Swarathma’s Blog

Montry is Swarathma’s fiery shot of high-energy drumming. Off-stage his wonderful nature charms musicians and listeners alike. Indeed, there’s hardly a musician in Bangalore who has not jammed with Montry, or does not have his number on his phonebook!

It was a dream come true, recording our debut album. After winning the Radio City Live contest, when we finally went into the studios it felt great.

I had never recorded drums in a big studio before. I’d also never played to the metronome (the constant beat per minute reference click sound that recording is done to). I was quite nervous. We had the option of programming the drums but that wouldn’t have sounded ‘live’ or the ‘feel’ would be missing. But it was a risk. What if the drum sound was not good enough? It would be too late to do anything. I wanted to play live, and I was so happy when my band supported me through it.

When Amit Kilam came on as producer, we did not know how much of a difference he would make. From the first day he set us at ease, and by the end of it, he was much more than a producer, he was a brother and friend.

What he did for me I’ll never forget. Swarathma could afford to spend 16 days in the studio. We were apprehensive about how long the drums would take to record. But I did it in just 3 days flat! It was all because of how Amit gave me confidence and made me give my best. He even lent me his equipment.

I must mention Aakash, the man behind Kshitiz Studios in Delhi. I really liked him; he was a peaceful guy. And he knew how bands worked, and gave us his best.

Since then we’ve recorded at Yash Raj Studios (live drums, this time with the band playing along!) we couldn’t have done that if I didn’t have the confidence from our album recording.

Gear:
Drum Kit: Yamaha Pro Series
Snares: Premier, PDP
Cymbals: Sabian 18′ Ride, Paiste 16′ Crash, 10′ and 8′ Splash, China & Hi Hats
Percussions: Cowbells Rainmaker

As told to Jishnu Dasgupta