(Thank you for the tips from Xuelong and Guiyuan Tianji, I'll add it again today)

In the early days, recordings were made without microphones, but with loudspeakers!

The musician plays against several large horns, and the sound goes directly into the recording equipment, driving the recording needle to engrave grooves on the record. Needless to say, this kind of recording is troublesome, and the sound quality of the recorded is extremely poor, and it is impossible to reproduce the complex structure of the human voice.

The main difficulty of early acoustic recordings was to directly pick up and record the weak energy of sound waves, and it was long recognized that the better solution was to try to convert sound waves into electrical signals, and this idea gradually became a reality around the 20s of the 20th century.

This was mainly due to the technical advances in broadcasting and wireless telegraphy, which gave birth to necessary equipment such as electric microphones and power amplifiers, and after 1925, record companies began to use these techniques in record recording, and began to enter the era of electroacoustic recording.

Fortunately, Alex was reborn around the fifties of the 20th century, and at this time, the recording technique was already very mature. With an electrically amplified microphone system, a wide range of sounds can be captured, and musicians can play in a more relaxed environment without having to squeeze around the bell in the studio, as was the case in the age of acoustic recording.

What's more, by the 50s of the 20th century, almost all record companies were using tape media as the original master tape for making records. This means that longer music can be recorded over and over again, and at a lower price.

Once these mastering tapes have been recorded, they need to be further edited and edited, and eventually burned onto the record. There are two kinds of records in this era, one is the LP record launched by Columbia, which is the so-called 78 rpm record. The other is the 45-rpm record released by his rival RCA.

Both types of records have their own advantages, with 78 rpm recordings being used in classical music for their high sound fidelity and long playback time.

While the 45-rpm record playback technique was relatively easy, RCA mass-produced a portable, self-horned turntable that was marketed among teenagers, and turned out to be a popular choice for their parties. Teenagers simply call this turntable "Hi-Fi".

The popularity of this type of "Hi-Fi" greatly contributed to the boom in the singles market in the fifties, while LPs became popular only among those listeners who listened to serious music and had a large financial level above the university level, and eventually provided the material basis for the artistic transformation of pop music.

The "Carpenter Brothers" song will eventually be burned on 45 rpm records because they are cheaper.

Generally speaking, record production needs to go through the collection of songs, confirmation of the demo, hair editing, tape, instrumentation, dubbing, harmony, mixing, mastering post-processing, etc.

It's just that they don't want to release this record to the market, and at the same time, they don't need professionals to do the voting and screening, let alone find an arranger to communicate, and the dubbing and harmony are rehearsed at home. All that's left is post-processing for recording, mixing, and mastering. These are things that require equipment and dedicated personnel to complete.

The first thing they recorded was "Song for Mom", and at first, the band that was the accompanist was not very comfortable with this style of music. After several run-ins and rehearsals, he finally reached the level of seventy or eighty percent in Alex's memory.

"These two little guys are amazing!" Rudy said this to Bart as the Carpenter brothers sang the first line.

"Of course, they're my son!" Bart said proudly. He was now standing outside the recording room, looking through the glass at the people inside.

"Do they usually sing so beautifully? When will you start singing! Rudy asked Bart as he adjusted the recording equipment.

"They started singing at a very young age, and the 'Carpenter Brothers' group is very famous with us!"

"I don't think I've heard this song before, what's this song called?" Rudy continued.

"This is a birthday present they wrote to my wife, they are very filial!" Bart explained.

"What a genius! Just listening to the singing, you know that their hearts are very beautiful! Rudy was silent for a while and then said, "They will definitely become famous singers in the future!" ”

During the recording, several more emergencies occurred and the recording had to be interrupted. Alex: After all, this is their first time recording, and they don't know a lot of things.

Rudy is a responsible producer who has a lot of experience and has a lot of useful advice to the Carpenter brothers. At first, the recording was slow, but once they got familiar with the recording process, they suddenly got faster.

During the recording, Alex compared it with the original in his mind from time to time, and when he found a problem, he immediately raised it. Some of the effects were limited to the equipment techniques of the time, and they couldn't achieve them, but with Alex's golden finger, the quality of the recording was very good.

This song, which was originally sung by four people, is not much worse than the original version under the interpretation of the Carpenter brothers. There are even some excesses, especially when they sing this song with their children's voices, which makes people very moved to listen to it.

"Their strength is no worse than that of professional singers!" Rudy said while listening to the song while recording. He said this very seriously, and in his professional eyes, the Carpenter brothers' songs were enough to be on the charts last week.

When Bart heard this, he felt very proud, so many years of hard work have finally paid off. He looked at his son inside the glass wall and said, "Our goal is to become a professional singer and become No.1!" ”

Rudy thought for a moment and asked, "You shouldn't have signed a contract with the record company yet!" ”

"It's a matter of time! After we recorded this record, we were ready to sign a contract. Bart affirmed.

"Are you interested in signing a contract with me?" Rudy said to Bart seriously: "I am the owner of this company, although the company is relatively small, it is still able to record high-quality records and have a good sales channel. ”

Bart looked at Rudy in surprise, he really didn't think that the other party was the owner of this company.

