Chapter 12

Lin Zai Shan concluded the song "Butterfly" with a mellifluous falsetto that etched itself into the hearts of the listeners.

The music ended, but the lingering resonance was hard to dispel.

Everyone outside the booth was stunned!

Among them, the most shocked were not Bai Ge and Sun Yuzhen, but the big fat Zhang Pengfei!

Among these people, only Zhang Pengfei had a music background and was the most professional musician.

Precisely because of this, Zhang Pengfei was the most deeply impressed by the musical prowess Lin Zai Shan displayed in this impromptu performance!

Before this recording session, Lin Zai Shan said he would try to turn a melody into a song. Zhang Pengfei thought Lin Zai Shan wouldn't take this trial singing too seriously.

But as the melody progressed, wave after wave of climaxes arrived, and Zhang Pengfei was completely overwhelmed by Lin Zai Shan's overflowing talent, completely forgetting that this was just a "trial singing"!

Singing R&B is all about improvisation, but it also requires a strict internal musical logic and structure.

R&B can't be sung randomly; it must revolve around a central theme and a soulful melody.

In this aspect, Lin Zai Shan did exceptionally well. His voice could soar and return, like a kite on a string, perfectly controlled.

To Zhang Pengfei, the most impressive part of Lin Zai Shan's song was the transition to the final chorus. When Lin Zai Shan sang "accompany me to heaven and hell," the "heaven" part was in falsetto, and he handled it in a way that made it soar, as if truly taking people to heaven.

And just as it soared into the clouds, Lin Zai Shan immediately switched to a real voice, as if hit by a thousand pounds of force, plunging the song's atmosphere straight into hell!

Hearing this, Zhang Pengfei, sitting in front of the mixing console, almost jumped up. It was like being launched into space by a rocket and then immediately pulled back to the ground by ten times the force of gravity. This feeling of going from heaven to hell was incredibly satisfying for a professional musician like Zhang Pengfei!

From the very beginning, Lin Zai Shan set a solid and captivating melodic framework for the entire song. Within this framework, he freely expressed his emotions with a mix of real and falsetto voices, fully embodying the essence of R&B.

Zhang Pengfei didn't know if Lin Zai Shan had hummed this song before. If not, and if Lin Zai Shan had purely improvised the lyrics and melody based on a single melody, creating such a complete and logically structured song, Zhang Pengfei could confidently say: Lin Zai Shan was a super genius like Cao Zhi, who could write a poem in seven steps!

However, Zhang Pengfei didn't believe such a genius musician existed in the world.

He guessed that Lin Zai Shan must have revised this song many times before, which is why it was so perfect.

Otherwise, how could this uncle sing through the entire song without stumbling over the lyrics?

But even so, Lin Zai Shan's performance on this song, in terms of creativity, emotional expression, and singing level, was top-notch, leaving Zhang Pengfei in awe! A veteran is a veteran! Zhang Pengfei couldn't help but admire Lin Zai Shan and his generation of musicians who had experienced the golden age of pop music and the glory of that era's singers.

Tap.

As the music in the booth came to an end, Bai Ge excitedly pressed the stop button on the recorder.

Bai Ge was deeply moved!

This shock went beyond the emotional touch of Lin Zai Shan giving her this song to express his unique love. She was purely amazed by the super-genius musical talent that Lin Zai Shan displayed!

When the whole world said her father was no longer capable, she still firmly believed that one day he would rise again!

When everyone thought her father had run out of ideas, she felt that he was just temporarily lost and would eventually awaken and unleash his true musical talent.

Like Copernicus saying the Earth revolves around the Sun, with the courage to go against the world, Bai Ge had always been waiting for her father's resurgence.

And now, her father had truly unleashed a musical talent far beyond everyone's imagination. The feeling of "the world is wrong, I am right" that arose in Bai Ge's heart was even more profound than the impact of this song "Butterfly."

If not for her strong character that refused to cry in front of others, Bai Ge would have been crying with excitement! Her father was truly amazing! She gave Lin Zai Shan a million likes in her heart!

