A R Rahman is a great Sound Engineer of all the times. There are certain frequencies which sooth our brain, may be A R Rahman know which frequency level or modulation will leave soothing impact on listener's brain. Its possible and we can achieve such frequency levels through softwares.
(Copy paste from various sources)
Audio Samples
Have you guys ever heard about audio samples. Well Rahman is the first person who used a lot of samples in his songs and the second person is Ranjit Barot. Ranjit used to work with Rahman. Ranjit programmed drums in Humma Humma. Sample is simply a piece of sound free of royalty with companies like Sony, Apple etc. This could be a drum beat a sequencer rhythm, guitar strumming or any thing.
Here are some instances for Samples
1. Shabba Shabba with African voices. Those are samples not real Africans.
2. Spanish claps in Jumbalika. Samples again.
3. Chinese vocals in Latka. Its a Chinese Sample from the CD ( Spectra sonics Heart Of Asia)
4. Background beat in Latka song from Indian. Later Anu Malik and many other used the same loops in many of their songs eg: Mehbooba song from Ajnabee.
5. Killer drum beats in Rangeela songs. Drum samples from the cd (Best Service XXL 1500)and its a long list.
6. Final beats of Mukkala Muqabla sounds like Dr. Alban Africa. That is too a sample. It is not composed by Dr.Alban either. Same beats used by Sandeep Chowtha in Kambath Ishq song.
7. Main Background beats in Mangta hai kya from Rangeela.
8. Early bands like Deep Forest and some Euro techno bands used this concept a lot. Thats why title bird sound of Thillana Thillana from Muthu sounds like Deep forest songs.
There are many other samples Rahman used in many of his songs. It is not copying but just using a commercially available sample.