The Eighth Note

Ram Lakhan brought in the audio CD way back in 1989

The digital revolution,in India,has just crossed two decades,so in that sense it is not very new. But while today’s generation is fascinated by the good old vinyl gramophone records and even videocassettes and their players,the Compact Discs are here to stay. Even films,to digress relevantly,are watched with DVDs and Blu-Rays at home or in digital or Dolby Digital theatres.

The music track of the film is now integrated into the Digital Master of the film itself. For the record,the first CD released of an individual film soundtrack was the 1989 album of Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan with music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

What is interesting to note is that when we hear a Lata Mangeshkar or a Sonu Niigaam on CD,we are actually hearing the electronic interpretations of their voices,and not actually what they have sung as in the analogue recordings – which is eerie when you think about it,but true. And yes,singers who are shaky in sur (key) and expression can punch in individual words or lines where their singing falls short in any aspect!

And yes,we have software that can also process a singer’s voice to unrecognisable textures so that one singer can be heard in two voices within one track if back-up vocals are needed! Even the most besura performer can now come up with a technically-perfect album because off-key pitching can be digitally corrected!

NEW GROUND

Pen-drives and Memory Cards are the latest formats for pre-recorded music

In late 2009,T-Series broke new ground by issuing the soundtrack of the film Blue on Pen Drive for the USB outlets (for use in PCs,advanced music systems) as well as SD (Memory) Card for mobilephones. Though the music and the film failed badly,the day is not far away when such releases become common.

As Vinod Bhanushali of T-Series explains,”We are providing the new formats at the same price at which blank Pen Drives and Memory Cards are available in the market – with original soundtracks included – and we have also similarly marketed the music of other films as well as compilations. Till now we are the only music label to release music in these formats.”

Such formats also offer the vicarious option to the consumer of deleting or replacing a part or whole of the data later if he is so inclined!

MULTI-TRACK BONANZA

From 2-tracks in Stereo recordings to 999 or more is an incredible “track”-record

While Stereophonic Sound in Hindi cinema,in particular,came in as early as in 1971 with the soundtrack of V.Shantaram’s Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli,it slowly began to gain momentum only after Sholay,where the entire movie itself was recorded in Stereophonic Sound.

But while ‘primitive’ Stereo was about just two separate tracks recorded and mixed so that an impression of space and direction were created,the first 4-track song recording came in with the song Om shanti om in Subhash Ghai’s Karz,again composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

The number of tracks rose slowly and steadily. In the ’90s,all the major recording studios shifted to a minimum 8-tracks,moving on to 24 and later 60. But the formats used were still tapes and cassettes.

The first bridge was formed by DAT,the Digital Audio Tape that was pocket-sized and appeared in India in the mid- ’90s. Soon,it was replaced by the digital formats of recordable discs and later the computer’s hard disk. Today,thanks to advanced technology,over a thousand tracks,theoretically,can be employed!

DIGITAL RELEASES

Artistes prefer that fans buy their music directly from them through downloads

A logical extension of the use of media and technology is the releasing of existing as well as new individual songs as well as albums on the ‘Net – and often without releases in physical formats like CDs. The economic models vary – some artistes have arrangements whereby the consumer can download music free,whereas most opt for an online payment system.

The revenue models depend on individual aims – there are artistes who just wish to share their creativity. Others prefer this mode as they can have the freedom to give consumers what they want to,without creative or commercial pressures from music labels. A key aspect is the instant global reach and the direct personal feedback received from fans,and a vital angle is that they do not need to part with their intellectual copyrights in a country that is known to have unclear laws about creators and publishers.

Indian Ocean’s latest album 16/330,Khajoor Road,offered free downloads for seven month at the rate of one track a month. Their logic is that most of their income has always been from live shows. “Musicians barely earn from albums even when successful – so when most of the profits made by others,so why pass the burden to our fans?” asks a key band member.

Sufi song specialist Kavita Seth and Pandit Somesh Mathur are among others who have used this platform to release songs or albums to great advantage in all respects,and more are following suit.

TRENDY LISTENING

Music of our choice can be carried now anywhere we are in tiny packs

Besides CDs,digital listening avenues have grown to a phenomenal level of hi-tech choices with very high clarity and resolution. The first such revolution came in with MP3 – said to be an acronym for the term ‘Media Player’ but actually denoting ‘Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) – Audio Layer 3’,an audio compression technology that revolutionised digital music by retaining most of the original fidelity but converting a size 40MB CD track into an approximately 4MB MP3 file.

