The following info was posted by a fan in Yahoo group few months ago, sorry I dont rem the name or source, hope there are no copyright issues!
How rahman compose songs1. he gets an offer from the director , and ARR studies the script everything . if he likes it
then he agrees else he doesn't
2. then he sees the actor/actress and accordingly determines the singer
3. he asks the director to give the exact situation of the song and why it is needed. if he is
satisfied he proceeds else again disposes .
4. then he sits and composes the song on his own and in his voice records every song
5. calls the singers after 12 am in the night { mark it only after 12 am ! } and makes them hear
the tunes.
6. recording starts . he never modifies the song as per the singer but he modifies the singer as
per the song .
7. every sound in the studio is recorded even if a singer sneezes or coughs it is recorded and it
is edited . (*if u remember in kadhal virus dere is a song by Mano { o kadhale} dere he
coughs at one part . he had coughed it in the first day and then ARR never got any realistic
cough after dat so he simply included the original cough ! )
8. a song recording goes upto 3-4 days . sometimes male and female singers r recorded
differently and then successfully mixed
9. after the vocal is over music starts . he gives his idea to his musicians ! and then the
musicians suggest the background tune . 90% times rahman doesnt like them and then he
himself gives them notes and the musician have to play dem . few songs however had tunes
inspired by his musicians(like his flutist naveen and drummer sivamani) . the musicians love
ARR since he gives them freedom and helps them grow their talent .
10. later the vocal is added to music or vice versa and then comes the technical part ! ah !
every interfaces start working , every part is edited , reedited and software r used and
hmmm lets not get much into it ,but by the time a song is finalized it is one month and the
best version is out ! some say he uses technology ,but come to his studio you will know he
uses technology only to polish stuff
Mixing songshe does all programming on Logic and also mix in Logic then he makes some pre mixes, like all
choruses in two tracks, drums in two tracks, bass in one track if stereo then in two tracks and then
he bounces all the tracks to EUPHONIX to give some analog warmth. but he uses all Logic plugins
fx.
everyone is using Logic from SalimSulaiman to ShankarEhsaanLoy, Logic is just like a Pen and Paper
for a Poet, Rahman doesnt need any Logic even he can use any other software cause he has music
in his mind.
What is Logic?Logic is an audio recording and mixing software. most of indian composers use this software. for
more details check
www.apple.com/logic/
. You can buy and download it if you have a apple Mac
computer.I dont know there is free trial version!
Rahman also uses or used Absynth, u can hear one preset from Absynth in Kannathil Muttamital
title song, the flute kinda sound with a rough string sound behind it in the intro. Most of the songs,
esp in the last few years feature many synth sounds, probably from absynth, or some other
softsynth. The beeps, filtered sounds etc in many songs (Yeh Rishta, Meenaxi, couple from New,
Kangalal Kaidu Sei etc.) can be done in Absynth (or for that matter in a analog synth). for more
details checkout
www.native-instruments.com
Audio Samples
have u guys ever heard about audio samples? well rahman is the first person who used a lot of
samples in his songs and the second person is ranjit barot. ranjit used to work with rahman .ranjit
programmed drums in HUMMA HUMMA.
and now everybody is using samples in mumbai e.g(salim-sulaiman, sandeep sherodker, jacky,
inderjeet sharma, ram sampat & sandeep chowta) if you guys think that how can sandeep chowta
make sound like rahman? there are samples.
here are some examples
1. SHABBA SHABBA with african voices? those are samples not real africans.
2. spanish claps in JUMBALIKA? samples again.
3. chinese vocals in LATKA? its a chinese sample from the cd (SPECTRASONICS HEART OF ASIA)
4. Background beat in latka song from indian! Later anumalik and many other used the same
loops in many of their songs(eg: mehbooba song from ajnabee)
5. killer drum beats in rangeela songs? drum samples from the cd (BEST SERVICE XXL 1500)and
its a long list.
6. final beats of mukkala muqabla sounds like dr.alban africa.it too a sample. Itis not
composed by dr.alban either!same beats used by sandeep chawtha in kambath ishq song!
