[Reader-list] Advaita & Abhishek , Prashant Pandey

[Prashant Pandey]

Meet Shekhu aka Abhishek Mathur from Delhi. He is a budding music director who like many has a rock background. He was with Friday the 13, a Delhi based rock band. 
His first film is called Saturday(Shanivaar) (33 min DV,MCRC),a dark musical with 4 songs. Its my Mcrc final film too.

To describe him i would say that he is like a protagonist from a Farhan Akhtar film. his father is a bureaucrat and mother is a painter, a very different profile indeed than all the upcoming artists/singers/music directors i meet in Bombay. He doesnt have to travel in local transport,eat wada paav and share room and toilet with 6 other people.  

He makes music from his beautiful room adorned by music Cds,books,a Midi keyboard,guitar and a computer. he works hard and steady,bouncing ideas and constantly calling up his other geeky friends for dispelling technical doubts. this is a 3 months old conversation that i had with him,just before we did some sound-effects for my final cut.

Immensely chilled out and informed, here is Abhishek for you from his Chanakyapuri Residence--- 




  
 As a  young music director what do you think decides whether or not what you are making is good or not so good ?

In any creative field, what is good and bad is highly subjective. But the bottom line in any commercial work is fulfilling the client’s vision. In the context of jingles, advertisements etc the music must serve the purpose delineated by the client. Yet there is a certain quality that can be given to the work depending on how hard the music producer tries (very often the musician would not need to stretch him or herself to get the job done). So in this scenario the client decides what works or not, but this doesn’t necessarily mean good or not good.

In other work, more towards making songs, be it for pop music or film music (in India these hardly exist as separate entities), the person in charge, ie movie producer or record company manager has the power and in fact designation to determine what is good or bad. When the music faces the commercial test, it is the public that decides whether they like the music or not, again this does not objectively mean good or bad.

Therefore a young music director like myself has no real parameter to judge the work I am doing by. One can only be objective about one’s own production and also get the feedback of people around you. But as mentioned earlier, the harder one works on a musical piece and its production (especially keeping in mind the large electronic input these days), the better chance of achieving a higher quality, in terms of a musically rich and well rounded piece of music. 



Tell me about your social as well as musical background 

I come from a middle class family and both my parents are from Rajasthan. Not too many people in my family are involved in creative fields, but my mother is a painter so I guess I get that from her. I started liking western rock and pop music at about 10 or 11 and started playing the guitar and making (very immature) songs at about 15. Me and a very close friend, who is a drummer, had a band in which I played bass and In 2002 I joined Delhi band Friday the Thirteenth as bass player. This band has been very successful, winning the nationwide Levis Great Indian Rock competition organized by the magazine RSJ in the year 2003. At the moment all my energy is focused on a new band Advaita (in which I am playing guitars and sometimes sing), in which we are experimenting with a new sound combining elements of western music with Indian classical music.





Which bollywood music directors do u like and why? 

Like everyone else, I think A.R Rahman is a genius because he can make music that really sinks deep into the soul of the listener and sound magical. This is not some technical thing; it’s a gift of a man with tremendous sensitivity, passion and vision. Having said that, he is a perfectionist with a grasp of both Indian and western music theory (he is a student of Trinity College of Music, London), which gives him the power to diversify his creative output and maintain an astonishingly high level of quality. He also dabbles into new age electronica eg in Yuva. I would also credit A R Rahman with lifting the standard of production technique and all round slickness. The last 5 to 8 years have seen a paradigm shift in the ways Hindi film music is being made and that’s all because of the revolution brought about by this one man, who started his career as a music director when he was just a boy.
Amongst the others, I like the work of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy who have a brilliant team going.  The music for Dil Chahta Hai is a phenomenon in itself because it has brought about a more youth based sound into Hindi cinema, where rock and pop elements are being used more easily.  This has huge repercussions for someone like me who wants to eventually get a chance to make music at the level of Hindi film music.


   What are your influences? 


My influences are far too many and far too diverse (everything from Pink Floyd, to electronic music, to Indian Classical music). All I aspire to do is make sure that the music I make is something fresh in itself



If you are making a song how do you go about it 

There are numerous ways, and any thing from a melody to a lyric to just a thought can trigger a song. Sometimes you have to make a song for a specific purpose in which case the procedure may differ. Also, the process differs whether you are fooling around on the guitar or on some electronic music software like Reason.



Did you evolve this process or is it a standard 

Like I said, there isn’t a specific process, but yes some things have evolved over the years making songs with different people and in different situations.


Do you ever fancy working on analog machines 

Oh yes!!! I am one of those people convinced that there was something very full and warm about the timbres of the sound, which has been somewhat lost in the digital age. Undoubtedly the digital revolution has had many positive fallouts, I owe my entire career choice to the software availability.   

What softwares have you worked with 

I have worked on Reason 2.5 and Cubase Sx 2.20. Reason is a music creating software while Cubase is a sound editing and recording software.

 Please give details of your music setup 

Basically it comprises of softwares on my PC and a MIDI controller, which I use to trigger these softwares with. I take an output from the PC to my speakers 
 and that’s pretty much it. I have a decent soundcard and I can plug in my guitar or bass into the line in and record in Cubase.


 What would be an ideal set up? 

Well 
 that’s too hypothetical, music and studio related machines, gadgets are quite expensive and have to be ordered from abroad so one doesn’t ever think in terms of an ideal set up but rather the best possible setup in a given budget. Obviously, eventually everyone wants to have their own little studio going where there can be a good recording room etc.


You are a musician as well very good with computers. How does it combine together in making good music 

Making music starts in the mind and soul in the musician and whether you’ve got a guitar in your hands or you’re sitting on a computer, these are just the tools. No doubt one has to work hard at mastering the tools, but there would be absolutely no point being great with gizmos and have nothing to express. One great ‘coming together’ aspect is that having a setup like I have has become pretty common these days and allows a person to put an entire piece of music together, with all the elements, all by oneself. 

What are factors for buying the MIDI Keyboard? 

This is fast becoming the age of soft-synths, i.e. virtual synthesizers that work through the PC. The possibilities of configuring and editing have taken quantum leaps. It has thus become quite pointless to buy just an ordinary keyboard. I couldn’t afford to buy a Korg Triton or a Kurzwiell, which cost lakhs of money, so I made the decision to buy a MIDI Keyboard and I have to say I am really happy with the decision.



 Are you happy with the current Bollywood music scene?

I think its getting better, a lot more innovation is being shown. I do however dislike the whole remix scene. The songs of the 50s and 60s made by people like S.D Burman are melodically beautiful and if they have to be presented in a new way, it should be done gracefully.


What do you think is lacking?

I don’t think I have enough knowledge to answer that. Some people blame the supply, while some blame the demand. One specific thing that does get me all irritated is the blind lifting of tunes and the general repetition of similar ‘formulae’. From the musicians point of view I’d like to see a fresh approach and more integrity in people’s work, but like I said, things are most definitely changing for the better.

Do you fancy film music?

Yes I’d like to one day get the chance to make music for films. I’m much more inspired by the art of making songs than just making music for the sake of the visual i.e. in Advertisements or Documentaries.    



What exactly is digital music making?

I haven’t really heard this term before but I think you’re referring to the use of computers as opposed to real instruments.

If you ever do film music what will be your USP 

Wait and watch. Hopefully, strong melodic content and innovation.




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