The Music of Avinash Meetoo

When I was a 10-years old child, I had a blue sweatshirt with “California” written on it. When I got to visit the state of California in 2011, I was amazed by San Francisco and I really thought that I was going to live there for some time. This did not happen but I’ll always have a soft spot for that city.

For some reason, the working title for this single has always been “California”. I was on the verge of renaming it to something more flashy but I didn’t. The track is electronic in nature but the tempo is relatively slow. I’ll say it has a progressive house and downtempo feel. While listening to it, I feel like walking on the San Francisco piers just after sunset and this is what I have tried to convey in the cover. I like the miniature effect I have used for the photo...

California has been produced using Cockos Reaper as DAW and the Roland Cloud JUNO-60, UVI Falcon, KV331 Audio SynthMaster 2 and Plugin Alliance bx_oberhausen as software instruments. I also used one kick drum sample from Wave Alchemy and LetiMix GainMatch, Plugin Alliance DS Tantra 2 (which is a magical and fun plugin) and SSL Native FlexVerb and Native Channel Strip 2 for further processing. Hardware used include a new Focusrite 4i4 Gen 3 Audio Interface, a new Akai Professional MPK mini mk3, my old Kawai K4 synthesizer and an M-Audio Oxygen 61 MK IV as controllers.

Mixed using Solid State Logic (SSL) plugins mainly including SSL Native Channel Strip 2, SSL Native X-Saturator v6 (which I have used on each channel and which made me smile) and SSL Native FlexVerb (which is very flexible and powerful). One of the tracks lacked body and I used a Native Instruments Guitar Rig 6 guitar amplifier to make it beefier. I also use the Tokyo Dawn Labs TDR Nova GE dynamic equalizer to tame down some resonances. I was quite surprised by its effectiveness.

Mastered using a fantastic chain of world-class plugins: Soundtheory Gullfoss Master (to beautify the audio), Plugin Alliance Shadow Hills Class A Mastering Comp (a great glue compressor), Plugin Alliance Black Box Analog Design HG-2MS (for a bit of saturation), Tokyo Dawn Labs TDR SlickEQ M (to slightly equalize towards a pink noise), Softube Weiss MM-1 Mastering Maximizer (for extraordinary punch!) and Tokyo Dawn Labs TDR Limiter 6 GE (to catch any misbehaving sample).

For monitoring, I relied on Waves Nx Ocean Way Nashville with Sony Professional MDR-7506 headphones. I also used Yamaha HS5 studio monitors. For metering, I have always been a Youlean Loudness Meter Pro person.

© 2023 by Avinash Meetoo in the beautiful island of Mauritius. Listen, leave your comments and feel free to share with others. Thanks.

The UNDP Accelerator Lab for Mauritius and Seychelles was officially launched on 21 April 2021 and, for the occasion, I composed a one minute track inspired by the melody of a song acquired by UNDP for Accelerator Labs worldwide. During the next few months, I would create a much extended version of the track with a new bridge, a new chorus, me playing my trusty ravann and vocals. I felt that, while the melody was interesting, it lacked punch so I replayed it again using Roland ZENOLOGY and the JUNO-106. I asked Christina (from Mauritius), Allen (from Seychelles) and Daniel (from Rodrigues) to record a few words which I added at the end of the track. I made the decision to call the track Bonzour Tou Dimounn as this was precisely what Christina said in her take... I decided to wait until the 1st of January 2022 to release the track. 2022 needs to be a new beginning ("Bonzour") for everyone ("Tou Dimounn").

Composed and recorded using Cockos Reaper, Roland Cloud JUNO-106 and ZENOLOGY, me playing my trusty ravann, vocals from Christina, Allen and Daniel, a djembe sample from UVI and a hihat sample from Slate Digital. Hardware used include a Focusrite 2i2 Audio Interface, my old Kawai K4 and an M-Audio Oxygen 61 MK IV as controllers and a pair of Yamaha HS5 studio monitors.

