Chapter 57

October 4th.

Thursday.

9:00 AM.

In the meeting room on the third floor of the Oriental TV Building, the music department.

Led by Ma Xiaodong, the 15 core members of the "Strongest Singer" music team were holding a meeting to discuss the works of the 10 contestants for the first episode of "Strongest Singer."

As Ma Xiaodong's assistant, Liu Mengmeng also attended the meeting, but she was not considered a core member of the music team.

Liao Bo, as the music producer, was fortunate enough to be part of this core music team.

The other attendees included top arrangers, music directors, orchestra conductors, top musicians, and first-class lyricists, all of whom were much more experienced than Liao Bo.

At 27, Liao Bo was the second youngest in the room.

Liu Mengmeng was the same age as Liao Bo, but a few months older.

The youngest in the room was a chubby boy with black-rimmed glasses, named Luo Boning. He was not yet 23 and had graduated from the Royal Academy of Music's composition department last year.

This young man was Luo Benxiong's nephew.

Ma Xiaodong and Luo Benxiong had a very close personal relationship, so naturally, he wanted to give this well-trained, musically talented young man a boost.

At the beginning of the meeting, the first work Ma Xiaodong brought up was Lin Zai Shan's submission for the first episode of the program.

After a quick glance at the materials, Ma Xiaodong's chubby face turned serious. He asked Liao Bo, "Lin Zai Shan only submitted one work?"

"Just one."

Liao Bo, sitting in the second seat on the left side of the long conference table, was responsible for collecting the works and materials for this competition. He was the only one among the attendees who had listened to all the contestants' works in advance. The others, including Ma Xiaodong, were only getting the first-hand materials today.

Liao Bo had already listened to Lin Zai Shan's "Hill" and thought it was brilliant!

Just this one song was enough; Lin Zai Shan didn't need to submit any other works.

But at this moment, sensing the cold air emanating from Ma Xiaodong, Liao Bo didn't dare say that.

He even dared not let the music department colleagues know that he and Lin Zai Shan were friends.

Like Liao Bo, the other members of the meeting also knew that Ma Xiaodong and Lin Zai Shan didn't get along, so no one wanted to stick their neck out.

Everyone was flipping through the detailed materials Lin Zai Shan had submitted, including the background of the song, lyrics, sheet music, and instrument arrangements, which spanned eight pages.

Ma Xiaodong flipped through a couple of pages and stopped, clearly unhappy.

The music department had previously instructed the contestants to submit multiple works so they could choose which one was most suitable for the live performance at the stadium.

Now, Lin Zai Shan had only submitted one song, clearly not giving the music department a choice!

He was too arrogant!

"Play the demo."

Ma Xiaodong, in a huff, asked Liao Bo to play the demo.

"The sound system in the meeting room has a broken wire. Xiao Zheng is replacing it and should be done in about ten minutes."

"What's going on! Knowing the meeting starts at 9, why wasn't the sound system tested in advance!"

Liao Bo chuckled bitterly, looked away, and didn't offer an explanation. This wasn't his responsibility, so why was he being scolded?

The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly became tense.

Liu Mengmeng felt the strong low pressure emanating from Ma Xiaodong and was extremely anxious. She sincerely hoped Ma Xiaodong wouldn't cause trouble for Lin Zai Shan, but it seemed Lin Zai Shan was about to be targeted.

Since there was no demo to listen to, they could only look at the materials.

"Hill" — the title of the song didn't bother Ma Xiaodong, but the background information did.

Lin Zai Shan's background information was simple: "This song is my life reflection."

Life reflection?

Ma Xiaodong sneered inwardly.

With an arrogant attitude, he criticized Lin Zai Shan's song, thinking this old-timer still believed it was 20 years ago and that he was standing on a hill.

Not interested in reading the so-called "life reflection" lyrics, he quickly flipped through the sheet music and saw that Lin Zai Shan had attached several pages of detailed arrangement notes. Ma Xiaodong's eyes twitched in annoyance.

The arrangement for this competition was the responsibility of the music team, who had to consider various factors to create the most suitable arrangement for the contestants, ensuring their best performance on TV and live.

