YouTube Discovery | Ep. 05 | Vidya Vox - Mashup Covers
Hello people! Welcome back to another episode in my 'YouTube Discovery' series of posts. It has been a long time since last episode. In case you forgot what I talked about and to whom I talked to in my previous episode, here is the link to it. Go ahead and click the link. I'll wait for you on this page before we move ahead.
Done? Perfect!(I know a lot of you didn't do it. You, rebel.) So the reason I insisted you on reading my previous episode was because both these artists, though working with two different types of music, have successfully managed to build a bridge between a vast and complex spectrum of western and Indian music.
Before you go all confused, let us take one step at a time and try to break this down for the ease of understanding. Firstly, what is a mashup? In it's raw form, it is a mixture or fusion of disparate elements. In recent years, this definition has been successfully translated into music. In the world of music, a mashup song is a recording created by digitally combining and synchronizing instrumental tracks with vocal tracks from two or more different songs. Taking this chain of thought further, a mashup cover is a recording wherein an artist picks up two or more established songs which may or may not be of the same tempo or scale and tries create his/her own version of those songs into a single song. There are various types of mashup covers. Although, there is no official categorization but these are some I've heard:
You can subscribe to her YouTube channel here:
Done? Perfect!(I know a lot of you didn't do it. You, rebel.) So the reason I insisted you on reading my previous episode was because both these artists, though working with two different types of music, have successfully managed to build a bridge between a vast and complex spectrum of western and Indian music.
Before you go all confused, let us take one step at a time and try to break this down for the ease of understanding. Firstly, what is a mashup? In it's raw form, it is a mixture or fusion of disparate elements. In recent years, this definition has been successfully translated into music. In the world of music, a mashup song is a recording created by digitally combining and synchronizing instrumental tracks with vocal tracks from two or more different songs. Taking this chain of thought further, a mashup cover is a recording wherein an artist picks up two or more established songs which may or may not be of the same tempo or scale and tries create his/her own version of those songs into a single song. There are various types of mashup covers. Although, there is no official categorization but these are some I've heard:
- Duel between two or more instruments playing notes of different songs
- Lead singer and choir complementing each other with different songs on same scale or same raag
- Solo artist creating melody by picking up verses from different appropriate songs and still managing to maintain the essence of all the individual pieces
In this post we are going to talk about the third category and to get an insight into it I contacted Vidya Vox (stage name). If you haven't heard her name before, now is a good time to come out of your cave. Vidya is an Indian-born American YouTube artist who creates musical covers of American pop songs and Indian movie songs. Creating mashup covers is one of her forte and that is what I reached out to her for (now you realize why I wanted you to read the previous episode). On the western side of her mashups she picks up popular American pop songs and on the Indian side she picks not just Hindi but even Tamil and Malayalam songs. I will let you all enjoy some of my favourite covers by Vidya followed by answers to some of the questions I asked her. It definitely made me aware of behind the scenes of her covers and all the efforts she puts into creating melodies for us.
2. Justin Bieber - Sorry | Kandukondain Kandukondain (Vidya Vox Mashup Cover)
3. Kuttanadan Punjayile - Kerala Boat Song (Vidya Vox English Remix)
4. Adele - When We Were Young | Jashn E Bahaara (Vidya Vox Mashup Cover)
The list is addictive and never ending!
ME: Most YouTubers start out with showcasing their singing talents first and then slowly move their focus towards improving video production. However, in your case the audio and video production quality has been to the point since the first video itself. How have you managed that?
VIDYA: Thank you! I actually had experience doing video for Shankar Tucker on his channel and for his latest album. Shankar also has extensive experience with video since doing it himself for his channel, so he helped me out! He shoots all my videos and we edit together.
ME: This one kind of ties back to the first one. Are you a one-woman army or is there a 'Team Vidya' behind all those videos?
VIDYA: It’s just me and Shankar! So I guess two person army :) Shankar produces all the music, I record vocals. We shoot each other’s video parts. I then go in, do the rough edit, color grade the video and Shankar comes in for the final edit with finishing touches. We’ve figured out a workflow that keeps everything moving.
ME: What factors do you take into consideration when selecting songs for mashup (apart from scale and tempo matching)? Also, do you take into consideration popular of requests from your viewers/subscribers?
VIDYA: The biggest factor I start with is to sing a song I absolutely love or can’t get out of my head. Then I see is the scale and the tempos match. It’s little bit less rigid around tempo, as songs can sometimes deviate from the original tempo, which is nice to do for acoustic/chilled out versions. I definitely do take in fan requests. I have a list of songs on my phone - if someone writes to me or tweets at me, I note it down and file it away. And when it comes time to do a mashup, I look through that list. For ex: Sakhiya Cheliya, Cheap Thrills, Sun Saathiya, & Cold Water are all based on fan requests!
ME: Any Indian song you are really looking to mashup but are not able to find a complementing western song or vice versa?
VIDYA: Hmm, I think the AR Rehman classics - like Roja songs - it’s hard to find songs that do justice to such melodies. They are songs I have grown up listening to. My mom would play them for us in the car, it's one of her favorite movies! I have also been loving Jack Ü's album recently, and its tough to find Indian songs that will fit with that vibe. And yes, I love music on both ends of the spectrum.
ME: Recently you have been trying out different type of musical covers. A lot of your viewers, unfortunately, have stereotyped you for just mashup covers. How do you deal with this or plan to change their perception, if so?
VIDYA: Great question! I think people and society, in general, tends to put people in boxes. I hate those boxes! As an artist, I think it's important to have the freedom to experiment and try new things. Otherwise, we will never move forward. I love experimenting with different styles and types of songs. It depends on the song - some call for an Indian touch to them, through a mashup or an alaap or even just percussion, but some not at all. I try not to read any comments, as the hate can mess with my head. I know that it will be there no matter I do, so I try to keep my chin up. For me, it's more important to create music I'm proud of and experiment with songs in a way that feels right, than try to make everyone happy. That's impossible, so I'm not offended if some people like certain songs better than others. To each their own!
Her Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VidyaVoxMusic
Listen to her songs on SoundCloud:
That is all I have for this post in the series. I hope you liked it. If you did then feel free to share it. Let me know your favourite cover by Vidya or if you have any suggestions/feedback - in the comments below. Until then, Ciao...!
If you liked this episode do check out my previous episodes on Acoustic Loop Covers (ft. Saurabh Shetye) and Indian Classical Music Tutorials (ft. Siddharth Slathia):
You can also check out my Curious Thoughts where I questioned if musical covers on YouTube (India) are becoming monotonous? and if too many music composers in a movie are good or bad?
Check out my YouTube channel for additional musical stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/user/khanjandamania/
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