For my CE, I intend to produce, compose, record, mix and perform a collection of 5 power-metal songs, with a professional level music video to accompany one song.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1038/thumbnail.jp

Roy, Arjun

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INDIAN POWER METAL Arjun Roy MTI - 695 Documentation Paper 1st July, 2016 MTI - 695 Arjun Roy - Final Paper !1Introduction:  My Culminating Experience for the 2016 Music Production, Technology and Innovation Master’s Program at Berklee College Of Music, Valencia Campus is to write, compose, produce, record and mix a Power Metal album, based on ancient Indian mythological stories. Also, I aim to create original video content, commission original artwork, and present it online.  Description:  With this project, I wanted to write the music and lyrics and bring to life, musically, the world in which these stories live. I wrote a basic concept to tie together the thematic content, and settled on a shared sonic landscape to give the songs a greater sense of cohesion. After some meetings with my advisor, it was agreed that I would ultimately present 3 songs, as well as 1 video. Given the conceptual nature of the work I wrote many songs, paring it down to 3 pieces for full band and instrumentation, to which I added a couple of primarily instrumental songs, to bridge the longer works together. I programmed drums and sequenced other instrumentation, then recorded all guitar parts, and ultimately decided that the bulk of the vocals would be handled by a singer from Boston. Innovative Aspects:  The main innovation with this project is the thematic content: Power Metal is an idiom based on European art music from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, primarily Tonal in nature, with lyrics and storylines based mainly on Northern-European and some Germanic mythologies. Nowadays, many bands also use epics from antiquity, as well as current classic  MTI - 695 Arjun Roy - Final Paper !2fantasy novels and series thereof as inspiration for songs as well as full-length albums. Songs about Thor and Odin, Dragons and The Hobbit are commonplace, but songs about Krishna, Kali, Rama and others are not. In doing research for this project, I found that there were (and still are) no active power-metal bands who write about these stories, nor the mythologies of India, specifically. The amalgamation of this content within the existing construct of Power Metal proved to be challenging, as I was unsure of the best approach: do I write literal translations of popular stories, do I paraphrase and adapt the existing Indian epics or do I tell the origin stories of well-known mythological characters?  New Skills Acquired:  At the beginning of the process, I deployed my existing skills in audio production, recording and composition, honed during my undergraduate degree at Berklee College Of Music in Boston. I made demos by sequencing virtual instruments at home, then added layers of guitars and other instruments in the studio. As the work progressed and intensified, I found myself drawing upon much of the new knowledge learned (and currently being learned) here in Valencia:  I used my newfound facility in Ableton Live and Max 7 (as well as Max For Live) for the first time, experimenting with different patches, software instruments and types of synthesis to come up with pads and sonic textures that I could use to add depth to my songs. Analogue Synthesis class also informed my knowledge of synthesis from a basic level, and imbued it with an understanding I did not have before. MTI - 695 Arjun Roy - Final Paper !3  For the first time, I was expected to make video content to support my ideas and further express the art I was creating. I used the skills learned in Video Production class to use the HD cameras properly, frame shots, arrange proper lighting, shoot usable footage and then edit and finish videos in a passably professional way. I made a couple of short videos, to function as teasers for the album, and also a  longer, sampler video for my third and final prototype.  My recording and compositional workflow also changed as I went through the classwork each and every week. I have now settled on demoing everything with live instruments as well as using MIDI (so that i can change song-keys quickly, as needed), recording DI signals for ALL guitars in order to Re-Amp, or run through my guitar-modeling software, as well as recording audio out of keyboards, as well as the MIDI, in order to preserve performances as well as to have the flexibility to alter any part of the work in the future. For songs featuring acoustic drums, I kept the edited performances, as well as applied a layer of samples to support the recorded drum sound, and bring it into the modern heavy-metal sonic paradigm.  Clichéd as it may seem, I also really tried to delegate tasks, and to involve other human beings in my process. From other instrumentalists (instead of playing everything myself), other engineers (instead of producing and engineering all sessions myself) to other ears, I reached out to the wealth of talent I am pleased to call my friends here at Berklee.  Challenges:   The biggest challenge I anticipated was to focus on myself as an artist, after some years of playing a producerial and engineering role for others. I knew it would be difficult to switch  MTI - 695 Arjun Roy - Final Paper !4hats constantly, and in a focused way. Also, I knew that time would be a factor that I would bump up against; whether it was the amount of studio time/space available or the amount of time I had left for CE-work after classwork, homework, GA work and family work. Also, given my love of engineering, I knew that I would split my time between working on projects for other people, and working for myself, on my own material.   