Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 32



Only Krnovel

32. Rather than doing it half-heartedly

“Hello, number 18. Nice to meet you.”

The person on the phone was contestant number 18, who was selected as the ‘Who’s the King’ 2:2 battle mission partner.

I was in the Friday group from 1 to 24, so I didn’t get to see the stage in person.

The production team sent me my partner’s photo, contact information, and a recording of the stage that day to confirm.

The 18 impressions confirmed through video were quite strong.

In a word, it is ‘freedom’ itself.

With his curly perm hair and hippie-like outfit, he presented music that was as free-spirited and local as it looked. Unlike Cha Sung-jun, he played the keyboard and sang.

‘It was a languid voice tone, but the rhythm was good.’

However, because it was too individualistic, it was criticized as ‘music that only I like, without considering the public’s ears.’

As a result, the judges gave him a rating of Four Crowns.

That’s why I became a pair with Cha Seong-jun.

The pair composition for the 2:2 battle mission was decided by the judges, not the participants, with various balances taken into consideration. This was largely due to the intention to equalize the combined crown values ​​of the two team members.

The two teams that are about to face off have created a ratings trick that creates anticipation and tension about which team will win by making their power level evenly matched.

The production team said that it was a pairing to ensure fair competition.

So most of the Five Crowns and Six Crowns were united.

All Crowns are paired with the lowest tier Four Crowns.

Well, anyway.

“So, have you thought about it? What kind of song would be good to rearrange?”

The 2:2 battle mission revealed at the end of the recording was none other than an ‘arrangement’ competition.

A mission based on that damn ‘qualification to be king’ thing, that if you want to share your own song, you must first arrange or reinterpret someone else’s song in your own style.

The details were as follows.

1. Two people with different genres are grouped together to form a team.

2. The seven custodians (judges) freely select one of the seven representative songs through discussion.

3. Arrange the original song’s melody, lyrics, and accompaniment to maximize the strengths of both people.

4. The winning team competes with the opposing team, with all members surviving, and the losing team must eliminate at least one member.

So, after thinking about it for a day yesterday, we decided to each pick three songs that appeal to us.

Among them, we decided to select a song that belongs to the intersection.

If the songs that each person wanted were all different, then they would have had to negotiate through other methods, such as climbing a ladder, playing rock-paper-scissors, or playing Mukjipa…

– I chose ‘Hello, Hello, Hello’ by Im Mirae, ‘Walk’ by Choi Ha Na, and lastly, ‘Just’ by Jay Jay.

“Oh, for me it was ‘Star, Wind, Poetry’ by Choi Kang-san, ‘Warm Greetings’ by Ryu Yeong-seok, and ‘Walk’ by Choi Ha-na.”

Fortunately, one song overlapped and was chosen as is.

Now that we’ve chosen the song, it’s time to discuss the mission in earnest.

First, we shared our thoughts on the direction of the arrangement of each song for brainstorming.

Also, about the music you pursue.

“First of all, I would like to keep the lyrics as they are. They are too perfect to be touched halfway.”

– Then, how about going a little bit unconventional with the instrumentation and melody arrangement? At first listen, you might wonder if it’s the original song or not.

At first I was at a loss, but as we talked, I gradually got a feel for how to arrange it.

It was thanks to the feedback from the judges at the inauguration ceremony that I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses.

In Cha Sung-jun’s case, he was generally praised for his stable vocals and his composition of songs that were popular but also had unique parts, but in fact, he had no proper arranging experience.

To be honest, I can say that this is my first time.

When singing Yuna’s cover song, all I do is change the MR to a male key and slightly vary the melody.

But this time, you have to touch not only the melody but also the instruments.

On the other hand, number 18 has the advantage of a local composition style and the ability and understanding of various virtual instruments to support it.

The downside is that the songs they’re made from are a bit overly experimental and idiosyncratic.

Both are musicians who were selected as one of the 49 members of ‘Who’s the King’ after beating out 1000:1 competition.

It was easy to figure out how to hide the flaws and highlight only the strengths.

“First of all, let’s try to put the arrangement concept into text or image format today. After that, I think it would be good if you could take care of the initial framework.”

– Then, since number 49 has a bit more popular sense, please listen to it and give your opinion. I think we can go in the direction of modifying it accordingly.

So we ended the call after about an hour.