"How's that, interested?" Rudy saw that Bart seemed a little excited, so he asked again.

"This ......" Bart hesitated, he didn't know how to answer: "Let's wait until this song is recorded, let's discuss it and tell you!" ”

Rudy knew that he couldn't push the other party too much at this time, so he smiled and said, "It's okay, wait until you think about it." ”

It took almost a day to record this song. Fortunately, Bart had already prepared and chartered the recording studio.

"Boys, come here." Bart knocked Alex and Richardra out the door, and he repeated Rudy's words.

After Bart waited for his sons to digest the information, he asked, "Do you think you should sign them now, or wait until the record is on the radio?" ”

Alex and Richard were silent, a little surprised, wondering why Bart would discuss this matter with him.

"Alex, let's talk about it!" Bart had no choice but to ask questions by name.

"If I choose, of course, I will have to wait until I am famous before signing a contract." Alex said slowly, "However, I guess you are a little moved, otherwise you would not be so hesitant. ”

Bart didn't respond to Alex's statement, but asked, "Richard, what about you?" ”

Richard thought for a moment and said, "Actually, we don't know if this song can be on the radio." If only Rudy could help......"

"Yes! With Rudy's help, the song will definitely be played on the radio. Bart sighed and said, "I've spent a lot of time looking for a radio connection, but I haven't been able to find it. If the radio station refuses to play, there is nothing we can do. ”

Alex really didn't expect that the radio stations of this era would not easily play their kind of records. Unless there are people on the radio, or if they are famous singers.

He only knew that Elvis's song became popular after it was played on the radio, but he didn't know that there were many radio stations that refused to play Elvis's records. If it weren't for the record company behind it, it wouldn't be so easy for Elvis to become popular.

"Also, we don't know anything about marketing. Even after the radio broadcast, if it doesn't have the effect we want......" Bart didn't continue, he thought his sons already understood.

This time, Bart has taken out all the family's savings and invested them in this record. He has always had full confidence in his sons, but from time to time the possibility of failure has passed through his heart. What's more, as an actual agent, he has always been less qualified. He feared that he would be a stumbling block to his sons, and this thought had been bothering him.

"Don't worry, we're not going to fail! Now you don't have to think about it so much, one step at a time! ”

Alex doesn't want to sign right away, and he doesn't think it's time for him to "sell himself" yet. If you want to sell, you have to wait for the appreciation before selling.

Bart still didn't give up, he continued: "Or we ask Rudy about the conditions, if it's good, signing with him is also a good choice." ”

Richard also thinks it's a good idea, and he can ask about the conditions first.

Alex reluctantly agreed, thinking that it would be very foolish to be nervous about signing now. The stride is too big, and you have to pull the egg.

Rudy's terms were unexpectedly good, and the record company split them sixty-four. The record company takes 60% of the profits, and the Carpenter brothers take 40%. This is much better than the contract offered by a normal record company. Generally speaking, singers can only get about 20% at most, and only 30% at the top.

Besides, the Carpenter brothers have not yet debuted, and if they were to change to other companies, it would be good to have an estimated 3% profit. Michael Jackson debuted for several years and won numerous awards for his records, but he could only get 2.5% of the copyright tax when he was on his first record label. When converted into profits, it should be less than 5%.

According to Bart's calculations, this 40% profit is about 20% of the royalty tax. In other words, for a $2 record, they get $0.4 for just selling one.

The conditions were so good that Alex wondered. He didn't think there would be pie-in-the-sky good things happening.

"Alex! Richard! What do you guys think? Shall we sign a contract with him? After Bart calculated this result, he was already a little overwhelmed.

Richard, of course, agreed, and he was moved by Barth's calculations.

"There's still a problem, Bart!" Alex still felt that this was a trap, and he continued: "You ask him to convert the profits into royalties and then give us a 30% upfront payment. ”

The so-called advance payment means that when the record company signs a contract with the singer, it will pay a part of the money in advance. Of course, the money is estimated. For example, if the record company estimates that the singer will get $1 million within this year, then they will give 30% of the $100 as an upfront.

Sure enough, when it was changed to Alex's offer, Rudy shook his head and refused to agree.

"If I had that much upfront, the company wouldn't have broken like this." Rudy explained.

Alex didn't eat him: "Then you can calculate the copyright tax in the contract!" It doesn't need to be 40%, just 20% is enough. ”

Rudy's face immediately changed when he heard Alex's words. He hurriedly refused: "If you refuse to sign the contract, forget it." ”

They were a little surprised by this result! They couldn't have imagined that Rudy would be reluctant to sign because of this small change. I can't figure it out!

Only Alex estimated Rudy's reaction. He believes that Rudy is actually trying to empty the gloves of the white wolf, first signing them with his own company, and then turning around to other big companies to peddle their records. This is a means for many small companies, they have excellent singer resources in their hands, but they do not have the ability to release records nationwide, so they can only be attached to large companies in this way.

However, Alex is not good to turn against Rudy right away, and they still have a lot of things that Rudy needs to help with. So the excuse is to think about it again and continue to delay.

http://www.biquge.info

Starting Point Chinese www.biquge.info welcome the majority of book friends to come and read, the latest, fastest, and most popular serialized works are all original at the starting point!