One person's entertainment

Chapter 28, "Double Platinum" Singer

Red Star Production Company, recording studio.

"Five-flowered horse
Green Sword

The country is unlimited
The night is one journey, the day is another, the stars and the moon rotate..."

The voice of Shen Lingyou was heard from the recording studio. His Peking Opera singing style was a pure imitation of Tu Honggang's original version.

With the support of professional-level singing skills, it looks about three-quarters like the real thing.

The singing was not very good, but it was good enough to teach Zeng Xiaolai the tune.

"Remember it. I'll try." Zeng Xiaolai was no longer nervous and had some confidence. It was indeed as Shen Lingyou said, this song was in the style of Peking Opera.

"Okay, sing it once and see if there's anything wrong, correct it after you finish singing." Shen Lingyou nodded, turned to look outside the recording room, and said, "Recording teacher, play the accompaniment from the beginning."

The accompaniment is simple keyboard chords, which he just recorded. It’s just a demo and there is no need for a complete accompaniment.

Demo, called "sample" in Chinese, refers to the preliminary version of a song before its official release. It can be regarded as a demonstration version of the song, and there is a certain gap in quality between it and the final product.

It usually only contains basic melody and harmony, the use of instruments and arrangement are relatively simple, and the singer may perform it in humming or other informal forms, with the aim of allowing the listeners to have a preliminary understanding of the basic ideas and emotions of the song.

The purpose of Shen Lingyou asking Zeng Xiaolai to help record the demo of "Jiangshan Wuxian" was to give the director of "Kangxi's Private Visits 1" a more intuitive feeling of the song's compatibility with the TV series. If there were only lyrics and music scores, it would be relatively abstract and limited.

"The emperors of the ages have been busy with all things

The people will judge the merits and demerits
The eternal emperor
It is difficult to escape the world. "

When Zeng Xiao came to sing, his opera foundation and professional qualities were revealed as soon as he opened his mouth.

Opera singing is not something you can just do by pinching your throat. It is significantly different from popular singing. Opera singing focuses on correct pronunciation and tight articulation, using facial muscles to help with vocalization, and the sound is focused and solid. Popular singing, on the other hand, is relatively freer and more relaxed, with a loose sound.

Even Hu Jing, a layman, could tell at a glance that Zeng Xiaolai's singing was much better than Shen Lingyou's, but that was only for this song.

Of course, Zeng Xiaolai was selected by the Affiliated High School of the Central Academy of Drama when he was in elementary school. After graduating from elementary school, he entered the Central Academy of Drama to study Peking Opera, majoring in Qingyi. Last year, he was assigned to work in the Peking Opera Troupe of Northern Hubei Province. Due to the lack of performance opportunities, he decided to take the entrance exam for the Central Academy of Drama.

You can say that she is not good at singing pop songs, but you can't say that she is not good at singing Peking opera, because she has acquired the skills since she was a child.

Chen Jiantian, who was also outside the recording studio, once again felt the surprise brought by Shen Lingyou.

This song has only 16 short lines of lyrics, totaling 98 words. It is written in a very grand and majestic style, revealing the vicissitudes and heaviness of history.

The melody successfully and appropriately blends the elements of song and Peking Opera, with a 50-50 mix of song and Peking Opera flavor.

It can be said that both the lyrics and the music are excellent, a rare masterpiece.

But the difficulty lies in that those who sing cannot sing with the flavor of Peking Opera, and those who sing Peking Opera cannot sing with the flavor of singing.

Zeng Xiaolai sang out the Beijing flavor, but it lacked some of the singing flavor. Perhaps it is really as Shen Lingyou said, Tu Honggang is the most suitable person to sing this song.

"This little Shen can actually perform Peking Opera well."

Chen Jiantian couldn't help but admire.

Shen Lingyou couldn't figure out the logic behind the system's reward resources. Maybe it was random, or maybe it was planned.

"Unlimited Jiangshan" and Jiang Qinqin may be a coincidence, but no matter whether it is or not, after careful consideration, he believes that getting this song is indeed a good thing, not only because it can take advantage of the popularity of the drama Kangxi, but also lay a foundation for writing "opera songs".