Mixed using Waves SSL E-Channel channel strip, Waves Non-Linear Summer (NLS), Waves Brauer Motion, Waves H-Comp, Waves CLA-76, Waves Vitamin, SPL/Plugin Alliance Transient Designer Plus and Soundtheory Gullfoss for the ravann, Soundtoys EchoBoy for delay, and Waves IR1 for reverb. On the master buss, I had NLS, the extraordinary Soundtheory Gullfoss intelligent equalizer, Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor and Waves J37 tape saturation plugin.

Mastered using Tokyo Dawn Records SlickEQ Mastering, Waves L2 Ultramaximizer and Youlean Loudness Meter Pro.

© 2022 by Avinash Meetoo in the beautiful island of Mauritius. Listen, leave your comments and feel free to share with others. Thanks.

For the first time in my life, I released a single. Bouncy is a track which I started working on a few years before but I really invested time in it in 2021. I made the decision to release it as a single because I only had one other completed track but the two didn’t really fit in a mini album. Bouncy is my first attempt at piano house and I am very happy with the fact that it has a 90s vibe in some places (because of the Korg M1 piano sample I used) and a much more modern twist elsewhere (the bassline and drums are groovy and the dubstep bridge, well, hits hard). In some ways, this release allowed me to experiment with a new way of working where the processes of composition, production, mixing and mastering are somewhat distinct. Interestingly, all of these steps are as interesting to do but each require a different mindset. I wonder whether I should not start teaching those aspects one of these days... I am sure a lot of people would like to learn how to create music.

Composed and recorded using Cockos Reaper, UVI Falcon, KV331 Audio SynthMaster 2, XLN Audio Addictive Drums 2, two samples from Cymatics and a drum loop from the Apple Logic Pro X Drummer. Hardware used include a Focusrite 2i2 Audio Interface, my old Kawai K4 and an M-Audio Oxygen 61 MK IV as controllers and a pair of Yamaha HS5 studio monitors.

Mixed using Waves SSL E-Channel channel strip, Waves Non-Linear Summer (NLS), Waves H-Comp compressor, Waves CLA-76 compressor, Waves Vitamin for harmonics, TAL-Chorus-LX, Soundtoys EchoBoy delay and Waves IR1 reverb. On the master buss, I had NLS, the extraordinary Soundtheory Gullfoss intelligent equalizer, Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor and Waves J37 tape saturation plugin.

Mastered using Tokyo Dawn Records SlickEQ Mastering, Waves L2 Ultramaximizer and Youlean Loudness Meter Pro.

© 2021 by Avinash Meetoo in the beautiful island of Mauritius. Listen, leave your comments and feel free to share with others. Thanks.

With the new millennium, I upgraded to Logic Pro X and started using paid software instruments and effects, most notably Applied Acoustics Systems Ultra Analog VA-2, Native Instruments FM8 and Waves plugins (H-Series and metering plugins). I also relied on the Logic EXS24 sampler and Logic synths such as Retro Synth and Sculpture. One amazing feature of Logic Pro X was Drummer which I used extensively on most of the tracks. I loved the variations and dynamics of the virtual drummers (Leah and her friends). By then, I had realized that I liked production, recording, mixing & mastering as much as composing and playing instruments. I made a conscious decision to learn everything I could in the Art and the Science of Audio. I am very proud of the sound quality of Turn Around (as well as So Logical).

Composed and recorded using Apple Logic Pro X (mostly), Logic EXS24, Applied Acoustics Systems Ultra Analog VA-2, Native Instruments FM8, Green Oak Software Crystal, Logic Drummer, Logic Retro Synth, Logic Sculpture, Logic Ultrabeat, Logic ES M, Logic Alchemy and a few samples. Hardware used include a Focusrite 2i2 Audio Interface, my old Kawai K4 and a small M-Audio Oxygen 25 Blue as controllers and a pair of Yamaha HS5 studio monitors. Red Ruby was done in Garageband and used some specific instruments such as the Garageband Strings, Garageband Guitar and Garageband DgMono.

