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TFM MD'S musical approach and recording technqs

Topic started by UV (@ 138.88.107.150) on Sun Feb 3 14:58:08 EST 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Here we will discuss constructively about the various trends in compsoing,recording techniqs,methods that existed,adopted,tried and being introduced by all our MDS with major focus IR nd ARR followed by others.
Hopefully those who read the postings will get an idea about Music making and thats its an art of the highest creativity of human mind.
And not mere digital gadgetry or synth music

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Srikanth (@ 216.65.106.130) on: Wed Feb 20 16:32:46 EST 2002
  
  Vocal Harmony usually relates to a chord, they are seconds and 3rds of chord/5ths (depends.).
  However chorus singing is a differnt ball games, voice is used as something like a counter point, top mds of tfm have handled it well.
  
  In mouna ragam when tajmahal come on the screen,nice chours is used by ir which creates the perfect emotion the scene depicts.
  
  Anjali Anjali, chorus, songs starts with a minor key, so the chours goes low in the minor, then the song change to major all over the place.
  Basically IR shows some emotion but slowly picks up happiness using major chords.
  
  Take "Vanam" in Anjali, it is a happy/fun song, however in the middle (2nd bgm) songs takes you towards a minor key (slow classical guitar part), I was expecting something on the screen for this sudden change by IR, there should be some reason to do this, in the movie revathi imagines about anjali during and becomes emotional but song comes back to normal. Hats off to maniR for getting this out of IR.
  In the same song, there are nice oranamental works (i was talking some time ago), the (keyboard) bass (Dx7 i guess)flows thru the song very well and it has nice filler to connect saranam and the pallavi.
  Same song has an oboe/harmonica part in saranam, which follows the song closly as counters.
  IMO, Anjali is best of IR that proved his orchestration ability is beyond compare.
  Agni* is also one such movie.
  
  
• From: isaiosai (@ 165.122.128.173) on: Wed Feb 20 16:50:51 EST 2002
  
  Sam,
  
  For vocal harmony:
  “IlalO kalisE” from AnvEshaNa (Telugu…Paadum Paravaigal in Tamil) - Watch out for the second interlude when the female chorus leads while the male chorus lends the support in the background and alternatively synchronizes, and punctuates with the acoustic drums towards the end. (I also liked his novel idea to use females’ screams as part of the song…goes really well with the film)
  http://www.chakri-anu.com/mds/Ilayaraaja3.html -> 6th song
  
  For bass guitar (do correct me if this is a different instrument:)):
  “Matarani mounamidhi” from Maharshi (Telugu) – I feel it is very ‘complete’. Can someone explain this song (thou non-tamil!)
  http://www.chakri-anu.com/mds/Ilayaraaja7.html -> 16th song
  
  For rhythm guitar:
  Raathiriyil pooththirukkum thaamaraithan pENNo - Thanga Magan
  MayanginEn solla thayanginEn - NaanE Raaja NaanE Manthiri
  
  Kiru/hari,
  The prelude of “AvEsha mantha AlApanaithE” from Aalaapana (IR’sTelugu song…strongly feel there could be a Tamil version with few variations) has 3 SPBs singing. Is this contrapuntal? Are you looking for something similar to this?
  http://www.raaga.com/channels/telugu/moviedetail.asp?mid=A0000003
  
  UV,
  Will try to come up with some songs with Dilruba:)
  
  Sriks,
  I was thinking of those guitar moments from "VAnam" in Anjali for sometime now. moreso, the way the interlude comes to a sudden stop unexpectedly and the guitar plays slowly. i think it as Vicky who was explaining something about us not knowing what would follow. good that u explained it (otherwise, i would have sothapified beyond repair:-)) Some moments like that make me feel that IR is the best when it comes to creating an impact with few simple notes.
  
  ARR's vocal harmony:
  Thou not from a song, i liked his bgm with male chorus and beats from Roja when extremists kidnap Arvind Swamy just before the interval. The male chorus and the beats created the right mood. Not sure if this can be classified under vocal harmony or just chorus.
  
  
  
• From: (@ 165.122.128.173) on: Wed Feb 20 17:04:16 EST 2002
  
  think it as Vicky = think it was Vicky
  
  
• From: UV (@ 134.113.203.85) on: Wed Feb 20 17:07:39 EST 2002
  
  Guys
  thanks for your info
  meanwhile i will come up with songs where 'dilruba' is used other also can come up with songs using the above.
  When you listen to lot of IR songs(late 70s,80s)the recording quality spoils the entire song mood,why is this didnt they have proper tracks i mean in 80s was our indian recording industry not geared at all,there are many songs where there is bass or treble distortion ,and is it possible to digitially remaster these songs now with the current technology
  
  
• From: hari (@ 66.68.100.51) on: Wed Feb 20 17:56:48 EST 2002
  
  
  april mAyilE - we did this on stage, was lots of fun doing it. I guess 2 high points were - the chord progression in first interlude with chromatic tonic notes;
  
  and generally the transformation thru interlude to charaNam to pallavi : mood picks up from beginning of charaNam to middle (when congo kicks in... drive-in hotel-um etc) and then sweeping strings... idhu thEvaiyA etc leading to pallavi where juntha are pained on a hot april afti. Was pretty nice.
  
  isaiosai - there is a suggestion of what i was talking abt in the song u mentioned... but its not quite there a la kaNgaL yengE :-)
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Wed Feb 20 18:10:59 EST 2002
  
