Q&A: SUSHMIT BOSE

‘IT must not meddle with making of music’

Money, money, money. And everyone’s chasing it in the music industry. Helping the music wannabe achieve his quick-buck goal is information technology. As an onlooker and also as part of the tech-led industry, music composer and singer with a purpose, Sushmit Bose, shares his views with Nivedita Mookerji on the changing course of the music industry. Sushmit, who was behind the India Unlimited project, which brought together several musicians of repute in one album recently, talks about how IT has changed the music scene altogether. Even as he suggests that IT is killing the soul of contemporary music, Sushmit, who was already a sensation 20 years ago, is quick to add that if used in the manner that IT should be, it could help deliver great pieces of art. Excerpts:

What is the relevance of new technology/IT in the music industry?
Technology was supposed to supplement music, but the way it has gone, technology has taken the aesthetics away from music. Music is more like assembly line production now. In the process of clean-up with technology, music is losing its genuineness and therefore its soul. I’m talking of contemporary music and not classical music.Even a music concert offers you a visual experience these days, and not real music, again because of technology. I say visual experience because music is already recorded and the artist is only mouthing it.

So, do you see the impact of IT on music as only negative?
Like everything else, even IT in music has its share of black and white. But I feel that technology in music should be in hardware only. For instance, better sound system, better equipment and better reproduction. As soon as technology permeates into the software domain of music, it creates problems. In fact, technology should not interfere with the making of music at all.

So far, what have been the positive influences of state-of-the-art technology on music?
Formats are in plenty from CDs to MP3. So, the biggest positive influence of technology is that music is a lot more accessible today. We’re exposed to a lot of sounds—from bagpipes to Aborigines—because of technology-led samplers. Also, because the entertainment industry is so huge and music is part of it, there’s lot more work in the industry. And technology is creating even more opportunities in the industry. In commercial music, it’s a pre-requisite for musicians to understand technology.

What should be the ideal relation between music and technology?
Music to technology will be wonderful. Technology to music will be terrible.

Do you think IT in the Indian music industry is comparable to the global scenario?
Yes. IT has completely taken over the music industry here.

Who are the gainers and who are the losers in the technology-led music industry?
Producers, arrangers, recording engineers and contemporary star singers are the definite gainers. Artists and session musicians are the losers.

What is the difference between an analogue and digital recording, in terms of time taken?
The analogue system used to take us around three to four days to record a number. Now a vocalist takes around two to three hours to record a song digitally. Of course, rest of the embellishments are done later.

In today’s digital music world, whose role is the most significant?
The arranger’s job is the most significant. Now a music director cannot do without an arranger. An arranger need not be a musician, he could even be a software person. His job is to work on the recorded bars of music—by converting and mixing sounds—and then creating symphony. Arrangers are gradually making music directors redundant.