CEO-Music Label, Mixing Eng.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I like to push boundaries and I don't shy away from turning a knob all the way up. It's hard to put a name to my style, i'll call it J.B.C (just before clipping)

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: 1. I am proud of the recent song we published on our channel called 'Ek Pyaas'. I have composed, arranged, performed, recorded and mixed the song along with other artists. This song has been close to my heart and was composed for a project before Covid hit, unfortunately the person for who we composed this passed away during the second wave of the corona virus. We revived this song and finally published it though our label. 2. I am also proud about the fact that all my songs on my music label have Stereo Masters and an ATMOS masters. 3. My song 'Bardaasht' was sung y a legend in India, Mr. Hariharan, who's a highly respected singer in the Indian film and classical world. It was amazing to have him sing one of our songs and get an appreciation from him. I composed the song, arranged and produced it and mixed it as well. 4. I am proud of a short film called Zuni which has already won over 40 awards and still counting, it has crossed 4 million organic views on youtube and stories that the viewers have shared in the comments section are so heart warming. I was a supervisor of the final stage of post production and did the quality check with the director before publishing. 5. I am proud about a jingle I did for the Warner Bros. and Discovery Channel in India 6. I am proud of launching one Radio station in Oman and Re-launching 2 Radio Stations in U.A.E

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work on Pro Tools and Logic Pro, I use Neumann KH 310 three way monitors for referencing, I have a UAD x8p and Apollo Twin x for my A/D D/A conversion, most of my inputs go trough my SSL Six mixer that I also use for Summing and Mixing. I use Beyerdynamics 1990 pro as my referencing headphones. I have my Neumann u87 Ai as my main mic and I also extensively use Shure SM 7B. My line ins go though my RNDI box. I use a lot of plugins from various companies like fab filter, liquidsonics, soundtoys, plugin alliance, UAD, Waves, Newfangled Audio, Avid, Melodyne, Slate Digital, Arturia, NI, EW, Spectrasonics, Toontrack, etc. I have an american strat which i pair with a fender tube amp, I have a Fender P Bass which playes through a Mark bass amp and cab, I have a Taylor acoustic and a Suzuki Dreadnought Guitar for all the rich acoustic lines and patterns, I also own a lot of instruments rom around the world like Tzouras, Theremin, Handpan or Pantam, Metallophone (with resonators), Fujara, Various Jew's Harp, Didgeridoos, Tabla, Dholak, Kanjeera, Bughchu, Kalimbas, Harmonicas, Melodicas, Duff, Tumbi, A traditional variation of a talking drum, etc.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: 1. I am working on some songs for my label. 2. I am working on a folk project where we have recorded folk musicians from around India. 3. Working on writing a film 4. Working on promotional creatives for my existing films, songs, etc. 5. Completing a BGM for a short film.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Unfortunately not, I am very new to SoundBetter. I did come across Darrell Thorp's profile though and I would highly recommend him.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital for things that are not possible in the analog world like tuning, quick transfer of files and projects over the internet, low maintenance, portability. Analog for the sound, the imperfections, for the character and for the tangible experience of turning knobs.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: My promise to my clients will always be to invest in me only when they are satisfied with my work and also I like to help my clients, according to the best of my ability, above and beyond mixing and production.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: 1. I love helping musicians sound better and do my best to take their sound to another level. 2. The reactions that I get after a good mix is something priceless 3. When a client maintains his trust in me I feel like I have won an award. 4. Collaborating with different artists, learning and exchanging ideas. 5. Studying about and getting better at my craft

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: 1. Q.Can you do it for less? A. I am sorry I wont be able to as I want to maintain a certain quality for which I have to pay people for their time and equipment. 2. Q. What's the process of releasing music? A. I give them a lost of distributors and give them information about pitching, copyright, posters etc. 3. Q. How do we promote the song? A. Depending on the type of song I suggest them various way of doing that like influencer marketing, radio plays, editorial playlisting, consistency, posting teasers, doing live gigs, keeping an active social media, creating something around festivals or celebratory days etc.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That everything can be fixed in mix and all you need is a midi keyboard to produce any and everything in the world. Also tuning tools can make anyone a singer.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: 1. What is the song all about 2. What is the back story behind the song and lyrics 3. What would the client want the song to sound like 4. In a similar situation is there any other song which has been released professionally that comes close to the client's song 5. What's the feeling that the client gets after listen to that track 6. what are the most important elements of the song

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: I always believe in trying before hiring, so I would say that allow me to mix a bit of your song (like 20 seconds or so) and then decide if my style would help the song or not.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: 1. Power source 2. Mics (with cables ofcourse) 3. System 4. Interface 5. Headphones

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I have been doing this for the past 15 years. I started with a radio station as head if audio and went on to launching 1 radio station and relaunching 2 radio stations in the international market. I used to create the whole imaging of the station and also do voice overs for them. Music has been ingrained in me since childhood as i come from a family of musicians. I finally started my music label and film production house after the covid hit. I am the CEO and I am involved in every little process that goes into making a song, from arrangement to instrument choices, to sourcing artists, to recording them, choosing the microphones and equipment, helping the artists and the vocalists to give their best and so on and so forth. It has been a wonderful run till now as I got to learn from and collaborate with a lot of artists and engineers which also helped me delve into the world of ATMOS

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: 1. Peter Gabriel - for the sheer genius he is and how he pushes his team members to work on the details. 2. Procupine Tree - because it has two of my favourites, Gavin Harrison and Steven Wilson 3. Chris Coleman - because there is so much to learn from him 4. Shakti - because this band has some of the best players in the world 5. Serban Ghenea - purely because one he is a fantastic mixer and there is not much info on his way of mixing in the public domain 6. I wish I could work with Quncy Jones, Michael Jackson and Bruce Swedian because who wouldn't, this was the A team and it cannot get better than this. 7. Pharrell Williams and Bruno Mars because not only they are great artists but brilliant producers.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Always have a recording device handy and all instruments setup and plugged in, an idea gives you a few seconds to capture it.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: I work on the following 1. indie pop 2. slow ballads 3. singer song writer songs 4. Bollywood 5. Background Scores

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: 1. Vocal Tuning 2. Mixing 3. Working on the transients 4. Making the vocal shine 5. Punchy drums and percussion

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I like to call it vibe, I want the various sections of a song to make me feel a certain way and I try to achieve that though the mixing process, there have been times where i have programmed full sections or just the drums or guitars or whatever the track needed or the client needed. As I am musician I can help with the arrangement, recording and programming as and when needed.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Whether it is production or mixing usually my clients send me their ideas and then we have a meeting over zoom or in person if possible. After understanding their vision I try to shape the idea according to the client's vision and then we have another discussion over the first pass. Once the production idea gets locked then i involve my team in sourcing session artists, recording, arranging, programming and finally mixing and mastering. Depending on the material and market I have also helped clients with the promotions.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Bruce Swedian, Tchad Blake, Chris Lord Alge, Randy Staub, Andy Wallace, Peter Gabriel, Procupine Tree, Mr. Big, Shakti, Mickey McCleary, Shankar Tucker, Blueman Group.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: The most common type would be turnkey productions, creating an idea into a finished product both sonically and visually. We write lyrics and music, do the arrangements, help singers to record, program various musical elements, Mix and Master.