You have probably seen the Hindi film named Dirty
Picture. A befitting name indeed! It profited big time by deriding the
hardships of the South Indian film actress Silk Smitha’s shattered life that
ended in her suicide. Vidya Balan, the current day actress pranced through the
hugely successful potboiler practically semi-naked, was honoured with a
National Award for best actress! The song ‘Ooolaala Ooolaala’ from that film
was a super hit, credited to Vishal Shekar as composers. It was sung by Bappi
Lahiri, popular Hindi film song composer of eighties, and Shreya Ghoshal. That
song left me perplexed in more ways than one.
The very first confusion was the artificial rendering of the
song by Shreya Ghoshal. I always thought of her as a natural! Another shock
that assailed me was that it was a rank copy of the song ‘Ui Amma, Ui Amma’
from the 1983 Hindi film Mawaali for which Bappi Lahiri himself was
the composer. He sang the song ‘Ooolaala’ without mentioning anywhere that it
was his own music! But what really shocked me was the astounding fact that the
audio quality of ‘Ooolaala’ could not hold a candle to the audio quality of ‘Ui
Amma’ that was recorded thirty years earlier! Anyone who doubts my word on it
may listen to the vinyl record of Mawaali on a Hi Fi music system.
Similarly A.R.Rahman’s songs in the recently released Tamil
film Kadal was bewildering for me. Though I was happy that even
twenty years of continuous innings in the industry has not diminished
A.R.Rahman’s ability to offer creative music, I was totally unprepared for the
shocking fall in the sound quality of his songs, something I have not seen in
over two decades of his career.
I heard his song ‘Anbin Vaasaley’ from the film Kadal at
midnight on an FM Radio channel. The music arrangements was fantastic but its
rank sound quality, the way different sounds bumped into each other to emerge
without clarity or separation, made one doubt whether it was indeed an
A.R.Rahman song. The next song broadcast was his ‘Anjali, Anjali’ song from
Rahman’s 1994 film Duet. The saxophone intro at the beginning of the
song resonated with an astounding clarity, as if someone standing near me was
playing it for my exclusive benefit. Amazing sound quality permeated every note
of that song.
What is happening? And I can’t believe this fall is
happening in an era when audio technology is scaling new summits! Was this an
inadvertent mistake that happened during recording or while making copies of
the songs? Or worse, has A.R.Rahman come to the conclusion, after his
world-wide success, that sound quality is not important any more for his music?
Is sound quality irrelevant for music?
Music happened when man composed the natural sounds in a
pleasing order. In the beginning music was rendered either with music
instruments or man’s vocal chord directly for the pleasure of music listeners.
It was a truly natural music. This natural rendering of music continued for
centuries. Many would have, in that early era of music, desired to record the
music so that it can be heard again and again. But they had no means of doing
it.
As per the recorded history, it was only 155 years ago that
a publisher of books in France found, for the first time ever, a way to record
sounds. Edward Scott was running a press in France. He invented a machine
called Phonautograph that recorded audio on paper. He first densely coated the
paper with the black soot of an oil lamp and recorded on it an old French folk
song that went something like ‘On the edge of the moonlight’ with a female
voice. Thus music became the first ever sound that was recorded! The recording
on the paper looked like the scribbling of a child. But the phonautograph had
no provision to play back the song! Nobody believed the scribbling on the paper
to be the recording of music. The world believed it only in 2008, 150 years
after it was recorded; when it was played back with the help of a computer!
By 1890s equipments were made to record sound and then hear
it by playing it back as often as one wished and whenever one wished.
Never-say-die efforts of scientists like Emile Berliner and Thomas Alva Edison
made this possible. The sound record that was then made is, to date, the best
audio play back format that man ever invented. What was first made in the form
of cylinder and then a heavy round disc called the Diamond Record underwent
many improvements and changes over the next hundred years to sustain itself as
man’s most favourite form of audio reproduction.
With the arrival of the compact cassettes in 1970s, the
records started losing their popularity. But the fact remained that compared to
the sound quality of the records, the sound quality of cassettes were
sub-standard! However, the ease and convenience of handling the compact
cassettes made the unwieldy records that needed highly careful maintenance to
beat a hasty retreat.
The compact discs that came later had audio quality that was
many times better than that of compact cassettes. But audio of a CD can never
compare in quality with that of a record played on a properly maintained music
system. After spending many years listening to music from records, I can say
with certainty that no modern audio format can compare with the sound of
records.
