Music Oven Presents, “It’s not about hearing- it’s about feeling”
Music Ovenone of the leadin g audio engineering institutes in Sri Lanka, founded by Lahiru Perera ( Diploma in Audio Engineering) and Viresh Cooray ( Diploma in Audio Engineering at SAE, UK and Diploma in Live Sound at LAE) marks their expertise in building the future of the next generation in sound engineering. Presently Viresh, Lahiru, Vinod Melpitiya and Manuranga Wijesekara (visitng) are the lecturers of the institute.
The Diploma in Sound and Music Technology is accredited by City and Guilds and Steinberg organizations. It is also the only school with studio facilities. The studio is fully equipped with standard microphones, amplifiers, a drum-kit and a console that is dedicated for students where they can compile a commercial recording at a broadcasting level. With this level of education, a student has the opportunity to be employed at a television station, radio station, and production house or start up their own business.
Out of the alumni of the Institute, Vinod Melpitya – Avid certified engineer and the only technical support engineer for Avid in Sri Lanka is one of the best students of their institute. He studied on Live Sound at India and is now sharing his knowledge as a lecturer in the Institute.
The history dates back to 2004 when Lahiru and Viresh were following an Information Technology degree. Together they both loved music and urged to release a song of their own. That’s when Lahiru came up with his single “Manabandu”. “Manabandu” was recorded with the least facilities they had and as Lahiru says, “It was an eye-opener. That’s when we realized we were not capable of doing a good recording and we knew nothing about getting the good sound. The only reference at that time was Ranga Dasanayaka and with his work he basically intrigued me to study on audio. I figured out IT wasn’t my subject and there was no point going further, while Music was it!”
“It had not been an easy task convincing parents to help study music and that’s when Lahiru came up with the wording “Audio engineer- ing” which sounded pretty much substantial”, says Viresh. In 2007, Lahiru left to SAE Institute in Singapore to follow the Diploma in Audio Engineering with an incomplete IT degree. After the course of one year, on Lahiru’s return Viresh who had finished his Degree on Information Technology flew to SAE Institute in London, UK for the same. With an invitation from Gayan Perera, Lahiru started practicing what he learned at the Gypsies Studio. That’s where he recorded “Rambari” together with Viresh who came down for the holidays. At the same time, Daddy band released their album “Arabiya”.
In time Lahiru got an invitation from Harsha Ignatious to set up shop at his studio in Kelaniya. That’s where they gave life to the songs “Sudu Gauma” and “Labendiye”, which became hits.
After identifying the difference in the sound of music, people became more curious to know and learn how this was done. A lot of inquiries were made. Once Viresh came back to Sri Lanka, the two of them together taught the basics of audio production in a brief to those who inquired at the “Music Oven Studio’ which was now located in narahenpita. However, this wasn’t satisfactory. The idea of establishing a school had already triggered behind their minds. At the same time Lahiru had to face a series of financial issues that ultimately led them to actually begin a class of six students. With the least facilities, they smoothly conducted their first audio engineering class.
Madusitha Abeyweera, a family friend of Lahiru’s wife came into the prospect when he invited Lahiru to sing at his brother’s wedding In lieu of the friendship they had. After pitiching ‘Music Oven Institute’ Madushitha presented them with a space in a building at Kohuwala and also invested very generously and partnered in the business along with them, which later became a big strength. This is the now the building in which Lahiru and Viresh hosts their academia of Sound and Music Technology- the Music Oven Institute.
Although the crowd to learn and perform increases in huge numbers daily, the number of voluntary investors in this field is very much less. A major reason for this is that it does not bring a quick income. “It’s an investment made to be harvested in the future” concluded Lahiru, “but only then we will be able to reach greater standards and eventually make our way through to the international levels.”
“Thanks to revolutionary Malinda Lowe, Live Music was heard clearly and loudly. He was successful in grabbing the attention of the crowd. People understood the difference between Good and bad sound. This new trend is building up a high demand for Audio Engineers. That’s where we stand, to give a helping hand to the upcoming crowd, sharing what we know. Even then we give a lot more than what we get in return, in means of money. It will take some time for people to actually understand the value of this. Music industry is an evolving trade. An evolving trade cannot fall”, spoke Viresh to which Lahiru added “This cannot be done solely with software. With new technology in the world people prefer hybrid music with more analogue rather than digital. That’s the main reason internationally mixed songs sound better than most songs mixed in Sri lanka . To accomplish this we need more hardware, which is more costly. This is the point at which we need a good investor.” “This investor should be a music lover as well. Someone with a strong intention of bringing up the quality of Sri Lankan music” Viresh marked.