Mixed using Waves Dorrough Stereo and the Waves H-Series of plugins a lot (Waves H-EQ, Waves H-Comp, Waves H-Delay, Waves H-Reverb), the Logic Arp, Logic Channel EQ, Logic Compressor, Logic Gain and Logic Space Designer. Red Ruby, as a Garageband outlier, featured some additional plugins such as Logic Chorus, Logic Distortion, Logic Echo, Logic Guitar Amp Pro, Logic Limiter, Logic Multipressor, Logic Noise Gate, Logic PlatinumVerb and Logic Tremolo.

Mastered using Waves WLM Plus and iZotope Ozone.

© 2016 by Avinash Meetoo in the beautiful island of Mauritius. Listen, leave your comments and feel free to share with others. Thanks.

Christina and I got married in 2000 and Anya was born in 2002 & Kyan in 2004. Given that we didn’t go out a lot, I had time to devote to making music. By then, I had purchased a PC at home and had discovered Emagic Logic. In fact, my dad bought Logic Audio Platinum 4.7 for me in Switzerland with which I discovered the magical world of software instruments and effects. I was quite amazed by rgc:audio Triangle (easy to program great bass sounds), Green Oak Software Crystal (complex textures and arpeggios), mda piano and Daichi Synth1 (modeled on the Clavia Nord Lead 2 apparently). All these software instruments were free and sounded fantastic. On some tracks, I used a few samples.

Composed and recorded using Logic Pro X, Logic EXS24, rgc:audio Triangle, Green Oak Software Crystal, mda piano, Daichi Synth1, some samples (probably from Future Music magazine cover disks I had purchased over the years) and my Kawai K4 as a controller.

Mixed using Logic Fat EQ, Logic Low Cut, Logic Compressor, Logic Gain, Logic Tape Delay, Logic Stereo Delay, Logic GoldVerb and Logic Bitcrusher. As I had crap speakers at that time, the whole album was mixed on a pair of AKG K141 Studio headphones. Bob Katz's book, Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science, was a fantastic source of inspiration. I spent days on the mixing and mastering to get the album to sound pristine.

Mastered using PSP Vintage Warmer, Waves WLM Plus and iZotope Ozone.

© 2004 by Avinash Meetoo in the beautiful island of Mauritius. Listen, leave your comments and feel free to share with others. Thanks.

I discovered electronic music through a school friend around 1985. I started listening to early Depeche Mode, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Human League. I knew that they were using synthesizers. When I was about 15, I stumbled upon the picture of an Oberheim OB-Xa analog synth in a magazine and it was amazing. I spent hours looking at the photo and finally decided to ask my parents for a synthesizer. Alas, I was in Mauritius and I had to wait until 1990 before my mum purchased a Kawai K4 digital synthesizer for my brother and I. Using the Music-X and Bars & Pipes Pro sequencers on my trusty Amiga 500, I started composing and recording tracks, the first one being Atomic Disintegration on the day I got the Kawai K4 and the last one being Eternity when I was already at university.

Composed and recorded using MicroIllusions/Talin Music-X (Amiga), The Blue Ribbon SoundWorks Bars & Pipes Professional (Amiga) and my Kawai K4 Digital Synthesizer supplying all the sounds (K4INT1 and K4INT2 Kawai Factory Sounds). This was the era before software instruments and effects.

Mixed using a technique which is very ancient: the Kawai K4 was multitimbral (eight instruments and one drum track but with a limited polyphony of 16 notes). The MIDI sequencers sent MIDI on nine distinct channels (at most). Panning and levels were done on the K4 itself by directly changing the settings within the patch. In other words, the MIDI sequences didn't include any control changes (nor any program changes for the matter). I still remember this era very fondly...

Mastered years later, in 2004, using Waves WLM Plus and iZotope Ozone.

© 1990-2000, 2004 by Avinash Meetoo in the beautiful island of Mauritius. Listen, leave your comments and feel free to share with others. Thanks.