Chapter 235. Featuring in a song?Inside the isolation booth in the underground studio, the members of Starlights were doing some warm up practice.
The drummer, Fu Tai was tapping on the drum pads in one corner of the waiting room. He was getting warmed up. Beside him was Ye Fen with a 5-string ba.s.s doing chromatic exercise.
"Aah—aaaaaah—aaaaaaaah—"
Lily was warming up her voice in front of them. From low to high, then back low again. She was loosening the tension in her neck.
Zhen s.h.i.+ was also doing chromatics by her side. There was an electric guitar hung on his neck.
The keyboardist, Ma Li was checking the chords of the keyboard and she would play some keys from time to time.
"They sure look like professionals."
Ren muttered seeing the warm up. Professor Che Shu who was standing beside him replied to him.
"Yes, they have enough experience to be called professionals. It"s been 4 years since the band was formed and they have performed in many clubs and pop fest."
"They have been together for a long time."
"Yes, there are times when the band was on the verge of collapsing but they kept going. When they have won that pop contest, they have become somewhat known but in the end, they were unable to become mainstream."
There were a lot of cases where well-established rock bands came to major.
However, successful cases were very rare.
Of course, most of them managed to profit and earned money as well as giving their contracted company the right money, but only an extreme minority gave big impressions to the general public.
In this era where idols were the trend, rock bands were considered "gourmet food" like existences.
For a rock band to succeed in this era, one must either have moderately good appearance, unique characteristics or a superhit song that can define them.
"They must have lots of expectations on this song, then?"
"Yes, It is not the first time Lily is composing songs for her band. When they won the pop contest, the song they performed was made by Lily but after that...."
Ren could guess what had happened even without asking. After they won the pop contest, none of their songs managed to work.
A rock band needs songs to be known as a rock band.
"Is that the reason why you are supervising their song this time?"
Ren asked as he looked at the professor with the corner of his eye. Professor Che Shu smiled as he shook his head in denial.
"I am just helping out my former students."
"You are a good professor."
Professor Che Shu laughed when he heard that.
The warm up of the band always finished soon. They were all ready to perform the song.
"Should we start?"
"Yes."
Both Ren and Professor Che Shu put on their respective headphones. The song started soon after that.
The drums leisurely gave a five-beat intro and the instruments all came in at once.
Ye Fen played the strings while the drums chimed with the snare drums, and the tom-tom drums.
The distortion of the electric guitar decorated the introduction. With Ma Li on the keyboard, the intro was rather loud.
Then the sound died down and the song started with it.
"On the pages of my eyes, I have written your name countless times...."
"The love on my lips, I don"t know why I didn"t tell you...."
"I only have one intention, that was to get your attention…."
Lily"s deep voice decorated the first part. She had closed her eyes and the mic was on a stand and she sang in her unique ba.s.s tone.
Ren and Professor Che Shu were standing near the mixer. Ren was listening to the song with great focus, trying to differentiate between the tunes of the instruments and the vocals.
Lily"s voice was deep but it had a light and sweet feeling at the same time. Her voice mixed with the melody produced by the instruments.
Ren could see that Lily and her band members have played this song several times or they won"t be able to show this much perfection.
"Will this song be a hit?"
Listening to the song, Ren was thinking about the same thing over and over.
He felt that the song was nice, the music was good and the lyrics were something that anyone can connect with.
Although the song was nice to listen to, Ren wasn"t sure of its success. It was because no one knows which thing will be a hit or flop in the entertainment industry.
It was like guessing from which cloud the rain would fall from.
No one can guess it but Ren still continued to listen to the song.
The song was about love. There are many times when one will love somebody but he or she will not be able to confess their love.
One will think about it several times but due to fear of getting rejected, he or she will just keep his feelings inside their heart, never to be taken out.
"Maybe we will again meet in another way…."
"And I will guide you through…."
"If I don"t have you, I don"t have anything...."
The song soon came to an end with the sounds from the strings from the guitar and Lily"s light humming.
Lily and the other band members looked at Ren and Professor Che Shu, after the song ended. Their eyes were asking if they liked the song or not.
Professor Che Shu was the first one to open his mouth.
"The song was good. It was a rock ballad, a type of song you haven"t tried before and you did a good job in composing it and the synergy between you all was good like usual."
Lily and other members smiled, as their lips curved upwards but it soon went downwards. The professor hasn"t finished his words.
"The song started out loud but the loudness soon calmed down and was replaced with a humming and light melody. The main problem was the switching."
Professor Che Shu was implying that the problem was in the middle of the song. Ren also agreed with him as he had felt that the middle was somewhat rough.
"So, what should we do?"
Lily asked with some hope in her eyes. The song was not released yet, so they can still improve it.
"You should add another verse in the middle and the humming portion should be a second or two longer but your voice would not suit the new verse."
Lily"s voice was too deep and it would not look good if it suddenly became lighter in the middle of the song.
That"s why, Professor Che Shu wanted another person to sing the middle parts.
"Then, should I sing it?
Zhen s.h.i.+ said as he raised his hand. He was the sub-vocal in the band. It means that he was the second vocal other than Lily.
"No, this song would not suit your voice. Your voice gets too loud and it"s suitable for shouting."
"Then, what should we do?"
When Lily asked that, Professor Che Shu had no way to answer the question. In the first place, he was just there to tell them the problems in the song.
It was for them to deal with the problems but suddenly, an idea manifested in his mind and he suddenly said.
"How about featuring Ren"s voice in the middle?"
"Huh?"
It was not only Lily and her band members who were surprised. Ren was equally surprised.
He was just standing on the side, listening to their conversation silently, he didn"t think that the professor would suddenly recommend him to feature in the song.
"What should I do now?"
That was the thought in his mind.