Sound, designed: Designing commercial studios for greats

Ever wondered how the recording studio of a Bollywood musician looks like? Does the place where melodies are created and worked upon, reflect its own unique style?

Meet acoustic designer Kapil Thirwani, director, Munro Acoustics India, who’s responsible for designing private and commercial studios of Oscar winner A.R. Rahman, music composer duo Salim-Sulaiman, Ram Sampath, Kailash Kher, Amar Mohile and others. He recently finished work on creating studio quality acoustics and sound system for actor Farhan Akhtar’s private screening room as well.

A modest man, Kapil admits he isn’t musically gifted. Yet he’s gone on to design state of the art studios for well-known composers. Briefly explaining his work, Kapil says, “An acoustic consultant is a qualified engineer who has experience in the crucial aspects of measuring, quantifying and analysing sound, noise and vibration. They are responsible for designing environments to enhance commercial and cultural life and to minimise the unwanted effects of sound, noise and vibration.”

Explaining how he became an acoustic designer, Kapil says, “I was exposed to good and bad audio as a child and though I wasn’t musically gifted, I wanted to have an in-depth understanding of sound. A few years ago, there was no formal education on the subject and I had to consult with a lot of people to chalk out a career route. Most of them thought I wanted to be a DJ but I chose electronic engineering as the stepping stone to learn about audio electronics. During the final years of engineering I came across MSc in Audio Acoustics at the University of Salford. It is ranked among the top five universities in the world in this field. The course leader asked me whether I was sure about pursuing the MSc as I was the first Indian in 25 years to ever apply for the course.”

Talking about the challenges he faced creating an independent and personalised space for music composers in Bollywood, Kapil says, “When I moved back to India in early 2007, I was new to the music industry. The composers I have worked with are all super talented, on top of their game and adorable human beings! Every studio is a reflection of the artist’s personality as we design it as per their needs and working style.”

After graduation, Kapil worked at Munro Acoustics UK, where he convinced the big bosses to let him set up and head their Indian office. Sharing what he learnt from Andy Munro, Kapil says, “Andy Munro, the guru of acoustics, started his company in mid-1980 around the time I was born. I still am learning a lot from him.”

About working with Rahman, Kapil says, “We had seen the space and done a preliminary acoustic test to know the limitations of the design as we were building the studio in an apartment building. After he was satisfied with the scheme, we fixed a listening session in London to demonstrate how loud he could go with his speakers without disturbing his neighbours.

Rahman knows what the final output should be and he doesn’t have the time to be part of the process. So he came in when the studio was ready and I remember him asking how we managed to give him a private room with a hidden entry from the machine room. I replied, ‘We could not break down one wall otherwise the building would have fallen as well’!”

At present, Kapil is busy with singer Ali Zafar’s home studio in Pakistan, Playboy club in Hyderabad, Blue Frog in Pune and Bengaluru to name a few.
He is also working with music contributors in the industry to run music clubs and lessons to budding musicians to hone their skills. He sums up saying, “I have started working on a sound map of Mumbai for people to understand the sound levels they are exposed to in their daily life.”