This enables almost ten times the number of songs to be stored in a standard compact disc. MP3 format songs can also be stored and reproduced on the computer’s hard disk or an external Hard Drive,in special pocket MP3 players generically called iPODs (though the term is actually the premier MP3 player brand manufactured by Apple) and on pen-drives,which are small data-banks that can be connected to other digital devices including car stereos and computers.

In short,instead of carrying portable cassette- or CD players along with a stack of tapes or discs,we can carry hours of push-button listening pleasure – that too tailored to our choices – in a pint-sized pack. And yes,let’s not forget the mobile handset – another tool for storing,reproducing and even transferring this data. But more on that later.

Music companies too are increasingly opting for these new formats and have found the MP3 a boon for marketing compilations of songs as well as multiple film soundtracks in high fidelity at prices that are on par,if not less,than the pirated counterparts.

Of course,available technology is no fiefdom of the righteous and we have yet to evolve something that the pirate cannot match or use. In 2003,EMI Records came up with the score of Subhash Ghai’s Jogger’s Park with a ‘Copy-Control CD’ so that the content cannot be “copied” onto another CD or be digitised. But it failed to stand the technological test.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF PUBLISHER

The definition of music publishers is undergoing a transformation

ArtistAloud.com is a pioneering Indian digital platform that provides music lovers access to physically-unreleased music,which they can sample,buy as well as share with the world. An initiative by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Private Ltd.,ArtistAloud.com offers an opportunity for independent artistes to build a connect with their fans and for fans to have access to new,unreleased music. The site currently houses original music from over a hundred artistes,both well- known and new,across genres ranging from Alternative Pop,Fusion,English and Hindi Rock,Film music and Indipop in Hindi,English,Punjabi,Gujarati and Bengali. They aim to give not only artistes but also music lovers “the control and right to build the demand for independent music from India on a global level”.

Artistsaloud.com has also taken the next step – presenting concerts on the web called Webcerts,and have done four of them till now,with live streaming presented at a physical locale. A live webcast of Kailash Kher’s song on the Commonwealth Games,Yaaron jashn manaao,was also webcast. Others are also taking to this form of public performance.

Music director Amar Mohile has initiated Bonaventure Records,an online music label that is planning to also go physical whenever a specific demand is there. The idea is to have flexible revenue arrangements across genres and internationally in terms of new and established artistes. “We have released the background score – a trend popular abroad – of Land Gold Women. A single named Angels said by a Canadian artiste and my own songs that are sung by Shreya Ghoshal,Babul Supriyo and other singers are also available online,” says Mohile,who will soon have an A&R team in place and also plans to produce music for artistes who have ready compositions that have to be recorded,arranged,mixed and mastered. A key album he is putting online is Swarali,for which he has purchased online rights from Zapata Records,which had come out with its physical version. “These are instrumental tracks by my father (veteran composer Anil Mohile) of Lata Mangeshkar’s hits,” says Mohile.

MOBILE & ONLINE BUSINESS

Caller Tunes are an El Dorado of great revenue for music companies,while sites of music labels allow for purchase of songs online

A TOP singer had declared that a large chunk of the decline in musical standards is because of music labels demanding “Hit Ring-Tones” rather than good melodies. What are Ring-Tones? Explains Bhanushali,”Some years ago,the concept of Mono-Tones,short instrumental versions of the mukhdas of songs,began to be used for mobilephones. They were later replaced by Poly-Tunes or Tru-Tones,that is,excerpts of the songs themselves. Today we call them RBT (Ring-Back Tones) or Caller Tunes,and Ring-Tones. If I dial your number,I will hear the RBT,whereas you will hear your ‘phone ringing with a Ring-Tone. Thanks to technology,you can set a Ring-Tone yourself on your ‘phone,but RBTs have to be legally purchased for a fixed period from your service operator,who in turn has a financial arrangement in India with the regulatory government body Telco.”

The crispness needed for such RBTs (about 30-60 seconds) led to hook-lines and catchphrases of songs coming in demand and yielding rich returns for music companies in a scenario where physical sales were dwindling by the day and most digital downloads were illegal. The companies’ pie in the sales proceeeds led to their demanding more such songs even if the script did not call for them. For the last three or four years therefore,till this year’s scores of substance (Ishqiya,Raajneeti,Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai and the record-breaking Dabangg) changed trends,the accent was on such musical “hooks” where people did not even know or bother about how the rest of the song went!