  We can always count on Srikant to give us the inside scoop. THanks Srikanth.
  Can you give us more explanation of chorus vs vocal harmony ? Especially second, third and 5th chords.
  Also, the song UV mentions is just a humming and I think it is not harmony right ..but just a counterpoint (?)
  Re: emotions..I think it is always IR's style to make sure the song goes well with the picturisation or helps in picturisation. I think he himself suggest these things to the directors. Recently in kAsi ..a song (punniyam thEdi) goes into a percussion-less fantastic string interlude.in which they show the actress running in slow motion against a nice scenic backdrop. Same goes for another happy song with a sad interlude. I think IR creates opportunities for himself to flaunt his skills in maninpulating the chosen scale, I think :) Basically, the songs are well-woven into the screen play.
  
  
• From: yaaro (@ 195.93.48.189) on: Wed Feb 20 18:11:18 EST 2002
  
  //Raja Rajathi from Agni* , this song was really done well , ignoring the fact IR singing it. few told me he did it because he could not find a singer who could justify his compostion. //
  this song in telugu-It was sung by SPB.
  
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.25.204) on: Wed Feb 20 18:21:36 EST 2002
  
  aaveshamantha's tamil version is "yaarOdu yaaro" sung by SPB once again. yes I guess there were 3 SPB voices.
  
  
• From: Sam (@ 132.235.18.15) on: Wed Feb 20 18:57:12 EST 2002
  
  Is April Mayile from idhayam? Me love that song, its there in telugu also. Two reasons why i love it, good harmony and instrumentation, and second one is the lyrics.
  
  Another good eg of vocal harmony is Puthu maapilaku, more like the doo wop style. And for voice leading, though short is, Adi athadi esp for the lines "Ila Manasonnu Rekka Ketti..." by the female voice. Its a four part harmony here. One female voice harmonises in the upper octave, and the second female voice in the lower octave. And a bass male voice doubles the second female voice, finishing the four parts. (Raja is superb in this song, giving harmony to our folk like tunes).
  
  In Raasathi en usuru (lets take the scale as F), I feel that the composer changes the note giving the harmony towards the end of the phrase. Like for the line "manjaLai aRaikku munnae manasai arachchavaLE", when the main singer sings the words, manjalai araikku munnae, the notes used are G and A and the harmony is given by the notes D and E resp, but when it comes to the word "Arachchavale", the notes used are A and G, but harmony notes are F and E resp this time. A's harmony note shifted from E to F and G's from D to E. (Did I hear properly??, Srikanth and others pls clarify me). And of course theres a bass male voice again doubling the first female voice.
  
  And in Kannum Kannum, the harmony singers have to stick to the notes in the Sivaranjani Raagam ( I wonder why rahman went for this raagam for a peppy song), and if u follow the harmony in the second interlude it gives out good progreessions for the individual voices (parts), becos the composer has to stick to the notes specific to the raagam. (Cud others put in more info on harmonizing and playing chords for a raagam?)
  
  In "Yeh zo zindagi" from Earth Rahman did what srikanth was saying about the chorus singers shifting from Major to minor scales.Again, harmnoy in major scale gives a serene effect, and the harmony in the minor scale brings out the gravity in that song.
  
  More info welcome.
  
  
• From: Sam (@ 132.235.18.15) on: Wed Feb 20 19:03:22 EST 2002
  
  Eduta Neeve from Abhinandana has the same tune as Ilalo Kalise from Anveshana, but the orchestration is a different.
  
  UV and Kiru, I did hear those songs in that link long time back. Thanks though.
  
  
• From: paamaran (@ 207.188.29.248) on: Wed Feb 20 19:59:09 EST 2002
  
  Isaiosai
  
  What is the tamil equivalent for "“IlalO kalisE” from AnvEshaNa (Telugu…Paadum Paravaigal in Tamil) "
  
  is it "Isai medaiyil inba Velaiyil"
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Wed Feb 20 20:25:02 EST 2002
  
  april mAyilE has 'voice fills' too (?). Another example of harmony I think is nAdha vinOdhangal in salangai oLi. There are also passages which are almost contrapuntal I think. Hari, does this pass your test ? :)
  
  
• From: Sam (@ 132.235.17.37) on: Wed Feb 20 21:45:45 EST 2002
  
  EN veeetu thotatil has two melodies going side by side (though for a short time), in the pallavi. SPB sings the pallvi and the female voice hums another melody. In Kahin aag lage jaave, when the kid sings, another female voice hums a different melody, (I like this part in the first song better).
  
  By the way, did u observe opening of Venmadhi from Minnale and Ooh la la from Minsara kanavu? The opening follows the same notes, except that the main part in one song becomes the harmony in the other song and vice versa. (Taking Dm scale)Venmadhi has its main melody on the notes F, E, D and harmony being given by A, G and F, and in Ooh la la, the main melody is on the notes A, G, F and the harmony is given by F, E, D notes.
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 68.51.203.216) on: Thu Feb 21 00:23:58 EST 2002
  
  Yet another example for IR are the charanams of "karpoora mullai ondru" sung by Chitra..nice vocal harmony there..
  
  a recent example by VS is "thom thom thithithom" from Alli thantha vaanam(?) by HH and Chitra, the charanam part
  
  

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