7. Main Background beats in Mangta hai kya from rangeela
8. Early bands like Deep Forest and some Euro techno bands used this concept a lot.thats why
title bird sound of thillana thillana from muthu sounds like Deep forest songs
there are many other samples rahman used in many of his songs.it is not copying just using a
commercially available samples!
i remember when rahman was recording for "jaage hain" the S/W engineers told him that lets
record the song in a low mod { track 5} and later FDM it to a higher track but rahman sang it
singularly ! in track 15 ! it is his original however madras choral sound was probably
modulated..not very sure in it
Composing BGM
he doesn't actually sees the entire movie , he makes the director explain the entire script 100%
and in every details and then asks for a demo . however the first version of bgm he gives is
modified and re modified numerous time after seeing the film . the bgm for guru was modified
just a month before the public release...rang de basanti bgm was actually purely on script. some
parts of the movie was modified as per the bgm . remember the scene when the rebels walked
into the radio station ? and the music dat comes behind it ? ... the scene was actiually pretty
different but according to the music it was modified and the modifications came in their walking
style , check the scene carefully you will find their feet falling on the ground as per the music
tune.Also i heard that Rahman composed the Music for a period of 2 years.I just heard it & i'm not
sure about it.Can anybody confirm it.If he really had taken 3 yrs to compose the films music then
see his dedication.Amazing man!!
Rahman`s recording and mixingGuys not just rahman ,about all music composers use loops or samples which they buy from
distributers like sony or apple etc... Its like this instead of calling a performer like a guitarist to
perform for his/her song a composer buys his recorded piece and uses it. These pieces are royalty
free its like the guitarist sells it to sony on an agreement and sony distributes it through out the
world. That is why you find same sound effects in two different songs of rahman some times.
(sometimes in other music director's songs)
Loops are not necessary to be only a single note. It can be chords or even a piece or a scratch...
I dunno how many of u have noticed this in ARR songs (especially those who are musicians). All his
songs irrespective of the mood has a constant 'pads' or 'strings' backing. the chords played with the
pads and strings is also not conventional.. they are the 7ths, 11ths or diminished chords. They give
the song a 'feeling', a 'soul' (hmmm...quite techincal!)
A classic example is the song "Thirupachi Arivalaa" from Taj Mahal. Check out the pads in the
songs. Another is "Aye Udi Udi" from Saathiya. Remove the pads these songs become soul-less and
very plain.
The only other person who uses this same method is Harris Jayaraj. I'm sure he learnt it from
ARR.Wonder if more music directors should do the same.
i read somewhere that rahman sir started learning indian classical and carnatic classical in
1992....since almost all his songs are raga based...i wanted to clarify that he learnt classical
before or after 1992
How does he compose a new tune...does he play it in his piano??? or does he write the swaram or
how does he go about conceiving a song out of nowhere and create a master piece...
lemme tell you that no softwares in the world can create a tune ! i will laugh my stomachs out if
someone tells me that tere bina or any song is a product of a software !!!!!! now what can a
software do ?
what does rahman do in his studio with all those spftwares ..why does he always updates his software ..it is very simple ..i will tell you in breif ...1. he records a songs over a period of 10-15 days . a singer sings one song perhaps
innumberable time till rahman gives a handsup ! once dat signal has been got the singer
realizes that his job is done . now rahman sits over his singing and edits the bad parts and
couples all the best parts and after another day of hardwork the singers work is ready..the
singer never sang that song contiguously but his best parts are selected and sampled .
2. he then records music or wat ur call as bgm ..after that he mixes it with the vocal part ..
then sudenly he may realize that both of them donot gel well in frequency ..and then
frequncy division modulation takes place { a huge process frndsz...} which very well packs
the music and vocal part
3. he needs shreya ghosal to sing in track 15 { d highest } but shreya can sing only till 11 ! {
assume ..am gvng an example } . so wat can rahman do ? let her sing in track 8 -9 in which
she is comfortable and then simply phase modulates the vocal to appear as if she sang in
track 15 ! this is a very costly process and risky too so if i am not wrong rahman has done it
only 5-6 times ...
So A.R.Rahman is a genius , not a technician . he uses softwares but doesnot use to "produce"
tunes ..instead use dem so effectively to "edit" tunes . and dat is why perhaps he is d
best .technology he uses yes but his originality is maitained in each song .
a software has no brains . it will do what you tell it to do . so if i program my software to sing sa
re ga ma pa then yes u r rite s/w can produce tunes. and am pretty sure rahman uses custom
made softwares .the bottomline is SOFTWARES DONOT PRODUCE TUNES like aye hayirathe and
tere bina .i told u the exact places where rahman uses softwares
What do u mean by track?many people have different definitions of tracks . "track" is not a musical keyword but it pretty
software related . we divide a tune into several sound parts . every channel has a baudrate
frequency . for example if you hum a voice in a low scale u may call it as a track-1 . the song
jaage hain goes very high high enuf to be called as track 15 . empirically track is a pitch depth
value vrs volume . the intersection of the graph is the resonant value. this value is what the purest
and d virgin tune we call. it is difficult to acheive this resonany value due to several reasons but
rahmans studio is feature adapted to it . almost 99% of his songs are resonant valued .
