Sohu Entertainment Special Article (Lin Zhenxin/Text) The stalk of "Singer 2024" (hereinafter referred to as "Singer") can't be read at all.
From "The Adventures of Na Ying" to "The Great Soldier of the Chinese Music Scene", this music variety has changed from an auditory feast to a library of humorous jokes.
However, the Internet carnival cannot hide the "shortage of personnel" and the public's "ardent expectations" for the Chinese music scene.
Under the revelation that "many original singers gave up participating in the competition due to live broadcasts", a large number of netizens demanded that this "polite rejection list" be made public. The content of the circle of friends suspected of being the director of the show leaked out, which seems to confirm the rumors that domestic entertainment singers rely on sound repair.
Is it a rumor that the live broadcast of the music complex persuades the Chinese music scene to quit?
Live broadcast of the sound comprehensive, exposing the disadvantages?
After four years, "Singer" is out of the circle again.
While related topics dominate the hot search, it also drives the share price of Mango Supermedia to rise sharply. As of the close of trading on May 13, Mango Supermedia's share price rose 11.69%, and the trading volume hit a new high since its listing.
The last time there was such a grand occasion was "Riding the Wind and Waves 3" and Wang Xinling in 2022.
It's just that this time it's not by the sudden rise of newcomers, or the addition of childhood filters, but the strong patriotic feelings evoked by the live broadcast without repair.
In the first live broadcast competition, the post-00s Moroccan singer Faouzia and Chanté Moore, who was nominated for the Grammy twice, both showed super strength and won the top two. Na Ying, who ranked third, quickly got out of the circle with the sentence "You go up and try" in response to the audience's encouragement, as well as the expression when watching the opponent's stage.
Of course, this is not the first time that Na Ying has been hotly discussed because of Geng Zhi's speech.
But this time, Na Ying faced the confrontational anxiety of foreign singers, and the majority of netizens who were played with stalks rose to a new height, directly linked to modern history.
The coincidence and imagination of "a fifty-year-old lady guarding the country" and "resisting foreigners is Yehnara's fate" make people laugh; The mental state of netizens "shaking people" everywhere is more like fun than jokes; Han Hong's arrogance of "asking for war" directly drove A-Lin, Li Jiawei, Wang Xi, Jiang Yingrong and other Chinese singers to show their attitudes.
However, tearing off the entertainment package, what really stimulates the public in "Singer" is the "weakness" of the Chinese music scene exposed by the live broadcast of Wuxiu.
After watching the live broadcast, netizens compared the strength of Wang Sulong and Rainie Yang to the "Strawberry Music Festival", and Hailai Amu represented the "Avenue of Stars", ridiculing the performance of second-hand roses like "rural red and white ceremonies", and believed that only Na Ying could shoulder the heavy responsibility of defeating foreign singers as a "national team" player.
There are also many people asking on social platforms: Isn't there a powerful singer in the Chinese music scene? Why?
Soon, netizens found the answer in some revelations and interviews.
At the press conference before the start of the show, director Hong Xiao revealed: "Many singers declined because of the live broadcast. Even Na Ying was anxious about the live broadcast.
Wang Sulong also revealed in the show that he took the initiative to ask the director of "Singer" if he needed to stay on the schedule, but was politely rejected by "No, you do your thing first". This also corresponds to the screenshot of Hong Xiao's circle of friends, "Thank you singers for sending charcoal in the snow before the broadcast", which confirmed that the early invitation of the program team was frustrated.
Is the word "live broadcast" really so deterrent?
Liu Xin, a senior music producer, revealed: "The sound revision of variety shows will mainly be carried out according to the type of program and the needs of the singer team. ”
Take the early talent show as an example, because the contestants originally came from the folk, and many of them were non-professional, so it was inevitable that there would be some flaws in the singing, and there was little need to repair the voice.
But in the era of online media, music variety shows seem to have become a norm.
"In the past, it was mainly disseminated on the audio-visual platform in the form of long videos, but now fragmented communication has become a mainstream form of communication, and it is more about the cut of a single performance to be disseminated on the short video platform, so everyone has higher requirements for the visual and auditory impact brought by the performance within a few minutes." Liu Xin said.
Internal entertainment singer, relying on sound repair?
Post-tone correction is actually not a difficult technique for industry insiders.
"If the absolute pitch is 100%, the machine can fix it up to 99%, and the digital pitch will not sound natural. But if the singer can sing 97% of the time, the audience will not be able to hear the flaws, and it is also a very natural state. Liu Xin told Sohu Entertainment.
"For most singers, it is not difficult to record and edit the voice, and post-production technology can be used to increase the completion to 99%. Unless the singing is really bad, it may be repaired to electronic music. Liu Xin also mentioned that in fact, there is also the possibility of "sound repair" in live broadcast: "Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as real-time sound repair, but the live broadcast can also be hung Autotune, and the pitch can be corrected within a certain range." In the early days, many electronic singers did this. ”
There are no technical difficulties, and the singing effect can be guaranteed, and the sound repair has naturally become the first choice for variety shows.
