A spacious soundproof room, equipped with mics, speakers and sundry equipment. A bunch of keen students with dreams in their head and tunes in their heart. And a guitar guru. A perfect setting for some music and learning. The first edition of Sonosessions, held at the Sonodyne R&D centre at Taratala in Calcutta, proved to be that and a lot more since it's not often musicianship and recording techniques are discussed side by side.
As manufacturers of quality audio music systems, Sonodyne is a brand endearingly familiar to the city's audiophiles. These days, the company is run by Anindya Mukherjee, and it was his idea to make use of the space, used as a demo room during work hours, to host engagements with and for the musically inclined at other times.
"Music without community isn't (what its meant to be)," says the son of Ashok Mukherjee, the IIT-Roorkee graduate and co-founder of Sonodyne that started off as a Calcutta electronics company in 1970 and is now a national name with internationally acclaimed listening products. "Community connect is the basic premise of these sessions. These engagements could be in various forms. It could involve imparting knowledge of software, hardware or instruments through seminars or classes. It could be live performances for a small audience or for streaming too."
A music or movie appreciation session seemed a natural fit. So Mukherjee got in touch with Amyt Datta, who after a recce of the place with none other than Jiver, one half of internationally acclaimed duo Parekh and Singh, saw merit in the idea.
"Anindya told me about the place and asked me what could be done. I liked it. It had a good vibe to it… I thought a workshop with serious musicians would be a good place to start," recalls Datta, who Mukherjee adds, did not need much convincing. "In fact, the place does have a tremendous vibe that is both technically sound and very inviting for those that love music. I think Amytda sensed that right away," says Mukherjee.
And so, Sonosessions was born on Independence Day. It was a day-long programme with 16 eager-beavers, all primarily guitarists but also keen on producing music. There were over 300 requests for participation, but only 16 could be accommodated, piped in Mukherjee.
Datta structured the session under various heads: composing, performing, arranging, producing, mixing and listening. "It's one thing to play live. One performance and you are done. The audience goes back after having heard it once," says the guru, primarily to explain how playing an instrument acquires myriad dimensions while recording a track in the studio. That's the place where one deals with the minutiae, the tone and tenor of the guitar sound for instance. The kind of strings you'd use, the feel and flavour of the resultant song. "Basically, you design and execute the sonic palette. You figure out what feel you want to give the track, cool and distant? Or a pop-rock vibe," explains Datta.
Then there are, what he calls, "energy parts". These are bits and pieces of musical phrases or riffs used to layer a tune or song with. You feel their presence more than you hear them. "These parts are not in your face, but if you remove them, the tune kind of falls flat," adds Datta, who had come with a home-recorded composition of his own, playing all the instruments himself. It had a kind of '90s Los Angeles pop sound, a mix of jazz harmonies and blues sensibilities. Think Steely Dan, Larry Carlton.
This track was used as a model, a reference point for students to ideate on, play and record their versions. It involved several hours of back and forth by the master and his wards. These tracks were then mixed and finally produced into a tune under Datta's able guidance. Sayan Ghosh, a seasoned audio engineer who has worked with Datta on some of his albums, was on hand to talk about the mixing process too.
Sonosessions-I was a unique event in which musicianship was studied from the perspective of, and moulded to, production values. The students loved it, both for the experience of interacting with a master and the clear takeaways. "It was a wonderful experience, one of its kind event," says Rishav. "The playing part, music and style are things we have discussed at Sir's (Amyt Datta) workshops. But here, we were actually recording and listening to the recording with Sir guiding you throughout."
Sunit Ghosh agrees wholeheartedly. “The most important part for me was learning how my (sound) waves should look in a digital audio workspace," he says. He also got insights on how to think fast about what to play. "We were only given a chord chart and a drum track, nothing else. It was challenging but fun."
A man of few words, Datta seemed happy with the way the workshop turned out, particularly the placement of mid-field and far-field studio monitors that have become Sonodyne mainstays in its international business. Let's just say he was happy enough to maybe do a few more. Mukherjee, too, is pleased and hopes such workshops will be a regular feature at the Sonodyne R&D centre. "Every musician or music enthusiast is looking to learn and experience the subject in-depth. There may be excellent content available online, but the interaction is missing. With Sonosessions, the interactivity adds great value in the learning, discovery and appreciation of music," he says.
In the end, what matters is that the musicians loved it. Rishav echoes the overall sentiments succinctly. "To put it in a nutshell, I came out of the workshop a better musician than before."
Guitar guru Amyt Datta TT Online
