We the NID Gandhinagar team are supposed to play a theme song in monsoon fiesta as a part of the competition between the four teams. It started by 9:30 am when our composer wakes up and remembers that she has to come up with a song before evening 4. Which means she has to come up with a suitable lyrics, tune, chords, right team and then call the team and practice the song. As nautanki happened just the day before and students were practicing for dance till 5 in the morning. Almost everyone was sleeping. But she has no time. Then she finds a place to record (AV Studio). The bus will leave by 4pm and so she has to give the final version recorded on or before 4. I got a call by 2:45 asking to help in recording. I initially thought I am called to help in recording the voice over for the dance. When I came to know that we are going to record one full song.. I was like.. totally shocked.. that too in 1 hours time..
Then we started with guitar. Sound forge and Nuendo were the softwares available in the recording studio. I have used sound forge before but have never worked with Nuendo. More than all.. There was no professional recording microphone available in studio. Only a typical mic which comes with headphones was available. We were like… shit man! But no other way.. we don’t have time to go to paldi studio for recording . We connected the Guitar to the stranger (mini amp) and then mic was kept next to it. Obviously we had lots of noise. We were trying all possible noise filters in sound forge and Nuendo but no hope. Then Pranjal changed the connecting chord and it was much better..
We recorded the guitar track first. Mayukhini was not sure which part of the song has to be completed first. Everyone was in a hurry. I had my dance in the night so have to go to room to change. So even I was in full hurry… Mayukhini was dictating the chords lively to Austin when he was playing it. It was awesome to see that.
Everyone there had this one thing called “confidence” and more than all, the enthusiasm to complete it somehow.. the recording went on.. 3 different guitar tracks were recorded. We didn’t realize that all 3 had different tempo as it was recorded separately. Then we came to the lead track. It also went well as Mayukhini itself sang it.. She has got a really amazing voice.. a voice with real expression. Although I didn understand a single word in the entire song. I felt the energy in it.
We started the chorus recording. It was a complete chaos. All were singing in different pitches.. Singing different notes with different timings.. Its not anyone’s fault.. its just that they didn have time to practice. Even then they picked it up very fast. In the 2nd or 3rd try they are all set to record. The mic cable was soo short that I have to get up and move all the chairs so that they can come near and sing on the mic.
This was when we realized that the tempo in all 3 guitar tracks were different. [We all looked at each other]. Now we can’t record it again as Austin has already left to paldi… Then we managed to adjust with it. Chorus was good.. but mic didn pick up the sound well. Too much gain was increased to make the chorus audible. Reverb was also applied to few tracks.
Then we thought why not add the drums.. Now the time is around 4. Almost every left. Only Mayukhini, Prabs simran, me and Pranjal were left. We thought we will take a laptop to the music room and record the drums track and bring it here. Pranjal needed the reference track for tempo and to play the fills at the right time. So I tried exporting the audio track from Nuendo. This is when we realized that its not working ! Initially I had no clue on how to do it because when I click on the “export mixdown track” nothing basically happens. I tried contacting Maruthi.. Then I realized that he has just left to US and was not online too… at last we have to call a sound engineer and he gave us all live instructions over phone. As per his instructions, I checked all the driver settings. But still it no use. Then we called Viral bhai. No hope again.
So we played the entire song from Nuendo and recorded in sound forge again in a single track and transferred it into a mp3 player. But when playing the drums, mp3 players volume was not audible :-( By then Pranjal had brought the drums to AV Lab itself. The room is just 6x6 where hardly 4-5 can stand. Now we have drums in it :-)
We all are totally out of our mind. Time is ticking. Its around 6 now.. We are fully pumped and energized and irritated to the core.. Suddenly we found a proper head phone with a long cable and then we used it to give the reference track directly from desktop. We started recording the drums.
I did volume leveling and reverb addition on the fly… its like there is no time to play the song again and again. People were practicing chorus behind with full volume. Sometime Pranjal was playing drums. In this atmosphere I did volume leveling in real time. We had time just to play each track once after recording for checking. Volume leveling is done while playing only..
