Darshan Manakkal discovers one of the city’s most popular recording studios for Carnatic music.
As far as landmarks are concerned, The Music Mint is fairly difficult to find. Beyond a nondescript signboard on Jayanagar’s 36th Cross, up a narrow flight of stairs and behind a soundproofed door are two modest sound booths that are a favourite recording refuge for many of the city’s young Carnatic musicians eager to make their first demo. They are also the preferred destination for senior artists, prone to sudden moments of inspiration, looking to render these for posterity.
The Music Mint’s popularity perhaps has a lot to do with the extended lunch breaks on the terrace, which punctuate every recording session at the studio. Here on the terrace, musicians and studio crew regularly unwind and bond. A personal touch and a certain comfort level is the reason many musicians who record at The Music Mint keep coming back, according to studio owner and veena player, Suchitra Lata. “When musicians come here, they feel free to be themselves,” she said. “They feel free to connect to their music.”
Lata and her husband, SR Ramakrishna, often recorded music for theatre and low budget films in the 1990s. “We used to go to a lot of studios, and we never felt comfortable. Nobody understood the music, not even the engineer. It was like working in a vacuum,” she said. Their experiences got them thinking about creating a space for themselves that they could use as a studio, and also make available to other musicians. In 2000, they began constructing The Music Mint, and for about eight years now, the studio’s two booths have played gracious host to all manner of musicians, from ad-jingle makers to folk artists from Rajasthan.
Lata herself took to Carnatic music at an early age. “There was always a lot of music at home,” she said, adding that she got her first veena when she was barely nine years old, and has been a student ever since. The fact that Lata and Ramakrishna, who trained in Hindustani classical, both have a deep knowledge of classical music is another reason that makes The Music Mint an obvious choice for Carnatic artists. “Musicians are sensitive to their surroundings and the ambience when they are playing. To some extent we are able to cater to their needs,” Lata explained. At the heart of The Music Mint is an Apple Mac Pro running ProTools LE 8.0 and a Yamaha 01V 96 mixer. Manning the state-of-the-art equipment is Gokul Abhishek, an audio engineer by accident. “I’m actually an electrical engineer,” he confessed. After graduating in 2000 from the National Institute of Engineering in Mysore he worked for three months as a software engineer before signing up for a course at the School of Audio Engineering in Chennai. “I thought I should give it a chance since I was into music,” said Abhishek. “Not necessarily Carnatic music, but the regular stuff everybody listens to – Pink Floyd, AR Rahman.”
After joining The Music Mint, Abhishek’s first encounter with Carnatic music followed soon enough, when renowned vocalist and a regular at the studio RK Padmanabha came in with two percussionists, a violinist and three other vocalists for a recording. “I didn’t even know what an avarohanam [the descending scale of a raga] was at that point,” Abhishek recalled. Since that overwhelming introduction, he has sat in on many Carnatic recordings. “What most Carnatic artists want is that you – as an engineer – must be invisible. All you need to ensure is that they can see each other, hear each other and that they keep playing,” he said. The challenge in a Carnatic recording is to restrain oneself, according to Lata. “Most of the other music is something you can produce – twist around and do whatever you want with. Whereas in Carnatic music, there is a certain flow that needs to be preserved. You don’t want to make it sound too much like it’s been produced in a studio,” she said. “You need to keep a studio feel, and at the same time be true to the instrument or the voice. I personally respect the musician who would say – ‘this take is slightly funny, but I’d like to keep it this way’, more than the musician who will correct it till it’s perfect.” Abhishek agreed, “Recording is something that has to happen in the background. As long as you don’t get in the way, it’s all peaceful.”
From behind a double-glazed window that separates him from the artists, Abhishek has been a silent witness to many moments of musical brilliance that have played out in the two sound booths at The Music Mint. “Once, RK Padmanabha came to the studio in the night. We were not free in the morning, so he came at 8pm,” said Abhishek, recounting one eventful recording. “Even after all the artists left, he still wanted to go on. He sang Todi [a raga known for its complex phrasing and intonations] solo. It was an incredible rendition, and that happened at around 11pm,” he exclaimed.
The Music Mint, 3, 36th Cross, 26th Main, Jayanagar 9th Block (2663-8845).
Source : Time Out Bengaluru ISSUE 1 Friday, July 23, 2010
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