Chapter 55

"Are you bringing a friend to record?" Xu Yan, sitting in front of the mixing console, sized up Lin Zai Shan, who was trying out the guitar in the booth. She covered her mouth and whispered to Zhang Pengfei.

"Yes, yes." Zhang Pengfei didn't dare to lie. He guessed that when he brought Lin Zai Shan to register, Xu Yan must have seen them. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come to the booth to listen to the recording. This cunning supervisor must have asked Hu Xuelian.

"Very good, Xiao Zhang. Bring more friends in the future to boost our recording department's performance."

"Sure, sure."

"I heard from Xuelian that your friend is only recording a dry track. Why not introduce him to our studio's specialty services?"

"My friend is a senior in the industry. He only wants to record a dry sample and doesn't need post-production."

"No post-production?" Xu Yan looked at Zhang Pengfei's chubby face with suspicion.

"He has his own studio. After recording the dry track, he might do the post-production himself." Zhang Pengfei explained, bracing himself.

"If he has his own studio, why come to ours to record?"

"Well... the recording conditions in his studio are not good enough. He needs a high-quality dry track this time."

"Since the recording conditions in his studio are not good, the post-production quality might not be good either. Why don't you suggest to him that he do the post-production here after recording? It would be much more convenient. If he takes the sample back and can't do the post-production well, he'll have to come back, which would be a hassle."

"Sure, sure. I'll suggest it to him later."

"Give me a pair of headphones."

"You... want to listen too?"

"I have nothing else to do, so I'll help your friend monitor the booth."

"Alright..." Zhang Pengfei felt a wave of bitterness. Reluctantly, he gave Xu Yan a pair of monitoring headphones. It seemed this old fox wasn't going to leave until he suggested post-production to Lin Zai Shan.

Inside the booth.

Lin Zai Shan saw a woman with a long face enter.

Judging from her demeanor and Zhang Pengfei's respectful attitude, she must be a female leader.

Meeting Lin Zai Shan's gaze, Xu Yan grabbed the intercom microphone and introduced herself, "Hello, Mr. Lin. I am Xu Yan, the supervisor of our recording department."

"Hello."

"I heard from Pengfei that we are all friends. I came to help you monitor the booth. Do you have any objections? Don't worry, I'll do it for free."

Zhang Pengfei secretly gave Lin Zai Shan a look, hoping he would get rid of Xu Yan.

Lin Zai Shan realized that Xu Yan was here to keep an eye on Zhang Pengfei. If he got rid of her, it might cause trouble for Zhang Pengfei.

So, he decided to let Xu Yan help him monitor the booth. He wasn't afraid to sing in front of strangers.

"Sure, thank you."

Zhang Pengfei's heart sank. With this old fox around, he couldn't do anything extra for Lin Zai Shan!

In the recording studio, every extra service comes with a fee, and he genuinely didn't want to "cheat" Lin Zai Shan out of money.

"Mr. Lin, I see from your order that you only want to record a dry track?"

"Yes, I just need a dry track with a guitar track. I'll listen to the effect first. If it's good, I won't need post-production. If it's not, I'll do the post-production."

Xu Yan nodded in understanding and didn't disturb Lin Zai Shan as he tried out the guitar.

Turning off the intercom, Xu Yan whispered to Zhang Pengfei, "Your friend is quite interesting. He wants to listen to the effect of a dry track. How can there be an effect?"

Zhang Pengfei whispered back, "His voice is amazing. His vocal cords are like a built-in effects processor. If he records well, he really won't need any effects."

Xu Yan gave Zhang Pengfei a disbelieving look, as if to say, "What a joke! Built-in effects processor?"

After working in the recording department for so many years, she had rarely seen a voice that didn't need any effects.

Even singers of the caliber of a song king usually need effects in most of their recordings.

This white-haired uncle with an old guitar, trying to do an unplugged live recording, was just a dream!

Xu Yan wanted to see how good this uncle's voice really was.

Feeling like sitting on pins and needles, Zhang Pengfei was extremely depressed, silently praying that Xu Yan's phone would ring so she would leave. This would make the recording session more comfortable.

Xu Yan had nothing else to do this afternoon and decided to stick it out with Zhang Pengfei.

Young people nowadays always use company resources for their own benefit, which she found most repulsive.

Just bringing a friend to record is fine, but only recording a dry track without any effects? What a joke!

Xu Yan was determined not to let Zhang Pengfei get away with it and to prevent this trend of using public resources for personal gain from continuing.

Inside the booth.

Lin Zai Shan was focused on trying out the old guitar, no longer thinking about Xu Yan.

This old guitar had a long history.

It was bought for Lin Zai Shan by the grandfather of the original owner, using nearly two years' savings.

At that time, Grandpa Lin knew that Lin Zai Shan liked playing the guitar and wanted to keep him out of trouble. So, he gave the young Lin Zai Shan, who was just starting middle school, a surprise by buying him this top-tier acoustic guitar.

