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As a sound engineer, Herbert's style is undoubtedly distinctive, resolute, immediate, preoccupied, and absolutely professional. When he sat in front of the audio console, the whole world was silent, only the company of music, everything was only about music.

There is no doubt about the excellence of professional skills, but such a personality often offends others unconsciously, like-minded people are naturally like-minded, but more often, they make countless enemies, and they are unconsciously excluded to the margins.

Look at the decline of the City of Sounds, and look at the fact that today he teamed up with George, who had been retired for many years, to record for an unknown newcomer singer...... Herbert's situation is clear.

But even so, Herbert continued his usual style, skipped the lengthy and tedious polite stage, and directly turned on the working mode, expressing his views bluntly, and his eyes fell on Lan Li's body, unwavering.

"Of course. George nodded and said simply, his determination in his understated words, "But before we start production, we need to discuss the style of the arrangement." ”

For a song, it can be simply divided into tunes and lyrics, but for music creation, it's not just about creating the tune and lyrics.

Humming a melody, or even a complete main song and chorus melody, this is called composition, and the creation is only the simplest and most basic tune, which is a step that anyone can complete, even if there is no music cell music idiot, you can also hum the tune according to your own understanding, but it is not a track.

Once you've created an original song, you need to match the chords of the song, choose the appropriate instruments, design the form, write the harmonies, write the harmonies, and mix the final accompaniment. This step is called arrangement, and it is also an important part of the transformation of the original song.

The pop songs that people hear in their daily lives are the finished products of arrangement. So, in general, a song will have three creators, a composer, a lyricist, and an arranger.

Of course, there are many cases where the composer and arranger are the same person.

The same original song, according to different instruments, according to different computer sound effects, according to different rhythm changes, can change from folk to jazz, can also from rock to country, can also change from punk to rhythm and blues. Not every style is suitable, though. How to choose the right arrangement and how to adopt the appropriate arrangement style is the key to the success or failure of a song.

"Simple, rustic and primitive. Herbert was clearly deliberate, and with almost no hesitation, he blurted out, "We need to strip away the cumbersome arrangements, restore the original appearance of the music as much as possible, and use the layers of the instruments to enrich the melody, but not overpower, but focus on the expression of emotion." Emotions are more important than skills. ”

George tucked his chin slightly, a hint of playfulness between his eyebrows, "You mean, Bob Dylan?"

Herbert nodded directly in affirmation, "In my opinion, Lan Li is the purest and most traditional folk rock. It can be seen from the two songs 'Cleopatra' and 'Ophelia' that in the process of creation, Lan Li actually led the melody with the lyrics, and the poetic lyrics carried the mind and soul, and then passed on through the melody, and we need to preserve this specialness. ”

The folk rock here is not a fusion of genres that gradually became popular after the 90s of the last century, but refers to the folk rock trend led by Bob Dylan in 1965.

Folk rock borrows from the simple and direct melodies of folk music, as well as the strong and powerful beats of rock music, and expresses the philosophical themes of songs in a relatively popular way. Folk rock singers have high requirements for the aesthetic value of musical traditions, and even more demanding on the cultural literacy of literature, philosophy, and history.

In fact, in folk rock, Bob will use the instruments of rock bands such as electric guitar, drum kit, and bass, as well as traditional folk instruments such as acoustic guitar, tambourine, accordion, saxophone, banjo, tambourine, and mandolin, to inject ideas into it in an imagery arrangement.

Folk rock says rustic and simple, meaning that the melody is only an auxiliary means, and the lyrics are the most important thing. Everything in the arrangement, from the instrumentation to the melody, from the harmony to the rhythm, is in the service of the lyrics – or rather, the core of the theme. Songs carry the depth of thought, this is the essence.

But with the development of the times, the arrangements became more and more complex, the rhythm became more and more ferocious, gradually, rock began to prevail, folk songs gradually declined, even Bob could not stop the progress of the times, including Bob, as well as Joan Baez, Bobby-Vinton and other representative singers of the folk era, also gradually began to transform into rock singers.

