Harris Jayaraj’s new state-of-the-art Studio H is what I imagine the inner vaults of Apple’s headquarters would look like. It’s all white, grey and glass, interrupted only by Zen gardens and koi ponds. A 70-member orchestra can work with ease in its lavish sound floors, lined with custom Quested speakers. He calls the studio a dream, joking that he has already spent all the money he’s going to make from his next three films for its completion. Excerpts from an interview that took place here, with six imposing Filmfare statuettes eavesdropping:
It’s September and Iru Mugan is only your second album of the year. Are you very choosy?
I am. I listen to a script every Sunday, but I choose to work only on three from those 52. I feel bad that I don’t do more, but I guess I’m a bit lazy. I am involved in every stage of a soundtrack, right from composing through recording, mixing, final mixing and DTS mixing. I don’t delegate much to my assistants.
Does that mean you’re always 100 per cent satisfied with the output?
I won’t release a song otherwise. But the moment I do, I’m only 40 per cent satisfied ( laughs ). I keep thinking I could have done more.
Is it true that you never have ready tunes?
It is. If you ask me for a tune now, I wouldn’t have one. I don’t have a folder in which I keep all my scratch tracks. I compare composing for films to a mother cooking for her son. If he’s unwell, she makes him rasam.
If he’s going to play, she’ll give him something that gives him energy. Having scratch tracks, then, is like serving fast food. All my tunes are those that come to me in my discussions with the director. I can’t imagine Iru Mugan ’s ‘Halena’ as a part of any other album.
Have you felt that directors approach you for a particular kind of urban film? Even Iru Mugan is set in Malaysia.
My next, Suriya’s S3, is a very rustic soundtrack. The A.R. Murugadoss film that follows is a stylish cop thriller.
What do you look for when you sign a film?
I see what scope the film offers for songs. There are people who notice background scores too, but I’m more interested in the masses. And they are drawn to theatres by songs. If a director comes to me with a great film that needs only one song, I won’t take it.
But your background scores are popular as well. The Yennai Arindhaal track was a rage with youngsters.
Before I became a composer, I played the keyboard for the background music of nearly 400 films. More than music, it’s about sounds, and I have a studio just to make new sounds and deliver good quality mixes.
Is this state-of-the art studio an effort to keep up with the times?
The kind of music people listen to keeps changing. Even sounds get outdated. Every decade has its own sound. I try to mingle with top engineers from around the world and I take tips about the technology of music. I’m also part of a group of composers, with members like Hans Zimmer, where we interact and discuss music and sounds. The effort is not just to stay with the times, but to stay ahead.
What differences have you noticed between the music of the 2000s and now?
The kind of music my son listens to is just bizarre. As a composer, I shouldn’t complain and I have to learn to like this too. The best thing about the songs of the 2010s is that they’re very easy to make. ‘Halena’ took me just a day and a half.
You’re a second-generation musician. Are your kids getting into music too?
My 14 year-old son made me listen to EDM and and I used it to compose Yennai Arindhaal ’s theme. I have to see the world through him now.
Just compare that to Thuppakki ’s ‘Jagdish On Mission’ that released just three years earlier. It was a totally different kind of sound then. I’d used rock with a lot of electronic guitars. You have to appeal to the present generation, not older ones.
On an unrelated topic, your love for sports cars is well-known.
I’m not crazy about cars or anything. A friend asked me to buy a Lamborghini, and I look at it as a work of art more than a car. In fact, the design of my studio is inspired by it. I learnt Autocad just to explain this idea to architects. I’m passionate about architecture and it has influenced my music. Honestly, I don’t have the time to drive the car. I’m the only guy in the world who uses his Lamborghini to just drive to church on Sundays ( laughs ).
