Ruling the World of Sound

Sync sound is recording the dialogue of the performers or the artist on location. But when we are talking about dubbing, it is where the dubbing scenes are recorded. When there is difficulty to record the dialogues on location, then it is recorded in the dubbing studios

Debajit Changmai is an audio engineer from Assam who has worked solo in more than180 Bollywood movies in the course of a roughly two-decade career. Hailing from Sivasagar, Debajit started his career as an assistant in Raj Kamal Studio. Since then, he has worked with top notch Bollywood directors in many hit Bollywood movies and also withIranian filmmaker Majid Majidi in Beyond the Clouds. He is also a recipient of a National Award for his film Ishqiya in 2010. Changmai has his work cut out not only as a sound designer but also as member of the voting committee of the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Science (Oscar).

Can you tell us about your early education?

I have done my schooling from Sivasagar Government MP and HS School. After that I graduated in Physics from Jorhat Science College. I then did a 3 years course in Sound Engineering and Recording from Jyoti Chitrabon Film and Television Institute.

Do you live with your family in Mumbai?

I reside in Mumbai with my wife and son.

Do you work in a production house or in a studio?

I am basically a film mixing engineer. I basically work for the sound department. I am working with a company called Future Works. I have been with this company for the past 20 years.

How and when did your interest in sound start?

I cannot pinpoint that exactly. During my school days, that is in the later part of my school days, most probably while studying in higher secondary, I saw a couple of recording sessionson T.V. That piqued my interest. When I was doing my graduation, I realised that I am not fit for this. I figured out that I enjoyed watching the recording sessions on TV and probably I will be more comfortable in the control room. By control room I mean basically where the sound recording where everyone sees to record the sound. I was not able to figure out what to do in my life. Then I came to Guwahati. I used to go to Jyoti Chitraban studio, and there I met Ujjal Chakrabarty, who is no more now. He was a student from Pune FTII. I went to meet him and we formed a friendly bond. He allowed me to sit with him during their recording sessions and that was how my interest was aroused.

You do not belong to any musical background. Did you play any instruments?

No and nor do my family members come from a musical background. I am not a musician basically.

It happens that most of the time sound engineers come from musical background or play musical instruments. What do you have to say about this?

When we are talking about sound, we have so many sub -branches within sound. If anyone is interested in music or music recording, he has to understand music thoroughly. My interest is in film mixing. Film mixing is a different department of sound. It is not about music. When you are watching a particular movie, we have sounds, music, FX, all that I balance. In a particular movie, what should be the dialogue level, what should be the background music level, the song level, FX level all these I mix and match. That is actually my job profile. Music is one department of the entire sound department.

Are you also involved in location recording or you do only do post production work?

I do only the post production part. My job is final mixing and re-recording engineer. It is call final mixing; my department is the last department. Once the final mixing is done, the film goes to the theatre.

Can you explain what pre-production and post-production sound in films is?

Pre-production is before going to shoot. In pre-production level, it is when the director and the entire team meets for scripting, story and everything. It is where they involve the sound guys. Location hunting also is a part of pre-production. When the director goes for location hunting, they take the sound designers with them, who tell about the noise level in a particular location. In pre-production, the location recorder will record whatever sound is emitted. Once the shooting is done, it will go to the editing table. Once the editor locks the visuals it will go to the respective post production teams, and also to the sound section. There is a sound post production team also. The sound post production team includes sound designers, who match the sound against the visuals in the film. There is a department called foley recording, where they record sound in a controlled environment to enhance sound quality.

There is also dubbing recording, in which they dub the dialogues that have to be recorded. Most dialogues in the film are recorded on the location. But in special circumstances, like challenging locations, if the director feels so he or she chooses to dub the dialogues again. After that, it will go to music department. There are two departments one is background music and one is sound. Once these are done in all thesedepartments, then it comes to main mixing. It is the final mixing. Here we decide the levels of sounds for each scene.

Please tell us more about sync sound and dubbed sound, as many of our readers may not be able to differentiate between the two terms.

Sync sound is recording the dialogue of the performers or the artist on location. But when we are talking about dubbing, it is where the dubbing scenes are recorded. When there is difficulty to record the dialogues on location, then it is recorded in the dubbing studios.

You have experience in working in the analog era. You have seen the transformation from analog to digital era. Can you tell us more about your experience of working in both?

Analog and digital both are technical things. Both have to do with how we use the technology and utilise the technical transformation. We should not misuse the technical advantage. When we were working in analog, we had limitations in execution of our sound. But there was a beauty in it. Based on my experience, I would say we were more disciplined, because we had limitations in execution. We do feel that analog is warm, but basically it is a technical transformation. Now everything is easy. In analog, we had to memorise everything. But the digital era has made things easy. Now if we forget one step, the machine takes care of it. That is one advantage of the digital era. It was absorbing working in those times and it is equally interesting now. It is more aboutthe individual – on how we utilise our potential -- than the technological developments. I have been in Mumbai now for 22 years, and the biggest challenge was technology and how it is changing every six months. So we have to keep on upgrading ourselves. You cannot say you know everything.

