This summer, a long-awaited costume romance fairy giant production - the TV series "Ancient Dust" is coming!
Film and television dramas adapted from well-known Xian Xia novel IP have been loved by audiences in recent years, and the cast of "advanced configuration" has added a layer of attraction to "Ancient Dust": Zhou Dongyu, the queen of the three golden films, the popular male actor Xu Kai starred, Zhang Jiani, Liu Xueyi and other familiar powerful actors starred, and the series had already received full attention before it was broadcast.
In addition to the cast, the luxurious soundtrack lineup has also become a highlight of "Ancient Dust", with Zhou Shen, Mao Buyi, Modern Brother Liu Yuning, a-lin Huang Liling and other powerful singers to help. Through their careful interpretation, the ost song is more in line with the plot atmosphere, and many listeners have "vertically" entered the pit to chase the drama, starting with the original sound and being loyal to the plot.
Today's interview with the musicians has the honor of inviting Ms. Han Ying, the chief producer of the soundtrack album of the TV series "Ancient Dust", Mr. Xu Lin, the producer of the songs "Yue Love" and "Induction", and Mr. Wang Yaoguang, the producer of the songs "Nian Nian", "Chihiro" and "Obsessive Thoughts".
In the interview, the teachers not only told their inspirational experiences in composing songs, interesting things that happened with the singers during the recording process, but also shared their feelings when they participated in the production of the soundtrack of "Ancient Dust", providing the audience and listeners with another perspective on "Ancient Dust".
Let's follow the interview into the background together, focusing on the story behind the production of the soundtrack of the TV series "Ancient Dust".
q: Hello teachers, at present, the Internet has received rave reviews for "Ancient Dust" and praised the high quality of the soundtrack. I want to know what kind of opportunities teachers participated in the production of the soundtrack of this TV series?
Han Ying: Thank you to the majority of drama fans and fans for their support and affirmation of the album. In November 2020, our team (Mengyang Culture) saw the script outline, character biography, episode script, sample and other materials for the first time. The novel has long been well-known on the Internet, and there are many fairy tales of classic ost pearl jade first, so on the basis of intensive reading of relevant background information, the planning team analyzes the literary and philosophical core and the protagonist's fate line according to the tone of the TV series' works, positioning the album in a highly suitable for the plot, the appeal of the eye-catching theme, but also the current era and popularity, to be young, empathy and resonance coexist, not for the "ancient style" and "ancient style", even if it is the theme of fairy love, it can also project ordinary you and me.
In this context, we issued an invitation to more than thirty groups of music producers in the industry, alarming many teachers and singers who have not yet appeared on the production list, and hereby also said "thank you" to them, inseparable from everyone's efforts. The 7 songs on this album were finally selected from nearly 300 works, combined with the plot and the filmmakers.
q: The audience praised the ost of "Ancient Dust" and the plot closely fit, so in order to achieve this harmonious effect, what preparations need to be made before the official start of the production of the ost of "Ancient Dust"?
Han Ying: In addition to analyzing the works, watching the film flowers, and planning and positioning, we have especially studied the Chinese and Korean masterpieces of similar themes. From another point of view, the love myth of the two protagonists is actually a sadistic love "Korean drama", very modern, so when brainstorming with the producer, everyone hopes to do a new attempt, can you "find another way" and not take the conventional "pipa flute guzheng" routine? The invitation to R&b producer Xu Lin is precisely based on this idea. At that time, the theme song did not find the feeling we wanted: atmospheric, modern, melodic structure and the story of the combination of inheritance and transition, only then did he have his creative attempts, and there were many "Korean drama" style songs on the album, such as "Induction" and "Chihiro", which were also produced in this context.
Xu Lin: In order to better understand the plot trend and character personality and relationship, we spent a lot of time studying the original work, and after watching the film, we set the tone of the song.
