8/6/2019 First Take Issue19

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MAY 18, 20118

His father wanted him to become a violinist; heaspired to become a cinematographer. But des-

tiny willed otherwise; it was sympathetic to hispassion for cinema, though, in guiding him to an alliedspecialisationsound engineering.

Rajakrishnan has made the cut in the film industryas a talented sound engineer.

When we met him at his studio at Kodambakkamin Chennai, Raj was excited about the buzz set off bysome of his recent movies such as Urumi, Trafficand Madirasippatanam.

A passion for cinema was perhaps natural inthe case of Raj who grew up seeing artists allaround him. The son of late musician, M G Rad-hakrishnan, he recalls his fathers advice, Youneed only your ears for this job. An economicsgraduate, he moved to Chennai to seek advice from fam-ily friend Priyadarshan who at that time was setting up astudio.

He began a six-month training under Deepan Chat-terjirecordist for the legendary R D Burmanwho wastasked with establishing Priyans state-of-the-art studio.Those initial days were quite intimidating for a youngsterwho could not make head or tail of the high-end machinesin the studio.

So put off was he by the sophistication of audio engi-neering that at one point he called it quits and returnedto Thiruvananthapuram. It was at this juncture that oneof his friends told him about Deepan Chaterjees high re-gard for his talent. That testimonial was just the dose ofself-belief and confidence that Raj required to return toChennai with fire in the belly. And, he went on to establishhimself as an accomplished engineer in the industry.

In an impressive career spanning 13 years Rajakrishnan

has worked in about 150 films across all languages. Musicdirectors Ousepachan and Rajamani, were among those

who spotted his talent and endorsed him to others.Raj bagged the Film Critics Award for his work in Anan-

thabhadram besides being nominated for the Shantaramaward for Sukhanth and Kancheevaram. He has alsocomposed music for Winter.

The first independent work Raj did was for Aparichi-than which he rates as his best sound mix because hewas given ample freedom.

The biggest challenge according to him is the pooracoustic standards in many theatres. I get into lots ofdetailing when I mix in my studio. But to get this effectin theatres of Kerala is very difficult since the acoustics,sound system is under par. Even if the weakened soundeffect is due to a malfunctioning speaker in the theatre,the blame is placed on the sound engineer, he rues.

He feels that theatre owners and operators need to be

sensitised on the advancements in sound engineering and

audio technology. There is a generalfeeling that if the film

is loud, it sounds goodwhereas it is not so in

the case of internationalbenchmarks. The dia-

logues in foreign filmsare set at a very low fre-

quency so that the surroundsand other effects also reach

the audience, he says.To a layman, a movie is just

about the actors. However, I daresay that a film is all about light and

sound, says Raj. Perhaps the first timepeople recognised the presence of this

breed ofcinema professionals was when Resul Pookkutty won

the Oscar.Raj is also into sound designing; he designs the sound

for a whole movie. A lot of creativity and imagination isin play here. The usual method used to create an essen-tially outdoor sound like the trotting of horses is by fillingempty coconut shells with mud and banging them on thefloor, he explains.

Guess how you get the creak of opening a door? Twista crushed plastic bottle!

Mixing is like a bit cooking. You have all the ingredi-ents with you. Its your skill

that brings out a good product. The ratio, mix and theprocedure should be proper, he says.

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ACTION

FIRST

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JyothiV

arma

The wizardof sounds

Listen to the film audio tracks,and the artist behind them.

Answers1.NewtonsThirdLawsays,everyac- tionhasanequalandoppositereaction.In

fact,theliontameriswrong.Sinceeachballweighs10kg,ittakesaforcemorethan10kgtothrowtheballintotheair.Addthattotheweightofthejugglerandtheweightoftheballsheisholding,andthetotalwillbeover100kg.Therefore,thebridgeheisstandingonwillcollapse.

2.Astrikewasthrownin10pinbowling.3.Nameless4.Nineoclock.Sincethereare12hoursbetweenthetwotimes,andhalfofthattimeissix,thenthehalfway

markwouldhavetobesevenoclock.Ifitwas7oclocktwohoursago,thetimewouldnowbe9oclock.

5.Yogurtorfrozenyogurt6.DrManmohanSingh=PrimeMinisterofIndia

7.10x10x8+506x38.25

9.560/16=18+171. A juggler must perform a trick in which he

crosses a narrow bridge juggling 3 balls.He weighs 80 kg and each one of the ballsweighs 10 kg. However, the bridge can holdonly 100 kg without breaking. The lion tamer,his colleague, says that as long as he keepsone ball in the air, the bridge wont collapse.Is he right?

2. Dead on the field lie ten soldiers in white, felledby three eyes, black as night. Whats goingon here?

3. My first is nothing but a nameMy second is more smallMy whole is of so little fameIt has no name at allWhats the word?Hint: First and Second refer to syllables andWhole refers to the word.

4. If two hours ago it was as long after oneoclock in the afternoon as it was before oneoclock in the morning. What time would itbe now?

5. I can be smooth and creamyOr I can be cool and dreamy.Whatever suits your taste.

But one thing to remember Im made with bac-terial waste.

Some like me in a cup,Some frozen on a stick.Some eat me with a spoon,And some just like to lick.Some like me with their breakfast,Some as a tasty treat.But as I said before Im made with bacterial

waste you eat.What am I?6. DRMS=PM of I. What does this stand for?7. 50 10 10 8 6 3Using all the numbers above just once, can you

make the number 832?8. A 30-year old man married a 25-year old

woman. She died at age 50 and her husbandwas so devastated that he cried for years.

Ten years after he stopped crying, he died. Ifhe had lived to be 80, how many years washe a widower?

9. Insert appropriate mathematical symbols tomake a true math statement. For example

252 = 1002, the answer is 25 x 2 = 100/2.Now solve this: 56016 = 1817

Try juggling thisTEASERS>