ISh wrote:
> Talkin Sound (conversations with Mr Nakara - Enbee Audio)
>
> Hi all
> Following is a conversation with the founder of Enbee Audio Mr.
> Nakara. He is a multi talented Audiophile who has been manufacturing
> Hand made music systems for over 35 years now. His latest range of
> speakers and amplifiers (100/75 watts RMS) produce one of the best
> sounds I have ever heard. And another way to put it will be that I
> heard one of my favorite CDs for the first time when I heard it on the
> Enbee Music System (i.e. John Mc Laughin plays Bill Evans). And as for
> the other cd’s I heard on this amazing music system it was an out of
> the world experience likes of which I have heard very rarely and that
> too only on very high end music systems. I can not do justice to the
> Enbee music system in words as it is an experience and one would have
> to be there to experience it. So please make time and visit the Enbee
> show room with your CD case and sit back and listen.
>
> This is a conversation with Mr Nakra about sound, his designs and his
> life(to be contd..) It was not a straight forward interview as he is
> very passionate when he talks about this subject, and to give a
> structure to it (like interviews) will limit his out put. So most of
> the time the conversation ebbed in and out of very technical details
> which are also important but will be covered later when this project
> actually kicks off (details later)
>
>
> Thanks for Reading
>
> <>ISh
> _______________________________________________________________________
>
> Q: question
> N: Mr Nakara
> Mrs. N: Mrs Nakara
> (side details/observations .. in these brackets)
> <technical details – in the angled brackets>
>
>
> (When I entered the Enbee Show Room there was a discussion going on
> about Vat between Mrs. and Mr. Nakara and it’s confusing ends. And how
> it affects the small time manufacturers with no differentiation on
> volumes etc. Tax on end-price or each product or part ….10% …20 %...
> 12.5 %.....12,400,.. and on and on)
>
> Then the conversation shifts to cameras and hunting ... a friend of
> mine is telling Mr. Nakara about the digital cameras and memory sticks
> (CF cards).
>
> N: we used to go out hunting every sat and sun we used to see
> beautiful shades of trees and they are of a kind which you don’t find
> here in the city. . there is so much construction next to the road.
> Once I saw the sun like this big red ball and it was beautiful, I just
> got off and ran out to take a picture but I couldn’t find a place from
> where I could take it as there were electric cables everywhere. And
> till I went further up the sun had gone down.
> Mrs N: we had seen the sun twice like that. Once was at the time of
> sunrise. The Sun completely engulfed the car as it was red (aah).
> N: Photography puts life into you. Unfortunately I do not do my own
> developing. In school we used to do black and white and dotting.
> (school was Bishop Cotton, Shimla)
>
> Q: was this in the 40’s …
> N: oh.. Much Earlier
> Mrs N: in the 30’s
> N: we used to do dodging and reduce the light . And then in the dark
> room you can see what is coming out , it is like a painter giving the
> final touch.
>
> Q: Can you tell us something about records and players lets start for
> Gramophones.
>
> N: The sound box is the gramophone should be made out of film
> material/ aluminum
> Or paper, so that is the amplification thing. Then we have the chrome
> arm. Then you have this arm inside which is not the tube complete it
> is also exponential
>
> <TECH: the details of the conversation( on records/needles) further
> can be best explained with the help of a diagram with the technical
> parts later>
>
> The basic reproducing factor is here (needle head) and the grooves in
> the record. The grooves are cut horizontally in a record and in fact
> for stereo recoding the grooves are cut at an angle.
> Shellac records used to wear out the pins really fast like the copper
> tip pins. So when we were kids we were given records and when the pins
> used to finish off we would go down in the mountains and pick thorns
> of a tree(kikkar in hindi) and break them carefully and pattern them
> out .. the finest sound you get from them(the thorns) and not from the
> steel pins. One thorn would work one side and produce lovely sound.
> The kikkar would be nature polished. (laughs)
>
> Q: and they will duplicate perfectly
>
> N: Yeah . Now what is sound? If there is no air there will be no
> sound. On the moon I can not talk to you. (picks up a papper and moves
> the papper around …)
> There is sound just now.. it is starting to do vibrations and produce
> sound. This is where one starts perceiving sound. Sound is nothing but
> vibrations and sound can not go on traveling endlessly. Electronic
> wavelength can travel endlessly, it has a property that if there is a
> obstruction in it’s path then divert and continue. This is not so with
> sound waves. So we use this property to make sound proof rooms Eg
> glass window with air in and then another glass window with air
> between it so this is how you cut out the noise and sound pressure.
> One thing you should have clear in you mind and that is there is
> nothing perfect in the world. That is to say there is no perfect
> conductor, there is no perfect insulator. Everything will have it’s
> capacity to stand and resist the flow of electricity when passed
> through it and beyond which it will break down and it will burn off.
> No insulator is a perfect insulator . Insulating properties keep on
> varying by aging also so is that case with conductors. That holds true
> for everything.
>
> <TECH : (6:30—15.33 on track 3-- Tech explanation for records and
> needles. Tracks and tracking gear, record grooves. Needle balances etc>
>
> Q: Tell us more about Perceiving the source of sound?
