How do you make this Bollywood sound?

[twister]

I really don't want to turn this into another "alizee" thread I was recently introduced to some of the Bollywood sounds, particularly the latest album from Arash. Here is a very short sample from his latest hit Temptation: Bollywood (this is a rapidshare link, where you just click on "free" and than wait for a link to appear)

Of course, I can come up with a melody by ear, but what instruments can you recommend me to get this sound? Also, is there a special chords for this Mid-Eastern type of music? Maybe there is a library of beats, loops, sounds, multisamples I can look into?

Appreciate your help with this!!!

[SleepyP]

what is so exotic about this particular sample? i hear classical (AKA nylon string/spanish) guitar, cheesy orch hit synth sounds, simple synth bass, and 909-derivative drums and that's it...

[Willabong]

A GM soundfont with 'Soundtrack' as one of the instruments.

[twister]

Well, if you can not hear it, than it would be hard to explain to you This orch hit is the key to a lot of this type of music. I guess, I can narrow down the questions to how do you make these orch hits to add mid-east flavor to a regular tabla loop??? What instruments, scales, chords do I have to use to re-create this sound?

[SleepyP]

there's no tabla or "weird" chords/intervals in that example, or if there are i simply can't hear them. i do hear a nice clap sound in the percussion, but that and the guitar are about as "exotic" as this thing gets. you need to post a better example of what you mean, i think.

[twister]

HERE is another example. You can hear more elements of the song in there.

[SleepyP]

hmm. based on this example, you will need a good "Indian" percussion set (not just tabla, but tambura, darbuka, chimpta, etc). although in the last example i thought the plucked string sounds were a guitar, in this one they sound more like a mandolin. given the probably origin, i don't expect that that is what they used a western instrument when there are plenty of eastern choices. maybe an exktaar?
seems like overall you need some kinda good, high-quality Indian instrument collection, ideally professionally engineered multi-sampled patches for some decent sampler (Kontakt? HALion? what do you use?).
maybe this is a good subject for the samples forum?

about the "eastern" sounding melodies, it doesn't sound to me like they are using weird intervals, but i could be wrong. musical theory is not my forte a quick google for raga examples got me this page:

http://www.dovesong.com/MP3/MP3_India_pentatonic.asp

it's got mp3 examples of a crapload of popular ragas, and may prove inspirational/useful to you

[vurt]

dorus ethnic drums cd?

[twister]

If I would only know the name of the instrument, I could look for samples or sf2. Otherwise, its only a guess... I have a "tarnce" background, so obviously can't think if any such instruments LOL!!! It does feel like an orchestra chord sound. Maybe I should google "panjabi mc sound", his Beware w/Jay-Z was a huge hit...

[twister]

... while doing the search, came across http://www.punjabonline.com/servlet/lib ... on=Bhangra - with list of lots of "bhagra instruments" (middle of the page). I just hope there would be an "easy" way out with a multisampe or sf2?

[SleepyP]

post in the sampling forum yet?

[Gregjazz]

I used to play in a Bollywood band, so I have some good advice for you:

Lots of drums and percussion, and sparser melodic instruments. Try mixing in some traditional Bhangra style of music and instruments. Study Hindi rhythm! Tabla is a good place to start. There's a unique accent on certain beats and a little bit of swing. You just have to listen to a lot of it to get the feel.

Also, get authentic lyrics. It's just not the same without vocals. KVR member Anopenscroll does some quite good songs, listen to the vocals in those. Start a Hindi Pop collection of CDs and Bollywood videos. Try to learn and sing the lyrics from songs, even if you don't speak the languages.

Mix and match real and synthesized instruments. Sometimes you'll hear obviously synthesized steel-stringed guitars or stuff like that, but that's just the style. Go for the "biggest" sound possible. Need to add a string section? No problem.

All in all, just listen to and absorb as much of this wonderful music as possible. Watch traditional dance, and absorb the culture.

[polyslax]

Have you looked at Swar Plug as a possible sound source? You can also audition all the instruments on their site, so it may help you identify sounds.

By the sounds of it, you'll want some orchestral strings. I think Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO) is a good and reasonably priced solution.

If you're looking for ethnic percussion, Yellow Tools' Culture is the mother load. 9 GB of high quality samples. May be well beyond what you're looking for, but hey, just thought I'd mention it as I'm looking at getting it myself.

AAS String Studio is a physical modelling synth that does loads of interesting ethnic string sounds. Try the demo!

If you want to hear something I've created with String Studio and GPO that has an ethnic flavour, go here:

Shifting

Hope this helps.

[twister]

Thank you, I a lot of great ideas here. Will also post a cross link to this thread in "sampling" section too

I also realized that I probably will need to get, in addition to sounds, some MIDIs too. This style is not just the sound, but the right melody too...

[D-Fusion]

Do you have propellerhead reason?
If so go to www.combinatorhq.com and download the JX-3P Refill and take a listen to the demo song