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Shreerangaras

In tune with television

In a suburban studio the recording of the title song of a TV serial was held up as everybody was waiting for the recordist. After cooling his heels for more than two hours the music director Shreerang Aras gave whispering instructions to his assistant and took charge of the recorder and announced ‘let’s take it’. The recording went through thereafter and when I met this man he appeared to be quite an interesting character. He is the recordist, musician, arranger, lyricist, music director. And yes, he is Nadeem (Shravan) look-alike. Meet this all in one character.

Are you a qualified recordist?
I am a Civil Engineer by qualification and a sound recordist by means of experience. I feel every musician and the music director should have substantial knowledge of what the recordist actually does. Similarly, the recordist should also have some knowledge of various musical instruments. It helps a lot to derive optimum result.

What sound recording equipment do you prefer?
There are many recorders and mixers available but the best of the lot is Pro-Tool 24, Mix-Plus which is the latest product from the makers of Pro-Tool. since it is very very costly, most of the studios have only Pro-Tool and I prefer that. I myself have a well equipped hi-tech work station and recorder where I do the job for TV serials and ad films. I have been working in various studios in Mumbai but I eagerly look forward to working in the most sophisticated studios like Empire, Sahara, Sunny. In fact, a leading studio had offered me assignment to take care of their recording studio on a hefty pay, but I declined as I want to pursue my career as a music director. Sometime back I experimented with my own recordings. I took a particular song, separated its music track from the vocal part of the song. I re-used the same music track by interpolating another song on that separated track. This is very cost-effective recording as one saves entirely on music recording. You have to pay only for the singer, the studio rent and the recordist.

Being a civil engineer, you should have been constructing buildings, bridges, roads etc. How come you entered this creative field of music?
It’s because of my mother Sumandevi Aras who has mastered the art of Indian classical music. Be it a harmonium, a sitar, or dilruba, she is simply extraordinary when it comes to playing them. When I was eight, she started giving me the lessons in classical music. Although I was above average in academics, she always wanted me to be in this field. As I grew, besides whatever she taught me, I developed a liking for Western music and learned to play Guitar, Rhythm and of course, Keyboard. One day someone from IBH spotted me playing the keyboard and the result was, my first instrumental album was released. This was followed by an album on cricket the songs of which were sung by Sandeep Patil and others. That gave me the confidence to become a music director.

But you seem to be popular only on the small screen.
So what? Atleast I don’t have to go around begging for a job. TV has given me so much. I fully enjoy working for television. Today it is an undisputed fact that I am the No 1 music director on the small screen. When the TRP of Hum Paanch started increasing people thought that I was fit for comedy songs only. They expressed the same opinion when Hum Sab Ek Hain became popular. But I could prove my versatility when the serious song from Adaa was heard on DD. Perhaps I am the only music director who has serials on almost all the TV channels.

How original is your music?
Original is an abstract term. Nothing in the world is original except the alphabets of a given language, be it of literature or music. What matters actually is presentation. RD Burman, whom I consider the greatest composer of the millennium, also, at times, took help of Western tunes but he presented them in a polished way. His biggest plus point was he never hesitated to admit this fact. I challenge even Naushad saab will not be able to say that he never picked up others tunes. In the present lot we have AR Rahman, the most versatile composer. He is infact, the Sachin Tendulkar of music world. But can he claim to be an absolute original? To prove my point, listen carefully to the song Taal se Taal mila and then listen to this song Satyam Shivam Sundaram composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Don’t you find any similarity there? As for me, well, I would leave it to the listeners to judge whether my music is original or not. You can come and listen to my music bank where I have recorded around 50 different tunes.

Are you satisfied with whatever you have got?
Firstly I am happy because late Gulshan Kumar gave a different outlook to the music industry which enabled many composers and singers to come to the limelight. Then, I am happy because many audio companies have come in the audio market and almost all the leading audio companies gave me the chance to work with them. I am also happy because my two discoveries, Sanjeevani Belande and Vaishali Samant were given major break by top music directors Anu Malik (Kareeb) and AR Rahman (Taal). I am happy because today I am recognised as the music director. But I am not yet satisfied as I have yet to traverse miles and compose songs for feature films. The producers do come to me and listen to my compositions from the music bank but somehow lady-luck is yet to smile on me. In fact, I have almost negotiated with a top producer but it is not proper on my part to disclose the name until I sign the film. I am waiting for the right banner and the right director to get the coveted break, no matter how long I am required to wait.

That means the recordist in you has taken a back seat?
Yes, but they will go hand in hand even if I hit the big screen.

Shashank Jare