Mayukhini went to room and brought her laptop. But when Nuendo started there was an error. The same error which we got in the studio’s desktop. “An unexpected error” it seems… Shit ! we were highly irritated. Pranjal suggested that we will carry the entire desktop to paldi and play it from it directly.
Then I thought I will try in my laptop. Pranjal went to take the car. I ran to my room to take my laptop and put on my dance costume. I spent hardy 2 mins in my room. I was wearing dress and packing my laptop simultaneously. When I brought my laptop we thought of copying the working files to pen drive to play it from my laptop or Mayukhini’s laptop. We were not able to find the working files folder location. I searched all the tabs in the options dialog box. We were in such urgency that my hands were shaking literally. Searching and searching and searching for a long time… at last I saw the “save project in different folder” option in the file menu.. I was like.. shit ! its there on the very first “file menu” and I didn see it for such a long time.. instead I was searching for the working file location in program files/Nuendo’s folder and documents and settings folder and all…
Then, started copying the working files to pendrive. “5 mins remaining” for a very long time.. Standard windows effect… then we connected an external HDD and transferred. Installed Nuendo from a different setup file in Mayukhini’s laptop. But when tried to open Nuendo and export, we got the same error. “An unexpected error”
Then we thought we will try in my laptop on the move. So we all boarded the car and then opened my laptop. Installed Nuendo and opened the project. Car was driven very fast and we 3 were sitting in the back seat with language on our laps. Was really funny to place a laptop and work. I was struggling to even touch my touchpad. We exported the final track at last successfully.
Oye haaaa heeee huuuu !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [everyone in car was shouting]
Mayukhini wanted to listen to the final song once.. Then she realized that the last I min is not there in the final output. Everyone in car were like… “Shit ! Fuck man!”
Again we opened Nuendo.. again “an unexpected error !” same like Mayukhini’s laptop.
I tried restarting the OS. Even tried reinstalled the software. It took atleast 10 mins to reinstall the software. We hardly had few mins. Basically no hope at this point. Even when the vehicle reached there.. me and Mayukhini were like “Pranjal…. can we try for 2 more mins..? ”
Then we went and sat on a bench and started trying again and again in different methods. We didn shutdown the OS because we were not sure whether Nuendo will open if we close it once.. We sat next to the sound mixer and put the laptop in power. Mayukhini who was just standing next to me was suddenly missing… then I found her sitting on the stage stairs holding her head, I was like.. “Are you fine.. ?” then she says… “no no I am very nervous..was praying to god.. atleast now allow us to play without any interruptions…”
We both were really like… no words to explain those emotions… Then the turn comes and we played the song. Initially the volume was bit low and bass was high but after half the song passed, it was perfect and the harmony part sounded awesome.
Our song was the only song with voice and own composition. All other team’s were just fruity loop works.. that too mostly readymade loops put together.
While playing I suddenly noticed that the in-out slider was kept in the middle of our song.. Shit ! I was literally shocked… the song would have stopped in between abruptly in the middle.. then I changed it when the song was playing.. I was soo scared that the software might get hanged again if I move the cursor.
College culturals brings this kind of enthusiasm. And the kind of bonding which was created among the team is really awesome. Everyone had a common goal and we all were like.. “we will do anything to achieve it..” no one is really blaming on anything or anyone.. Actually there is no time for all that. I really liked the way it all went.. these days when people are always ready to put the blame on others.. I felt very happy and satisfied from the bottom of my heart for working with Mayukhini and Pranjal especially.
I have seen many creative people. Most of them are like “I need time for this. It cant be done a day. If you need good work you have to wait.” But I always feel that whether its design or creation.. it has to done according to the clients or the situational requirements not according to the time which the creator will take. Here I saw a small team, fully energized putting all their energy in such a short time and I was happy.
A song composed, lyrics written, team formed, practiced, recorded (guitar, lead voice, chorus, drums) with a small mic, volume leveling and noise reduction done with a software which was not working properly .. All this in less than half a day…..