The music team, experienced in TV shows, understood the nature of music arrangements for variety shows better than most people in the industry.

Most of the contestants were from the industry and knew the rules, but no one had submitted such detailed arrangement notes like Lin Zai Shan, specifying which instruments should be used in which sections, the style and melody of the instruments, and how the harmony should be arranged, etc.

This was clearly a move to "fire" the music team!

The music team wouldn't have to do anything else but practice the instrument arrangements.

Lin Zai Shan had a lot of experience in variety shows and original music programs. He knew that the live arrangements should be handled by the music team, and he shouldn't direct them. If he did, he wouldn't get good musical support on the show.

But the situation was special, and he didn't want the music department, led by Ma Xiaodong, to interfere too much with his work.

Especially for "Hill," if the arrangement was changed, the song's flavor would be greatly diminished.

Ma Xiaodong and he didn't get along, and if Ma Xiaodong helped with the arrangement, the result would definitely be off.

After interacting with Ma Xiaodong, Lin Zai Shan couldn't fully trust his professional integrity.

So, after careful consideration, Lin Zai Shan spent a whole night completing all the arrangement work.

He hoped the music department would follow his arrangement.

To appear less arrogant, he attached a page at the end of the arrangement notes with his thoughts on the arrangement, humbly requesting the music team to consider his suggestions.

If there were any inappropriate parts, he hoped the music team would discuss and negotiate with him.

If Ma Xiaodong saw this last page, his mood might improve.

But unfortunately, the materials Liao Bo prepared for everyone were missing this last page!

What Ma Xiaodong and the others saw was a complete set of arrangement notes.

In the music team, the main people responsible for arranging the contestants' songs were Ma Xiaodong himself and another top arranger, Deng Zhuqing (male, 40).

Deng Zhuqing, seeing the detailed arrangement notes, smiled and said, "This Lin Zai Shan is interesting. He did such a detailed arrangement. We don't have to do anything, just arrange the band. It's really convenient."

"What's convenient about it? Can his arrangement be used?" Ma Xiaodong said irritably.

Deng Zhuqing, with a lazy attitude, said, "I think it's fine. His arrangement is grand and creative."

"Is it suitable for live performance? Think about it again."

Deng Zhuqing smiled helplessly. After thinking about it, he still thought the arrangement was good, so he didn't argue with Ma Xiaodong. Ma Xiaodong was clearly targeting Lin Zai Shan, and no matter what he said, Ma Xiaodong wouldn't agree.

Hearing Ma Xiaodong's critical tone, everyone understood that they shouldn't say anything good about Lin Zai Shan's work to avoid wasting time.

"Xiao Bo, you've already listened to this song, right? What's your opinion?" Ma Xiaodong asked Liao Bo.

Liao Bo, of course, didn't dare say the song was great. He mentioned a flaw he had thought of: "This song has a major issue; it's too long, over six minutes. According to the suggestions from the talent group, the pure singing time for contestants should be limited to within four minutes."

Liu Mengmeng interjected, seemingly unintentionally, "A-class contestants can have a longer singing time. Six minutes should be fine. This isn't a flaw."

The youngest member, Luo Boning, after studying "Hill" for a while, suddenly spoke up: "The problem with this song isn't the length but the structure. Most songs are in the ABC format, but this one has an extra climax, making it a four-part structure. Personally, I think this is overkill, making the song's structure too loose and lacking coherence. It's not a standard composition. I suggest removing the last part and making the earlier melody more compact, which would make it more appealing and have more impact in a live performance."

Ma Xiaodong asked, "Are there any other obvious flaws?"

Luo Boning continued, "There are no major structural issues. The main melody is too bland — the opening is bland, and even the climax is bland, just traditional sentimentality with no highlights. The opening lines could be more flavorful if they used a descending tone. For the 'chatter' part, using a triplet to disrupt the rhythm and then a strong beat to restore it would create a stronger bridge, making the climax more impactful."

Ma Xiaodong said, "Your suggestions are good, but this is the contestant's work, and we can't make changes. We can only help maximize the emotional expression of the song through the arrangement."

