Hi Frederick,
Just to briefly answer your questions regarding recording studios in Goa. I did the recording of my album, "Classic Goa" with Whitney Studio Margao, Goa in 1999 and also at Napoleon Studio in Juhu, Mumbai specifically for Lorna's songs from this album. Both these studios were owned by the same owner. I was completely satisfied with both these recording studios. Whitney Studio in Margao, Goa had a state of the art recording technology even in 1999 and I was very much impressed with them and it was the best and most professional recording studio at the time. They had a good manager, Mr. D'Souza who took care of everything. He was a walking encyclopedia of recording resources in Goa. He gave me a list of the recording stars with their phone contacts in Goa. This helped me a lot as I had no idea of the background/contacts of Konkani singing stars and the musicians in Goa at the time. I wanted the best in each class and Mr. D'Souza gave me all contacts. I had some idea who I wanted as singers but not their contact/introduction. Then everything was planned systematically and singers and musicians were booked for a recording session lasting about a week. The studio could record on different channels so each singer, musician could record on their own time separately if needed. Most singers/musicians in Goa have their full-time jobs so they could come and record in the evenings. This way my recording was done within a week but I had to go to Mumbai to record Lorna's songs as she left Goa without notice. Luckily Mr. D'Souza booked with their sister-studio in Juhu. Then VP Sinari gave me a contact in Mumbai to do the art-work and manufacturing of the cassettes, which was done within the same week in record time. Then I went back to Goa and Prince Jacob released my cassette in Mapusa in 1999. All 3000 cassettes were sold out. The master recording was so well recorded that when I went to Toronto to do the CDs, the Toronto Studio was very much impressed with the master tape. In Goa I got the best co-operation from singing stars such as Anthony San, Young Chico, Platilda and Sumeeta. My recording engineer, Suresh Shetty was a genius. I was told this guy was just a tea-boy who just learnt the trade just by observing the recordings when he served tea at recording sessions. I was so impressed with his expertize when he corrected even the well-known singers and musicians who humbly listened to his recommendations/corrections and re-takes that I gave him a 1000 rupee tip even before he recorded even one of my songs, only to learn that the next day he never showed up for recording as he went home dead drunk with the tip that I gave him the day before. So Aurville Rodrigues had to fill in for him and finish the recording that day. The only regret that I had was that when I came back to Goa from Mumbai after a week, the studio engineer wiped off my Master (minus) recording to make space for the next recording. A lot of people here wanted to make use of that Master (minus) recording without vocals, but it was gone forever. Other wise I had great memories of my recording with Whitney Studio, especially with the fantastic Goan musicians under Musical Director, Maestro Josinho. By the way I heard that there were other lesser known studios in Goa at the time, especially the one with my Lead guitarist, Chris Correia and I was told even Wilmix had a studio in Margao. I was in Goa for 6 weeks in 1999 and I spent all that time going around, organizing meetings with singers and musicians and studio and booking time with recording studio as demand was always high and heavily booked all season. The recording fees in Goa are not cheap but compared to Toronto, the price is very good and recording standards quite high and compatible. Nowadays it is hard to get Goan traditional musicians, but time is no problem as recordings go even at night to cater for the artistes who work day-time elsewhere. Nowadays there is more demand for Videos, VCDs, DVDs, but you still need audio recording and I think Whitney Studio may still be one of the best studios around in Goa. Good luck with the article Silviano Barbosa Lyricist and Producer of "Classic Goa", 1999 _________________________________________________________________ MSN Dating: Find someone special. Start now. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9734384 * * * Read Selma Carvalho's warmly-received book *Into the Diaspora Wilderness*, a journey through Goan life in Africa, the Gulf, England and North America ... gripping and well-told real-life stories. See http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ Buy in Goa via Broadway Book Centre, Panjim. Ph 9822488564. * * *