Song Peng couldn't help but exclaim, "Junior, your dad is really strong!" Lin Zai Shan's seamless performance was incredibly impressive to these younger musicians.

The keyboardist Liu Yang sighed, "How can 'strong' even describe it?" He didn't know how to describe Lin Zai Shan's performance.

Bai Ge proudly told the others, "My dad is the best!"

Previously, when Bai Ge said this, Li He and others had scoffed.

But now, they no longer underestimated this seemingly destitute and sickly middle-aged uncle, because once he entered the recording booth, he was like a god!

Everyone looked at Lin Zai Shan with more respect.

Before listening to the playback, but based on his rich performance experience, Lin Zai Shan was very satisfied with his performance.

Singing "Butterfly" with deep emotion, he used his techniques and expressed his feelings seamlessly, almost flawlessly.

He was very confident that this version of "Butterfly" would win over the music evaluation team at Oriental TV.

Walking out of the recording booth, Lin Zai Shan's face was filled with a confident smile, his mood was extremely pleasant, and his eyes, which were deep and unique, were bright and lively, far from the tired and exhausted look he had when he first entered the booth.

"Dad, you're amazing! You sang it perfectly! What's the name of this song?"

"Let's call it 'Butterfly.'"

"Great name!"

Bai Ge and Sun Yuzhen said this in unison, as if they had a telepathic connection.

Zhang Hao and others all wanted to get closer to Lin Zai Shan.

But Lin Zai Shan didn't have time to chat with these kids. He had just recorded the main part of the song, and it was still a half-finished product that needed accompaniment and post-production to become a sincere work.

With a serious attitude, Lin Zai Shan listened to his performance again, picked out two minor flaws, and asked Zhang Pengfei to fix them with mixing techniques.

Next, he needed to record the accompaniment for the song.

Lin Zai Shan looked at the Believers band thoughtfully, considering whether to have these guys help him with the ensemble. The accompaniment for this song required coordination of multiple instruments.

But considering the band's limited skills, Lin Zai Shan didn't want to waste time training them.

Instead of having them practice for a long time to accompany him, he decided to record each instrument track himself.

This way, he could adjust the balance and positioning of the accompaniment tracks during the final mix, achieving a better overall effect. He could also remove unnecessary reverberations, making the work sound clearer and more dynamic.

"Fatso, help me set the silent mode. I need to record the drum beats for this song."

Drum beats are the soul of a song. With drum beats, the song's impact and intensity would be better.

"You want to add drum beats to this song retroactively?"

Zhang Pengfei was surprised. He didn't understand what Lin Zai Shan was doing. Few people recorded songs this way—singing first and then adding the accompaniment. It was difficult to adjust the sound field in this method. In a professional recording studio, he had never seen anyone record a song this way.

Lin Zai Shan didn't want to record the song in reverse order either, but with no one to help, everything had to be done by himself. He had just sung a very perfect version, so he could only use all his talent to try to add the accompaniment retroactively.

He had done this before, so he was confident he could make the song even better.

"Help me record a drum track. I want to hear how it feels."

"Okay."

Since Lin Zai Shan insisted, Zhang Pengfei had to help with the recording.

The members of the Believers band realized that Lin Zai Shan was going to add the accompaniment retroactively and were all stunned!

They had never seen anyone record a song this way. Was this a joke?

Who sings the song first and then records the accompaniment? This was too much to ask of the musicians!

They wanted to see how Lin Zai Shan would do it.

Sun Yuzhen was also worried that Lin Zai Shan's method might ruin the song.

Actually, there was no need to add more accompaniment. With just the keyboard, Lin Zai Shan's melodic voice was already convincing. She thought this version of "Butterfly" was already strong enough to pass the selection.

But before she could persuade him, Lin Zai Shan had already entered the recording booth and was adjusting the drum kit.

It was very late, and Lin Zai Shan was still working so intently, which deeply moved Sun Yuzhen.

How could such a talented and dedicated musician have been lost for so long? Sun Yuzhen couldn't understand.

