hollywood billionaire

Chapter 168
"I'm fine."

After snapping the microphone onto the stage stand and confirming that it was in a stable state and would not fall, Madison Bill on stage gave a thumbs up in Han Yi's direction.

Of course, the target of her words was not Han Yi, but Zhao Youzhen who was standing in front of the FOH mixer with him.

FOH, or Front of House, refers to the viewing area in the venue that is open to the public.The FOH mixer, also known as the main mixer, is the core area for audio engineers to perform real-time control and mixing on the performance site.

Live performance, in fact, is not much different from the recording process in the recording studio. It requires the close cooperation between the accompanist, the harmony singer and the main guest.It's just that in the recording studio, the musicians, harmony and lead voice can be recorded separately, but the live performance must be performed at the same time.

From this perspective, live mixing is even more demanding than recording mixing.Real-time monitoring of each input audio source to ensure that the human voice received in the microphone and the instrument sound captured in the pickup are transmitted to each channel of the mixer through the DI box and multi-core cable, and then the volume, balance and EQ are adjusted. Output to the power amplifier equipment in the viewing area, and output music with clear layers and professional effects to music fans.

Of course, in a noisy venue with a lot of people, the audience's ears are far less sensitive than wearing noise-canceling headphones. As long as the handling is not bad, there is no such thing as the human voice completely overpowering the accompaniment, or the autotune is directly connected to the wrong Usually, no one will identify the problem.

So for a mid-level tour like Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas Future Now: The Tour, an audio engineer is placed in front of the FOH console, plus at most a layman Apprentice, that's enough.

And why are five or six staff members standing in front of Han Yi now?

Because in the control area of ​​FOH, in addition to the mixer, there are also light consoles and VJ stations. One is controlled by the lighting engineer, responsible for giving different lighting combinations to match the music, and the other is controlled by the VJ, responsible for the lighting behind the performers. The big screen is matched with the artistic conception of the song, or simply the visual material that comes with the singer.

"Roger that!"

As the manager of Madison Bill, Zhao Youzhen, who temporarily plays the role of tour manager, is responsible for communicating with the engineers in front of the FOH mixer in real time to ensure the overall performance effect.

The South Korean girl responded with a thumbs up to Madison, before turning to look at Eric Lopez.

"Let's start with the first song, 'Melodies'."

"Okay... Owen, play the accompaniment first."

Eric Lopez glanced down at the handover sheet, giving instructions to the audio engineer.

Released in 2013 by the Island Def Jam group, Madison-Bill's debut single is a teen-pop/electronica piece without compromise.In other words, there is no need for a band to arrange. Anyway, it is just the first song of the hot show, just use the accompaniment directly, and as the lyrics say, just hang the autotune of melodyne's good brother.

"OK, Miss Bill, please sing a few words along with me to test the volume."

"I hear melodies in my head,

Find little notes in my bed,

I got songs tangled up in my hair,

I see piano keys everywhere..."

Madison Bill pressed the Sony MDR-EX600 plugged into his right ear, lowered his head and stared at his feet, and carefully monitored his own vocal feedback in the earphone.

"The sound of the accompaniment is a bit loud, and it can be slightly lowered, about 15%... In addition, I want to add a little more reverb to the vocal, so that it sounds more comfortable. Thank you very much."

Standing on the stage, McGrady's earnestness was in sharp contrast to Han Yi's cuteness in front of her.

Although he will not officially come of age until March next year, Madison Bill, who has debuted for three years, can already be regarded as an out-and-out rehearsal veteran.

"Ok...well, try again now, Miss Bill."

The work of adjusting the stage monitor equipment, including in-ear monitor headphones, is done by the monitor mixer on the side of the stage.Here, there is another audio engineer dedicated to this.With his index finger he deftly pulled down the track that received the pre-recorded music feed, and turned the reverb knob on the vocal track a bit to the right.

Han Yi couldn't hear any changes, but he knew that the volume balance and feedback sound effects received by Madison on the stage had changed quite obviously.

"Okay, just call me Madison, thank you."

"My heart is a beating drum,

Repeating my favorite song,

I hear Beethoven number nine,

All the time..."