We had Austin on Guitar, Pranjal on Drums, Prabhsimran, Muzna and Tanushree in chorus, Mayukhini in lead voice and me in software handling.
And when we think about who really made it possible.. Off course Austin, Pranjal, Prabhsimran, Muzna, Tanushree gave the building blocks in building this beautiful house. I helped in the tools involved to build it… but the real architect who dreamt each and every beat of the building and carved it with the limited infrastructure was Mayukhini..
I am truly impressed! Hats off to you Mayukhini.
We recorded the guitar track first. Mayukhini was not sure which part of the song has to be completed first. Everyone was in a hurry. I had my dance in the night so have to go to room to change. So even I was in full hurry… Mayukhini was dictating the chords lively to Austin when he was playing it. It was awesome to see that.
Everyone there had this one thing called “confidence” and more than all, the enthusiasm to complete it somehow.. the recording went on.. 3 different guitar tracks were recorded. We didn’t realize that all 3 had different tempo as it was recorded separately. Then we came to the lead track. It also went well as Mayukhini itself sang it.. She has got a really amazing voice.. a voice with real expression. Although I didn understand a single word in the entire song. I felt the energy in it.
We started the chorus recording. It was a complete chaos. All were singing in different pitches.. Singing different notes with different timings.. Its not anyone’s fault.. its just that they didn have time to practice. Even then they picked it up very fast. In the 2nd or 3rd try they are all set to record. The mic cable was soo short that I have to get up and move all the chairs so that they can come near and sing on the mic.
This was when we realized that the tempo in all 3 guitar tracks were different. [We all looked at each other]. Now we can’t record it again as Austin has already left to paldi… Then we managed to adjust with it. Chorus was good.. but mic didn pick up the sound well. Too much gain was increased to make the chorus audible. Reverb was also applied to few tracks.
Then we thought why not add the drums.. Now the time is around 4. Almost every left. Only Mayukhini, Prabs simran, me and Pranjal were left. We thought we will take a laptop to the music room and record the drums track and bring it here. Pranjal needed the reference track for tempo and to play the fills at the right time. So I tried exporting the audio track from Nuendo. This is when we realized that its not working ! Initially I had no clue on how to do it because when I click on the “export mixdown track” nothing basically happens. I tried contacting Maruthi.. Then I realized that he has just left to US and was not online too… at last we have to call a sound engineer and he gave us all live instructions over phone. As per his instructions, I checked all the driver settings. But still it no use. Then we called Viral bhai. No hope again.
So we played the entire song from Nuendo and recorded in sound forge again in a single track and transferred it into a mp3 player. But when playing the drums, mp3 players volume was not audible :-( By then Pranjal had brought the drums to AV Lab itself. The room is just 6x6 where hardly 4-5 can stand. Now we have drums in it :-)
We all are totally out of our mind. Time is ticking. Its around 6 now.. We are fully pumped and energized and irritated to the core.. Suddenly we found a proper head phone with a long cable and then we used it to give the reference track directly from desktop. We started recording the drums.
I did volume leveling and reverb addition on the fly… its like there is no time to play the song again and again. People were practicing chorus behind with full volume. Sometime Pranjal was playing drums. In this atmosphere I did volume leveling in real time. We had time just to play each track once after recording for checking. Volume leveling is done while playing only..
Mayukhini went to room and brought her laptop. But when Nuendo started there was an error. The same error which we got in the studio’s desktop. “An unexpected error” it seems… Shit ! we were highly irritated. Pranjal suggested that we will carry the entire desktop to paldi and play it from it directly.
