Ahmedabad’s Compass Box Live Sessions Invites Applications

There’s always a sense of intimacy at live studio performances and Compass Box Studios in Ahmedabad have been hosting their Live Sessions via YouTube since 2019. Now, they’re on the lookout for independent artists to fill their next four months of Compass Box Live Sessions video and audio recordings at their recently inaugurated space.

Applications are open via the Compass Box website and the deadline for applications is Aug. 15, 2024.

In its five-year run so far – after discounting the pandemic lull – Compass Box Live Sessions have featured more than 80 artists. That includes singer-songwriters like Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Aditi Ramesh, Mali, Hanita Bhambri, Samar Mehdi, Utsavi Jha, singer-producer Amrit Ramnath and several others.

Founder, bassist and producer Raag Sethi says the guiding force behind Compass Box Live Sessions has been his reasoning that “one of the most exciting ways to listen to music is by hearing it live.” He adds, “We started the Live Sessions to replicate that performance and energy, with great production value. Compass Box Studio is the only recording studios in India producing one-take, live sessions for artists all across India. It is a platform to support indie music by removing the high costs associated with recording and production.”

Sethi says no genre or language is exempt from their selection criteria, adding that a “good composition is what we look for.” In the past, their YouTube channel has drawn everyone from jazz artists to prog rock bands, funk, R&B and more in several languages. The key aspect behind Compass Box Live Sessions performance videos is what you see is what you get. Sethi adds, “It’s a truly one-take recording, no overdubs, not comps, so what you hear is what was played, which is the only platform of its kind in India.”

Songs submitted by artists are often rearranged and re-produced by Sethi and his team of instrumentalists, composers and producers. That includes singer-songwriter Meera Desai, vocalist-violinist and producer Protyay Chakraborty, drummers Pritul Chauhan, Jyotirmay Menon and Shivang Kapadia, guitarists Chirag Todi and Shankar Iyer, Harmish Joshi on woodwinds, and many more from the Ahmedabad music circuit.

Solo artists and bands from anywhere in India can apply to perform at Compass Box Live Sessions.