“Motiv Stories : Shillong”
with Shure India

Chapter 6 :
Shure “Motiv Stories Shillong” | Chapter Six
@Adorbha Shangpliang and Kit Shangpliang | Summersalt

Brothers Adorbha and Kit Shangpliang are musicians from Shillong, Meghalaya, part of the band Summersalt , known for composing soulful, socially relevant tunes which represent life as it is in the region. Their music is deeply inspired and embedded in the Khasi hills, using traditional folk instruments along with conventional Western ones, which bring life to their songs.

We travelled to the beautiful Sacred groves of Mawphlang on the outskirts of Shillong, to record and film a song with them ; with Ador on the Duitara – a traditional Khasi 4 – stringed, goat skin instrument and Kit on the ‘Ksing Shynra’, a cylindrical double cow membraned percussion instrument (also known as a ‘Male drum’).
With the natural forest ambience alive and resplendent with the sounds of insects and birds, we recorded this acoustic playhrough using the Shure Motiv MV88+ microphone.

Traditional folk instruments like the Duitara do not possess pick-ups to catch, amplify and record sounds and are usually played in outdoor gatherings like these in a communal setting. We found the MV88+ to be highly efficient in catching all the sounds, note by note, sharp and clear, in all frequencies high and low, despite the overwhelming soundscape of the dense forest..

“Pyrkhat Ko Khun” (Think, My Child)

This song is a mysterious conversation between the father and the unborn child still inside the belly of the mother. The world they live in is faced with the challenge of climate change, global economic crisis and price rise – which all affect the marginalised as much as it impacts the major middle class. The song’s solution lies in the courage derived from the survival instinct of the miracle of birthing.

All the audio you hear in this story has been recorded live outdoors on the Motiv MV88+, which we found to be a portable, state of the art digital stereo condenser microphone, which is equipped to record instruments in high fidelity at any location.

At Instrupad, we’re looking out for tools and techniques to recommend musicians which can enhance and add value to their compositions.

With the Motiv 88+, musicians can now record their sound wherever they go – from solo jams in the solitude of your private balcony at home, to concerts and live performances at public spaces. We’ve been putting the mic through the test, now taking it around India- this time in the green backdrop of the Khasi hills in Shillong; we highly recommend this mic for all what it promises to deliver.

This is the sixth chapter in the ‘Motiv Stories ‘ series in collaboration with Shure, where we now take you through the sounds of India with distinguished musicians in their fields- who journey together with us in our experiments with recording their sound – outdoors.

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