The biggest unanticipated challenge I came up against was the search for a lead vocalist. I am a capable singer, but singing in the style required for this genre is beyond me currently. I assumed that I would be able to find someone here at the Berklee Valencia Campus, so I did not seriously start looking for the vocalist until I was already well into the writing process. As it happens, there are some tremendous singers here, but no one who could deliver in the way I envisioned. This ultimately led me to contact a vocalist I had worked with prior to this in Boston. She sings in exactly the right way needed for this record, and was more than happy to be involved with the project.   Also, I assumed it would take a little while to find an artist and orchestrator to work with, but was not prepared for how long it would take me to do it. I had been in contact with some old friends from Berklee about orchestration, but ultimately, they had to bow out of the project, citing time constraints. Thus, I decided to cut my losses and work on arrangements myself. At the same time, I had also been in contact with an incredible graphic designer & artist about licensing some existing artwork for my project. Unfortunately, the rights were held by a company in India, and the I could not navigate the red tape in time to incorporate those works. MTI - 695 Arjun Roy - Final Paper !5Similarly, I then contacted two other artists, and faced some delays in committing to one for this project.  Finally, and this was somewhat anticipated, there was the challenge of time-management. I generally like to stay busy and often have a full plate, between family life, work life, school life and the creative life. Still, try as I might, I observed a precarious balance between all of those things while trying to carve out time for my own music, which should have been the primary focus to begin with. It is hard for me to say “no” to projects that I believe in, whether my own, or for other people, and I fell into the comfortable habit of saying “yes” quite often.  Future Ramifications:  With the completion of this album, I feel as though I have found a way forward for much more upcoming work. Initially, I thought I would just write songs describing various characters, then I thought I would write songs about one event. Ultimately, I decided to write around a concept that incidentally uses the world of Indian mythology as its setting. The medium is the message, and the casual listener may enjoy the songs for what they are, but the more curious listener may hear unfamiliar words and references in the songs, and seek out the information for themselves.  I believe that these songs can reach people from all backgrounds. Moving forward, I want to expand on this idea in a bigger and more focused way: to create a full-length concept-album of 10 songs, with 3 full-length music videos that help tell the story in a more cinematic fashion. I  MTI - 695 Arjun Roy - Final Paper !6would like to package that project within a theatrical production and performance of the work in its entirety. Conclusion:   I am often unsatisfied with my creative works; I usually feel as though I fell short of my vision, or that I could have done a lot more in some way. That being said, those are natural feelings and fears for the creative individual. In this case, I feel that I have successfully created the first work in the genre of “Indian Power Metal”. It is small but mighty, and feels like the first step in a fruitful endeavour. The process has also built new professional relationships, strengthened some and re-focused others. I have come to embrace the arts of delegation and team-building. I realize (again) that I cannot do all of this all by myself, and have created a roadmap to navigate a way to pull together a project of this scope. MTI - 695 Arjun Roy - Final Paper !7Translation Of Selected Words, Phrases & Ideas: Song #1 (In Bengali): • Dida = Grandmother • Boni = Term of endearment towards little girls.     Literal translation = “Little Sister”, but in usage = “kiddo” • Shaap = Snake • Golpo = Story • Ghoom/ Ghumao = Sleep • Ram (Rama) = Central character of the Ramayana, a Crown Prince • Kali = Goddess of Creation & Destruction, in a naturally cyclical way. Song #2: • The Chant “Jagrat Sushupti Svapna” (In Sanskrit) • Jagrat = Waking State • Sushupti = Sleeping State • Svapna = Dream-state • “Eyta Shotti Ki Na?” = Is this real or not? (In Bengali) • Brahman = Universal force, main deity/consciousness Song #3: • The Chant “Deham Naham Koham Soham” (In Sanskrit) • “I am the body. I am not the body. Who am I. I am HE/SHE. • This breaks down to an identification of oneself with the universe. Song #4: • Maha Shakti = The Great Strength; used to describe awesome mythical weapons. • Rakhosh = Monster, often a specific race of demons (In Bengali) • Brahmastra = Mythical bolt of energy, the ultimate weapon, wielded by Rama in order to     defeat the demon armies. • Lankapur & Yudhagana = Cities in Sri Lanka, sites of legendary battles. • Ravan/Ravana = Demon King, leader of all species of monsters & their armies. He is notable for having 10 heads and 6 arms. Song #6 • Asuras = race of demons • Bloodseed/Rakthabilj = Fearsome demon whose blood spawns endless armies of demons. • Jai Kali Ma = an invocation to Goddess Kali

Indian Power Metal

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Indian Power Metal

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