Interview with The Edge Singapore and Mohan
Audio Exotics Singapore's Mohan Veloo discusses the business of sound
Full text on The Edge's website can be found here
If there’s one thing to be said about Mohan Veloo, it’s that he sure has an affinity for sound.
The owner and principal of audio company Audio Exotics’ first overseas outpost grew up in a family of musicians; his father was a classically trained Indian violinist, and his brother, Sanny, is a rock musician based in Singapore and Australia.
Veloo honed his ear working on music events in San Francisco, California. Sometime after returning to Singapore, he met Audio Exotics founder Chris Leung and decided to bring the Hong Kong-based brand to the little red dot.
That was before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. “I actually rented this place before Covid,” says Veloo of the showroom in Bukit Merah, adding that it remained closed for over two years. “Chris and I are kind of fussy,” he quips, and they wanted to ensure everything was exactly in order.
“Renovation was one aspect of it,” he says, “but getting all the equipment in was another.” He worked with an acoustic engineer to get everything designed and tuned just right. “Everything here has a purpose, even the artwork,” he says.
The official launch took place at last in October 2023, but all that time perfecting things has paid off. Despite its setting in an industrial building, the showroom is far from grungy or rough around the edges; it’s a tastefully done space with a warm, homey atmosphere.
Soon after stepping in, Veloo brings us through a concealed door into what we can best describe as a speakeasy of sound. In this hidden room, he invites us to sit and — just after we’ve had time to introduce ourselves in full — offers to play us a song.
We oblige, though we’re admittedly still taking in the dizzying array of amplifiers and speakers before us. (“For my clientele, it’s kind of normal,” he says with a chuckle.)
Veloo puts on a live recording of Trouble’s What You’re In by Fink, then invites us to close our eyes and listen. After this, he puts on Jacintha Abisheganaden’s 1999 cover of Moon River, the Grammy-winning track originally sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
What takes us most by surprise is the range of sounds we’re faced with. From the soft parting of lips at the start of a phrase to powerfully plucked guitar chords in between verses, we hear it all. It feels like a Lucy moment, except we’re using the full potential of our ears instead of our brains.
“It’s the silence,” says Leung, who’s joining us at the showroom via a video call. Capturing the moments of silence in a soundscape, he continues, is like “stepping into a time machine” to join the musicians at the very place the recording was made.
Filling a gap, enriching the scene
Founded by Leung — a former chief China economist at DBS — in 2009, Audio Exotics creates high-end audio setups that are customised for each client.
“There are a lot of high-net-worth people in Singapore, and they’re spending a lot of money on houses, cars, watches,” Veloo observes. What many aren’t spending on, however, is their audio systems. “You are satisfying your sight, your taste, everything — but what about sound?”
Audio Exotics is seeking to fill that gap. “Some people may think this is a bit over the top,” says Veloo of the equipment in the showroom. But others may be looking for a centrepiece to anchor their homes without having to get a fancy sculpture or attention-grabbing painting.
In this sense, audio equipment can play a dual role in both form and function. “It’s not only pretty; it sounds amazing, too,” says Veloo of the cherry red Gabriel Mk3 turntable by DaVinciAudio, which sits in the centre of the “speakeasy” setup.
Veloo has also been exploring new ways to bring the music community in Singapore together. For instance, he holds listening parties with local musicians to test their new vinyl records. He also runs intimate sessions in the showroom with, among others, student performers from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore.
“The holy grail for audio is to sound like the actual instrument,” says Veloo. Having live performances in the space helps provide a better understanding of how equipment can be fine-tuned to replicate the natural sound.
More than the sum of its parts
Many of the brands that Audio Exotics works with are “artisanal kinds of folks who have a huge passion for the equipment and sound”, adds Veloo. “We work with a lot of these manufacturers … We’ve been working with a lot of them over the last 20 years or so.”
He points to a pair of Robert Koda amplifiers and briefly shares the story of Japan-based Robert Koch, the man behind the company. “He makes only five pairs a year, and there’s a waiting list of five years.” Other brands carried by Audio Exotics include Swedish label Engström and DaVinciAudio from Switzerland.
Though Audio Exotics has a broad catalogue, Veloo notes that the way in which everything is set up plays a much more critical role in a good audio system. Even with the best equipment, he says, having a poor setup can often lead to bad sound quality. “You need to know how to put it all together and make the right experience.”
Audio Exotics, therefore, takes a full-suite approach to helping each client create the acoustic environment they’re looking for. Veloo says this comes down to everything from the power supply to the positioning of individual pieces of furniture.
“We spend almost a day in the customer’s space just tuning,” he says. “We want that perfect sound … We want to make it a spiritual experience.”
Just as important, says Veloo, is the journey of helping each client create their perfect setup. “Once in a while, we’ll get [customers] who come in and say ‘yeah, I want everything’ … But if you buy everything, it’s not fun,” he says. “The fire is in the chase.”