We decided to share our progress through KakaoTalk from time to time and meet in person on Wednesday to discuss the progress.

Oh, the meeting place on Wednesday is JBS Studio.

I have to film scenes where I talk to my partner, the arrangement process, interviews, etc.

“Anyway, this week is going to be crazy busy again.”

Contrary to his moaning, the corners of Cha Sung-jun’s mouth are subtly raised.

Then, he played Choi Ha Na’s ‘Walk’ and quickly started writing down the inspirations that came to his mind on his notepad.

*

*

*

The next day, Tuesday.

After finishing work, I headed to the company’s underground parking lot.

Because I was planning to use a car to go to MXM Entertainment headquarters.

For your information, Cha Seong-jun has never owned a car in his 29 years of life.

That means,

“Seongjun, over here.”

From the corner of the parking lot, someone calls out to Cha Seong-jun quietly.

As we approached, a passionate bung bung car caught our attention.

B Company’s Mini Cooper Chili Red Clubman.

It’s a petite foreign car that costs a whopping 4,000 just for the can.

Then, as the dark tinted window rolled down, the driver’s face came into view.

Seol Hye-yoon took half a day off in the afternoon, saying she needed to make various preparations for her visit to MXM Entertainment.

She is today’s driver.

“Mr. Seol, you drive an imported car. You live in a two-room apartment, too. Are you actually rich? Or are you actually the daughter of a conglomerate, but you hid your identity to learn business management and resumed work at the company and stuff?”

“What kind of Mini Cooper are you talking about? And I just bought this to drive around with my little brother-”

My younger brother is too busy to drive often, but he also feels bad about leaving the car in the garage, so he only drives it occasionally, mumbling and explaining why he feels embarrassed.

This is getting more and more suspicious.

“Oh, anyway, stop bothering me and get in quickly before anyone sees. Put your luggage in the back trunk.”

“yes.”

When Seol Hye-yoon, conscious of the gaze of the people, opened the trunk, a pink carrier was loaded as a passenger.

He said he brought it because of the recording today.

I wanted to ask why they needed a carrier just to record, but I held back because I knew that if I kept nagging, Seol Hye-yoon’s ‘cold stare mode’ would be activated.

As I opened the passenger door and got in, I was greeted by an interior that looked like new.

A refreshing scent wafts from this cute cat-shaped air freshener.

When adjusting the spacing between chairs,

“Have you fastened your seatbelt? Then let’s go.”

Seol Hye-yoon said, taking off her glasses and putting on sunglasses.

As I stepped on the accelerator, the car skidded briskly.

*

I arrived at MXM Enter faster than I thought.

It had to be that way.

Because Seol Hye-yoon drove faster than expected!

Seol Hye-yoon, who was behind the wheel, was not the calm Seol Hye-yoon I had seen at work.

‘I’ll hurry a little because it’s rush hour and traffic is congested.’

After saying that, he traveled from Sangam to Yongsan in exactly 15 minutes, half the distance that would have taken 30 minutes.

I almost shot an episode of Fast & Furious myself.

Thanks to that, I was able to hold on to the safety handrail the whole way.

When I looked down, I saw cold sweat forming on my palms.

When I go home, I always take the subway.

I parked my car in the parking lot and went to the lobby.

Team Leader Kim Seong-su did not meet with me separately this time because he had an external meeting.

Instead, they said they had made arrangements in advance to allow use of the facilities.

“The recording studio is on the 7th floor.”

I was guided to the appropriate floor by the desk staff.

The 7th floor was divided into a lounge-style rest area and a recording area. To enter the recording area, you had to pass through a thick soundproof door, and inside, there were six recording studios, three on each side of the hallway.

Some recording studios have signs outside that say ‘In Use’ to indicate that they are in use.

Among them, I went into recording studio number 3.

If I were to summarize my impressions of stepping into the 4 major entertainment recording studios in two words, it would be as follows.

“This is awesome.”

It is a stark contrast to the underground workshop in Yeokchon-dong.

First of all, the space is spacious enough to fit a sofa and is comfortable.

Of course, the directing area and recording booth were also separate.

In addition, there are equipments that look expensive at first glance.

‘Wow, it would be fun to record in a place like this.’

It was a time when I was looking around with my mouth open like a country mouse who had just come to Seoul for the first time.

match-

Seol Hye-yoon clapped her hands.

“Shall we take our time looking around and change our clothes first?”