Times have changed, and the creation of contemporary pop music has formed a routine, writing a melody with a series of notes, seconding a rhythm that attracts the ear, completing the entire score, and then filling in the appropriate lyrics to complete the creation of the whole song. To put it simply, lyrics no longer have meaning, and what really resonates with people is not even the melody, but the rhythm.

Although this is a bit of a generalization, it is true that mainstream music is the same.

But in the golden age of music, the order of creation was reversed – first the lyrics were written, then the melody was written. The lyrics are the soul of the whole music, poured into the creator's thinking and understanding, rock, punk, folk, country, blues, soul, jazz, etc., all of them.

Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 for his literary attainments in the compilation of lyrics, and at the same time his reflections on society, politics, and life, showing the power of the entire era.

Herbert once again saw the folk rock style of 1965 in Lan Li, the kind of emotional interpretation, the kind of music creation that uses melody to convey thoughts and sings to convey the soul, which makes people see the glory of the golden age again.

In the face of Herbert's praise, George was not only not surprised, but showed his approval.

When conceiving the album, the first thing that came to George's mind was also Bob Dylan's folk rock, and it was crazy to compare the twenty-one-year-old Lan Li to one of the greatest singers in the history of American music, but after listening to Lan Li's list of twenty-seven songs, George was firm in his thoughts.

As a producer, George's mind has been active since the time of "Los Angeles" and "Charlie Boy", and the identification of Bob Dylan as the target of this album is incredible, but there are traces to follow. But what George was even more curious about was that Herbert actually saw the same thing, which was too rare.

"Is it my delusion?" said George, with great interest, "why do I always feel that you have a thorough understanding of Lan Li's music, even more so than I do?"

Herbert was stunned for a moment, then laughed, "Don't you know? Lan Li has only released two singles so far, which I recorded and produced. ”

George's face was stunned.

This time, it was Lan Li's turn to be surprised, "I thought you knew about it beforehand, so I specifically found Herbert." ”

George waved his hand repeatedly, "No, of course not. I couldn't hide my amazement, explaining simply, "I came to Herbert because he was one of the top recording artists in the industry, and I wanted to work with him for a long time. Not long ago, the closure of the City of Sound was a sigh for the entire industry. It just so happened that you were going to record an album, and Herbert was at home, so ......"

It turned out to be a coincidence. It's rare for two like-minded partners to meet, so three of them are a miracle.

The three of them looked at each other, exchanged glances, and then laughed in unison.

Establishing the style of the whole album, which was originally the most difficult part, may even lead to a war of words between the producer and the singer, and even tearing up, and eventually lead to a split and parting of the ways. Unexpectedly, it only took less than three minutes for the three of them to settle down. This kind of work makes people can't help but be excited.

"And what about the theme?" George threw out another puzzle, which can actually be understood as: the indicators of song selection.

An outstanding top-notch album, the selection of songs is very particular, a mood or a thought throughout, the album from the first song to the last song, forming a whole, completely expressing the singer's thoughts.

Beyoncé's album "Lemonade", released in April, received rave reviews from all critics, and "Rolling Stone" even considered it the best album of the 21st century.

Not only because the album boldly adopts a rare musical style and melody, reaching the point of pure love in terms of technique, but also because the album's twelve tracks are divided into two acts for the first time, the first half is to accuse her husband of cheating, and the second half is to choose forgiveness, and the twelve songs are in one go, coherent, and reach the perfect state of harmony in emotion and reflection.

From creation to thought, from arrangement to core, "Lemonade" is indeed unique in the pop music scene.

In Lan Li's list of twenty-seven songs, George could feel Lan Li's creative context, but after all, it couldn't compare to the experience of the parties, so he looked at Lan Li, asked the creator's opinion, and then completed the selection and arrangement of the tracks according to Lan Li's ideas.

Lan Li could feel the burning gaze of George and Herbert, and that heavy gaze was full of anticipation, igniting the blood flowing in his body and awakening the passion in the depths of his soul. At this moment, he also deeply felt the charm of music creation, just like acting, on the road of artistic exploration, constantly moving forward and deepening.

"Don Quixote. Lan Li almost didn't hesitate, and the first word that came to his mind blurted out, "A madman who pursues his dreams, never succeeds, but never gives up." ”

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