Do you have a definite measure of ancient songs in your minds? In the end, what kind of ancient style can be regarded as high quality? In the general trend of the infinite penetration of ancient wind elements into popular songs, ancient style songs can be quite pop in essence. As a result, the so-called ancient style colors usually appear more in popular songs in the form of elements, or the timbre of national instruments or theatrical singing, becoming the memory points of the whole song echoing the ancient charm.
Formalization is a quick means of effectiveness, but it is not enough. I always feel that the real ancient style is to inject more convincing content into the formal framework, such as artistic conception, and then epic sense.
In this line of thinking, my standard of measurement is:
First, is the use of archaic elements clever?
Second, does the architecture of the ancient style have a sense of presence?
Third, is the epic sense unique to the ancient style strong?
Following these three very subjective criteria, "Nine Tails" is even a high-quality antique song I have heard recently. In fact, as long as you say the singer of the song, you should agree with my judgment, after all, he has always had a high quality output in ancient music. The song "Nine Tails" is sung by Dai Tsuen.
Of course, the success of "Nine Tails" is not only because of Dai Tsuen. It can finally show the pure ancient quality, thanks to the high degree of matching of creation, production, singing and presentation, that is, systematic creation. Here we need to emphasize the intention of the song, "Nine Tails" is the theme song created for the "Shenwu 4" computer version of the game character Su Qingtu, so it is bound to fit the background of the era set by the game, and at the same time, it naturally reflects the character arc of the character.
This propositional song, its foundation is destined to belong to the ancient style.
Measured by the above criteria, I can feel the commendable highlights. First, let's talk about the ancient elements. The core musical concept of "Nine Tails" is cross-border, integrating ancient style, pop, rock and other musical forms, so that the elements in the song will reach a high degree of abundance, and you can clearly hear the many typical instrument sounds involved in the process of the song, which form a three-dimensional effect of Chinese and Western interaction, ancient and modern interlacing. The point is that although there are many but not just additive, the abundance of elements here is based on the necessary musical expression.
I was personally impressed by the rhythm of the use of the big drum and the small play mode. The former is responsible for creating a profound solemn meaning, and the latter is responsible for simulating the sense of urgency in the battlefield. The interaction between the two is the penetration between the big scene and the small details, that is, it completes the depiction of the era and the description of the character's behavior. Melodically, the synthesizer timbre and the guzheng speak in real time. In particular, in the second section of the main song, the electronic analog timbre and the timbre of the real instrument blend with each other, pushing out a beautiful melodic line of Chinese and Western.
Regarding the elements, it is also impossible to ignore the voice of Dai Tsuen. In a sense, his singing is even more expressive than many instrumental elements. On the basis of the main line around the ancient style singing method, according to the song paragraph to convert the singing method, according to the emotional process to control the resonance position and then change the color of the voice, the human voice here truly interprets the essence of "changeable". Thanks to Dai Tsuen's singing, "Nine Tails" not only fully presents the ancient flavor, but also greatly enriches the expression of ancient style, and the song is quite dynamic.
Let's talk about the ancient style. From the "Nine Tails", there are "horseshoes XiaoXiao, half a foot dream and half floating life" of the jianghu world, there are also "wait for me to cut down the sky, and then a thousand miles of fast wind" chivalrous Qiankun, the artistic conception highlights the distinct sense of conflict between flesh and blood. This is essentially a true reflection of the character traits of Su Qingtu,000 characters in the game.
The setting in the game is as follows: "Su Qingtu was originally a young talent of the Spirit Fox of the Ancient Demon Clan, who could transform into a human being in the form of a nine-tailed posture at a young age, and was placed high hopes by the elders of the clan." However, in the process of Su Qingtu's growth, because his sister Hu Xiaomeng was adopted and disappeared, he chose to break off relations with the clan, abandoned the name and surname of the Ancient Demon Clan, and began to officially break into the Three Realms of Shenwu in the name of Su Qingtu to find the whereabouts of his sister. ”
It is clear that Su Light Tu symbolizes the spirit of confrontation. "Nine Tails" appropriately conveys this confrontation, with a definite smell of gun smoke, and at the same time, by integrating it into a long deduction, the confrontation shows a sense of mission and ritual.
The ancient mood of "Nine Tails" does not fall into the empty scene, but has a susceptible atmosphere and, more importantly, the picture and plot that unfolds around the characters. This design deepens the on-site experience, allowing the listener to perceive the pleasure and leisure in the game world in a song.
Compared with the intuitive auditory stimulation, the artistic appeal is the core of the ancient style song.
On the basis of the artistic conception, what is established is the sense of epicness. The so-called epic sense is definitely not limited to the grand battle, but more importantly, it is necessary to reflect the full traces of development in the narrative context. This is different from the pursuit of instantaneous "explosion" audiovisual effects, which is to express it gently in a calm and deepening rhythm, at the expense of multiple paragraphs, multiple levels, and deeply hidden mechanisms.
Nine Tails is exactly that. The thought of the arrangement, the interpretation of the lyric text, the expressiveness of the vocals, and the expression path of the tortuous shape of the various dimensions are all unconcerned, that is, the dramatization of the suspense is created. Judging from this point of view, the song "Nine Tails" is portraying characters in the form of biography. What I personally appreciate is that it doesn't covet cheap "coolness", but focuses on using enough space to show the era and characters in the game world in detail.
The sense of epicness is far more than rendering the big scenes, but also in the inner hearts of the individual characters. Just like "Nine Tails", it integrates the era and the characters very well, and if you understand it, you can understand the world view of the Shenwu game and, Su Qingtu's inner values.
"Nine Tails" uses ancient style music to express pride and chivalry, "Hurry, now looking for wind and horses, why fear the road", what is worth pursuing? What is the meaning of the existence of "I"? There are concise answers to these questions. I think that the real core of epicness is the value orientation, which brings a thick interpretability to the ancient flavor. Therefore, the essence of "Nine Tails" conveys, in addition to the sonorous and high-pitched momentum, it is also a magnificent attitude towards life.
"Embrace the stars into the sleeves", "Cut down the endless sky", "Ride the horse to the wind"... Such chivalrous feelings appear in the game, appear in the game characters, and project our yearning for the ideal state.
Ancient style is a musical style and a spiritual attribute.