Humungousaur

This is a word that I learn from my son.. !!

Its apparently a fictitious character in Ben10 Alien Force (another fictitious Mega Cartoon series to begin with.. ! But much more imaginative than our Saas Bahu Mega Soaps, I must admit !). If you ask my son about Humungousaur, he has no difficulties in explaining about what it is.. Its basically the bench mark for anything big.. Nothing can be bigger.. When needed a Humungousaur can grow tall and become even bigger.. It can never be defeated except by (what else) an 'Ultimate Humungousaur' !!

Its that simple..

As imaginative it may sound, the term actually does make sense in real life when applied to the pillars of Raaja's orchestra. While Pyramids of Giza or Great wall of China are known to every one, surprisingly these names are not household names except for the people in the music industry.

Viji Manuel,
Purushotaman,
Sadanandam
Napoleon
VS Narasimhan
Shashi
Vasanth
Noel Grant
Tabla masters Kannaya and Prasad

The list goes on...

They are musicians with unlimited talent and are highly regarded in the Indian film music circuit. Thanks to few friends who are in touch with them, I get to know a bit on how they go about their business in real life. And if anything is to go by, one thing is certain. These people are not just musicians.. They are:

Humungousaurs

If at all there is only one force which does injustice to these giants, its the recording and sound reproduction technologies of late 70s and 80s. Its such a shame that we never got to feel the full potential of "what would have been....!!" of what we listen to in most of Raaja's songs. I have been in touch with many of the friends in the Raaja community.. Listening to his songs in good quality is the holy grail (me included) for all of us. Though I have garnered quite a bit of high quality tracks in the past, I miss (and still do) the quality tracks of certain songs where these Jambavaans' talent is showcased.

Motivated by two other Humungousaurs, I finally decided to do something about it.

One is, Dr. Doraisamy. HOD of my department (ECE) in my college life.. He always used to reinforce the faith in we the Engineers using an interesting analogy!! Teaching the "Electronic Devices and Circuits" from the book authored by Milman and Halkias (the book I still fear the most in my life.. !!), he used to ask: "someone from vocational education can fix a motor if it goes kaput, while you engineers cannot. Does that make him better than you..?" Having made us feel worthless he would go on to give the answer of the question we didn't ask in the first place: "No.. Theoretical science is the mother of all inventions. Without it, there will be nothing.. So without you there was no motor to begin with !!"; While you are wondering, "What is he trying to say..!!??!! Does he imply that you too will end up fixing fans and mixies in your life if you don't pay attention to me..?" he would have completed explaining how the high pass filters work !!

The second one is "Audacity", the open source freeware which has been a GOD to me since I started using it a couple of years back. Although I mainly use it for music clipping, I recently managed to unearth (some of) its hidden features. Last couple of months, I have been putting my select list of songs through its High pass filters, Low pass filters, Amplification, Bass Boosting, Equalization, Leveling, Repairing, phasing and practically every other option available under its "Effect..".

This weekend I cut my first home made CD with the sole intention of celebrating these genius for my personal listening and learning.

I managed to work on about 75 songs.. The songs are of two categories. The first 43 songs or so in this CD are more acoustic.. A few samples are here on display..The remaining 30 odd are electronic beat oriented songs (Like the Rojapoo Adivandhadhu that used a bit more than just the acoustic rhythm kits but still those that are not looped and played live during its recording). I still need to do some minor rework on these.

I am not a sound engineer and I wouldn't say these versions enhance one's listening pleasure.. My aim is that next time I sit in the keyboard, I expect to have it a bit easy in decoding these songs thanks to those Audacity effects and educating myself a bit of sound mixing and post processing along the way.. Now I can say with certainty that these tracks sound many a times better than the originals of the same that I have.

Having felt like Tinu Aanand in Aditya 365, finally I am ready to unveil my fruit of labor of last few weeks...These remastered tracks are the Ultimate Humungousaurs :-PP

(As part of my processing I had to jackup the amplitude in some cases to bring up the hidden sounds up and then suppress the remaining tracks.. Consequentially, If you are using headphones, then keep the volume levels low. It might get too close to your ears for comfort!)

