Hindi OST with good recording

[Prasad Karpe]

Hi Folks,
I am looking for Hindi Movie OST with good recording to audition the music systems. I have almost all Hindi albums by AR Rehman, but barring a few ones like Lagan & 1947 all have poor recordings. Though we feel the prowess of the musician due to its limitations in recording technique we can not enjoy the music to its full extent. I have also noticed that the sound systems which sound very good playing test jazz tracks from the store owner starts losing their steam with Hindi Movie OSTs while auditioning creating doubts in my mind as i mostly listen to Rehmans & Burmans. Thanks in anticipation
Prasad Karpe

 

[haisaikat]

In my opinion a few are (except AR Rahman onces since you already have them)
1. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam --> Lots of details in a Aankhon Ki song
2. Tu Hi Mera Dil --> Excellant Vocals by SP in Anjali Anjali
3. Taal --> Overall good use of instruments
4. Zakhm --> Female vocal in Gali Mein aaj Chand Nikla and also good seperation of instruments

Among old classics, I found Izazat is having good highs and vocals

 

[Prasad Karpe]

Thanks for your information. The point is that those CDs have good music but the recording is not at par with the international standards. The recording engineers of those Cds give undue importance to sometimes on Lows & otherwise on highs. The openness of mids which we find on English jazz recordings are totally misssing.

 

[Nishanth]

Check out Amit Trivedi's "Dev D", it is a well recorded and mastered soundtrack. The mastering was done in Los Angeles at a top studio by a Grammy award winner. Most of Amit Trivedi's works have good sound quality, you can also check some of Amit's other works like "English Vinglish" and "Aamir".

Of Rahman's recent works in the past few years "Delhi 6" is my favorite, some of the songs can give any system a good workout.

 

[Rupinder]

yes delhi 6, swades ,roja and jodha akbar from ar rehman has great recording
of the recent ones
amit trivedi -lootera
ashiqui 2

 

[ranjeetrain]

There are a lot of Hindi OST with fair to good to excellent recording. The percentage of good recordings has been increasing year after year. I guess due to the increased production costs (higher budget means they can afford pay more for better quality services). Also some music directors constantly produce better recordings than others. A R Rahman of course tops the list. Some others are newer generation of music directors such as Vishal. Unfortunately, I don't find myself being able to put up with newer music they are producing in the Bollywood these days (the lyrics/usage of double meaning). So much so that I have completely stopped following Bollywood music for last 5 years or so. But even then I have occasionally come across very well recorded tracks. Let me take some examples from the top of my mind:

Acapella (Buddha Hoga Tera Baap) - great recording, great stereo separation
Cheeni Kum (Title track, Jane Do Naa) - Average track on average system. But hear these tracks on a good system and you will appreciate the good recording.
Delhi 6 - As has already been mentioned.
Namaste London - Nearly the whole album is very nice sounding, plus the songs are great.
Partner, Cash, Bhagambhaag, Hattrick, Bluffmaster, Race - All these have nicely recorded songs. Whether you like the songs or not is an entirely different matter.
Aaja Milke (Chamku) - Great track, both melodious as well as great recording.
From the 90s - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Kasoor, Sangharsh, Dil Se - All of these have very good recording plus mind blowing compositions (golden era of Hindi OST in my books).

 

[Nikhil]

Recent Hindi OSTs that are absolutely top notch and in my regular rotation:

Aashiqui 2 (almost all the songs are great)
Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (both "Kabira" versions and "Ilahi" are highlights)
Even Chennai Express has a few good songs ("Titli" is my favourite)

Lots of great music out there. In fact to my ears and on my setup - Bollywood has great music coming out these days.
Sound engineering is top notch in every way and is done in some of the best houses in London usually.

The SQ is there - what source are you using? I use alac files and its top notch.
For that matter even 320 kbps mp3s are pretty good and the lack of detail is only apparent if you are exposed to loss less files.

 

[haisaikat]

Recent Hindi OSTs that are absolutely top notch and in my regular rotation:

Aashiqui 2 (almost all the songs are great)
Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (both "Kabira" versions and "Ilahi" are highlights)
Even Chennai Express has a few good songs ("Titli" is my favourite)

Lots of great music out there. In fact to my ears and on my setup - Bollywood has great music coming out these days.
Sound engineering is top notch in every way and is done in some of the best houses in London usually.

The SQ is there - what source are you using? I use alac files and its top notch.
For that matter even 320 kbps mp3s are pretty good and the lack of detail is only apparent if you are exposed to loss less files.

I completely agree with you. So in my opinion to do an audition properly they are more than enough tracks to evaluate a system if we know what to look for. What would be the utility of a great recording if we do not know what to look for as its "greatness"

 

[Nikhil]

Signature Collection - A.R. Rahman [Concert Recordings]
(Music, Audio CD)



This is a really good selection of well recorded songs from many popular movies.
Highly recommended and a real steal at Rs 160 for a 3 CD set.

 

[Santy]

This is a really good selection of well recorded songs from many popular movies.
Highly recommended and a real steal at Rs 160 for a 3 CD set.