Madison doesn't have much feeling for the first song in the set, and Han Music's operation team also thinks that it doesn't need to spend too much time and energy on the song "Melodies".After all, they don't own the copyright of the song, and they have to pay performance royalties for the global distribution every time they perform live. There is really no need to arrange a new dance for it, or make any attempt of the same level.

Play how you want on the stage, sing this song safely and steadily, and then pick up the other two songs that really belong to Madison Bill and the record company she is currently signing. Future hot orders will do.

"...I have no problem with this song. What do you guys think?"

After the first chorus, Madison Beal, who was walking up and down the stage, put the microphone back on the stand and asked.

"Melodies" has been sung too many times no matter on the spot or in the recording studio. As long as the equipment is in good condition, her performance can definitely be completed with quality and quantity.

"I'm fine." Eric Lopez was satisfied with the progress of the rehearsal. "It's great, Madison, it's great. Let's skip straight to the next song..."Cold Water."

"You ready?"

"I'm all set."

"Hit it, Irving."

"Everybody gets high sometimes, you know.

What else can we do when we're feelin' low?"

Like "Melodies", Major Lazer, a Mountbatten-style pop electronic song, uses the original engineering files directly, and the effect is much better than the live band accompaniment.It's just that this time, Madison Bill is no longer standing alone on the stage alone.Among the backup dancers waiting on both sides of the band, three girls stood up one after another and approached Madison.

Since it is a self-published work with dual copyrights of Mad Decent music and the master tape, the investment made by Han Music and Madison himself for "Cold Water" is undoubtedly much larger.Madison paid out of his own pocket and invited famous choreographer Paris Goebel to choreograph the single.And Han Music is also coordinating the schedule of Major Lazer and Justin Bieber, trying to find a place in Iceland or other Nordic regions that matches the artistic conception of the lyrics while Justin is on a European tour.

In addition, when signing the cooperation agreement with Live Nation through UTA, the management team also deliberately added a clause in the technical requirements table attached to the contract, "The organizer needs to provide at least 2 dancers for each song for the artist's performance of at least 3 songs. ".

In order to get the maximum exposure, Billie Eilish and Madison Bill signed a package performance agreement with Live Nation, and the price of a single show is far lower than their current market level.Billboard has been on the Billboard chart for nearly a month, and Bili, whose streaming media playback volume and social media growth momentum is good, can now at least get a single performance price of 8000-10000 US dollars.Madison Bill, who has more than 400 million online fans, has not yet released a new single, but judging from the price of commercial performances that SB Projects approached for her, it should be at least 12000-15000 US dollars.

As a popular singer who has signed with the four major performing arts agencies and is beginning to gain momentum, this is a very normal offer.

Therefore, although they were able to get invitations to 47 performances in one go, the price of a single performance of 3000 US dollars per person is indeed quite favorable for Live Nation, and it is also the biggest concession that the management and UTA can give.If he hadn't mastered the management contract and brokerage contract of Bili and Madison at the same time, and was also a shareholder of the two companies, with this level of discount, even if the management team nodded, the brokerage team would have great opinions.

For performance managers, they are not involved in the artist's career planning, but are only responsible for booking performances for musicians and then splitting the money.Under this premise, 47 golden schedules were packaged and sold to a certain sponsor at a lower price of [-]% off. As a brokerage institution, UTA could not make much money at all, and in the foreseeable quarter, it also lost money. Flickering space.

But... who made Han Yi the largest institutional investor + board member?

Let UTA dispel expectations of short-term profitability, and cooperate with human management to promote music with a national tour, which is Han Yi's one word.

Now that I helped Live Nation reduce the budget of Future Now: The Tour’s popular guests to 6000 US dollars, and put forward some conditions that are not too much on the demand list, so that the artist can complete the performance in a better state, it has become an irresistible choice for everyone. requirements.

Three dancers?

Great solution.

Backing dancers and touring performers are usually paid on a weekly basis.For a 2500-thousand-level concert tour, the performer pays the dancers around $[-] a week.Most performance parties of the scale and above like Live Nation will choose to cooperate with dancers registered with the AGMA trade union, which means that according to the regulations of AGMA, as long as the workload is not excessively increased and the performance is completed within the specified time, these Union members do not receive overtime pay, nor can they ask for salary increases.

Asking a dancer already on tour to perform an extra dance at no extra cost was probably one of the easiest things the Live Nation team had to deal with.

