http://passionforcinema.com/k-j-singh-interview-part-1/
You have worked with great composers of today Vishal Bhardwaj and A R Rahman? How was it working with them? They both come from a complete different school of music, so how do you adjust yourself when recording film songs? I have been really fortunate to start my film career with people like Vishal, Gulzar Saab, Hariharan, Sureshji etc. These people have become like family to me. And subsequently got the opportunity to work with Ismail Durbar, Nadeem-Shravan, Jagjit Singh and finally AR Rahman. As a sound engineer your job is to record the sound to the best of your ability on available equipment and reproduce that emotion for others to hear, capturing that bit for posterity. So I take that approach to whomsoever I work for. I give my collective best; from whatever I have learnt, in music, in production or in engineering. Both Vishal and AR are composers who invite suggestions and are open to incorporating them, if it really suits the music. In fact that is the reason that AR works with very few outside engineers. He does not want someone who will just move faders. There has to be the artistic input as well. Contrary to popular belief he works all through the day! There is some work or the other going on in various studios of his and he walks in and out to check how things are going. It's only when he is composing that he needs his solitude. So he can be calling you at any point of time to start work and that is something you have to be able to do. With him the music is never finished till it has been sent in for replication! So small changes, tweaks, additions are all part of his mix process. Apart from the acoustics, how much is the emphasis is on the sound of the "words" (the biggest difference to me in approach of Vishal and ARR towards a song) any instance? Again coming from the old school of music making, I personally lay a lot of importance to the lyrics, if it is a song and the dialogue, if it is a film. Vishal, himself writes and is immersed in Hindi literature. His sensibilities are very tuned into the lyrical content of a song. And that is evident from Chodh Aye Hum to Beedi Jalaylee. I do not know AR that well to comment on him but I can say that his Tamil songs always sounded far better than the hindi translations of the same till he did a movie with Gulzar saab-Dil Se. And then RDB with Prasoon and Guru with Gulzar Saab again. AR is also a master at the sound texture and arrangement so it seems he is less tuned-in to the lyrical part but I don't think that is so. He has worked with the best of Tamil poets from Mr.Valli to Mr.Vairamutthu. What is the scope of innovation/improvisation/degree of freedom to a sound engineer over a composition of music director? I think that totally depends on the relationship between the music director and his sound engineer. There is plenty of scope to play around with textures and sounds during a mix. The music director has to have full faith in his engineer and it can be seen in works of Jagjit Singh with Daman Sood, AR Rahman with H. Sridhar and also to some extent with Vishal and me. I have made changes to bass lines, the sounds of keyboard parts etc. to a few songs, during the mix. The music directors have to be really secure in their art to allow this to happen. But today it is the reverse. Most engineers are given tracks and expected to make creative changes to make the song stand out since hardly any thought has been given to the arrangement or tracks before that. Please do not mistake that for a healthy relationship