Wang Yaoguang: When I first came into contact with the creative invitation with my lyrics teacher Zhang Pengpeng, we read the original work separately, learned about the story and characters, watched the sample film, and felt the tone and atmosphere of the whole play, at that time the conceptual framework of the song was already beginning.
q: In the ost lineup of "Ancient Dust", we see many familiar singers, such as Zhou Shen, Mao Buyi, Modern Brother Liu Yuning, A-Lin and so on. How do teachers arrange and design songs according to the singer's own singing characteristics when creating ost?
Xu Lin: When my team and I created "Love" and "Induction", we didn't expect that the two songs would eventually become the theme song and the emotional theme song respectively. When I learned that the theme song was sung by Zhou Shen, everyone agreed that I wanted his voice to bring a finishing touch to the plot, and some humming was added to the song, so that his voice could play to the extreme, and it would be closer to the plot to add a hint of entanglement and source. "Induction" singer Liu Yuning, we proposed to change his previous more man, harder singing method, suggested that he use a more angry, gentle voice to interpret this song, the final effect is very satisfactory.
Wang Yaoguang: "Years" can be said to be tailor-made for Mao Is not easy, when the crew did not receive demo, it put forward the hope that there is a song to invite Mao Buyi to sing, I myself also like him very much, his voice through a large number of works have long understood, based on his voice creation, recording demo also found a singer close to his voice, hoping that the director can feel Mao is not easy when trying demo patches. After the completion of the creation of "Chihiro", I thought of a-lin in my mind, her voice has a story, and I have not heard her sing ost for a long time, it is more difficult to cooperate, I did not expect that with the joint efforts of everyone, I invited her to be far away in Taipei, which was a surprise.
q: There are 3 versions of Zhou Shen's "Yue Love", and each capital has received a lot of audience love. So what are the differences between the three versions? What kind of surprises do the teachers think Zhou Shen's interpretation has added to the various versions of "Yue Love"?
Han Ying: Look at the fans are saying that the future is not Zhou Shen's ost, the standard is the third version to make everyone addicted, I want to say "thank you" to Teacher Zhou, and "sorry", it is really difficult for him, to add trouble to him and his team, it is not our intention. The theme song version was specially recorded for us in advance on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, and he has already understood the lyrics and tunes during the New Year, made a lot of marks, and the recording is completed in one go. And late one night in February, he heard that the patch would have a piano version of the arrangement, took the initiative to contact me and said, send this version of the arrangement, very touched, he is a singer with a high pursuit of artistic quality, know that the function of the theme song is different, the mood of the patch version will be very different, insist on recording another version. In late May, Zhou Shen and the team spent a full three months on the opening of the film, combined with the Dunhuang murals to do special effects, and then specially sang the humming version with us. His persistence and tenacity touched us, set the perfect tone for the texture of TV series and albums, and made us realize the secret of his current emergence as a representative of the Mesozoic generation in the Chinese music scene.
Xu Lin: The three versions are very different in terms of arrangement. According to the plot, the direction of emotions can be used in different scenes. Regular version, with clear layers. Humming version, long history. Piano version, warm with a little helplessness. In fact, they are all versions created to be close to the plot and characters. The iconic "Zhou Shen" sound also laid the foundation for the play, which not only has a sweet part but also an abusive component.
q: Netizens joke that Mao's "Years" is a tear-jerking artifact, and both the lyrics and songs are poking at people's hearts. Can the teachers share the behind-the-scenes story of the recording of "Years of Age", and how Mao's singing has set off such a sadistic atmosphere?
Wang Yaoguang: At that time, Teacher Mao Buyi and I were grinding in the shed for a long time, and he treated music more sincerely and strived for excellence, really like the lyrics of the song "not afraid to try, turn a thousand times, overthrow and start over". We tried a variety of emotions, recorded a lot of tracks, Teacher Mao persisted until the end and said, "I really tried my best", and together we picked the most satisfactory one until he left very late.
q: Modern brother Liu Yuning's "Induction" is the most popular ost in the whole drama, but it does not contradict the costume setting and is unexpectedly matched. Where did the teacher's inspiration come from when he made this new attempt?
