IRAA 2020 Goes Virtual

HARMAN Supports The Endeavour

Published in July-August 2020 Issue

PALM expo’s concern to ensure safety from ongoing pandemic mandated cancelation of the 2020 edition of PALM expo and in the best interest of the industry and business, decided not to move forward with the expo in 2020, carrying forward the show to May 2021. However, The Indian Recording Arts Academy Awards (IRAA) 2020 continues into its 14th edition and will once again recognize work of distinction and exceptional achievements in the field of Sound Recording and Engineering.

For the first time ever, the IRAA Awards will take place as a digital-only ceremony. Following the ceremony’s postponement in May due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IRAA committee and Jury Members, motivated by IRAA’s spirit in recognizing excellence and discovering best work and talent in sound recording technique and creative sound recording, decided to continue with the awards in its digital avatar.

IRAA’s spirit in recognising exceptional skills in music, soundtrack recording and mixing in Indian music for albums and movies, thereby uplifting standards of excellence in sound recording in India, is the motivation which drives IRAA each year to discover the best work and discover the studio and talent which drives India’s experience in sound engineering technique and creative sound recording.

RECORDING ARTS AWARDS SUPPORTED BY HARMAN PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS INDIA

The Indian Recording Arts Academy Awards (IRAA) is proud to announce that HARMAN Professional Solutions, India has committed its support to the prestigious award platform, which is now in its 14th consecutive edition.

“The great work done by folks in music, soundtrack recording, and mixing in India along with the innovation and creativity in music composition and tracks must be recognized and celebrated. We at Harman Professional Solutions India are pleased to support the Indian Recording Arts Awards (IRAA) and appreciate the efforts put in by PALM Technology to recognize the talent of studios and engineers in the country, for the fourteenth year in a row,” said Aditya Todi, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing, HARMAN Professional Solutions, India and SAARC.

“IRAA is a very important forum. I believe its value contribution to recording arts in Indian music and cinema industry is critical to being creative to world standard, which today resonates on global platforms. IRAA endeavours to true talent. My vision and perseverance has persisted in embedding strength to IRAA, especially with the fraternity itself. I stand impressed with India’s sound engineers whose contribution indeed has built IRAA to this level of esteem. HARMAN sponsorship and joining the vision is recognition of IRAA as a neutral and independent forum and certifies HARMAN philosophy to recognize talent. Recording arts is at the pinnacle of professional audio and sound technology and indeed HARMAN is at the frontier edge in these technologies. I am now confident IRAA will build further and play its true role in coming years. Kudos to Harman for joining this mission,” said Anil Chopra, Founder & Chairman of IRAA.

VIRTUAL EVENT

Winners will be announced across 51 categories by the IRAA Committee and Jury, from the Sound Ideaz Studio in Andheri on 20th September, 2020 at 5:00 PM.

Due to the ongoing pandemic and social distancing norms mandated by the Government, the event, will be held without an audience and the event will be streamed live on PALM Social media platforms. Only the IRAA committee, Jury Members and executives from HARMAN will be present at the event.

Opportunity for Bands to Perform at the Event: This year IRAA also invites Solo artistes and /or Musical Bands to send in YouTube links of their performance and get an opportunity to perform at the virtual event.

IRAA CAMPAIGNS FOR ROYALTY

Note from Anil Chopra – Founder & Chairman of Indian Recording Arts Academy (IRAA) Awards

In the 1980s there was an explosion of record labels and hundreds of music companies riding high on cassette technology obliterating vinyl and HMC/EMI strangle hold. Music releases in hundreds monthly exploring centuries of folk and religious genres and a river of talent coming out of the woodwork. Hundreds of self-taught sound engineers doing all sorts of magic to tracks they had an emotional connect with.

There was one refrain. “It’s an Art”. You can’t learn this in an institute. You see, lyrics are given life by composers. We give life to lyrics, compose, musicians, and singers. Alone all are worthless.” I have personally experienced this too. The final mix is an art. Period. It’s a techno-spiritual-musical art, of synthesis greater than what a pianist uses a musical instrument to express his composition. The mixer isn’t mixing anything else than music. It’s an Art.

I created the Indian Recording Arts Academy Awards way back in 2013 with this conviction, that recording is an Art, technology allows it to be repeated. So does technology allow compositions to be repeated; so it has value. Lyrics also have value when technology repeats it.

When you say art and copyright basis is when it cannot be repeated. So also the supra compose of an audio mix surpassing that of a music compose if it is not recorded. So there is copyright.

IRAA stands for and will campaign for Royalty for the final mix. It’s not for nothing that the final master is called the Final Mix.

Mankind has entered into the digital era.

When you hear a track (songs are heard as tracks!!), where and how you hear a sound or voice and how it enters your mind space is an art.

We need solidarity and belief. That’s what brings change. And realisation is the key.

Alright Gentlemen. The hour cometh, cometh the man.

Cheers!

RECORD NOMINATIONS

IRAA recording categories and genre of music each year represent trends in music production. Sound recording fraternity from across India recognise the sincere endeavour of IRAA to award great recordings whether emanating from Chennai or Delhi or Mumbai, whether Bollywood or regional cinema.

The IRAA awards, which has gained aspirational value through the years has become an eagerly looked forward to annual event as was witnessed by the nominations pouring in for this year’s recognition. The IRAA committee and Jury member’s vision has translated to increased entries for selection of the best music and recording from studios all over the country.  IRAA 2020 received record 1000+ nominations this year from the sound engineering and studio fraternity from across India.

With the objective of recognizing the regional music industry, the IRAA awards had instituted ‘Regional Awards’ in the Audio Engineering, Audio Post Production and Music Production segments  to honour talent outside Mumbai in 2018. This year also witnessed an increase in the number of nominations received in the regional categories.

AWARDS PROCESS

The IRAA Awards 2020 nominations were open to Music producers, recording professionals and sound engineers, submission of entries for which was closed on 20th June 2020. Submissions by Audio files were submitted online on IRAA website.

The great work done by folks in music, soundtrack recording, and mixing in India along with the innovation and creativity in music composition and tracks must be recognized and celebrated. We at HARMAN Professional Solutions India are pleased to support the Indian Recording Arts Awards (IRAA) and appreciate the efforts put in by PALM Technology to recognize the talent of studios and engineers in the country, for the fourteenth year in a row.

Aditya Todi - Senior Director - Sales and Marketing-Pro Division - HARMAN

Winners of the 13th IRAA Awards

Soundtracks and albums released in the period, January 1- December 31 2019, were eligible for nominations. The list of categories which include Film as well as Non-Film, is available on the IRAA website - www.iraa.in.

The commendable Jury on their part spent many hours of hard study despite being pressed for time, as the Jury itself comprises successful professionals who contribute selflessly, as they too believe sound recording is an art. Spearheaded by IRAA Director Yogesh Pradhan and Honorary Chairman Pramod Chandorkar, the nominations were screened by an 12 member Jury comprising of top audio engineers, music producers and arrangers from across the country Besides Pramod Chandorkar and Yogesh Pradhan, the jury comprises of Aditya Modi, Ashish Saksena, Bishwadeep Chatterjee, Indrajit Sharma, Jim Satya, Mujeeb Dadarkar, Sreejesh Nair, Shantanu Hudlikar, Vijay Benegal and Vijay Dayal.

In order to ensure that evaluation and judging process is completely neutral and unbiased, the Jury assessment form did not include name of Nominee and Nominator, thereby ensuring that all entries received are reviewed and judged fairly.