What's more, Paris Goebel's first version of the choreography for the "Cold Water" tour was not difficult, considering Madison Beer's own dance level.It only took three backup dancers less than half an hour, and all the movements were already familiar.

"And although time may take us into different places,

I will still be patient with you,

And I hope you know..."

Justin Bieber did all the vocals before the "Cold Water" interlude, but that doesn't mean Madison Beal has to stand still and wait for his own segment before opening his voice.The audio engineer directly opened the project file, deleted the stem of Bieber's lead voice, leaving only the harmony track, and Madison re-interpreted it live.

Anyway, the performance authorization is given by the family members to the family members, and how to operate is discussed within HMG.

Justin Bieber's male vocals were handed over to Madison Bill to complete without any difficulty. After all, the mid-bass range is the most brilliant part of Tracy McGrady's range.Even with the dance moves, Madison's voice doesn't tremble in the slightest, requiring only a little more effort in the high-pitched interludes.

Since receiving the advance payment, Madison Bill, who has not missed both dance and vocal homework for almost a day, has shown much better live performance than her performance in Diplo's recording studio.

"Bravo."

After the song was played, Eric Lopez applauded Madison.

"There's nothing wrong with me. Do you need to do it again, Madison?"

"Probably not." Madison put one hand on his hip, leaned over to take a few breaths, took the towel handed by Dylan Buckman on the stage, thanked him in a low voice, and then responded loudly to Eric.

"Continue to the next song!"

"Great." Eric raised his hand to glance at the time on the dial, squinting his eyes happily.

The first group of guests will finish the rehearsal in less than a quarter of an hour, and today's progress is quite satisfactory.

"So... the third song, "No Promises."

As a 113BPM Tropical House, it is obvious that "No Promises" is not suitable for choreography.The three backup dancers quickly bowed and trotted off the stage from the left side of the stage, and Madison put the microphone back on the stand, clasped his hands to his lips, and waited for the first part of the third song to start with falsetto.

"Cutting me up like a knife and I feel it,

Deep in my bones.

Kicking a habit I love even harder,

You oughta know..."

Judging from the two dimensions of vocal performance and one's own voice condition, the difficulty of "No Promises" is a level higher than that of "Cold Water".To give the simplest example, in the first bar where the human voice enters, even with the help of accompaniment chords and high-feedback monitor headphones, it is still easy to go out of tune if you are not careful.

Madison, who played three songs in a row without intervals, broke her falsetto a little when she opened her voice.Soon, though, Madison salvages the melodic line with her increasingly solid head resonance.

"Her live skills are really strong."

Eric pouted to express his approval, and said to Zhao Youzhen, the artist manager beside him.

"It's a pleasure to work with such a professional singer."

"We are also very happy to be favored by Live Nation." Zhao Youzhen bowed politely, accepting this compliment for his artist.Then, she subconsciously turned her head to catch the expression on Han Yi's face.

What came oncoming was the iconic gentle smile that was so familiar that he could no longer be familiar with it, and the vigorous gesture of thumbs up.

Nothing seemed to have changed.

The unsettlingly strong sense of strangeness in the commercial vehicle just now... must be just a hallucination, right?

Barbara Parvin...

Pressing the inappropriate thoughts from her mind back to her chest, Yujin took a deep breath with a gentle smile and continued to watch Madison Bill's rehearsal seriously.

"It's so easy to fall for each other,

I'm just hoping we catch one another..."

"Just be careful..."

After the treble of the first verse, the eight bars of the pre-chorus are straightforward without any difficulty.Madison is holding the stand with his left hand, and is arranging the receiving port of the IEMS on the back of his waist with his right hand, with a relaxed and freehand look.

But when the song entered the build-up part before the climax, Madison's expression froze slightly.

"Wait a minute, guys."

Madison raised her hand and gestured to the FOH console.

"It seems that there is a human voice that was not put in."

Yi's vocals.

What about his "Oh, Na-na"?

Being able to sing with him in this form at Philips Stadium is something Madison has been looking forward to for a long time.

"Oh, do you wish to include the lead vocals in this passage?"

Audio engineer Owen grabbed the microphone in front of him and pressed the power button.

"My technical request form here says... 'Turn off lead stems and keep the harmony track unless otherwise instructed'."

