K J Singh: Interview Part 2
Amidst the interview (K J Singh: Interview Part One) there were several occasions where interesting topics came up. Interacting with K J Singh was a learning experience because he shared so many of his experiences and insightful thoughts. Hence, it was not much of a surprise for us when he mentioned the fact the he teaches at University of Mumbai and at a private set up too.
Producer’s Role…
He said that a music producer should a be like a “bouncing board “. A producer is the person who is in the position to validate the work, which the artist is working on.
Rabbi’s Bulla Ki Jaana..
He had met Rabbi, many years ago, in Delhi, as a young, angst ridden guitar player. His rendering of the famous folklore Heer was quite unusual. They met again in 1999 when Sony music was almost ready to sign Rabbi on and the songs that he played caught KJ’s fancy. He surprisingly mentioned the fact that, the demo version of Bulla ki Jaana was recorded, by him, way back in December 1999. Almost 3 years before the actual release of the album. The final cut which we hear had changes in vocals and guitar only.
Winning Filmfare Award….
He said “You don’t go out there to do something as stupid as to win an award”.
Analog & Digtial…
Hrishikesh – my friend asked him about his preference for mixers (Analog/Digital). K J Singh said that he preferred analog mixers. Although he has a propensity towards analog mixer, he was one of the early converts to digital mixers.
Live Shows…
K J Singh loves to do live shows as well. He says that live shows require a lot of spontaneity and adaptability to work in different environments. He talks about incidents of Kishore Kumar Nite at IG Stadium in New Delhi where he was the sound in-charge and was asked by the singer to shut off the echo unit, only to be told that it was the dome shaped hall that was responsible for it! And his association with Jazz Yatra. He was there during the first-ever musical concert of the band “ Shakti “ in 1983 in New Delhi with John McLaughlin at the helm of the affairs and later at IIT, Delhi with Larry Coreal. All this, working as an assistant for the Chandra Brothers, from whom he also learnt the basics of sound. He has worked with A R Rahman at his live shows all around the world and in India. And traveled extensively with singer Padamshri Hariharan for Tamil, Bollywood and Ghazal shows apart from mixing his albums Kaash at the Real World Studio, UK and Waqt Par Bolna at Phase One, Toronto.
Remixes…
He is not very strongly opinionated about remixes. As long as the original creators are given due credit, he has no issues. Remixes should not mean just extra beats or bass. It should be a unique reprise.
Sound Gears….
Talking about sound gears, there was a huge session on it. Hrishikesh had a great time because he could relate to lot of sound engineering jargon, which K J Singh mentioned through out the session. It is a daunting task in India to invest in expensive sound gears. (The collection of equipments he uses are listed on his homepage – just hover mouse over the images – to know the names.)
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) which K J Singh uses is ProTools and LOGIC (varying versions). A R Rahman uses LOGIC software. K J Singh had mastered LOGIC for the collaborative work with A R Rahman. It seems that LOGIC is not easy software to learn. K J Singh mentions the fact the it is important for technicians to be aware of the latest in the market .It is like “sharpening the saw” at regular intervals.
K J Singh actually spoke of a sizeable number of sound engineers who put tapes across the logos of their gear in order to prevent propagation of origin of their wares. We collectively found that amusing and at the same time absurd. Hillarious stuff that was.
There was an interesting discussion we had over mobility of sound these days. In the bygone era, LP was played on the turntable. So the listener was restricted to a particular location or a conditioned environment. Then came the diminutive music cassettes which were played in walkman and carried everywhere. This caused the quality of music to suffer considering noise pollution and other parameters. With the advent of CDs, the definition of music mobility changed and now MP3s have drastically changed the way we listen to music far beyond recognition of a lay man. Music now may not only be heard in a tranquil environment of our homes. It can be heard anywhere. So it is more of a daunting task for the sound engineers to capture/produce the best sound possible. Like KJ says, “We are capturing the sound for posterity. We do not know where the music is going to be heard.” Hence the need to mix so that it can translate in various formats and environments.
Record Labels…
He went on talk about how record labels should try to nurture artist and their talents instead of ridiculing them on their work based on producers’ limited experience. He goes on to say that artists are extra-sensitive and fragile and should be criticized in a balanced way rather than panning out baseless aspersion.
He lamented about the state of music affairs in India. He feels India as a country lacks artist development programs where the artists are nurtured and helped grow creatively.