Today’s technology compresses thousands of songs as MP3 and
we listen to them on computer, iPod, iPad, Cell phones etc. But most of us do
not realize that their sound quality is much worse than that of audio cassette
tapes. The natural warmth of sound that we can sense to some extend in audio
tapes is missing in all possible digital audio formats like MP3.
In the 1890s audio recording studios were started, mostly in
U.S.A. and Europe. In the following 35 years Acoustical recording method was
followed for recording as neither Microphone nor Amplifier had been invented
then. In those days either a sound-insulated room or places with low incidence
of external sounds were used for sound recordings.
Musicians used to sit before a cone-like contraption, as
seen in the Gramophone Record players that came into vogue later to produce
their music, whether vocal or instrumental. The audio thus produced would
directly carve circular grooves on a wax / shellac plate or record. This system
remained popular for decades as the records could be immediately played back
and heard. Soon portable audio recording systems were also developed. I have
listened to a three-minute record of a conversation in Tamil with a Horse cart
driver outside the Central Railway Station in Chennai recorded in 1907 on one
such portable audio recorder brought from Germany!
Electronic recording of sound became possible because of the
invention of microphone and amplifier circa 1925. But nobody in those days made
any effort towards recording of the sounds with natural clarity and depth,
without the intrusion of extraneous noises. After all, it was the era of
complete satisfaction that sound could be recorded at all and be heard again
and again at will!
The American singer-actor Bing Crosby is important among
pioneers who pushed to move the industry to the fidelity of the recorded sound.
I have quite a few records of Bing Crosby recorded around 1930, and considering
the state of technology those days, their sound quality is indeed something of
a miracle. The sound quality of the Western music records scaled new heights by
the end of 1940s. Even today, hearing the music records of those years
surprises us with their audio fidelity.
The mono audio recording was in vogue for many decades. Many
records were made with mono sounds that were with impressive sound quality.
Then the stereo sound recording and playback was introduced. This was a system
where the audio was made to emanate through three separate channels on the left
and right and a virtual middle. The stereo recording of audio increased the
naturalness of the played back audio many-fold. The recording and listening of
music entered a new era of popularity.
But it was only a few decades later stereo recording of
Indian film songs became a popular reality. India’s first stereo film record
was that of Laxmikant Pyarelal’s compositions for the movie Jal Bin Machli
Nrithya Bin Bijlee released in 1971. The songs composed by Ilayaraja for
the movie Priya in 1978 were the first Tamil songs with stereo sound.
But it was only in 1980s that Indian film songs completely shifted to stereo
audio.
Entry of world-class audio technology notwithstanding, the
quality and fidelity of audio recordings in India remained many decades behind
its peers in the western world. Hindi composer R.D.Burman was the first one in
India to attempt to bring world-class sound to his songs. Today when I hear
some of the records of his songs, I am struck with wonder at his tireless
efforts and dedication to bring high fidelity to every bit piece in his songs.
Thus R.D.Burman stands out as the first Indian to create a real hi-fi stereo sound
in Indian film songs. He was gifted at once with an understanding of the
minutest nuances of natural sounds, the music of a genius and a total grasp of
the subtleties of electronic technology. One can endlessly listen to even those
compositions of his with below par musicality, churned out to suit the
fast-changing taste of times for their sheer audio quality.
But there were very few such composers who wanted great
sound quality in their songs in South India. The good sound quality that we
experience in many of the songs here were entirely thanks to the efforts made
by some of our great sound engineers and audio technicians, based on their
personal taste and understanding. Koteswara Rao who worked with both Gemini and
Bharani Recording studios of Chennai in the era of mono-sound is an important
name among prominent audio technicians of South India. It was he who undertook
the sound recording and sound mixing of most of the songs that had great sound
during 1950-60 period.
S.P.Ramanathan is another important sound engineer who came
from the mono age to the stereo age. He was the sound recordist for many Tamil
films like Johnny, Thanikkattu Raja, Moondram Pirai and My Dear
Kuttichhathan with music composed by Ilayaraja in the early eighties. The
sound that softly envelopes you without being loud was his speciality. But the
sound arrangement that I regard as fantastic was the creation of Emmy who
worked with Ilayaraja during the period 1984-88. When I hear the over 250
records of Ilayaraja in my collection, again and again, my conviction that the
best period for the audio quality of Ilayaraja’s music was the period when Emmy
worked with him becomes firmer. These recordings by Emmy are brimming with the
unique bass guitar patterns of Ilayaraja in one of the tightest bass sounds I
have ever heard in Indian music. The sounds of every music instrument used in
these songs resonate with a stunning liveliness without getting mixed up with
one another.