after rahman { in hindi music } it is shankar ehsaan loy who has acheived so perfection and
himesh ..hmmm lets not speak of him here ..but he has acheived 89% resonant value in aashiq
banaya apne title song and china town title .
i heard a lot of spectrasonics stuff in rang de basanti...esp the amazing pads from spectrasonics
atmosphere...he's also been using swarplug, an indian instrument plugin, which can be heard in
water and the background score of RDB.the santoor you hear in chanchan from water is actually
swarplug doing the job!
But let me tell you, its easy to USE software but it ain't easy to CREATE stuff with software.
SAMPLES are an easy way out and most music directors are going the samples way cuz its easier
and quicker.
This includes people like Salim Sulaiman (sadly, they lack tunes), Himesh (He lacks creativity.. and
singers.. lol), Shankar Ehsaan Loy (now these 3 guys are actually pretty good), Sandeep Chowta
(he's not even a music director according to me, more a DJ kinda fella)
Someone like Rahman,I notice, takes the pain of CREATING his own samples as well (apart from
using purchased ones).
Now thats a huge difference. This combined with the responsibilty of
making path breaking tunes is a big big task... make no mistake about it.
What I'm saying can be summed up thus: give the same equipments, computers, keyboards, the
musicians, the software, the samples etc. to any other music director in the country... they still
cannot match A R Rahman... it takes a genius to CREATE something extraordinary like he does.
Being the user of these sound editing softwares I can give my suggestions.The usage of sound
editing softwares such as Neundo, Cubase ,Sonar and Logic is very helpful and reduces our work in
the technician point of view. I personally dont like his usage of the atmosphere pads like Area 51,
Air 201, Equinox etc in his songs ( he uses them for backing chords ) . Though these sounds are
pleasant and filling they spoil the naturality of the song..
But his comprehension on the editing softwares and plugins and using them in his songs and BGM is
fantabulous . But that in itself is his drawback!!also sum1 told me that rahman has one of the
largest collections of samples in asia!!!
music director vs music composer"Music director" is not really a music composer. He is basically the guy who makes the TUNES for
the songs. Then he gives it to the lyricist for the lyrics (this works vice versa too.. lyrics first and
then the tune).Now comes the major difference... between "Music directors" and "Music
Composers" like ARR and Ilaiyaraaja.
The Music Director hands over the tune and lyrics to the Music Arranger who will fill in the music
into the song according to his knowledge and experience. The Music Director will only DIRECT the
music (as in supervising the process) but does not necessarily compose the BGMs, the rhythms, the
chords, basslines etc. in the song. These are done by the Music Arranger, who will arrange for the
violin sections, the brass sections, the percussions, the beats etc. acccording to what he knows.
Needless to say, the Music Director, more often than not, is not even proficient in playing a
musical instrument. He need not be with the method mentioned above.
This is why most Music Directors sound the same movie after movie after movie.. cuz the tunes are
different but the arrangement is the same... the Music Arranger guy is only doing his job and
ending the works as per deadline.. no creativity there... there is no effort to INNOVATE. (well, if
he could, why the hell will he be Arranger? he can become a Music Director himself cant he?)
ARR though, it seems, sits and works on each piece of music in his songs... each sound and each
element of the notes are heard by him, evaluated and then entered into the song.. plus he has
great musicians to bring out quality sounds...
In other words, ARR actually DESIGNS the sound for each of his songs. To all those who scoff at use
of technology in music... this sound design is enhanced only because of the technology.
This sound design combined with great tunes make great masterpieces.
Any surprise his songs are so good!
Rahman the professionalist
1. Rehman is perhaps the most professional musician of India. He has this habit of looking out
for talented musicians and then he calls them to his studio and records and samples their
stuff. And then the musician packs his bags and is off to where he/she belongs. The best
part comes now..... whenever Rahman will use that sample/loop in any of his songs, he
makes a point that he pays that musician his royalty !! Isn't this wonderful ?