It was only natural that he would later release songs such as "Dama Dan", "Huangmei Opera", "The New Drunken Concubine", "Ode to Pear Blossoms", "Just Met You", "Who Says Women Are Inferior to Men", etc.

Of course, he didn’t necessarily sing it himself. After about two and a half hours, the demo was recorded and it was nine o’clock in the evening.

Shen Lingyou thanked Chen Jiantian profusely, saying that he was a really good person.

Chen Jiantian said it was a small matter and he was welcome to come anytime. When he was about to leave, he talked about something serious: "A few publishing houses found me. They thought that the copyright of "Heart Too Soft" belonged to Red Star and wanted to buy the production and distribution rights, so they asked what you thought."

Shen Lingyou's cooperation with him was equivalent to granting the production and distribution rights to Red Star for free. It was currently an exclusive distribution, but the copyright was in his hands, so it would be no problem if he wanted to sell it. So he asked, "What do you think?"

Chen Jiantian smiled and said, "I suggest you sell it. Red Star has many channels, but after all, it can't cover every region of the country. Instead of letting pirates make money, it's better to distribute the production and distribution rights. Several publishing houses combined can make 100 million."

When Shen Lingyou heard the 100 million, he couldn't help but have a gleam in his eyes. This amount of money could do a lot of things. He then said: "Then the distribution..." There are nine songs in this album that belong to Red Star.

Chen Jiantian sighed and smiled bitterly, saying, "They didn't even care about the other nine songs and only bought the song 'Too Soft Heart'. They are all big publishing houses and have the production and distribution rights to many songs. I guess they are going to make a compilation album and release it."

Anyway, this is a compilation album, and the songs are so bad, so I might as well compile one myself to improve my competitiveness.

When Shen Lingyou heard that he could take all the 100 million, he would be lying if he wasn't tempted, and he immediately said, "Okay, let's sell it."

Chen Jiantian was also tempted, but the buyer's request was so and the contract clearly stated the ownership of the copyright, so he could only look at her with envy and then said, "By the way, the payment for the second batch of albums has arrived in my account, and I will settle it with you when the time comes."

So fast? Even though he knew that "Heart Too Soft" was a bestseller, Shen Lingyou still couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Sold out?"

Chen Jiantian got a share of the money, even though it was only a fraction of 100 million, but it added up to a lot. He was very happy and said, "Of course, and many distributors have called to pre-order the third batch of albums. They are selling out." Then he smiled and said, "Congratulations, you are now a singer with a 'double platinum' album."

The number of tapes and CDs in the two batches exceeded 20. It is rare for a new singer's first album to achieve such a result in the Chinese music scene.

Once the production and distribution rights are sold and sales are rolled out across the country, this number will increase greatly, and there is a chance that the film will sell over a million copies.

While being happy, Shen Lingyou was thinking about how to get more exposure. He didn't want to end up with the result of "the song is popular but the artist is not".

But it’s difficult. Without short videos and lack of variety shows, where can we get exposure?
seem……

The only options are newspapers, magazines and radio.

Shen Lingyou said modestly: "I just had better luck."

"Luck is also a part of strength." Chen Jiantian has been in the entertainment industry for so many years, how could he not understand this? He then remembered something else and hurriedly said, "Also, the arrangement, accompaniment and MV script of your new album are halfway done. Don't you want to release it as soon as possible? Then you can start filming the MV. Do you want to direct it yourself, or should I find a director?"

Shen Lingyou already had a plan for this, and said, "I won't be directing, please find a director, but as for the actors, I want to continue to use my classmates."

The director experience card is gone, so I can’t direct at all. It’s not that I can’t afford professional actors, but that classmates are more cost-effective.

Give money this time.

At school, he would go to Chang Li and tell him that it would enhance his classmates' performance experience and would not interfere with their studies, so he would probably not refuse.

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Back at school, at the second floor stairs, Shen Lingyou said sincerely: "Laizi, Jingjing, thank you for today. I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow."

Zeng Xiaolai smiled and said, "You don't have to be so polite. Didn't you say that classmates should help each other?"

Hu Dajing smiled and said, "Laizi is right. Let's skip the meal. When you finish producing your new album, just don't forget us."

Shen Lingyou said seriously: "Two beautiful ladies, who could forget them? Don't worry, you will definitely be the first to get them."

(End of this chapter)