Then I thought I will try in my laptop. Pranjal went to take the car. I ran to my room to take my laptop and put on my dance costume. I spent hardy 2 mins in my room. I was wearing dress and packing my laptop simultaneously. When I brought my laptop we thought of copying the working files to pen drive to play it from my laptop or Mayukhini’s laptop. We were not able to find the working files folder location. I searched all the tabs in the options dialog box. We were in such urgency that my hands were shaking literally. Searching and searching and searching for a long time… at last I saw the “save project in different folder” option in the file menu.. I was like.. shit ! its there on the very first “file menu” and I didn see it for such a long time.. instead I was searching for the working file location in program files/Nuendo’s folder and documents and settings folder and all…
Then, started copying the working files to pendrive. “5 mins remaining” for a very long time.. Standard windows effect… then we connected an external HDD and transferred. Installed Nuendo from a different setup file in Mayukhini’s laptop. But when tried to open Nuendo and export, we got the same error. “An unexpected error”
Then we thought we will try in my laptop on the move. So we all boarded the car and then opened my laptop. Installed Nuendo and opened the project. Car was driven very fast and we 3 were sitting in the back seat with language on our laps. Was really funny to place a laptop and work. I was struggling to even touch my touchpad. We exported the final track at last successfully.
Oye haaaa heeee huuuu !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [everyone in car was shouting]
Mayukhini wanted to listen to the final song once.. Then she realized that the last I min is not there in the final output. Everyone in car were like… “Shit ! Fuck man!”
Again we opened Nuendo.. again “an unexpected error !” same like Mayukhini’s laptop.
I tried restarting the OS. Even tried reinstalled the software. It took atleast 10 mins to reinstall the software. We hardly had few mins. Basically no hope at this point. Even when the vehicle reached there.. me and Mayukhini were like “Pranjal…. can we try for 2 more mins..? ”
Then we went and sat on a bench and started trying again and again in different methods. We didn shutdown the OS because we were not sure whether Nuendo will open if we close it once.. We sat next to the sound mixer and put the laptop in power. Mayukhini who was just standing next to me was suddenly missing… then I found her sitting on the stage stairs holding her head, I was like.. “Are you fine.. ?” then she says… “no no I am very nervous..was praying to god.. atleast now allow us to play without any interruptions…”
We both were really like… no words to explain those emotions… Then the turn comes and we played the song. Initially the volume was bit low and bass was high but after half the song passed, it was perfect and the harmony part sounded awesome.
Our song was the only song with voice and own composition. All other team’s were just fruity loop works.. that too mostly readymade loops put together.
While playing I suddenly noticed that the in-out slider was kept in the middle of our song.. Shit ! I was literally shocked… the song would have stopped in between abruptly in the middle.. then I changed it when the song was playing.. I was soo scared that the software might get hanged again if I move the cursor.
College culturals brings this kind of enthusiasm. And the kind of bonding which was created among the team is really awesome. Everyone had a common goal and we all were like.. “we will do anything to achieve it..” no one is really blaming on anything or anyone.. Actually there is no time for all that. I really liked the way it all went.. these days when people are always ready to put the blame on others.. I felt very happy and satisfied from the bottom of my heart for working with Mayukhini and Pranjal especially.
I have seen many creative people. Most of them are like “I need time for this. It cant be done a day. If you need good work you have to wait.” But I always feel that whether its design or creation.. it has to done according to the clients or the situational requirements not according to the time which the creator will take. Here I saw a small team, fully energized putting all their energy in such a short time and I was happy.
A song composed, lyrics written, team formed, practiced, recorded (guitar, lead voice, chorus, drums) with a small mic, volume leveling and noise reduction done with a software which was not working properly .. All this in less than half a day…..
We had Austin on Guitar, Pranjal on Drums, Prabhsimran, Muzna and Tanushree in chorus, Mayukhini in lead voice and me in software handling.
And when we think about who really made it possible.. Off course Austin, Pranjal, Prabhsimran, Muzna, Tanushree gave the building blocks in building this beautiful house. I helped in the tools involved to build it… but the real architect who dreamt each and every beat of the building and carved it with the limited infrastructure was Mayukhini..
I am truly impressed! Hats off to you Mayukhini.
Mayukhini PandeyNID SDM 09-11
View Full Post ...
visits
