Indian Bollywood Style

[Sam CA]

I have a gig coming up next month and they're going to have a few indian guests. I was asked to play one or two indian dance songs. Niranjanjaveri, send me a list of popular indian songs, and I chose two.

Disclaimer: I'm not from India, and not familiar with indian music at all, so if i didn't do justice to the song...

This is the original youtube link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYyKvp5oT8Q&feature=related.

And this is the song based on a style that I made for this song:

http://rapidshare.com/files/427720640/B ... _style.mp3

Could've been better, but I think it's good enough for a wedding. Can't spend any more time on this anymore...Anyways, if there's a better option to load the song and post the link let me know.

[Kauser]

Sam,

Very impressive rendition. Hard to tell it was played by no-Indian person. Superb.

Did you create a sequence or a new style? Did you play it live while creating mp3?

Regards,

[amusik2007]

Wow man you are amazing! What talent you have! Where school have you gone to??? IT sounds better than the original! Was this all made on the pa800?

[Sam CA]

Sam,

Very impressive rendition. Hard to tell it was played by no-Indian person. Superb.
Did you create a sequence or a new style? Did you play it live while creating mp3?

Regards,

Hi Kauser,
I could've created a midi sequence, but that would've required more time for programming. You can't really use a linear midi sequence for this kind of gig anyway. So the best way was to create a style. I listened to some bollywood songs and almost all can be programmed. Though, I did notice that they use some Indian lead sounds in some of the songs, and in particular some indian drums..but even that can be reproduced.

I have 3 Intros, 2 Vars, 2 Fills..and that's where I stopped. If you listen carefully to the original version, you'll notice that they're going for a big distorted fat sound..almost like techno...So it helps to program the most important part of the song, and double in real time to recreate that effect...So now I can say I played my first indian song! Hope you liked it.

[niranjanjaveri]

As always, I repeat again- great , superb job. Very impressive and more impressive because you did that in such a small span of time.
Regards

[Kauser]

Sam,

I would love to see a video of you playing. I play Indian music and I am floored with your talent.

Just for curiosity, how long did it take you to program all the variations? Do you have a process that you follow to program styles?

Keep playing, creating, enjoying, ...

Sincerely,

[Sam CA]

IT sounds better than the original! Was this all made on the pa800?

Hi Amusik2007,
Thank you...I don't know if it sounds better than original, but it turned out ok. Yes, the audio is all coming out of a PA800 in real time.

[Sam CA]

Sam,

I would love to see a video of you playing. I play Indian music and I am floored with your talent.
Just for curiosity, how long did it take you to program all the variations? Do you have a process that you follow to program styles?

Hi Kauser,
I don't have a video of me playing Indian music unfortunately. you can check this one out if you like: http://www.youtube.com/user/Assyrianpia ... 8S-v_lvr_w

I sequenced it based on this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDYYt7b4wNo

I think I put in about 2 and half hours for the bollywood song. It usually takes more than this, but this song was extremely easy with no challenging parts.

It's a little different process if i'm making a midi sequence of the entire song, but for making styles:

first I listen to the song and identify the Intros, chorus, verses, fills, vars..etc. Then, Open a Pro Tools session and insert all the markers for different elements..If it's an Intro/Ending, first , I record the melody, so I could have a reference. If not, I start with the rhythm section (non-pitched stuff like drumset-percussion..etc). Once i have a feel for the drum track, it's much easier to add keys, guitars and such. Then, I experimenet with sounds, effects, panning..and so on.

If a song has more then 3 Fills, I capture the ones that are repeated the most..same thing with Vars. I like to stay as close as I can to the original version. But if it's a dance song, I realize that people are not going to sit down and listen. They want to get on the dance floor and dance, so I try to spice up the rhythm section. Because I have a percussionist playing with me on that day, I used the percussion track as a guitar track instead.

I've got two more to go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDigvMabWJ4

and the other one has to be an Indian Ballad for the first dance. I haven't found that one yet. If you guys know of some popular Ballads , please let me know.

[Sanjai]

Hi SAM,

This is very difficult to say and it is very personal.
As I mentioned before over 300 films a year with each min 5 songs.
Nowedays we have to ability to communicate so why not ask what they would like as first number.

Greets,
Sanjai

[Kauser]

Sam,

Here are a couple choices for you.

Following is Waltz but it is very nice and simple. People will love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg0qAVKx ... re=related


Another option can be;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwF3QDDf ... re=related

And this one:
http://www.videomela.com/video/3394/Tum ... n--True-HD

And this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2YqoK8TaDs

This gives you a variety to choose from. If this does not work, send me a PM and I will send you some mp3.

Enjoy,

[Kauser]

Sam,

One more to try if you wish;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrym6PSm ... re=related


Regards,

[Sanjai]

Hi Kauser,

Don't want to interfer so don't get upset but personnaly I think the last two are not suitable for that accasion. The other ones are oke.

Just want to help,
Sanjai

[Sam CA]

Hi SAM,

This is very difficult to say and it is very personal.
..... so why not ask what they would like as first number.
,
Sanjai

Hi Sanjai, that's very true, but at the same time i've learned, that's the worse thing you can do to yourself. When you ask people to pick a song, they're normally undecided between like 40 songs and they can't make up their mind. Also, it's very likely for them to pick songs that totally suck for me, which means i will get stuck with programming something that I don't like for hours and hours...That's why I usually do a little research and present them with a smaller collection..Basically, i try to talk them into choosing something from that collection which I think it's 'musicially worth spending time ..etc.... It works almost all the time and I end up working on songs that I enjoy as well! from time to time I come across people who have a specific song in mind, and that's fine.

[Sam CA]

Thanks for your help guys. I suggested two songs for her, and she picked this one:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N25GpNjvF4

The other one that I liked was the "Waltz", but she preferred the other one. It's a long song, but they only need 2 minutes of it..That's really easy.

[Sanjai]

Hi Sam,

Just wondered.
If you are going to make the style for suraj huwa madham.
Are you so kind to share that with us.

Greets,
Sanjai Ramlal