In one episode of Idea Star Singer, K S Chitra explained her experience<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOt3curQTyk>on recording a song with Rahman, whom she knew when he was a small boy working in Illayaraja’s studio. With Rahman, the song is not finished when the singer comes in; that is just the begining. Unlike track singing or recording with a live orchestra, Rahman just gives a basic rythm to which the singer sings. He then makes them sing variations of it and lets them go.
The second step is adding the music and editing the song. He does that using Logic Studio. Normally what happens is I have a rhythm, and it’s probably a loop. Then I do my vocals, and once I have a structure in place, I record with the singers and write lyrics. When I have the vocal recording, I then work in reverse for the music. We record live rhythms sometimes, and then start programming, and everything is complete. Then of course all the editing is done, and we go through the mastering. That’s pretty much it.[Apple - Logic Studio - In Action - A.R. Rahman, pg. 2<http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/in-action/arrahman/index2.html> ] In a rare interview (Part 1<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkmuF7D2uF8&feature=fvw>, 2 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLOB9OCj4lU&feature=related>, 3<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zswss-iNfMA&feature=related>), Rahman shows the equipment he uses and how it is all done. http://varnachitram.com/2009/09/07/how-a-rahman-song-is-created/ -- regards, Vithur
