Recording Music

Our methodology can be divided into two different components: the recording of professional quality audio and the documentation of the cultural context in which the music is performed.

Audio recordings were captured with a 2-channel, solid-state recorder. We used a combination of omni-directional and cardioid microphones both for interviews and performance. Wind screens and shock mounts were employed to counteract as many of the challenges of outdoor recording as possible. After a backup solid-state recorder, the final stage of redundancy was a dual capsule microphone (cardioid and omnidirectional) that connected to one of the laptops we carried to process the recordings.

Every member of the team was trained in the use of the equipment and we held practice sessions with various genres of music around Oxford, UK.

Recording live in mountainous North East India was, however, more difficult than in Oxford. Planning ahead for such problems as dust and rain were easily accounted for by bringing plastic sheeting, but the harsh terrain was much less of a challenge than the noise pollution contributed by Monpa villagers that gathered to listen in (and interrupt) our recording sessions, often stopping a performer mid-verse to correct their singing of a particular song. While these halts and over-laps of verses were often confusing to sort out in post-production, they also provided us with hints as to how the songs might be learned, practiced, and performed in an environment less formal than the ones we by necessity created by our visit to the far-off corners of the Tawang region.

In addition to the musical tracks, there were also non-sound components to our recording, which we viewed as important to fulfill our goal of documenting the cultural context of the songs. To this end we utilized film, photography, interview, and transcription wherever possible. We brought necessary equipment for these modalities but on a smaller scale, as sound recording was our primary aim.