Sound engineer Sai Shravanam: ‘Views do not define music, intent does’

Loved ‘Enjoy Enjaami’ and the tracks from ‘Karnan’? It is the result of several hours put in by sound engineer Sai Shravanam whose latest project is a tribute to India’s rivers

Sai Shravanam is playing an aalaap from his recent musical project ‘Rivers of India’ at his state-of-the-art recording studio Resound India in Adyar, a place he calls “my temple”. He toggles between computer monitors and a giant recording console to play two tracks — one original and the other he has worked on — and points out the musical difference. “I wanted this portion of the track to be ethereal and the voice to be God-like. Sound engineering is incredibly important to bring the best out of a musician,” he says. And he should know; Sai is the man behind the rich sound of several leading musicians in films and classical music universe. Recently, he received the Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government, becoming the first sound recordist to do so. His recent works include the viral hit ‘Enjoy Enjaami’ and tracks from Dhanush’s Karnan, but Sai is pumped at the response for ‘Rivers of India’.