2. One of my musician friends has played the Dholak in "Taal Se Taal Mila" and here's the
story...... When my friend went to Rahman's studio for recording the Dholak he was all set
as he found the rhythm not that challenging... but the real fun came now... Rahman asked
him to wear ICE CREAM sticks tied with rubber -bands to his finger (the Chati i.e. side which
produces the high pitch sound). This was indeed unique as Rahman was pretty clear on
what "sound" he wanted !!
Thats Rahman for u..... the best musician India has produces after R D Burman !!
Something About Music Sampling For Starters
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it
as an instrument or element of a new recording. This is typically done with a sampler, which can
be a piece of hardware or a computer program on a digital computer. Sampling is also possible
with tape loops or with vinyl records on a phonograph.
Often "samples" consist of one part of a song, such as a break, used in another, for instance the
use of the drum introduction from Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" in songs by the Beastie
Boys, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mike Oldfield and Erasure, and the guitar riffs from Foreigner's "Hot
Blooded" in Tone-Loc's "Funky Cold Medina". "Samples" in this sense occur often in hip hop, as hip
hop sampling developed from DJs repeating the breaks from songs (Schloss 2004, p.36), and
Contemporary R&B, but are becoming more common in other music as well, such as by Slipknot's
sample player Craig Jones.
Early cases
Sampling using tape recordings goes back at least as far as 1969, when Holger Czukay used
traditional Vietnamese singers on his record "Canaxis". Czukay and his former band Can used
samples often throughout the seventies.
One of the first major legal cases regarding sampling was with "Pump Up the Volume". As the
record reached the UK top ten, producers Stock Aitken Waterman obtained an injunction against
the record due to the unauthorized use of a sample from their hit single "Roadblock". The dispute
was settled out of court, with the injunction being lifted in return for an undertaking that
overseas releases would not contain the "Roadblock" sample, and the disc went on to top the UK
singles chart. Ironically, the sample in question had been so distorted as to be virtually
unrecognisable, and SAW didn't realize their record had been used until they heard co-producer
Dave Dorrell mention it in a radio interview.
Types of samples
Once recorded, samples can be edited, played back, or looped (i.e. played back continuously).
Types of samples include:
Loops
The drums and percussion parts of many modern recordings are really a variety of short samples of
beats strung together. Many libraries of such beats exist and are licensed so that the user
incorporating the samples can distribute their recording without paying royalties. Such libraries
can be loaded into samplers. Though percussion is a typical application of looping, many kinds of
samples can be looped. A piece of music may have an ostinato which is created by sampling a
phrase played on any kind of instrument. There is software which specializes in creating loops.
Samples of musical instruments.
Whereas loops are usually a phrase played on a musical instrument, this type of sample is usually a
single note. Music workstations and samplers use samples of musical instruments as the basis of
their own sounds, and are capable of playing a sample back at any pitch. Many modern
synthesizers and drum machines also use samples as the basis of their sounds. (See sample-based
synthesis for more information.) Most such samples are created in professional recording studios
using world -class instruments played by accomplished musicians. These are usually developed by
the manufacturer of the instrument or by a subcontractor who specializes in creating such
samples. There are businesses and individuals who create libraries of samples of musical
instruments. Of course, a sampler allows anyone to create such samples.
Courtesty : Wikipedia
Some facts
1. He records most of the songs in the late night because he belives that is the time at which a
person's sound will be at it's top best.
2. He allows singers to sing there own versions of the song separately and chooses best among
them.
3. Might, might not i don't know... There are more than 1000 samples available in sony and
apple.
4. he used a ghatam loop in the rang de basanti background score from apple's loop
library...i've heard the same loop been used elsewhere.but it sounded a lot better the way
AR sir used it
5. the song 'maiyya maiyya' has a flute interlude in the beginning similar to the one in Anu
Malik's 'san sanana' song in 'Asoka'.the flute sample in mayya mayya is a commercially
available sample.Both the asoka song and mayya mayya have been arranged and
programmed by ranjit barot.
6. Chinna Chinna Asai was composed as a 'sad' full song initially but later was changed to a
happy song.
7. ARR first composed only 1st stanza of Tu hi Re song for BOmbay. later Mani shot the song
and after feeling confident of the song, Rahman completed the composition.
8. Thiruda Thiruda and Duet took most time in composing followed by box -office dud mangal
pandey.
9. Maiyya Maiyya was recorded in Toronto and music was added later as usual.
10. in Thiruda thiruda there are 2 special songs in it.one is KONCHEM NILAVU which is fully
computer programmed.another is RASATHI where you can't hear a single instrument.
we have been talking technology all along this thread... and then last night I was listening
to "Jaage Hain" from Guru when it occurred to me how any western composer would have been
proud of this composition... then i got to thinking how many such songs of ARR can we hold up to
the world of western orchestration...
