sound decay and fade out is crucial to any intermediate to advanced pianist and that's where many of these digital pianos fall short. This time the new model has more than twice the realism in sustain/decay time of the piano tone along with the volume of the sustained piano sound to hold a more realistic level before fading out. I noticed this change from the previous model right away and for people that play piano at a higher level than a beginner, this new upgrade will simply make your music sound better with a more organic tone like a real piano. Along with half-damper pedaling for more natural piano sustain at different pedal depths and the improved damper resonance which gives the piano sound a more organic natural reverb (echo) response especially when playing on the high octave keys that don't normally have good sustain. 4. The Polyphony in this new piano – The polyphony has been increased from the previous 128-note polyphony to the new 192note polyphony. This is considered as piano’s processing power which enables the piano sound to be larger, fuller, and more resonant along with being able to play more complex music without notes dropping out or sustain time being too short. 5. 22 Built-in Tones - The AP-270 now has 22 separate instrument sounds which are an increase from the previous model and all of those sounds have been improved to be even more like the real thing including the electric pianos, harpsichords, organs, choirs, etc. and as mentioned earlier also the acoustic piano tones. It is interesting to note there are now a total of 7 distinct acoustic piano sounds using a New York Steinway grand piano sound and a European grand piano sound which is far more than the other brands in this price range. The main piano sounds are also easily accessible with buttons on the control panel. Most people want a variety of actual acoustic
piano sounds rather than the non-piano sounds so this new Casio AP-270 delivers on this point. 6. New Control Panel - The control panel of the new model has changed from having the buttons above the keys to having them on the left side of the keyboard. Casio did this to make the piano look more minimalist and give it a cleaner appearance with a bit less clutter. Casio has placed the names of the sounds and additional functions above the keyboard so they are easy to find and this is done through with pressing one button and then using a specific key to trigger the feature. It's fairly easy to operate and much easier than similar control panels in other brands because the features (sounds, effects, metronome, etc.), are labeled on the new AP-270. 7. Simulated Ebony & Ivory Keys - The tops of the keys are made of synthetic ebony & ivory material to replicate the older real acoustic pianos from many years ago when ivory and ebony were legal to be made into piano key tops. Casio has been using this material on their keys for a number of years now but in this model Casio has redesigned and upgraded the "feel" of those key tops by changing and smoothing out the texture so that it feels more like actual ivory and ebony and I noticed this change right away when playing the piano. When you touch those keys the surface now feels better and is more natural to play. This is a relatively small change but a good one and shows that Casio is paying attention to the details as well as the big things. As you can see by the improvements I just mentioned that this new AP-270 really does have many significant advantages in all aspects of this piano, but at the same time Casio has kept some nicer previous features and functions of the AP-260. This would include layering of two sounds together for simultaneous play such as string symphony and grand piano, as well as a split sound function allowing for an instrument sound on the left hand and a different instrument sound on the right hand. Other useful functions and features carried over to this model include transpose, an adjustable metronome for rhythm and timing training, and last but not least a 2-track MIDI recorder for left and right-hand piano practice and playback. This 2-part recording system is something other digital pianos in this price range do not have and being able to record and playback your left and right hand separately is really useful for students. Most students need to practice and hear each hand one at a time, and for more advanced players, they want to analyze their performance by listening to how each hand is doing one at a time and then played back together. You can also speed up or slow down the playback portion so that you can record the song at a slow speed and playback at normal speed or you can record at a normal speed but playback at a slower speed so you can better hear how you played and identify your mistakes better that way. So here's the bottom line; The AP-270 is a lower priced digital piano with higher priced features in an attractive traditional furniture cabinet with matching piano bench, sliding key cover, and full privacy panel with features that concentrate and focuses on the best piano playing experience possible in its price range. It does not have a lot of unnecessary bells & whistles so is great for families or players who mainly just want to play the piano and have the necessary elements in a piano to do so. With the improvements that Casio has made to this Celviano model as compared to the previous model and the current competition out there, there really is no other digital piano that comes close in this price range in my opinion. The