A.R.Rahman’s first audio recording studio The Panchathan was
designed by Emmy. He also had played his part in the audio recording of
Rahman’s debut song ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’. Later sound engineer H. Sridhar
started working with A.R.Rahman. Sridhar, who was an expert in digital studio
sound equipment and computerized audio recording, worked with A.R.Rahman till
his untimely death in 2008. Sridhar’s recording genius helped A.R.Rahman till
the film Slumdog Millionaire which had won him the Oscar Awards.
Without any doubt whatsoever, A.R.Rahman can be named as the
first South Indian composer who worked to achieve high fidelity sound in music
recording. It is said that once, many seasons before his debut film Roja happened,
he had tried to play the tape of one of his music recordings on his car stereo.
He was so disgusted to find the sound quality of his recording was so poor
compared to a western music recording he had heard before it. He threw the tape
out of his car in irritated by its below par sound! Probably his untiring
search for achieving a world-class sound quality must have started from that
point.
Rahman toils for weeks and sometimes even for months to
carve every little sound bit in his music. That is why, beginning
with Roja, over the last twenty years he has been able to so consistently
serve only the best musical sound. It is my abiding regret that till date I
have not had the good fortune of fully enjoying the sound of the film Roja. Just
because vinyl records of that film was never released! I am still nursing my
big wish that I should hear the song ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ at least once from a
vinyl record! Vinyl records of A R Rahman’s Gentleman and Kizhakku
Cheemaiyile were released. Their audio quality is something to write home
about. Kizhakku Cheemaiyile remains the last released vinyl record in
Tamil!
In recent years, vinyl records of A.R.Rahman’s Hindi albums
like Jodha Akbar, Vande Mataram, Guru, Rang De Basanti and Lagaan have
been released. Released at a hefty price, their sound quality is not
particularly impressive. They sounds more like CDs! Originally recorded on the
current digital audio formats, they must have run into conversion problems
while preparing the Analogue Master needed to produce the vinyl records! But I
just cannot imagine what could have gone wrong with the sound of the songs of
the film Kadal. There is no way A.R.Rahman could have okayed this
sound!
Among contemporary Tamil film music composers, sound of
Harris Jayaraj is crystal clear and enjoyable. His sound has its own character.
Sound arrangement of many of Karthik Raja (Ilayaraja’s son) songs is just
great. You can see a unique approach to sound right from his songs of the
film Alexander, released in mid-nineties to the latest songs of his recent
release Rettai Chuzhi. There is great high fidelity in the sound of
recently released albums of films like Engaeyum Eppodhum, Severkkodi and Ponmaalai
Pozhudhu by the young composer, C.Satya.
One needs an array of high quality audio playback equipment
capable of reproducing high fidelity sound to finely judge the true sound
quality of a recording. Even the wires and cables connecting the array of
equipment need to be the best in class. But it is indeed a fact that those with
an ear for high quality sound and the will to look for it, those who evaluate
the sound arrangement of music on a regular basis can recognize the audio
quality of the original recording even when a song played over radio or a cell
phone.
There still remains the question: what is truly meant
by sound quality of music? I am sorry to say that that one cannot define sound
quality in words. It has to be felt! However, if I were to make an
attempt to define good sound which is not amenable to a wordy definition, then
it will be something like this. The sound of music should be natural without
frills or additional colours. It should have depth and punch but should never
boom. The music bits should not get mixed up and they must have total clarity
and separation. Frequencies of different sounds should not clash but travel in
different layers with pristine transparency. The sound should have hold,
precision and it should be absolutely enjoyable.
It is possible to enjoy a below par song of Bappi Lahiri on
the strength of its sound quality! But even the best of music from Beethoven,
Schubert and Mozart becomes a cacophony in the absence of well recorded audio
quality. Even the marvels of music are difficult to appreciate if their sound
gives a thumbs down. Great sound is the heart beat of great music. Very
definitely it has its own expression of emotions beyond that of music. We must
not forget that music is nothing but properly arranged and groomed sound.
2013
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