A step above the heard

Close your eyes at a live show and you'll realise there's a secret superhero at work.

At music festivals, gigs or with a wedding band, somewhere, there's a sound engineer who knows that every note matters, and every ear deserves to hear it.

It's a tough job. Sound engineers are the first to arrive and the last to leave. They determine if the bass thump at a rock gig is powerful enough to reverberate through your ripped jeans. They know when a guitar solo is coming up and needs to be louder and clearer. They know how to distribute music across a large venue, so when your jam comes on, you can rush towards the stage. Crucially, they make sure the artists on stage can hear each other play-over the speakers, the crowds and the traffic a few metres away.

Sounds engineers don't get their names on the poster. Few outside the industry know them. And yet, as India's independent music industry grows, they're busier than ever. We asked three of them to take off their headphones for a quick chat about life on the job.

Anindo Bose, 40, New Delhi

Bose started playing keyboards at five, picking up nursery rhyme melodies by ear. As a grown-up, he's worked with Indian Ocean, Bipul Chettri, Peter Cat Recording Company, Prateek Kuhad, Anirudh Varma Collective and Mrigya on live shows. He also works in the studio, as bands and artists record their work.

Bose started recording demos of bands he was playing with in college. He found that the process didn't just teach him a new skill and improve his own skills, it was actually fun.