Then there is Bombay Theme - the one tune that is sufficient to be a slap on the face of anyone
mouthing the "ARR -is-all -about -technology" line.remember Roja, Bombay, Thiruda Thiruda,
Kadhalan... etc were made before 1994...
SYNTH :
A synth tone is generated using a synthesizer. We can create different sounds (tones) by generating and combining signals of different frequencies using this electronic device. We can also use a software to create such tones.. for example in the 'Malargale' song intro synth tone is used by Rahmanji. Listen it with a headpjone you can feel that tone panning left and right. And another example after the first Stanza of the song 'Ennaivilai Azhake' it's used in a different style.. I feel Rahmanji is the one who started to design synth tones in India. Another example is 'Thenmerkku paruvakaatru'.. after the first stanza... When I analyse His mixes as a sound engineer I learn many things.. it doesnt matter that you use these sophisticated technologies to compose songs but.. The Creativity and he always create some magic with all these modern equipments and softwares.. We all know 
Please refer : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthesizer
SAMPLES..
I think examples are here already...
Something About Music Sampling For Starters :
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or element of a new recording. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware or a computer program on a digital computer.
Once recorded, samples can be edited, played back, or looped
i.e. played back continuously).
Nowadays samples are widely used cuz it's very easy and cheap.. Noone wants to depend on Artists. But Rahmanji always go for Live Recordings and the best part of his ability is , he takes all the pains to create his own samples with goo quality.. He also uses samples of famous companies but he loves original creation from the artists. We can clearly feel that warmth of pure instruments sounds in many songs like 'Aye Hairathey'.. 'Jashn Bahaara' etc..
Re-posting the given examples :
1. SHABBA SHABBA with african voices? those are samples not real africans.
2. spanish claps in JUMBALIKA? samples again.
3. chinese vocals in LATKA? its a chinese sample from the cd (SPECTRASONICS HEART OF ASIA)
4. Background beat in latka song from indian! Later anumalik and many other used the same
loops in many of their songs(eg: mehbooba song from ajnabee)
5. killer drum beats in rangeela songs? drum samples from the cd (BEST SERVICE XXL 1500)and
its a long list.
6. final beats of mukkala muqabla sounds like dr.alban africa.it too a sample. Itis not
composed by dr.alban either!same beats used by sandeep chawtha in kambath ishq song!
7. Early bands like Deep Forest and some Euro techno bands used this concept a lot.thats whytitle bird sound of thillana thillana from muthu sounds like Deep forest songsthere are many other samples rahman used in many of his songs.it is not copying just using a commercially available samples!
Hope Wikipedia can help you more on this :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Music_samples
LOOPS :
Loops are widely used these days.. it's specifically a small section of sound that's repeated continuously.
For example , the drum loops..
The starting of the song "Thenmerkku" is a loop and it's played back by repeating the same loop again and again.. In the same song.. we can also hear the synth tone after the first stanza.. before the words.. "neeyendrum naanendrum". We all know that Sivamani is the Live percussionist of Rahmanji but still Boss uses drum loops in some songs where it demands.. But don't ever think that it's artificial.. That too requires great idea of creativity...
It's well explained in the posts.. Please read carefully.. I'm
re-posting it..
Loops
The drums and percussion parts of many modern recordings are really a variety of short samples of beats strung together. Many libraries of such beats exist and are licensed so that the user incorporating the samples can distribute their recording without paying royalties. Such libraries can be loaded into samplers. Though percussion is a typical application of looping, many kinds of samples can be looped. A piece of music may have an ostinato which is created by sampling a phrase played on any kind of instrument. There is software which specializes in creating loops.
Samples of musical instruments.
Whereas loops are usually a phrase played on a musical instrument, this type of sample is usually a single note. Music workstations and samplers use samples of musical instruments as the basis of their own sounds, and are capable of playing a sample back at any pitch. Many modern synthesizers and drum machines also use samples as the basis of their sounds. (See sample-based synthesis for more information.) Most such samples are created in professional recording studios
using world -class instruments played by accomplished musicians. These are usually developed by the manufacturer of the instrument or by a subcontractor who specializes in creating such samples. There are businesses and individuals who create libraries of samples of musical instruments. Of course, a sampler allows anyone to create such samples.
Use wikipedia too : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_loop