Bai Ge also didn't understand why Lin Zai Shan wanted to add the accompaniment retroactively. But thinking about what Lin Zai Shan had said before—that he wanted to create a perfect version to win over the people at Oriental TV—she guessed that what Lin Zai Shan was doing now was moving towards perfection.

Therefore, Bai Ge didn't question it. She admired her father's talent and trusted his choices, firmly believing that he would create a perfect version of "Butterfly"!

In the booth.

After adjusting the drum kit, Lin Zai Shan put on the monitoring headphones and tried out some drum beats. Listening to the feedback in the headphones, he made a gesture to Zhang Pengfei to lower the volume of the drum beats slightly.

Zhang Pengfei complied.

Lin Zai Shan tried again but was still unsatisfied, so he asked Zhang Pengfei to lower the volume of the drum beats one more notch.

After three meticulous adjustments, Lin Zai Shan was finally satisfied.

Then, Zhang Pengfei played the version of "Butterfly" that Lin Zai Shan had just recorded through the headphones.

To ensure absolute silence during the recording, Zhang Pengfei only played the music through the headphones, so there was no sound in the recording booth or outside.

Only Lin Zai Shan, Zhang Pengfei, and Sun Yuzhen, who were wearing monitoring headphones, could hear the version of "Butterfly" that Lin Zai Shan had just sung.

The others watched quietly as Lin Zai Shan slowly and rhythmically moved his drumsticks in the air, as if looking for the right moment to start, like a mime performance.

When the song reached the first climax and the line "Every time I see you, my heart is so calm," at the word "see," Lin Zai Shan suddenly added the drum beats!

Sun Yuzhen and Zhang Pengfei, listening through the monitoring headphones, could clearly hear that the sudden addition of the drum beats emphasized the change in the protagonist's mood when seeing the butterfly, making the climax even more powerful and touching!

The beauty of the moment when Lin Zai Shan added the drum beats almost made Zhang Pengfei's neatly combed hair stand up!

His roots were tingling!

It felt like a football fan witnessing a spectacular goal. Zhang Pengfei was in awe of the timing Lin Zai Shan chose to add the drum beats. He thought it was incredibly skillful! This uncle was truly a genius!

Sun Yuzhen's musical knowledge was not as advanced as Zhang Pengfei's, but when she heard Lin Zai Shan add the drum beats at the right moment, she felt the song instantly became more sophisticated!

Thus, Sun Yuzhen also had the same feeling as Zhang Pengfei: this uncle was truly a genius!

After adding the drum beats, Lin Zai Shan's drumsticks didn't stop. Following the lead of his own voice, he played the drum kit for over three minutes, perfectly adding the drum beats to "Butterfly" retroactively.

To Lin Zai Shan, the addition of the drum beats made the song like a person with a skeleton, clearly more supportive and fuller.

The five boys of the Believers band outside the booth were completely stunned. They couldn't hear the music, only seeing Lin Zai Shan playing the drums intently.

"Thump-thump-thump... thump-thump-thump... thump-thump-thump-thump-thump... thump-thump-thump... thump-thump-thump... thump-thump-thump-thump-thump" Lin Zai Shan kept repeating these drum beats, occasionally adding a drum fill to enhance the atmosphere. His focused and professional attitude, immersed in the music, earned the respect of these younger musicians.

They thought they were already dedicated to music, but seeing Lin Zai Shan, with his "aged" body, meticulously perfecting his work in the silent recording booth, they finally understood what it meant to pursue and love music!

Regardless of whether this uncle was showing off, he had conquered these five young people with his talent and dedication.

Listening to Lin Zai Shan's rhythmic drumming, Zhang Hao suddenly felt an urge to learn from him.

To Zhang Hao, this uncle was like a master from another world! He was incredibly skilled at music!

This was just the beginning.

In the next hour, Zhang Hao and others would be on their knees, witnessing Lin Zai Shan's astonishing feats!

This uncle not only added drum beats to "Butterfly" but, after several adjustments, also added bass, guitar, and multiple keyboard harmonies to the song retroactively!

For each instrument, he recorded a new track but didn't mix them together immediately, continuously enriching the song's accompaniment.