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HARMAN PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS BRINGS STUDIO QUALITY VOCALS TO THE STAGE AT NAMM WITH AKG C636 MICROPHONE Updates to the legendary C535 include a custom-tuned capsule and multi-layer protection, offering best-in-class sound quality and onstage reliability; now shipping worldwide
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HARMAN Professional Solutions, the global leader in audio, video, lighting and control systems, including networked AV, today presented the AKG C636 master reference handheld condenser microphone to the U.S. market at the 2018 NAMM show, and announced its immediate worldwide availability. The C636 combines the sound quality of the legendary C535 microphone with new innovations to provide professional singers with tour-grade reliability and stage performance. Featuring a custom-tuned capsule and state-of-the-art design, the C636 perfectly captures every nuance of a vocal performance, while rejecting feedback, handling noise and pop noise. “We took the legendary C535 vocal microphone and updated it to meet the rigorous live performance requirements of today’s most discerning vocalists,” said Christopher Palmer, Solutions Manager, Microphone, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “The C636 delivers true studio-quality vocals in an extremely rugged design, combining best-in-class sound quality and onstage reliability. We’re excited for our customers to experience the unparalleled transparency and studio fidelity of the C636 at NAMM 2018.” The AKG C636 features three proprietary technologies that are designed to address several common problems singers face on stage, including feedback, handling noise and pop noise. • Combining a uniform cardioid polar pattern throughout the entire frequency spectrum with a specially designed
suspension and grille for the capsule, the C636 virtually eliminates feedback. This unique approach to housing the capsule avoids unwanted sound reflections on the back of the capsule, ensuring feedback and spill over rejection. • The C636 features the world’s first double shock suspension system, greatly reducing unwanted handling noise. The capsule sits on a highly absorbent rubber bearing that eliminates any structure-based noise, while an adjustable balancing network cancels vibrations over a wide frequency range. • A multilayer protection system prevents unwanted pop noises. The protection system consists of the grille, a foam layer behind the grille and a magnetically attached computer-modeled mesh layer on top of the capsule—providing singers with a clear, plosive-free vocal performance. This three-layer protection system is unique to AKG and sets a new industry standard for pop noise suppression. In addition, a robust, zinc-alloy housing with a spring steel grille and 24-carat gold-plated capsule ensures the C636 is extremely rugged and durable enough to last a lifetime of performances. The AKG C636 master reference handheld condenser microphone is now available from authorized HARMAN resellers worldwide. The C636 WL1 Wireless Master reference condenser vocal microphone head will be available in March 2018. For more information please visit http://www.akg.com/.
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APX Series and CPX Series Take the stage by storm As an electric guitarist in the mid-1980s, if you wanted to play acoustic on stage there were few options for you that really worked - and certainly nothing that was designed with you in mind. After talking to guitarists playing gigs of all sizes about what they really needed for a stage acoustic, Yamaha decided to make the first acoustic guitar that could be taken from a guitar rack, plugged in and played at volume – problem free. And so APX was born – designed to meet the tonal needs of both the guitarist and the band as a whole. No more howling feedback, misplaced mics or the dreaded extended sound check….
CPX Series The medium-jumbo body CPX delivers an open, modern tone with powerful, rich low-end, smooth, delicate highs, and sweet mids. Non-scalloped X-type bracing ensures a strong, rich acoustic tone that remains clear and usable on stage APX Sound hole: Oval
And being designed for electric guitarists, it wasn’t just the sound that was the focus on the APX - every element was tweaked to be an easy switch on-stage, from the stylish finishes to the cutaway body and the slim, electric-guitar style neck. Body depth and Bracing pattern The instantly recognizable APX sound hole thickens lowermid response and gives a more strident, open low end. CPX Sound hole: Round
APX Series The APX’s thin-line body offers incredible comfort, topfret access, and a sound perfect for on-stage use. Specially designed non-scalloped X-type bracing maximizes body resonance for full, natural tone. Their wide dynamic range, excellent sensitivity, and outstanding clarity make them impressive performers.
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CPX’s conventional round sound hole focuses the midrange, while controlling bass, for a direct, powerful sound.
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