Ah Lu, who works in a well-known domestic music company, mentioned that singers generally understand the presentation of variety shows on stage and performance in advance. "The lights and the band will be colored together, and the ratio of the in-ear monitor and the pad sound, and the part with tune, must be confirmed in advance."
In other words, the artist's way of presenting the performance and whether to repair the sound is known in advance.
The most exaggerated thing is that sometimes the program team will bring the mother to the artist, and let the artist fix the sound by himself.
Yixuan He Jun once took artists to participate in a popular variety show. Although the show does not belong to the category of music variety shows, it also involves stage performances. "The program team gave us the master tape to fix the sound by ourselves, and the platform also said that this is normal, no wonder."
As for music variety shows, what she learned was that "this kind of show, unless it is required by a big name, or there are strong requirements when signing a contract, it should not be easy for artists to review the content of the feature film." But there will definitely be basic sound fixing, and some flaws will be retained for the audience to judge. ”
Yixuan Abu, who has seen the sound repair of a talent show, expressed it more directly: "The car accident scene that can be used as the explosive point of the show will be released directly, and other things that are so mediocre will be repaired to the level of an audio tape." ”
In short, with the "plug-in" of sound repair, the pressure on the singers of internal entertainment has been reduced a lot, and the degree of dependence on sound repair has been continuously improved.
"After all, the current sound repair is not only about the pitch fixation, but also the rhythm repair, the pitch repair, the air opening, etc., all aspects. It is true that a small number of singers rely too much on sound repair, and they do not pay so much attention to the practice of their own skills. Liu Xin noticed that after the digital recording method was launched, singers were accustomed to relying on post-production when recording.
Is it possible to live broadcast instead of editing sounds?
Breaking the singer's dependence on sound repair, the explosion of "Singer" is inevitably related to the live broadcast of the program.
But on the contrary, the live broadcast of the music comprehensive may not all achieve the effect of the singer out of the circle.
"If the show is mainly about the singing of Chinese pop songs, pursuing no sound cultivation, and letting the audience test the singer's basic skills, I think this is very positive," Ah Lu paused and continued: "It's also very difficult." ”
Ah Lu argues that the trend of anti-tone revision gives singers with outstanding treble ability and vocal tension more advantages, but it cannot be used as the only criterion for judging musicians, and the style and talent of other musicians cannot be denied because of this.
"Excellent singers have always existed, but for music programs, they are more accustomed to preconceived consideration of users' preferences, and from the beginning of casting, they have limited the scope of invited singers in terms of traffic, popularity, and content style." Therefore, in Ah Lu's view, not repairing the sound is applicable to "Singer", but not to all music comprehensives.
Liu Xin also believes that there are pros and cons to the live broadcast of the sound comprehensive, and it is not suitable for promotion.
On the positive side, for competition programs, the audience can watch the performance in real time and give votes, which is not only an audio-visual feast for the audience, but also makes everyone a participant in the program.
The downside is that the challenge is huge. As an industry insider, he revealed that the live broadcast is a very, very big challenge for the cast and crew, there is only one chance, the teachers of various types of work must work together, and the singer can only make a desperate bet and show the best state.
""Singer" is off to a good start, which can force singers to pay more attention to the practice of their singing skills, so I think it is also a responsibility of the singers themselves to the audience and fans." Liu Xin said.
Just like Zhang Jie's recent voice, "As a singer, singing LIVE is the most basic requirement", singers must pay attention to vocal skills and voice control.
But man is not a delicate instrument.
In Liu Xin's view, some flaws in singing are actually an expression of emotion. "The real performance, the live version, no song is easy to sing. Flaws don't necessarily mean that the musical work is bad, and sometimes a little flaw is also a reflection of some texture. This point of view has also been expressed by Teacher Na Ying, and I agree with it very much. ”
The dimensions of Ah Lu and Liu Xin seem to be different, but in fact, they both start from the perspective of breaking the aesthetic monolithic.
This ingenious consistency is also evident when talking about the ecology of the Chinese music scene.
Regarding the statement that "there is a fault line in the Chinese music scene", their perspectives also coincide, and they do not agree with this negative view.
Ah Lu believes that Wang Sulong's successive covers have been out of the circle on the short video platform, which has also proved his singing strength. "Slow songs are even more difficult to sing, and a singer-songwriter like Wang Sulong, who can play musical instruments, has good basic skills and pitch, so he can sing sad songs to popularity."
"Now there are also singers with very good singing skills, such as Deng Ziqi and Zhou Shen. And a good music performance is not only reflected in singing skills, but also the lyrics and arrangements that hit people's hearts, but also the charm of music, such as the older generation of Li Zongsheng, the new generation of Xu Song, Mao Buyi, etc., their creation and performance are very good. Liu Xin said.