Published in Sunday People, New Sunday Times
9 August 2009
Tracks for quality
MAX KOH
THIS is a man with a mission.
Audi Mok is geared to do what may seem an impossible task – to get more people to listen to Malay music.
Mok is no stranger to the local scene. As a music producer, he has worked with some big entertainment guns including Faizal Tahir, Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, Ning Baizura, and young ones like Suki.
His songs — including Cinta Datang Lagi by Dina, Generasiku by OAG and v by Nikki and Zahid — have enjoyed huge radio play.
Mok ardently believes that Malay music has the potential to reach out to non-Malay music fans and listeners.
How? Well, “make music that sounds new and current”, he says. “Something that anybody would listen to regardless of the language used.
“If you look at pop music in Japan and Korean, you can see that local music still outsell those from overseas. Why? It’s because their music sounds new and current. I believe that we can do that someday as well,” explains Mok.
The first step, he says, is to break ingrained perceptions about the local Malay music industry.
“The sad reality is that local Malay music often has bad connotations. Whenever you mention Malay music, old rock music and ballads immediately come up to mind. And why is that? Why is that Indonesian are associated with new, modern music while Malay music is associated with those old tags? I believe that we can produce good music that is on par or better than them.” “I want the Indonesians to one day say ‘Let’s make it sound Malaysian!’ instead of the other way round.” In other words, Mok wants to make Malay music sound “cool!” Mok, who recently tied the knot with singer Nikki, believes that production quality and keeping up with the times has to do with everything about it.
“I believe that there is a social-economic reason for this with the biggest challenge being language. Sad to say, it’s a reality that most of the newest technologies are taught in English. It’s really hard to learn the new stuff when there is a language barrier and technology is just too fluid.
“When it becomes overwhelming to learn new stuff, some just give up and stick to the old ways,” explains Mok.
The second step is to change the perception of Malaysians regarding local music.
“We Malaysians have no pride in our music. But I don’t blame the public because most of our local music lack in quality. That’s why I am hoping to break the mould so that the people can see that there’s progression in the industry with new sound and future.” To help him accomplish his mission, Mok was recently chosen as one of the celebrities under the Intel-P1 Industry Trailblazers Adoption Programme.
As such, Mok was given a notebook based on Intel Centrino 2 processor technology, a netbook powered by Intel Atom processor, a P1 Wiggy, and free P1 WIMAX subscription for 12 months.
Mok is only too happy to show off his new toys at his production studio in Petaling Jaya.
If you think that music producers don’t need all that gadgets, think again.
“As a music producer, we all rely heavily on our computers for recording and mixing. If you come into my studio, you’ll notice that all the physical soundboard is not there. We do it all on the computer,” shares Mok enthusiastically.
Well, if Batman has his utility belt, Mok has his new arsenal of gadgets.
9 August 2009
Tracks for quality
MAX KOH
THIS is a man with a mission.
Audi Mok is geared to do what may seem an impossible task – to get more people to listen to Malay music.
Mok is no stranger to the local scene. As a music producer, he has worked with some big entertainment guns including Faizal Tahir, Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, Ning Baizura, and young ones like Suki.
His songs — including Cinta Datang Lagi by Dina, Generasiku by OAG and v by Nikki and Zahid — have enjoyed huge radio play.
Mok ardently believes that Malay music has the potential to reach out to non-Malay music fans and listeners.
How? Well, “make music that sounds new and current”, he says. “Something that anybody would listen to regardless of the language used.
“If you look at pop music in Japan and Korean, you can see that local music still outsell those from overseas. Why? It’s because their music sounds new and current. I believe that we can do that someday as well,” explains Mok.
The first step, he says, is to break ingrained perceptions about the local Malay music industry.
“The sad reality is that local Malay music often has bad connotations. Whenever you mention Malay music, old rock music and ballads immediately come up to mind. And why is that? Why is that Indonesian are associated with new, modern music while Malay music is associated with those old tags? I believe that we can produce good music that is on par or better than them.” “I want the Indonesians to one day say ‘Let’s make it sound Malaysian!’ instead of the other way round.” In other words, Mok wants to make Malay music sound “cool!” Mok, who recently tied the knot with singer Nikki, believes that production quality and keeping up with the times has to do with everything about it.
“I believe that there is a social-economic reason for this with the biggest challenge being language. Sad to say, it’s a reality that most of the newest technologies are taught in English. It’s really hard to learn the new stuff when there is a language barrier and technology is just too fluid.
“When it becomes overwhelming to learn new stuff, some just give up and stick to the old ways,” explains Mok.
The second step is to change the perception of Malaysians regarding local music.
“We Malaysians have no pride in our music. But I don’t blame the public because most of our local music lack in quality. That’s why I am hoping to break the mould so that the people can see that there’s progression in the industry with new sound and future.” To help him accomplish his mission, Mok was recently chosen as one of the celebrities under the Intel-P1 Industry Trailblazers Adoption Programme.
As such, Mok was given a notebook based on Intel Centrino 2 processor technology, a netbook powered by Intel Atom processor, a P1 Wiggy, and free P1 WIMAX subscription for 12 months.
Mok is only too happy to show off his new toys at his production studio in Petaling Jaya.
If you think that music producers don’t need all that gadgets, think again.
“As a music producer, we all rely heavily on our computers for recording and mixing. If you come into my studio, you’ll notice that all the physical soundboard is not there. We do it all on the computer,” shares Mok enthusiastically.
Well, if Batman has his utility belt, Mok has his new arsenal of gadgets.
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