Then he opened the carrier he had brought and fumbled with something.

Soon, what he was holding in both hands were two sets of men’s vests and wine-colored ties. And a silver helmet.

What is all this?

“What do you think? It’s the ‘Durahan’ outfit I was talking about.”

That’s right.

On YouTube, DeVoice and Shine are called the ‘Durahan Couple’.

So today, I prepared a dress code for the duet song recording, which is a Durahan outfit.

The most well-known image of a Dullahan to the public was that of a headless medieval knight, but that didn’t mean he could get armor anywhere.

While searching for a replacement costume, I was inspired by a famous cartoon character wearing a butler outfit.

Since Copan was also selling the character’s cosplay costume, he said it was right and ordered it via rocket delivery.

“Mr. Seol. You’re serious about cosplay.”

“It’s better to do it half-heartedly than not to do it at all.”

He also took out a picket sign that he said he had made himself. It had the words ‘2M Celebration!’ written in white marker on a black background.

Anyway, it is a great execution.

Since my company attire for commuting to and from work was already formal, there was nothing much to change or prepare.

Both men ended up removing their suit jackets and adding vests and wine-colored ties.

Then, Seol Hye-yoon, who had been checking the uniforms meticulously like a dormitory supervisor, straightened Cha Seong-jun’s collar, thus ending the uniform change.

The helmet is not meant to be worn, it is a prop.

“Let’s wear it around our waists and sing.”

Well, it’s a headless Durahan.

After that, we had a brief briefing on the filming concept and method for the day and then started recording in earnest.

First up is Seol Hye-yoon.

First, I plan to get a female part guide.

Although it is a hassle, guide recording is usually done for duet songs.

Especially in the case of mixed duet songs, the harmony between the man and woman is important, because if each person sings their own part without any guide, the sounds and emotions will not blend well.

Therefore, once Seol Hye-yoon recorded the guide with about 70% of her strength, Cha Seong-jun sang the male part based on that, and then Seol Hye-yoon had to seriously re-record it.

We plan to record additional parts of the highlight section that builds up the harmony until we are satisfied with the quality.

This time, instead of the one-take, one-angle technique, the two chose to record and cross-edit each phrase.

“Ahhh, then I’ll go.”

Seol Hye-yoon, who cleared her throat slightly, put on her headset and stood in front of the microphone.

Then a clear voice flows out.

‘······Somehow, it feels new.’

Suddenly, I remember the duet we had at a karaoke about a month ago.

At that time, it was a duet that was suddenly requested because of the Bangsingki mission, but now it is being recreated under completely different circumstances.

I had no idea at the time.

Who would have thought that Seol Hye-yoon, who was nothing more than an awkward teammate, would become someone who shared a secret of being a cover song YouTuber?

“Okay, now it’s Seongjun’s turn.”

While I was lost in thought, Seol Hye-yoon finished recording and came out of the booth.

Cha Seong-jun, who was handed a silver helmet instead of a baton, entered the recording studio.

And two hours later.

“···It seems good, sir? What about you, sir?”

“Yes, me too.”

Cha Sung-jun and Seol Hye-yoon nod their heads after watching the final version of the duet song in the directing area.

First of all, I think the recording results turned out to be quite satisfactory.

All that’s left is editing the video.

In each male and female part, Cha Sung-jun and Seol Hye-yoon alternately appear, and in the choir part, the two appear simultaneously on the screen.

Originally, it was a task that took a lot of time because the song and video had to be synchronized one by one.

“We can do it quickly. Since we’re both going to cover our faces anyway, there’s no need to sync our lips so tightly. An hour should be enough.”

Seol Hye-yoon, who said that, turned on her laptop and started working right away.

It’s so familiar that you can see progress being made quickly.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Um… I don’t think there’s anything in particular. Oh, then could you buy me just one chocolate? There’s a vending machine outside.”

When Cha Seong-jun asked, feeling sorry for just sitting on the sofa, Seol Hye-yoon mentioned a snack to recharge her energy.

I opened the soundproof door and went out to the break room.

Then I bought all kinds of chocolate from the vending machine –

‘···Huh? Number 49?’

Someone tilted their head while looking at Cha Seong-jun.

He is the leader of the male idol group ‘Monsta Z’ under MXM Entertainment.

One of the judges of ‘Who’s the King’ was Ji Woong.

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