"Yes, that's our basic technical requirement." Madison Bill nodded politely to Irving, showing a sweet smile, "But for this passage, I still hope to present it in the form of a chorus. Because it was originally It's a duet song. If it's just my vocals and harmony, it will sound weird... Let's try to add the lead voice back, shall we? It's the lead voices of all the male singers. return."

Madison's slightly hoarse voice was soft but firmer.

"Of course, let me get it done first." After lighting up Han Yi's track, Owen brought the microphone to his mouth, "Try again, I'll give you four bars."

"It's so easy to fall for each other,

I'm just hoping we catch one another..."

"Oh Na-na..."

Han Yi's clear voice flowed from more than a thousand speakers above, in front of, on the side of the arena, and the monitor in front of Madison.

The FOH mixer was a full hundred feet away from the stage, so neither Han Yi nor Zhao Youzhen could see the suddenly lit up eyes of McGrady.

But everyone in the venue can hear the joy and leisure in her singing.

"Just be careful..."

"Na-na, love ain't simple, na-na..."

"Promise me no promises!"

Seductive husky and blunt immaturity mingled in Madison's chest, concocting a buttery, honey-scented vocal cocktail.It was as if a few cubes of ice were thrown into it, and there was a crisp sound of knocking on the rim of the goblet, and the icy white smoke steamed up, carrying all her thoughts belonging to a young girl, catching up with Han Yi's sound waves, and He intertwined and merged in the midair of the stadium.

"Damn it's a good song." Owen couldn't help admiring, "The mix is ​​very clear, and the orchestration is simple and comfortable...Has this song been released yet?"

"There are still two or three months." Zhao Youzhen gave a vague answer.

"It's a pity." Seeing the apprentice next to him silently put down the Shazam app in his hand, Owen gave a thumbs up to Han Music's team, "This is definitely the single that I will listen to on the radio in the car... …well done.”

The words of audio engineer Owen represented the thoughts of most of the staff present.It can't be called a high artistic value, but "No Promises" and the previous "Cold Water" undoubtedly represent the highest industrial level in the field of popular electronics today.

From the lighting engineer standing outside the VIP box on the second floor to adjust the surface lights, to the construction workers holding the truss in the background to check the array sound, to the accompaniment band and dancers waiting in front of the steps on the edge of the stage, they may be working hard , chatting with each other, and refreshing social media, but everyone unconsciously follows the exquisite arrangements of Cheat Codes and Major Lazer, as well as the melodious voice of Madison Beer reverberating in the empty venue, He began to shake his head and twist his body.

Pop dance music, with the support of professional mixing consoles and top-level array speakers, can burst out such a powerful appeal at the performance site.

"Perfect! Madison, impeccable!"

When the ending ended, the stage manager Eric Lopez took the lead in applauding. In an instant, most of the staff in the venue joined the clapping ranks.There were one or two screams and whistles in the untidy but absolutely loud applause.

"thank you all."

Madison bowed her knees slightly and greeted the audience with a swan-like proud and confident princess attitude.

"If you have nothing else to point out, we'll move on to the next singer."

"I have no problem, Eric."

"Fabulous, just fabulous... ok, come down and rest, Madison. Next up, Billie Eilish!"

Eric glanced at the call sheet in his hand and joked.

"A rehearsal every 10 minutes, guys, I hope this will become our main theme today!"

After handing over the microphone to Bi Li and kissing her best friend on the cheek, the Long Island girl quickly turned her attention to the person she cared about the most.Madison glanced at Han Yi, who was smiling and applauding non-stop, bit his lower lip, revealing dazzling white teeth and deep dimples full of tenderness.

Jumping and jumping, she was going to rush off the stage, so she hurried to Han Yi's side, talked to him more, and listened to his sincere and warm praise, which would make her float to the sky.

But before the soles of his feet touched the steps, Madison was attracted by a restless applause on the edge of the stage, which was obviously much warmer than the applause from other directions.

Looking closer, mom Tracy Bill, grandma Lori Ann Aaron, a skinny teenager and a stocky middle-aged man with a bald head were gathered, waving at her and cheering enthusiastically.

"Red and..."

"dad?"

Madison's pupils shrank, his face full of disbelief.

The whole Bill's family... why are they all here?
　Sorry for not updating yesterday, if the situation is not particularly urgent, I will not easily cancel the update
　　
　
(End of this chapter)