Silence please…!

Silence please…Episode 3, Scene 5,Gulabi meets Dilu, Take 3,Rolling!

And here we go! 

Recording starts in my portable recorder…. Few years have passed since I have started recording Katha Mitho Sarangiko. Everytime it gets more interesting and it's different to what I had previously recorded. There is always something new to learn.

I was recording dramas, editing them in the studios, a lot of them before joining Katha Mitho Sarangiko team. Our editor, Fiona has several years of experience in recording outdoor radio dramas. Though I've had experience on how radio drama is produced, when I first joined BBC it was an entirely new experience than what I had imagined. Through Fiona I got to know what techniques are to be  used to capture a clean audio of actors, a wild track for background, ambiences of the scenes…etc. etc. Slowly I was getting used to these techniques.

Feeling the vibes of nature, places, locations, climates, and so many other things, I want to call this a “Natural recording”. This whole nature has turned into a vast studio for me. Every place has its unique sound, vibration, smell, air and there I am capturing it all in my recorder.  I feel like I am encoding surrounding nature while recording it. A thought of contentment I guess.

People often ask why we are recording outdoors or hunting locations and natives when we can record in the studios sitting comfortably in sofas with air conditioners and using professional actors. Yes, a logical question to ask. But if we do so, will it be a life imitating drama? 

Recording in studios is not a bad idea but reaching out to different ethnicity and places makes our drama livelier and broader in the sense of imitating life. No one can replace a real native character because they are original and natural. The way they express themselves is genuine, only they can do it. So when they play in our drama then the sweetness, the melody and the flavor is a real pleasant audio for listeners. 

Flavors of different culture, cultural music played and acted by natives mixed in our drama makes its audio very rich. Thus, the audio takes our listener’s mind to the place and to the people and gives them a feeling like they’re actually present in that scene. A listener gets a clear picture of surroundings while listening to the drama.  This is what location recording is valued for. Microphone not only records the sounds but the atmospheres and vibrations of the place too.

Working as a team member in Katha Mitho Sarangiko has always been a wonderful experience for me.  I am always excited by the stories our producers write, locations they choose and characters they audition to enact in the new storyline. A lot of homework and rewriting scripts is involved for completing a story. And when a story is completed then we are armed to record the scenes. 

From early morning to late evening with headphones on my head, a microphone attached to a boom pole and a portable recorder at my right side, I keep on recording.  Scenes by scenes, takes by takes, hours just pass by. Despite a lot of pressure to achieve our target scenes, we are enjoying, entertaining ourselves and adventurously, we make our day a success. Finally I hear a voice from the director.

Scene OK!..Pack Up!!.... Recording Stops.

Images of Recording Drama on location