Page 20 - Rolling Stone - India (December 2019)

The Mix

Music Producer

Ayan De: ‘No One

Can Teach You

How to Listen’

The Mumbai-based recording engineer opens up about his
formative years after almost a decade in music production,
his favorite sessions and more

hen we instrument that I had for from your fuckups and
arrive at the longest time. I picked they can learn that you’ve
WMumbai- up guitar somewhere in fucked up because you don’t
based producer/sound between.” know your shit.” One of the
engineer Ayan De’s studio During his late teenage earliest records he worked
at his residence to interview years, De began attending on was for his friend’s
him, there’s no need for Chennai’s Unwind Center brother. He tells us that it
a recording device. De School of Music where was a Christian rock singer-
just tracked our entire he interacted with more songwriter pop-sounding
conversation straight musicians, volunteering at project. “I picked up this
through his console. It’s the center and playing gigs Line 6 sound card because I
the setup that he’s used there on Fridays. “That’s needed something for guitar
for recording tons of indie sort of how I got into this,” tones,” he says. Although
bands, singer-songwriters, he says. De also mentions at De states that it took him a
work on his material, teach that point he knew he didn’t long time to complete that
young producers, write for want to be a musician when record and that he had to
T.V. and more for nearly 10 he grew up but wanted to be work with stock plug-ins, it
years. associated with the field in was worth it for developing
Due to his father’s some capacity. After a short his skills.
traveling job with Bharat stint in Hotel Management It was at this point
Petroleum, De lived in in Manipal, De moved to when De briefly had
Chennai, Coimbatore and Mumbai. stints in Mumbai metal
Mumbai growing up. It At 20, he enrolled at outfit Descarta and alt
wasn’t until he came across SAE Institute in Andheri metallers Goddess Gagged
a friend’s toy piano was for sound engineering. “I as a keyboardist while
when he realized that he was horrible, I went in as also producing for both
could string melodies of a blank slate,” he says. De bands. “For a long time,
popular tunes together. found himself staying up it was just these few basically that I wanted to Through the years, De
“It’s like I knew how many every night working on bands and acts,” he says. learn how to mix a certain has gone on to become one
semitones to skip and it his chops, something he In 2012, the producer type of genre of electronica of the go-to producers/
didn’t make sense because admits he still does to date. also started moonlighting that was becoming a thing engineers for independent
I didn’t have any formal He explains, “I remember under the moniker around that point of time.” artists in India which
training or exposure or at some point of time, I Paralights and released He adds, “I was working include vocalist-guitarist
person at home who played was like, it’s not just about a five-track electronica with Your Chin on his first Siddharth Basrur, punk
an instrument.” After understanding and using record titled Scores For EP, I used to hang out rockers The Lightyears
scoring high in a school a software. It’s about how Your Background. De with other producers like Explode, alt-rockers
Hindi exam, De’s mother you perceive sound and says, “The scene started Sandunes and Zokhuma. BLEK and Unohu, singer-
gave him an actual keyboard understanding that.” changing drastically in So I made a record for songwriter Saachi and
and that’s when the wheels Soon after De began to 2011. I started going mixing and that’s how more. De tells us that
were set in motion for him. look for work “so you can for electronica gigs and the Paralights thing often, he’s been the one
He says, “That was the only fuck up and you can learn I started discovering happened.” overthinking about public

20 | Rolling Stone | December 2019