Can you share with us an insight into your work?

I have been working in this industry for the past 20 years. When I came to Mumbai with my friend, Amrit Pritam, there were so many people from Assam in the music sector. But when we talk about film sound, there were not that many people. The biggest struggle was that most people did not know about our state, our capital or our culture. We were the first batch from Jyoti Chitrabon. We had to introduce our institute. If I count my time from then to now, I think getting a foothold here, making my state known were my biggest achievements. We had to introduce everything about ourselves.The Mumbai film industry is still controlled by Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. Being a non-degree holder and surviving for 20 years in a field where there is stiff competition, especially in recent times, is my biggest achievement and it is with pride that I say this.

My journey started in 2000 with Raj Kamal Studio. Raj Kamal Studio was the biggest and most advanced sound mixing studio in India then. I was very fortunate because I got to assist Hitendra Ghosh,who has the Limca Book of Records for doing the maximum number of soundmixing in films, and Anup Dey, who was also very popular and successful.

I got my first film in 2006, which was Pyaar ka Side Effects under PritishNandy Communications. I have been fortunate to work with many known directors in the industry. I enjoyed working with Vishal Bharadwaj in Kaaminey. I also got the opportunity to work in Bhag Milkha Bhag, Anurag Basu'sBarfi, HritikRoshan's Krish 3, Kaabil, Super 30, Amir Khan's Dangal, Secret Superstar, Lal Singh Chadda, Farhan Akhtar's Don 2 to name a few. I also got the opportunity to work with Meera Nair in her film Reluctant Fundamentalist. My dream came true when I got to work with the Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi for in Beyond the Clouds. Till now I have worked in more than 170 to 180 Bollywood movies, and if I count from my days as an assistant it would be 300 to 400.

What is it like to be a sound engineer? How does your day start?

The biggest advantage of working as sound engineer is that it is not like your typical 9 to 5 job. We get new challenges everyday. Everyday is a learning experience. You have to give your 100 percent. There is no fixed timing in our profession. This is the biggest challenge because you cannot plan anything. But once you are inside the studio, it is a different world. You lose track of time once you start working. Many a times I have worked continuously for 7 to 8 hours, without realising the time.

Since you work mostly for Bollywood films, how much time do they give you to complete the final mixing work?

It varies. In some films you get a minimum 250 hours and in some 800 or 1000 hours. It differs from project to project, from director to director. This is also a big challenge. Once you are done with a project, you will have to quickly move to another film. You have to detach yourself from the previous film and get used to the upcoming project. It sounds easy, but it is difficult. If you are working for a film for 30 days, you get engrossed in the film. And immediately if I have to start a new project, I have to detach and adjust to the new film.

Can you tell us what a sound designer does?

If I say in very simple terms, a sound designer is someone who puts the sound for every scene in the movie. When a film comes to us for editing, we are only given the visuals. We have to put sound to every movement of the characters and the background as per each scene. demands us to do according to the script. We do it in two ways- one is by putting the sound in the visuals and another part is putting the sound for the visuals which we do not see. For example, in a scene if two characters are talking, we can establish the location with the help of sounds. It can be a village, a hospital or a city. In layman's terms if someone want me to cook a particular dish for dinner, he will havego to the market to buy vegetables and the other ingredients. These are the visuals provided to me for mixing and matching and cooking up the dish, that is I have to make this out of that. That is the work of a mixing engineer and that is what I do.

Apart from films, have you worked in music recordings?

I have always worked in films. In music there are two departments, in for films especially one is background score and the other is song. These are completely two different disciplines.

Please tell us about your awards and achievements.

In 2010, I got a National Award for the film Ishqia. I got the IIFA awards consecutively for three years in 2013, 2014, 2015 for the films Barfi, Bhag Milka Bhag and Haider respectively. I also got the Dhwani Award in the year 2015 of which I'm really proud. It is awarded by Western India Motion Picture & Television Sound Engineers' Association. I also got the Producers Guild Award (APSARA) in 2014 and 2015 for the film Barfi and Kick, respectively. Since 2018, I am member of the voting committee of the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Science (Oscar).

Please tell us about the projects that you are working on currently.

The year 2022 has been very interesting. This year I have completed working on Brahmastra, Lal Singh Chadha and GangubaiKathiawadi. I also worked on an Assamese film titled,Mur XekhGaan which was released recently. I am also working on an upcoming film called Pippa, an Indian Musical film made in Telugu and Hindi called "Music School" and another film from Assam called Dr. Bezbaruah - 2. I am also working for Vishal Bhardwaj's upcoming film,Kuttey.

Lastly, do you have any advice for fellow sound designers

I will just say one thing, every year many people come to this industry looking for glamour. But this industry is more than glamour. You have to work very hard as everyday you will be faced with challenges. You have to stay focused. Do a thorough research before coming here. I request the parents also to do proper research before sending their kids here. It is a beautiful profession but it is very challenging. I do not want anyone to choose the wrong profession.

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