If you looking for a better recording of Rahman's collections, head to Amazon (US).

Amazon.com: Introducing A.R. Rahman (2 CD SET): Music

It is from Times Square Records and the recording quality is just amazing. But they are not Hindi though.

 

[prem]

I agree with Santy. The Times Square Records A R Rahman collection has a very good sound quality. The songs are in Tamil though. Not all songs on the A R Rahman collection recommended by Nikhil are original. Keep that in mind when purchasing it

 

[sam9s]

I so very much agree with the recording thing, just because its a CD, does not necessarily mean its gonna sound quality on a high end system.

Perfect example and a learning experience for me was, when I compared the songs of one latest movie, Jaane tu ya jaane na AR Rehman music CD on T series ..... which sounded just avg, with this ages old movie combination Quarbani/Janbaz released on Universal, which completely blew me off. Both were played on EPOS floorstands connected to DENON. Believe me the song Jab jab teri surat dhekhu (Jaane jaana) of Janbaz sounded like a live concert ......... and I was like WTF!!!. Jaane tu ja jaane na, despite of some lovely songs was sounding crap in front of this ....
so yea, after this experience I learnt, CD recording really matter and thats a sad part as CD were suppose to have atleast a level benchmark for audio quality.


May be its different with vinyls, and you can expect a level of quality recording on the same, only Vinyl experts can comment, but I would love to hear from them ....

 

[Prasad Karpe]

Hi Sam,
Thank you!This is the main contention i was pointing at. The CDs from Universal Music Label sound good way above some of the newest recordings. Further the companies like T series keep churning out low cost CDs costing as low as Rs.42/-. I dont mind the lower costs but the recording is so poor that you feel that you are listening an audio cassette. One interesting feature i found that the albums labelled as "Premium" released just with the film sound very good. But the same album labelled as "Economy" released after some years with lower price have substantially low quality.

 

[prem]

Rahman compositions have a lot more bass compared to most others. Also a lot of digital trickery is used in his masterings. So unless the system is capable of resolving the bass and the digital effects, his albums will sound average. On a high end system, its killer.

Sam 9s, Jane Tu Ya Jaane Na sounds absolutely stellar.

 

[prem]

Hi Prasad Karpe

Most Universal albums of yesteryears hits have been digitally mastered. They seem to have reduced the bass and created an illusion of more space. They are not true to the original recordings

 

[sam9s]

Rahman compositions have a lot more bass compared to most others. Also a lot of digital trickery is used in his masterings. So unless the system is capable of resolving the bass and the digital effects, his albums will sound average. On a high end system, its killer.

Sam 9s, Jane Tu Ya Jaane Na sounds absolutely stellar.

Then you can just imagine, how good Janbaz would have sounded in comparison ...... give a try and play the same on your reference system where you played JTYJN and then see.

 

[Nikhil]

Rahman compositions have a lot more bass compared to most others. Also a lot of digital trickery is used in his masterings. So unless the system is capable of resolving the bass and the digital effects, his albums will sound average. On a high end system, its killer.

Sam 9s, Jane Tu Ya Jaane Na sounds absolutely stellar.

Prem, you are correct. Someone familiar with A R Rahman told me that he prefers to have all instruments sound clear in his recordings. This involves the use of some interesting sound engineering. But that is true for all studio work in that there is a lot of technique used to render a song as per the taste of the producers etc. All you can hope for is to recreate what the sound engineer has done in the studio.

Prasad Karpe, I really can't say anything about the quality of the CDs because the one I have is great. You have to check.

 

[sam9s]

Hi Prasad Karpe

Most Universal albums of yesteryears hits have been digitally mastered. They seem to have reduced the bass and created an illusion of more space. They are not true to the original recordings

errrr I would defy that as I also have the cassette.......digitally mastering does not necessarily mean the original recording is tweaked ......that being said I dont see anywhere written digitally mastered as mostly in todays scenario, its usually clearly labeled "digitally remastered", and then again even if it is, does not again necessarily mean its bad or is not what the original music composer intended. Many a times a digitally remasters will bring out the instruments that were never even heard in the original tape cassette, even though they are there..

 

[prem]

Hi Sam9s

The original Jaanbaaz/Qurbani combo on cd sounds very good. That cd was made in South Korea. If the same master is being used for the Indian cds, it should be fine. The solo Jaanbaaz and Qurbani cds released much later under the cd classics collection do not sound like the original. To my ears they sound bad. They show up very badly on a high end system. Ditto for Saregama cds. The best Indian cds for old Hindi movies are the ones mastered and manufactured in England between 1988 and 1993. These cds sound brilliant.

I am not into cds anymore. I have moved to vinyl. So will not be able to test out the new Jaanbaaz/Qurbani. But i used to have the Made in South Korea one and it sounded very good.

 

[prem]

Hi Sam9s

I am not saying digital remastering is bad but those done in India are pathetic. They just thin out the sound, use no noise to remove hiss and increase space between instruments to give you a more open sound. If you have heard Qurbani the way it was originally mastered, you will understand what i am saying