Kolkata producer and sound engineer Miti Adhikari. Photo: BBC
Kolkata producer and sound engineer Miti Adhikari, who spent more than three decades at BBC’s iconic Maida Vale studio sessions and later returned to India to work with Indian rock bands, has died. He was 69 years old.
Adhikari, who worked with the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and later on, Foo Fighters and Coldplay until 2011 in the U.K., reportedly passed away following complications after a major surgery, a source close to the family confirmed to Rolling Stone India.
He was based in Goa following a few years of working out of Bloopehouse Studios in Kolkata, helping shape the Indian indie rock sound of bands like the Supersonics, Menwhopause, the Ska Vengers, the Ganesh Talkies, Gingerfeet, Run It’s The Kid and singer-songwriters like Nischay Parekh, Hanita Bhambri and more. Most recently, he had produced fusion artist Susmit Sen’s project Azaadi and wrapped up working on Kolkata rock artist Ananda Sen’s full-length album in Goa.
Part of the Kolkata rock band Mahamaya as a guitarist in the Seventies, when the group disbanded, Adhikari moved to the U.K. and began working in sound effects for theater. Adhikari joined BBC as assistant studio manager after being recommended by a family friend in late 1970s and later became the sound engineer at live sessions recorded at their famed Maida Vale Studios.
Working behind the scenes in the U.K., Adhikari was barely known in India until a video from 2011, when Foo Fighters dedicated a song during their Reading & Leeds Festival set to Adhikari created quite a buzz online. After 34 years at BBC and being a sound engineer at festivals like Glastonbury and Live 8, Adhikari returned in 2014, before which he’d already begun working with indie artist Neel Adhikari (his cousin), among others in India’s seasoned and upcoming scene, plus film projects with Kolkata auteurs like Q aka Qaushiq Mukherjee (Tasher Desh).
He told Rolling Stone India in 2014 about his approach, “As someone who is overseeing the entire process, you need to look beyond just the technicals and help ease the process. And as someone who’s involved in that process, you need to give it a sense of direction to help bands feel that they’ve nailed something if it’s honest.”
Tributes have been coming in steadily for Adhikari, who was also building a new home in Goa. Susmit Sen said on Instagram, “Deeply saddened by the demise of Miti Adhikari. Miti produced my latest album Azaadi and also played bass on it. It was an honor to work with someone whose ears had shaped the sound of so many legendary acts, and yet who carried no ego. Only deep musicality and grace. Miti was not just a legendary sound engineer and producer, he was a quiet force behind so much meaningful music across the world.”
Sen went on to add, “In the studio, Miti had a rare stillness. He listened more than he spoke. But when he did speak, it was always with clarity, wisdom, and care—for the music and for the people making it. His bass lines were subtle, precise, and always in service of the composition, just like him.”
Funk-rock band Gingerfeet drummer Abhinandan Mukherjee said in a post, “I still remember being a bundle of nerves during my drum take. He quietly pulled me out for a walk, smiled, and said, ‘Even Taylor(Hawkins) fumbles sometimes. Just breathe… and smash it.’ What followed was a flawless one-take performance. All because he believed in me when I didn’t.”
In 2012, when Adhikari retired from BBC, everyone from Grohl to Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner to Kasabian to Bloc Party paid tribute to the veteran sound engineer in an episode.
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