Recording CARNATIC MUSIC
LIVE IN STUDIO
Well , this is one of the most important topics , I wanted to discuss for many years . I have been recording classical Carnatic music live for the past 18 years in the industry for fellow musicians and artists . Me being a professional mridangam artiste for the past 28 years , it was an added advantage for me to specialize in this field . There are many artists and musicians having a misunderstanding of Recording a Live Carnatic session recording at the same time . Well , to get a good sounding Carnatic album , it ' s better to track everyone at the same time !
Many feel that tracking separately will be eas ier with the click track , well , I agree but since there is no eye contact with each artist , there is no interaction and feel for the music . As you know that Carnatic music is all about “ Manodharma ” ( creativity or imagination ) music . It has to come spontaneously and not stitched on a click track ! This is not to insult any artist , but to give you a better understanding of how to produce a great recording session . So that your end product or result will be stunning .
Miking your session ( Assuming 1 live room or 1 vocal booth & live room studio )
1 . Try to use dynamic mics on the source you are tracking them in the same room . This is cut the bleed to be minimal from one source to another .
2 . Try using Gobos ( Partitions panels ) between each artiste so that it will you a better isolation in your session .
3 . Give good comfortable space and enough light for the artiste to have good eye contact so that the real live feeling is being captured in your sessions .
4 . Use Shure SM58 beta or the normal SM 58 for the main Vocals , Violin and Gatam ( clay pot ).
5 . Use the SM 57 for the mridangam right ( Black patch side ) and SM 58 on the Bass side ( left side )
If possible , try to use the Sennheiser MD421 or the AKG D112 on the Bass side to give you a fantastic result .
6 . Provide adequate led reading lights for the vocalist for reading any books and a have water bottle placed for every artist . I know this is not on the tech side stuff . But trust me , this way you can have a smoother performing result in your session .
7 . Check all your mic levels and test with a monitor session . Set correct headphones mix for the artiste and arm all the tracks for the Recording
Should I record with a Click or not ?
Well , to me I prefer without a click track . But some agree and some not . The reason mainly I see is some artiste tell that recording on a click gives them good control for editing ! Well , this is what I am trying to explain is if you record using click , the whole song will be in a fixed tempo and when you edit and paste certain verse , it ' s going to sound the same ! Which is not what public like ! Its sounds so mechanical when the whole song is mixed and delivered ! Because everyone knows that in a studio , everything is edited and polished and corrected . Yes , I agree , but as far as Carnatic music is concerned and recording with the click , the artists feel that they are now pulled to the tempo map of the click because they tend to swing freely on the tempo faster to give you the pep in your music . Also even if there is a comment like “ Baley ” or “ Sabash ” it is better to have in your recordings as this gives you a lively feel of the whole concert . I think to me that ’ s why people prefer attending a live concert to experience all this as a whole .
Here some artiste to me even to remove all the breath in their vocals ! This totally sounds un-natural as a vocal track ! The words with a continues join have to have a breath to give you a good natural sound . So it is better to first record and capture all the things during a live Carnatic recording session .
Again , this is not to hurt any fellow artists or musicians , this gives you a good start and the more sessions you do live , you would understand my valid points as you progress .
Happy recording !
Author : Baba . L . Prasad . He is the owner and chief Sound / Mix and Mastering Engineer at Digi Sound Studio . He also teaches Sound Engineering and Music Production courses . For more details , visit www . digisoundacademy . com