Lately reality shows have not helped any budding artists but paradoxically hampered any further chances of the participants’ growth. Reality shows got to do with short term gains.
Artist development & management, and Royalties..….
K J Singh strongly believes that the budding artist should be trained at an early age like the way the young gymnasts are trained in the Eastern European countries.
In the earlier years, India boasted of huge pool of classical and semi-classical artists. That was because of the strong “ Guru-Shishya parampara”, which seems lacking in today’s system. Good music will only flourish under able patronage and correct guidance as well as a strong royalties system.
We probed further as to why artists do not receive royalties in India in the same scale as the westerners. Replying to this he said that earlier selected people (mainly film producers) owned all the rights of songs and content under contract signed by the artist, for perpetuity, which was criminal.
Nowadays composers like A.R. Rahman rightfully ask for royalties and publishing right. A few others have started music combines which also is planning on asking for such rights. Even today, if some video game company or a Hollywood picture house picks up a tune from a certain old movie, the producer will get his dues and not the artist who originally created it.
KJ says that royalties are important because the artist can very well concentrate on his new projects without worrying about the fact where his next meal might come from. There will be a steady flow of income through royalties. Such hassle free creative environment is difficult to be found in India which eventually mars the quality of music produced. In western countries, high profile engineers also earn small royalty points, something unheard of in our country, as they too have contributed to the song they have mixed
During one of his visits to a London recording studio, he came to know about the fact that “Oasis” the band was recording at the adjacent studio. On visiting their studio, he learnt that the band had been living there for the past 6 months. All for creativity sake. This is the kind of creative space available in the Occident. They can afford to do it because of the steady flow of royalties.
To further support his train of thought, he recounted his meeting with Sting’s producer of the album “ Sacred Love”. Apparently Sting and his crew recorded their songs in a chateau in France, drinking wine and nibbling on cheese. Although this is extravagant but it does portray the creative space available there to an extent.
Non – Film Music…
When it comes to non- film music, K J Singh is belligerent but still hopeful. He says “Bollywood is all pervasive”. He says that on seeing artists like Rabbi and Indian Ocean, he feels there is hope left in Indian music. And in the works of Classical Indian, folk musicians and light Indian music promoters like Hariharan, Suresh Wadkar, Wadali brothers etc.
K J Singh feels that everything on T.V to songs to products is targeted for the youth. The media marketing guys have demographically gotten rid of all the possible other age groups.
Music Channels…
Hrishikesh continuing with the momentum asked him about the music channels. KJ narrated his meeting with one of the head honchos of a popular music channel, who sees no reason to play non film music videos on prime time unless they give exclusive rights. The honcho goes on further to say that his reality show gets 2500 hits per day on Orkut. And that is more important than doing a “lift karade” to non-film music, which was the motto of music channels when they came in. Classic case of demand vs. supply.
He feels that the government could very well put out a ruling that makes sure that a percentage of time, in a day, is given to non-film segment, like the Canadian government had done with the advent of Much Music channel. That not only safeguarded the nascent pop industry but also gave rise to a large segment of popular Canadian artists to the world. If we can have import duties to safeguard our indigenous industry why not this?
K J Singh complains about the fact that he has heard Rabbi’s new album just once in the last two months on radio considering whatever amount of time he listens radio. Ironically, Rabbi’s new album is the chart topper for the last 4 weeks running on Times Radio Mirchi rankings in the non film segment.
He is hopeful also with the third phase of F.M. Radio licenses bidding. This time the government has made the bidding of radio stations according to music genres. K J Singh is again worried about the commercial big players out bidding smaller (not too sell-out) bidders.
Independent Record Label..
Finally I asked him about his plans for the future. He wants to start of a small independent record label. Parallel to this he wants to also start artist management and development programs.
We just hope that he brings out some change in a small or big way in the music and sound scene in India.
Tags: Interview, K J Singh
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Well done guys for interviewing an exciting independent mind like KJ Singh. If the power in the entertainment industry rested in the hands of people like this, India would be a different cultual space today.
Very true Jaideep.
Nice interview!
would have been great if this were podcasted and published
Nice one.
Great job Sourav.
The interview was crisp. Looking forward to your next one.
Thanks guys..really appreciate it.
Dude its awsome……u havn’t told us about al ds thngs man…..nw m waitng fr ur nxt intrview ……man u guys simply ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carry on guys…
Regards
Shariq Momin