People often ask me what it actually takes to produce a Pahari folk song from scratch. The final recording they hear — polished, balanced, and full of feeling — looks effortless. But behind every three-minute song is a process that can take weeks, sometimes months. Here is a walk through the way we work at New Series Music.
Step 1: The Lyric Session
Every great song starts with great words. Our lyric sessions usually happen in person, with the lyricist, the singer, and me sitting together for several hours. We discuss the theme: is this a wedding song? A love song? A devotional? A lament for someone who has left the village? The words must feel authentic — they must sound like something the people of the region would actually say and feel.
For Pahari folk, this means rooting the lyrics in the landscape and life of the mountains. References to the deodar forests, the chilly Ravi or Beas rivers, the seasonal festivals, and the names of local places all give the song a sense of place that listeners immediately recognise and respond to.
Step 2: Melody and Arrangement
Once we have lyrics we are happy with, our composer works on the melody. Pahari folk has its own modal scales and rhythmic patterns that distinguish it from Punjabi or Dogri folk. Getting this right is crucial — a melody that sounds "off" will immediately feel wrong to a regional listener, even if they cannot articulate why.
The arrangement comes next. We decide which instruments to use. For a traditional Pahari sound, we will often include Dhol, Chimta, and Harmonium. For a more contemporary production, we might layer these with a modern rhythm section while keeping the core folk feel intact.
Step 3: The Recording Session
We record in our studio in Jammu. The singer usually arrives having already rehearsed the song multiple times, but the first session is always about finding the right interpretation rather than capturing the perfect take. I spend a lot of time in communication — asking the singer to feel the words, not just sing them.
We typically record several full takes, then piece together the best moments in the edit. For Pahari folk, the vocal is everything — it is the soul of the recording, and we spend more time on it than anything else.
Step 4: Mixing and Mastering
After recording, the raw tracks go to mixing. Here we balance the instruments, add reverb and other effects where appropriate, and make sure the vocal sits naturally in the mix. The goal is always to serve the song — not to show off production tricks.
Mastering is the final step, preparing the song for distribution. We aim for a sound that will translate well on phone speakers (which is how most of our listeners hear music), but also holds up on good headphones and home speakers.
Step 5: Release
Once the song is mastered, we prepare the artwork, upload the track to New Series Music, and publish it to our YouTube channel. Then we share it across our social media channels and wait for the community to respond. There is nothing better than the moment when a singer from a small village in Himachal Pradesh calls to say their neighbours have been listening to the song on repeat.
That is what all of this is for.