I am able to appreciate the rim shots of Puru Sir while Sada sir is mesmerizing in his re-defining-the-clean-guitar- playing solo..

I am able to listen to the Thani Aavartanam of Puru sir in his drum kit much more clearly.

And how the hell did Viji Manuel managed to bend, pluck and slide his bass guitar (Yes.. he is also the Baap of all bassees from what I learn) all at the same time in that "tttt...toooon" (at the 17th second, before "I Love you".) and then falling back with an unimaginable grace (at 00:22) better than the injured Greg Louganis from his dive board ! Any traces of inspiration from Boney M's "Sunny" which Raaja was forced to take in to account is absolved with this jaw dropping stunt of Viji Manuel..

And the three different Cymbal Rides of Puru sir for the first three "Yaa Yaa Yaa " (in the ending of the pallavi, please please don't miss it..) are nectar to my ears now.. So is the crystal clear keyboard bends on the DX7 by Viji .. The foot pedal of Puru sir is so controlled and warm.. slap bass of Shashi sir starting the lines "Kiji Gaadi..".. crispy strokes

The half beat challenge that gives nightmare for all guitarists in this pallavi.. One time its the Tom at the 2nd maatra of first aksharam and its a single Chaapu in mridangam for the next.. It is impossible to have this kind of live arrangements anymore..

And Majestic is the word for this team work.. !! Scintillating guitars (both rhythm and lead), Puru sir's authority on the drums and Viji the emperor in the keyboard (on your right ear).. What a transformation of the folkish tune that we have known to in "Oru Kili" (Don't miss the crisp Tom at the end of this clip at 1:03.. Philips..!! Fill-ins cannot be with more Sense and Simplicity..!!)

Vasanth Sir with his flamboyance in this bass guitar Gem..

Sada sir in his elements.. Wamping-oo wamping.. and Major 7ths galore in this captivating BGM..

And so is this bend exposing the Sri Ragam. Ri2 is bent so beautifully to reach Ga2 (just) and then back to Ri2. The signature Ri2Ga2Ri2 Sa of Sri.. The lead guitar pieces in the interludes exemplify Fusion.. What playing !!

About the talk of all this Techno music providing the high for the urban youth, அட போங்கப்பா நம்ம ஆளு இந்த பிலிமயெல்லாம் ஒரு முப்பது வருஷத்துக்கு முன்னாடியே காட்டிட்டாரு..
(This has been mastered by Raaja some 30 years ago using manual playing..!!)

And if that is not enough, feel the drum's bass pedal (Dhak Dhak) in your heart here together with the rocking side bass.. Disco.. eh !!

And if there is one song where Tom Tom is exemplified its here. Its not the symbols that provides the groove but the Toms.. what an idea..

And how about some flam para diddles on Misra chappu (found after the Tabla in this interlude..) I still wonder the bass pattern set by Viji sir for such running rhythm in odd signature. I could never visualize that additional bifurcation on the running bass pattern of the pallavi lines until it was enhanced. I still can't get enough of these new extra notes..

And how can you explain such a intensely westernized disco and yet an integral Sarasaangi.. Love the way how VS Narasimhan sir takes off with his solo..

I reworked this track just to feel the warmth of that Snare at (00:08-00:09) of Puru sir.. Followed by inimitable clean guitar leads of Sada sir..

Rediscovering the Oh Premi !! Didn't know this song is as free flowing as these with all the hidden tracks (what with those wamping etc.,) coming to the fore.

How the hell was that bass tone achieved in the beginning of pallavi.. It really sounds Baaasss!! Viji Manuel in Keyboard with funky modes not to be missed in this whole song, especially the 2nd interlude..

And to calm down I fall back to some Major high !!

Finally goose bumps is the only explanation I have for this.. (one of my most satisfying result !)

I am feeling a bit like Caasim to have lost within these treasures with one exception.. I intentionally forgot the password to get out of the cave and come to the real life..