Keeping in step with the times,therefore,the key music companies,especially those with the maximum film music repertoire (by far the leading genre in India in sales and mass popularity) like Saregama and T-Series have also developed sites (www.saregama.com and http://www.t-series.com) from where it is possible to buy and download single songs. Saregama even offers membership to reduce download rates – many years ago,they had also pioneered hamaracd.com,a portal for ordering custom-made CDs of music of your choice.

Raaga.com is another site that deals in downloads and Nokia has also purchased huge repertoires across different music labels. For those living abroad but wanting to buy Indian music,iTunes.com and emusic.com are sites of choice.

REMOTE MELODY

Long-distance music recording is now common and opens many possibilities

Around 1998,Subhash Ghai’s state-of-the-art Audeus Recording Studios pioneered technology for recording and dubbing music from another studio – located in Mumbai or otherwise. A.R.Rahman worked on the music of Taal from Chennai when the final recordings were being simultaneously engineered in Mumbai.

Much water has flowed under the bridge since then. In the early 2000s,the London-based Nadeem of Nadeem-Shravan would send compositions from the ‘Net so that partner Shravan could rehearse the singer and musicians and record the songs in Mumbai.

Slowly the ‘Net became even more prolific in its use.Shaan collaborated with Blues for the track,One love in Rakht (2004),interacting by exchanging frequent e-mails with his collaborator. Shamir Tandon recorded a song for Page 3 (2005) with Asha Bhosle dubbing it in USA. Now a common enough occurrence,it facilitates artistes abroad to sing Indian songs and vice-versa without being physically present. Most of the songs that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan records for Hindi films are dubbed by him either in Lahore or Dubai,and the same is the case with other Pakistani singers who may face time constraints or visa problems to travel to India.

Pakistani compositions in Mahesh Bhatt’s films and also their creators were discovered or sourced from the Internet.

OPERATION REVIVAL

Technology allows old music to be reproduced with sparkling clarity

ADVANCED recording technology permits an incredible level of audio and video clean-up for reissues of old classics. The hisses and crackles and other undesirable sounds can be eliminated by state-of-the-art technology and painstaking human effort both from audio and video sources.

In the music industry,the 40-year old Universal Music leads in excellence. In recent weeks,it marketed unreleased songs of composers Sonik-Omi and a Mohammed Rafi-Chitragupta album that were recorded originally for various unfinished film projects. The voices of singers and the sound of the orchestra are as clear and clean as if they are recorded a few weeks ago,when these songs were actually recorded and stored in humid conditions anything from one to four decades ago!

T-Series and Tips are also doing this,though not with as much care and effort Universal invests in sprucing up old recordings or even re-issuing their regular old catalogue.

In 2005,Naushad also used a combination of science and human art to convert the original Mughal-E-Azam songs and background music into the stereophonic score in Dolby Digital of the film when it was colorized. The trick here was to sound clean and stereophonic while retaining the retro touch.

iPHONE APPLICATION

A revolutionary way for artistes to interact with fans,thanks to Apple

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have taken the use of new media a step further by announcing their association with technology giant Apple and becoming the first Indian musicians to have a customised application on the iPhone. The application enables fans all over the world to stay updated with the latest news from the musicians,who are not just film composers. Available to all iPhone users across the globe and also compatible with the iPod touch and the iPad,the application allows access to exclusive content,backstage videos and music from the trio.

S-E-L worked on the idea for long. They were hoping to get the application started in July,but realised that software building takes its time. The iPhone application is just the first in their series of initiatives for panning out globally. One collaboration is there with India’s OML Digital and there’s another in the pipeline with a UK-based company.

Besides music content,there will be behind-the-scenes activities too,like showing how a song comes into being. There’s also a forum where fans can interact with them. The application will help as a platform for their non-film tracks as well,and the trio plan to put out their raw music and cold-play it for fans to gauge their reactions.

S-E-L feel that the iPhone is the next big thing. “India has the highest number of mobile downloads and this trend will catch up. People no longer will have to purchase the entire album just to be able to hear one track,” they say.

With inputs from Anita Aikara