>
> N: See there could be a gathering/group that is producing sound. There
> is a tabla some vocals and a sarangi player for example. So once you
> look at the configuration of the stage at least you should be able to
> feel in that manner itself. For eg the tabla player’s sound in more
> prominent on the left and the vocals on the right side so partiality
> to the left should be given to the tabla and vice versa the right
> should be given to the vocal. But
>
> I found a very nice way to go about it specially for location
> recordings because you can not go about carrying all this equipment on
> location recordings like on top of the hill in Kashmir. You can not
> subject these people to a studio you see that is not their natural
> environment. The best technique I found was to cross two microphones
> round 90degrees on their axis(demonstrates a crossed pair mic’ing
> technique.. which he swears be) So in this case (of crossed pairs) the
> sensitivity is spread all across and you can pick up beautiful sound.
> So like in photography there is lot to learnt in the process of going
> ahead and doing the work, when you come out of an institution if you
> honestly ask me you are at a book level. Where you don’t have any
> experience you haven’t had exposure to face the odds that might come
> your way and you have no experience of evolving your knowledge into an
> art. You have to be applying the ideas etc and that’s where the
> learning starts. That is like if you have read a book you know less
> than the writer , even if you have read 10 of his books 10 times you
> will know less than the writer. See you can never equal that .So after
> acquiring the knowledge of the books you have to develop your skills
> and experience and then go beyond and when you try to do the practical
> implementations is the time you start to learn in reality and grow.
>
> ===More about the Past =========
> Q: how did you get into sound and not some babu job?
>
> N: I had joined the British Trade commission . I has there as a
> Marketing research officer and I worked there for 9 months. I was
> there I hated their system of files piling up. …..
>
> (describes of the whole babu system and his futile attempt to change
> it….)
> He then left the British Trade Comission and did a vocational course
> in electronics from City and Guilds, London and then went to United
> states of America and did his PhD in electronics in the 40’s)
>
> (He carries on …)
> N: I had majored in television and at that point of time except
> teaching students I could not do anything. I knew so much about
> Radios.(narrates another fable)
> I had once gone to an electronic shop in California and these people
> were having problems with noise which I fixed and the owner as very
> impressed so that put more confidence in me to work with radios. Their
> Radio were of the make ‘Elecraft’ and there was a distortion in the
> sound and I fixed it in 10 mins which they could not do for weeks.
> That was my D-day.
> <brief technical description of how he did it .: Disk 1 -Track 5 –
> 7:30 to 9.30 >
> then the owner gave me a job as a supervisor.
>
> While working for the Trade commission I felt like a personified
> clerk. It was the same things that I was doing over and over again ,
> and I concluded that this wont give me happiness. I decided that I
> will not work for any one else….
> The thirst in you is not quenched you see for knowledge and to do
> something creative.. And if a person has a creative bent of mind you
> have an urge to explore something extraordinary and I suppose that is
> when money becomes secondary. You have to channel your energies to the
> areas of your interest to evolve an identity. You want to know more
> about the work you do so that you can do justice to your work. Then
> that becomes the concept. The entire field of electronics is very vast
> and is very interesting.
>
> Q: Tell us more about your system design.
>
> The biggest challenge has been of reproduction of sound equal to the
> live performance. At least that was the basic criteria. There has been
> a lot of gimmicks and techniques to create dramatics in sound. They
> may be fine for exciting a person but ultimately when you season out
> you want to be as natural as possible, that is to be closest to the
> natural sound. You are not working hypothetically as one is working
> with something visible and audible.
> Like there are different schools of thought for kathak and tabla even
> for audio design like there are different schools. So you have to
> decide what school you belong to and should know the limitations of
> that school of thought. Then one should try to move towards natural
> reproduction and try to follow that. What you want is clear from the
> start and you are trying to accomplish that.
>
> Then there is this fundamental of stereo recording which a lot of
> companies including HMV got it all wrong. Nobody was sure of it and
> the information(Audio data) was dotted wrongly into the channel. Then
> there was these stereo recordings with Tabla’s daiyan(right) on one
> side and baiyan(left) on one side. Now that is very stupid as it moves
> away from the natural recording aspect.
>
> Now if we look at the Audio best design interiors like of an opera
> house even there the audience will not get direct sound(which will be
> around 8-12%) . Most of the sound that the audience will be getting
> will be refracted sound. So your recording and reproduction should be
> based on this principle and that is the idea. You are spending money
> to enjoy it a live environment. It is like you are not listening to
> the speakers, they don’t make their presence felt.
>
> There where a lot of reluctance to my designs, like why are you moving
> away from the convention (shows a few photographs of his designs
> --pregnant and froggies—these will be covered individully in detail
> later under design evolution).
>
> <Then Mr. Nakara explains the basics of Speakers .how they are
> constructed along with each component etc >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _________________________________________
>
Received on Fri Apr 22 16:15:06 2005
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Fri Apr 22 2005 - 16:15:07 EEST