In the end, he even recorded several vocal harmonies himself, singing various strange onomatopoeic words, leaving Zhang Pengfei and others speechless!

Each track Lin Zai Shan added was recorded separately and not mixed together, so even Zhang Pengfei, a professional, found it hard to understand why Lin Zai Shan had such inspiration to make these choices and combinations.

Zhang Pengfei, who could be considered a half-producer, had recorded dozens, if not hundreds, of amateur and professional singers, and he had never seen anyone or any team record a song like Lin Zai Shan!

It's no wonder Zhang Pengfei had never seen this before. Other singers or producers create songs through a process of discovery, while Lin Zai Shan was purely "assembling."

Lin Zai Shan already had the classic works of the great musicians from his previous life, which had been repeatedly revised and perfected. He just needed to assemble the music in reverse based on the works that the masters had meticulously crafted dozens or even hundreds of times.

Doing this, Lin Zai Shan was quite self-satisfied. After more than an hour of serious work, he finally positioned the sound field and volume of each accompaniment track, mixed all the tracks together, and a complete version of "Butterfly," which he had single-handedly produced, was officially born!

"Clean your ears, get ready to witness a miracle!"

After staying up all night to complete this major project, Lin Zai Shan couldn't hide his satisfaction. He asked everyone to get ready and pressed the play button, letting these few people hear his satisfactory work first.

Like a bird gun turned into a cannon, the fully orchestrated version of "Butterfly" was even more impressive, leaving Sun Yuzhen, Zhang Pengfei, and others in awe of what a genius could do!

After the song ended.

Everyone was completely captivated. The synthesized effect of the song was beyond their imagination!

This didn't seem like the work of one person; it was clearly the result of a large music team!

If they hadn't seen with their own eyes that Lin Zai Shan did all the work, they wouldn't have believed it!

Zhang Pengfei, excitedly scratching his fat head, praised Lin Zai Shan, "Uncle, I've seen music fanatics, but never one like you! You're too intense! Recording each track yourself and mixing them like this, I'm really impressed! I apologize for my shortsightedness. You're truly a god of music! If anyone dares to say Lin Zai Shan can't do music, I'll be the first to challenge them!"

"Thank you for your hard work tonight." After staying up all night, Lin Zai Shan was finally exhausted.

"No hard work at all! You did everything, and I just watched! God, leave your phone number! You're my idol!"

Zhang Pengfei eagerly tried to get closer to Lin Zai Shan.

Zhang Pengfei had helped a lot that night, so Lin Zai Shan gave him his phone number.

Zhang Hao and others also joined in, writing down Lin Zai Shan's phone number.

They were all stunned by Lin Zai Shan.

Before this night, they thought their band, the Believers, was not much different from professional rock bands, but now they finally understood what a difference there was!

Seeing everyone so admiring of Lin Zai Shan, Sun Yuzhen was also extremely happy!

She wasn't a professional musician like Zhang Pengfei and couldn't evaluate Lin Zai Shan's work from a professional perspective.

From the perspective of a music lover, Lin Zai Shan had created such a perfect and touching song in such a short time, which was undoubtedly the work of a genius!

After hearing Zhang Pengfei's high praise for Lin Zai Shan, Sun Yuzhen was even more convinced: this rock uncle, who had been abandoned by the world, was a super-genius in music!

This was incredibly exciting for Sun Yuzhen!

If she could recommend such a god-level figure to their program, it would certainly add a lot of value to their show!

That night, Sun Yuzhen got the complete version of Lin Zai Shan's "Butterfly" demo and also asked Zhang Pengfei to specially burn a copy of the demo of "Listen to the Wind" that Lin Zai Shan had recorded earlier.

When she got home, it was already 2 AM, but she was too excited to sleep. Sun Yuzhen listened to Lin Zai Shan's songs several times while taking a shower.

Lying alone in bed, Sun Yuzhen continued to enjoy Lin Zai Shan's music.

Finally, unable to stay awake any longer, she fell into a sweet and melancholic sleep to the long, lingering melody of "Listen to the Wind."