Grandpa Lin didn't know much about guitars, but the store owner convinced him to buy it. It was quite expensive at the time and of good quality.

After 20 years of ups and downs, the guitar looked worn and faded, like a piece of trash on the street.

But its sound was increasingly rich and mellow.

The strings had been replaced several times, but the body had never been altered. It carried the life of the original owner and held great significance to him.

When the original owner fell into poverty, he sold all his personal belongings—his house, top-of-the-line audio equipment, and even the gold commemorative disc that represented his highest honor.

But he couldn't bear to sell this guitar.

Of course, the guitar was no longer worth much, and he couldn't get a good price for it.

It was like a remnant of the original owner's existence, now in Lin Zai Shan's hands, weathered and aged.

At this moment, playing the melody of "Hills" on this old guitar felt like playing a life full of hardships. Lin Zai Shan felt it deeply.

He had a strong connection to the guitar and the melody of the song.

As Li Zongsheng himself said, "All forms of music serve the melody."

The melody is the soul of music.

This "Hills" encapsulates the essence of Li Zongsheng's lifetime of melody creation. It seems simple and ordinary, without grandiose notes, but its inner quality is profound and insightful, reflecting a life of trials and tribulations.

At Lin Zai Shan's current stage of life, understanding and interpreting the melody of "Hills" was still challenging, even after experiencing two lifetimes. But a master is a master, and not everyone can be one.

The reason a master's work is classic is that everyone can find their own insights and experiences in it.

It's as if a part of the song is writing their life, piercingly accurate, with a guiding and enlightening quality, free from pretense, leaving one in awe.

To fully digest a work of art, besides the creator, almost no one else can do it.

But a cover, if it can deeply convey one's own insights, is considered very successful.

At this moment, Lin Zai Shan was trying to digest the melody of the song, infusing his own insights into the music, and extracting his emotions from the music, striving to bring out his best and most committed state to perfectly cover this classic of classics.

Given Lin Zai Shan's age in his previous life, deeply understanding "Hills" was indeed challenging.

He remembered a senior from the 1970s, about ten years older than him, who once shared a profound insight about "Hills" that resonated with him.

To this senior, Li Zongsheng's "Hills" was like a dirge for their generation.

Back then, he was one of millions of students heading to the college entrance exam, but when it came to choosing a major, he had no idea what he wanted to study or what he wanted to do.

The greatest tragedy of their generation was not the failure to achieve their dreams, but the lack of dreams when they should have had them.

After more than a decade of rote education, they learned a lot of knowledge they would never use, but never seriously considered what they were suited for or what they liked.

They were learning machines, devoid of any real purpose.

Their ideals and aspirations were nipped in the bud.

Later, as the times changed, ideas were liberated, and society became more diverse, but they grew old. The part of history that was taken away from them left a permanent scar, a constant reminder of their loss.

As the senior put it, people born in the 1970s appeared steady but were actually frequently looking back, driven by a sense of dissatisfaction.

They tried to chase after their faded old dreams, driven by a sense of regret.

As "Hills" sings, they kept climbing hills, even though their heads were already white.

But time had moved on, leaving them behind, leading to a sense of missed opportunities and endless complaints.

But those deep-seated regrets had become the pillars of their lives.

They knew the tide had turned, yet they still struggled with fate, fighting a losing battle.

Every generation has its regrets and sorrows.

The senior from the 1970s read the sorrow, helplessness, and sighs of their generation in "Hills," as well as their spirit of enduring in silence, moving forward in difficulty, and struggling under constraints.

One of his most touching statements was, "We rarely feel satisfied, but we don't easily give up. We may seem conservative and dull, but deep inside, there is always a spark that hasn't been extinguished. This is perhaps our destiny, to the end!"

In his previous life, Lin Zai Shan was a member of the 1980s generation, younger than the senior, but from the senior's insights, he saw his own future.

Perhaps in ten or twenty years, when the 1980s generation's hair also turns white, they will have the same insights when they listen to "Hills."

What's the difference from the 1970s? The 1980s generation, at the age when they should have had dreams, also mostly lacked them.

They were also a generation of rote education.

When they see through everything, they will also feel the sorrow of being left behind by time.

In twenty or thirty years, when the 1990s generation's hair turns white, they might also have the same feelings when they listen to this song.

It's hard to say whether this is the greatness of the song or the tragedy of the times.

Perhaps, this is just fate.

Now, having lived two lifetimes, Lin Zai Shan's mindset has matured, his hair has turned white, and his life experiences have deepened.

His understanding of the melody and content of the song is even more profound.

After playing the main melody of "Hills" once, he heard the old guitar's rich, life-like sound through the monitoring headphones and entered a deep state.

His eyes conveyed a calm and composed demeanor.

He gave an "OK" sign to the outside, ready to start the recording.

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