Twenty-five-year-old Ayan De works in a soundproof 550 sq. ft 1BHK flat at Yari Road in Versova packed with musical instruments, synthesisers, mics and his Mac. Ayan is one of the many “bedroom producers” in Mumbai who have been providing the recording space to young and talented independent musicians. While the recording takes place in the living room, the bedroom doubles up as storage space.
Ayan steps out of his studio only once in a week and that too to refill his supplies. “I am working almost 18-20 hours a day, so whatever time I get I use it to relax,” says the sound engineer who has recorded for acts like Siddharth Basrur, Blek, Null Friction, The Riot Peddlers, Rubix Cube, The Colour Compound and more.
Around 20 km away from Versova, Tejas Narayan has turned his 3BHK apartment on the third floor in Dosti Acres in Wadala into a sound recording studio. While his parents use one bedroom, the other two have been converted into a mini studio — housing a mini drum kit, piano, guitars, synthesisers, mics etc — and his living space. “Privacy is neveran issue as long as we are producing music,” he says. The studio set-up in partnership
with his good friend and talent manager, Shreya Naik has recently started its own recording label too — The Arbitrandom Project. “We have already signed three bands,and would soon be releasing our albums,” says the record producer.
There are guys like Ayan and Tejas all around Mumbai, operating sound recording studios from their bedroom. Open 24x7, offering everything one may need to record a song, providing music gear, from recording to mixing and mastering, these studios charge very low prices in the range of `6,000 to `8,000 per song.
“This is something I like to do,” says Arun Iyer, who has converted the top floor in his parent’s duplex apartment in Vashi, Navi Mumbai into a mini studio called MotorGuitar Studios. Iyer invests all his time, energy and money, after his day-time job as a sound engineer with a Hollywood film production studio. He had seen many young bands struggle because there were no cheap recording facilities available including his own metal band. “The recording price in the professional studios is very high and many young musicians don’t have that much money,” he says.
Besides, having a demo CD is a must for any artiste wanting to break into the indie music scene. “Even college festivals now ask for a demo CD. And this is where the bedroom studios make a huge difference. We get the work done at a very low price,” says Sahil Makhija of Demonic Studios, one of the oldest rockers in the business. Sahil uses his bedroom for sound mixing, and a garage downstairs for recording music.
Sahil charges around `8,000 per song, but low price doesn’t mean bad quality. “The quality is at par with any big studio, in fact with Western bands it’s even better,” he claims the vocalist and guitarist of Demonic Resurrection.
But what really gives guys like Sahil the edge is the experience in music. “Most of us producers have been artistes ourselves, and have achieved a certain amount of success.
The professional studios can never match the kind of mastering we do,” says Sahil who records only with metal bands and is known for his unique sound. He has recorded demos for bands like Wired Anxiety, Bhayanak Maut, Scribe, Pin Drop Violence, Albatross and many more.
Animesh Das, bass guitarist for The Riot Peddlers, also works as a producer with a TV channel. He has recorded with Arun, Ayan and Sahil. He says, “We as a band can’t afford the big studios because there’s so much work that goes into producing a song. These guys have very limited gear, but whatever there is, does the job for us. It’s a compromise on price, but not the quality.” The band is currently working with Ayan on seven tracks.
There would be around 30-35 such bedroom studios in Mumbai alone, and several others in other parts of the country. Some youngsters like Anupam Roy and Keshav Dhar in Delhi and Vishal J. Singh in Assam have become big, running their own independent studios and recording with several of the big names in India.
So, is there a lot of competition? “Actually, none,” says Tejas of Arbitrandom, adding, “Everybody knows each other, and each one of us have specialised in a differen genre of music. It’s more like a brotherhood. We are here because we love music, and want to support the indie music scene. In fact we share a lot of projects with each other.”
And what does the future hold for guys like them? “There’s absolutely no profit margin in this business,” says Ayan. “To make a living out of it, we should be charging a lot more than we do, but we know a lot of bands won’t have that much money. So, I don’t have any set plans. I just hope that indie music is taken more seriously,” he adds.