Han Ying: When watching the sample film, I think that the sweet part of this drama is very Korean drama painting style, watching the stars, teaching sword dances by hand, walling each other, sitting in arms... It's all a moment of blushing heartbeat, which young people don't like? Therefore, the positioning and appeal of this song are very clear: romantic, dreamy, aesthetic, warm, I hope that everyone wants to talk about a relationship after listening, and have such a strong impulse. At that time, several teachers tried to do directional creations, and finally there was "Induction".
Xu Lin: In the early days of songwriting, my team and I were always "fighting" about whether to write about the ancient style or the popularity. Finally, under the conservative and unified style, we tried to create in a popular style. The inspiration came from spending time watching the male and female protagonists in order to fit the plot, and the composition and lyrics were immediately matched, and it took almost one night to write the demo.
q: Do you want to know if the teachers usually watch "Ancient Dust"? Which segments of the show are you most impressed with? How does ost feel about the atmosphere of the plot?
Wang Yaoguang: I have been chasing the drama, it is not enough to watch the update, now it is ahead of the screening, the ancient in the chaos robbery incarnation of the flying smoke scene I was very moved, at that time also sighed that the production effect of "Obsession" created by our team is very satisfactory, Ye Xuanqing's singing is very outstanding, plus points. Qingmu and Houchi experienced the thunder robbery together and implanted the passage of "Nian Nian" and "Chihiro" and also burst into tears. The plot and music are mutually reinforcing.
Xu Lin: I've been chasing lately. The picture of GuGu and Bai Jue practicing their swords, watching the stars together, some sweet fragments are impressive. When the male and female protagonists develop to a certain extent, they are paired with the track, which does not only push the plot to a certain height, but also allows the audience to enter the plot more and feel empathy.
q: Did the teachers participate in the production of the ost of "Ancient Dust", did anything interesting or impressive happen?
Wang Yaoguang: Can't say it's an interesting thing, it's an impressive and touching thing, because of various reasons in the production cycle, the song a-lin in Taipei was recorded on the eve of Chinese New Year's Eve, but in fact, the Taiwanese aborigines are very concerned about the meaning of the New Year reunion, I heard that she didn't take over the work when she was close to the New Year, and she originally planned to go home for a reunion early, because this song also delayed her trip. And because we polished the arrangement, we also outlined several recording times, she did not complain a word, but took the initiative to contact and communicate several times, hoping to understand more needs.
Xu Lin: Because of the soundtrack demand on the patch, we once went to the post-production computer room, and when we saw "Induction" pasted into the clip, it was sweetened by the song and the picture, and we couldn't help but laugh. Until the song was also recognized by the audience and friends after it was launched, it was enough to prove that our work was successful.
Poke chart listen to the soundtrack of the TV series "Ancient Dust"
q: Can you ask the teachers to share their impressions of participating in the production of the ost of "Ancient Dust"?
Han Ying: The core difference between ost works and daily singers' hair works is that ost is highly serving film and television works, and if it can have word of mouth, it must also be mutual achievement. Luckily, we met this hit show. I hope that when the plot ends, the audience can still remember the famous scenes and think of the music works that touch people's hearts.
Xu Lin: It is a great honor to participate in the songwriting of the soundtrack of "Ancient Dust", and I am very happy to work with excellent singers. The whole creative process is actually very smooth, and I am grateful to the filmmakers for their trust in us and the love of the audience and friends.
Wang Yaoguang: It's very enjoyable, a very fulfilling thing.
Q: Halfway through 2021, want to know what new music plans teachers have next? What are the new goals in music creation?
Xu Lin: The next team is also based on tailor-made songs, hoping to write more songs that everyone loves. Thank you.
Wang Yaoguang: Continue to write more satisfactory works for more dramas and cooperate with more excellent singers.
Interviewee: Han Ying, Xu Lin, Wang Yaoguang
Interviewer: Ah Hua
(The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author)