IlayaRaja's New Albums 2013-15 - Mahendran film/Thaarai thappattai/Mythri

[RR]

RR,

Can this topic - Recording Quality of Raaja's albums, be a separate thread, since it doesnt exactly fit into "new albums" thread?

Just asking!

Exactly.. I was just thinking of creating a child thread. Will do so later today. You guys can continue the discussions..

[Gregorysab]

KarlK,

Thats interesting! Good to listen to John Williams' videos!

Coudnt anyone recommend a better sound engineer then? I mean, after the emergence of Rahman, Vishal, Shankar-Ehsan-Loy, now sound engineers have more visibility than before right. if people like us can think of some names today, I am sure there must be many names floating in the circuit, inside the industry! Then how come? Unfortunate, that Uttam Singh was employed for recording because he is primarily a violinist and then an arranger. He was not a sound engineer. definitely not as knowledgeable as a H.Sridhar was passionate about the job/subject and always kept abreast of the latest things across the globe, not just India.

[kiru]

Objection, your honour! Indirectly the defense seems to be implying that I am getting old. I want to bring to your notice that kiru is impressed a lot by the music and he is in my age group, so I am very young.

Just kidding.. excellent post!

RR ..romba kindal pannakkoodAthu.. since aakarsh pulled Suresh's legs too much, I actually wanted to say, even I like chinna kannilE.. I like Dhoni recording wise and mayilu musically ..

[Gregorysab]

Even i like it guys, because it is not at all bad and is lilting. But then, in Raaja's standard, not bad translates to not good 'enough'.. which means, the longevity of the song will remain a question! On that count, SPB song and Vilayaatta score above Chinna Kannile.

[KV]

Karlk, IIRC, some of his Kannada work like Geetha and Janma Janmada Anubandha have pretty good sound quality for their time. Were these recorded in B'lore?

SKV, thanks for WCM points

[wizzy]

imo Raaja 70s/80s songs were a touch high on treble and were meant to be heard on Vinyls and it suffered a great deal in detailing due to the clumsy digital transfer..I was fortunate enough to listen to Ninnaivellam Nithya/MMKR/Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal/Udhaya Geetham in Vinyl and their CD transfer makes me cringe..Chennai peeps can audition these at Mohan music and form an idea on what we all have been missing on all these fancy Oriental/Agi cd transfers ..wrt quality CD transfers Oriental records>>>AGI music.

[Sureshs65]

Kamal,

As you know, Raja tunes for the situation. It is not a stand alone song for him. In that way, if you go with the lyrics, you can clearly see how wonderfully Raja creates a very idealized world. The situation seems to be that of an elderly parent(s) singing to their kid. Such songs ofcourse don't demand the complexities. So Raja doesn't make it complex. The simplicity is because the whole song is about the simplicity of belief. The belief that your kid is greater than anything else. That emotion comes out very well in this song. It is not a sad or touching emotion that is attempted here. It is sheer joy coupled with delight at looking at the kid. As Rajasaranam always says, "No Raja song is bad if you map it with the situation of the movie" I also hold the same view

[P_R]

SKV I still did not understand anything. irundhaalum

[Sureshs65]

Well, as far as recording goes, I do understand the issues involved. But looking at it from a different angle, you win some you lose some. In the sense that Raja didn't take too much interest in recording. He was more interested in composing. Yes, the packaging may not have been excellent and some impact would have been lost. But the musical ideas are there. So if I were to ask to choose between less number of Raja number with much better recording quality compared to more Raja numbers with lesser quality, I will anyday take the later. This is ofcourse assuming Raja has to be involved in the final recorded output.

[V_S]

Welcome karlkalyan sir to the hub. Lot of interesting information and details. Thanks for sharing Maestro's staff notations. Definitely it is all greek and latin to me except I could identify the key signatures mentioned for these two songs. Pudhucheri kacheri is in D Major scale as it has C# and F# but he has used some other chords down below, so not sure entirely. Similarly Adho antha nadhiyOram is in A Major scale as it has C#, F# and G#, but again he has used D minor chords later. May be the score is lot compressed only to be understood by his musicians. But as usual, it is a surprise that he even writes the instruments names like Harmonica, basson, xylo-wood and also where the chorus comes and even the laughter.