The Higher Education Review

Hailing from the famous Chakrabarty family of Kolkata, Ananjan Chakrabarty, son of Padma Shri Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty started Ananjan Studio in Tollygunge, Kolkata with the sole purpose of teaching music production and sound engineering. Ananjan himself learned sound engineering and technical aspects of aesthetic and creative music from Daman Sood (pioneer of sound engineering in India, who has worked for classics like Mughal E Azam, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dil To Pagal Hai) at Digital Academy The Film School, Mumbai. Having completed the course in 2010, Ananjan found that India's prime audio industry was entirely dependent on ancient techniques while this generation's musicians were relying on mobile applications for music production. "Recording studio culture was vanishing and creative music production was slowing down. To save the culture, I started Ananjan Studio in 2016. It is a platform where youngsters can learn and produce musical rhythms," explains Ananjan Chakrabarty, Founder, Ananjan Studio.

An Inspiring Journey
As a learner, Ananjan was always inspired by the work of his father Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty who had established a classical music school 'Shrutinandan' imbibing the philosophy that music is a way of life or more precisely life itself. It was Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty's motivation that led Ananjan towards music production career. He was also motivated to provide a platform to the matured music enthusiasts through Ananjan Studio. The studio's early years had its own challenges in terms of curriculum design. And Ananjan also realized the fact that students needed exposure to the fusion of music and technology for producing music. Hence, he designed an equivalent sound engineering curriculum that he pursued which included a good syllabus covering music theory, micro-courses and all elements that could help in creating music and songs.

While the same courses would cost more than 3.5 lakhs in a

music school in Mumbai or one crore in any international music learning center, Ananjan kept the fee structure affordable so that every aspiring musician or singer could follow his/her dreams. "Unfortunately, the West Bengal Government or the Indian Government doesn't give us a degree in sound engineering till date (only national-level institute Film and Television Institute is present in the state) but it is very important now to offer a degree as there are lots of musicians who would want to pursue a degree in sound engineering. For them, I've created 'Artiste Promotion' a program that motivates and drives them to showcase their talents across world stages. We have students coming from every Indian state like Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa, Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and international locations like Mauritius and Netherlands. Today, Ananjan Studio has become an enriched learning center that enlightens a student's knowledge and skills on music production," says Ananjan.

"Ananjan Studio offers a plethora of learning options ranging from Ananjan's music compositions, Focal Press Audio Engineering books to Hal Leonard music books"

Various Learning Options for Distinguished Set of Students
Ananjan Studio offers a plethora of learning options ranging from Ananjan's music compositions, Focal Press Audio Engineering books to Hal Leonard music books. Ananjan has shaped a premium learning culture through which he encourages students to acquire extra skills in the latest audio equipment, audio software, and audio signal processes. Having made music learning a holistic experience for the students, Ananjan has collaborated with Pro-Musical Services that provides essential equipments to the studio like keyboards, sound cards, audio interfaces, and headphones, microphones at lesser prices. "In addition to providing these instruments, I have invested in collaboration and joined Rock School London. The school has a music production base and a wonderfully crafted interactive syllabus. According to the agreement of this collaboration, after completing a course here, the students become eligible to sit in the Rock School London examination. If they secure enough UCAS points, they are through to get admission in international universities," elucidates Ananjan.

Speaking about the exuberantly performing students, Ananjan shares, "Our students have done extremely well. Samrat, a student from the second batch, is working as a programmer and composer. He has participated in projects of Ramoji Film City. Rohit Ganesh, another student from my fourth batch is settled in Mumbai and is performing there with his band Rejected Cartoons. Then there are Tanmoy Sadhok who is a Bengali rapper, Pritam Madhukar from Bihar who is making electronic music, Sabyasachi Chakrabarti, who has made his studio 'Rhythymers Music' and has worked in Bengali series. One more student, Tirtho is working as an orchestra composer and has worked for a lot of documentary movies from Holland and other countries. Tanmoy also got a chance to sing in a Bengali film starring Jeet and Koyel Mallick," states Ananjan.

Because of its high-spirited music education, Ananjan Studio has won Indian Recording Awards 2014, The Best Upcoming in Film and Talk Film Music from Mumbai. They have participated in a big project like Filmy Dunia and have also started making electronic classical music in association with IIT KGP.

"People are going to Mumbai for monetary purposes, but I have dreams to create an everlasting musical industry across entire West Bengal. My sister, Kaushiki Chakraborty, who is an eminent and renowned singer, has promoted artists from Ananjan Studio. We are the first to make the video series on 'How to Record Indian Instruments'. And now, my father is collaborating with us to complete a project 'Seven Steps to Heaven'. We have lots of corporate projects starting for companies such as Emami Healthy and Tasty, Mother Dairy and Asha Audio. So you see, Ananjan Studio is the only studio in India that does everything under one roof. We also plan to start a course on electronic dance music and guitar production," concludes Ananjan.

Ananjan Chakrabarty, Founder
Ananjan is a famous music producer and has worked for Shrutinandan before starting his own studio. At present, he is grooming the upcoming music producers of the country. His vast knowledge and skills in sound engineering, music mixing, and music production are helping him to nurture young talents. He is also promoting budding talents at international platforms.