Chinese Entertainment: Top-Tier Boyfriends of Young Actresses

Su Yu spent a few more days with Wang Churan in Shanghai.

This girl had just become a woman and was very infatuated with him, so Su Yu naturally wouldn't go against her wishes and spent a few days with her.

Afterwards, I took her to Tianzifang, strolled under the plane trees on Sinan Road, and then went to M50 Creative Park to see a modern art exhibition that she said she couldn't understand.

However, he consciously avoided the Jing'an Temple and Huashan Road area, since Tian Xiwei was also in Shanghai.

The area around Shanghai Theatre Academy at 630 Huashan Road, from Yuyuan Road to Fumin Road and then to the Wukang Road-Anfu Road block, is full of trendy cafes and artsy shops. Students from Shanghai Theatre Academy love to gather there and stroll around after class.

Su Yu always deliberately avoided that area when choosing a place. When Wang Churan asked him why he didn't go to visit Jing'an Temple, he said, "What's so interesting about visiting a temple?" She didn't think much of it.

A few days later, Su Yu returned to the capital.

As soon as we landed, Xiao Zhou came to greet us, carrying the documents.

This girl had been worried for several days because her talent agency was going to be disbanded and she was about to lose her job. She didn't even have the energy to follow the synopsis of highly rated Thai dramas or watch horror movies on Douban. Instead, she spent all her time refreshing job postings on various recruitment apps.

Su Yu's words, "I'll definitely bring you along once the studio is established," reassured her a lot, so she's been exceptionally proactive lately.

She has already found a suitable music studio and contacted a screenwriter.

"Brother Yu, I've already booked a recording studio for you. There's a place called 'Play Recording Studio' in Gaobeidian, Chaoyang District. It's a large, professional studio that opened in 17. It's fully equipped and I've heard that the sound field design is also quite good."

In addition, there is another venue called "Lezhi Sound" in Fangjia Hutong. It is a suspended structure with excellent acoustic performance and a very stable reputation in the BJ independent music scene.

Which one do you choose? Both have good feedback, but the one in the alley has a better ambiance.

Su Yu leaned back on the sofa for a while, then thought for a moment: "Let's go to that place in the alley, the atmosphere is better."

Xiao Zhou nodded and began making arrangements.

The next day, Su Yu went to that house in Fangjia Hutong.

The recording studio is tucked away in a detached house behind a large locust tree. It looks quiet from the outside, but once you step inside, you'll find a whole different world. In the control room, rows of racks of equipment are flashing green indicator lights. The monitor speakers are wide-panel ADAM AUDIO S3X-H, with two speakers placed on either side of the mixing console. The walls are covered with carefully designed sound-absorbing foam.

Through the large glass window, you can see the recording studio, which contains several large-diaphragm condenser microphones. Once the soundproof door is closed, the entire space is as quiet as if it has sunk to the bottom of the sea.

But once the recording actually started, Su Yu realized that it was far more troublesome than he had imagined.

First, we did a sound check.

The recording engineer asked him to read a passage into the microphone and adjust the microphone position and preamp gain. This step alone took almost twenty minutes. If the microphone was too close, the low frequencies were too heavy; if it was too far away, the sound quality was lacking. He had to move it several times before finding the optimal distance.

Then, I recorded the backing track.

Although he had already typed out the sheet music using MuseScore, music production is not simply about stuffing the sheet music into the software.

The producer had to run through every instrument track in the DAW, adjusting the timbre of each instrument individually, including piano, guitar, bass, drums, and strings. Equalizers, reverb, and compressors were layered on top of each other, and it took nearly an hour just to make the entire accompaniment sound "like a complete song".

Next, we'll officially record the vocals.

Su Yu stood in the recording studio wearing headphones, initially full of confidence. After all, he felt he was doing quite well, with good pitch and a decent voice.

But when he actually stood in front of the condenser microphone, he found that it wasn't like that at all.

Compared to a true professional, he was full of mistakes. His breath control was unstable, his pitch was too high, and he made a lot of mistakes.

The recording time for his entire song was extended from the expected one hour to almost five hours before it was completed.

Finally, the producer selected the most emotionally rich segments from the twenty-odd audio tracks and pieced them together one by one, barely managing to complete the recording of the vocal parts.

This is not over yet.

Next comes mixing, which involves combining vocals and accompaniment, adjusting equalization, adding reverb, processing dynamic range, and mastering—essentially, performing final volume balancing and detail polishing on the mixed audio.

Xiao Zhou had actually told him all this before, but he only understood how many steps were involved between "recording a song" and "singing a song well" after watching the producer meticulously refine the dense waveforms on the control panel.

However, after a lot of work, Su Yu finally managed to finish the song "Want to See You".

During the audition, producer Liu Chang leaned against the monitor speakers, listened to it once without saying a word, and then asked Su Yu to play it again.

After listening to it a second time, he took off his headphones, and his eyes became more serious as he looked at Su Yu.

"Teacher Su, did you write both the lyrics and the music yourself?"

Su Yu nodded.

"I've taught myself a little bit of music theory."

Liu Chang placed his headphones on the control panel: "This song is very well written."

The chorus melody is handled skillfully, and the chord progressions are thoughtful; it doesn't seem like it was written by someone who hasn't systematically studied music.

The lyrics and music are well-matched, and the overall musical structure is very complete. From the beginning to the climax to the end, the rhythm is well controlled.

Honestly, Ms. Su, to be able to write like this through self-study, you're a true genius.

Su Yu quickly waved his hand: "Teacher Liu, you flatter me. It was just that I was in the mood at that time, and my mind was full of melodies, so I wrote it naturally."

"That's normal," Liu Chang nodded.

"When Li Zongsheng wrote 'I've Crossed the Ocean to See You,' he heard a story about a long-distance relationship in a beef noodle shop. Inspiration suddenly struck him, and he picked up a napkin and wrote the entire lyrics in just a few minutes."

The best works are often not designed, but rather emotions find their own outlet.

Then the producer looked at him as if he were looking at a piece of rough jade.

"Teacher Su, you have a very good voice, with a clean tone and full midrange."

It's just that I haven't received much professional training, my breath control is not very stable, and I tend to use too much force at the vocal transition points.

But if you get a proper vocal coach to hone your skills, you could debut as a singer with those qualities.

Su Yu simply smiled indifferently at this.

Becoming a singer? He'd never even considered it.

He knows all too well the hardships of being a singer. You can't eat spicy or cold foods, you can't stay up late, you have to quit smoking and drinking, there are just too many restrictions.

As for how quickly money can be made, let's not even talk about it. Right now, the salary of a top-tier actor for one film is enough for a singer to run commercial performances for half a year.

He's fine dabbling in it occasionally, but he shouldn't be a full-time singer.

After recording the song, Su Yu didn't rush to send it out.

He always felt that releasing just one song was too simple. If he could also add a music video, the visual and auditory impact would be even better.

Of course, this can't be rushed. You need to find a director, a location, and figure out the style and positioning for the music video. You need to keep it in mind for now.

Back at the company, Su Yu remembered that he still had important business to attend to.

"How's the contact with the screenwriter going?"

Xiao Zhou opened his notebook and pointed to the memo: "Sister Huo recommended a screenwriter named Tian Liangliang, who came from Teacher Bai Yicong's studio."

I checked, she's quite capable, and her price isn't expensive, so she's good value for money.

"Okay, then it'll be her. If she's free, please arrange a meeting for me."