Luo Boning, who couldn't appreciate the flavor of "Hill" due to his age, seeing Ma Xiaodong agree with his views, boasted, "I also looked at his arrangement. It's too old-fashioned, with a subdued beginning and a grand ending. The atmosphere is there, but can his voice handle it? Even if his voice can, the melody can't handle such a grand arrangement. I suggest not making such a grand arrangement. The melody is already bland, and it will be overwhelmed by the arrangement, ruining the song."

Deng Zhuqing shrugged helplessly; Luo Boning was creating trouble!

Ma Xiaodong definitely wouldn't help Lin Zai Shan with the arrangement. If it needed to be changed, he would have to do it.

Whether he improved it or made it worse, it would be a headache.

The best thing would be not to change it at all.

Use whatever arrangement Lin Zai Shan wanted.

Now, with Luo Boning's suggestion, Ma Xiaodong might insist on changing the arrangement!

Deng Zhuqing, frustrated, asked Luo Boning, "What kind of arrangement do you suggest for this song?"

"I suggest a light and fresh arrangement, with just a piano and a guitar. No drums or bass, no string or percussion ensemble. A light and fresh arrangement would highlight the main melody. If the arrangement is too grand, the main melody will be overshadowed."

Deng Zhuqing immediately suggested to Ma Xiaodong, "Luo Boning has a good understanding of the arrangement. Why don't we let him redo it for Lin Zai Shan?"

"Can you do it, Luo Boning?" Ma Xiaodong asked.

"Sure! I'm best at light and fresh arrangements!"

"Alright, you're responsible for the arrangement. You have two days to complete it."

"No problem!"

Luo Boning was thrilled to get the chance to arrange the song independently and asked, "Should I also help him shorten the structure? I can cut it down to within four minutes."

"No need. He's an A-class contestant, so a longer song is fine. Just focus on the arrangement," Ma Xiaodong said, sneering inwardly.

While Luo Boning was evaluating "Hill," Ma Xiaodong had already quickly read the lyrics and music.

This song was a grand piece, starting subdued and building up, like climbing a mountain. If a light and fresh arrangement was used, the song would be ruined.

Ma Xiaodong wanted to ruin the song to teach Lin Zai Shan a lesson!

At this moment, the sound system in the meeting room was fixed.

The sound engineer, Xiao Zheng, played Lin Zai Shan's "Hill" demo.

After the song ended, the meeting room fell into complete silence, and no one dared to speak.

This song, whether from a compositional or performance perspective, was so impressive that these experienced music professionals in the industry secretly gave it a thumbs up.

If it were someone else's song, they would have showered it with praise.

But seeing Ma Xiaodong's increasingly dark expression, no one dared to speak.

Luo Boning was stunned by the performance! He didn't expect Lin Zai Shan to sing so well!

The song, when read from the sheet music, seemed very bland, but when sung by Lin Zai Shan with his weathered voice, it was brilliant!

If the song were given a light and fresh arrangement, it would be ruined!

After hesitating, Luo Boning, blushing, said to Ma Xiaodong, "Director Ma, this song should use Lin Zai Shan's original arrangement. It's a grand piece, and I retract all my previous suggestions."

"Your suggestions were good, no need to retract. The arrangement is not suitable. Old Deng, you redo the arrangement for this song."

Determined to give Lin Zai Shan a lesson, even after everyone recognized the song's near-perfection, Ma Xiaodong insisted on changing the arrangement!

"Let Luo Boning do it. If the arrangement is changed, use the light and fresh style he suggested. If not, use Lin Zai Shan's original arrangement. The song can be big or small, and a light and fresh arrangement might bring out the flavor of Lin Zai Shan's voice. It might be even more flavorful," Deng Zhuqing said, wanting to slap himself. How could a light and fresh arrangement bring out the flavor of this song? The flavor had already been brought out to the extreme by Lin Zai Shan. No wonder he was so much more popular than Ma Xiaodong back then; this Lin guy was a genius!

"Alright, let Luo Boning do it," Ma Xiaodong said, persuading the hesitant Luo Boning, "Besides the arrangement, also shorten the structure to within four minutes. Follow your initial idea and turn this song into a small piece. It might be more flavorful."

Luo Boning almost cried, thinking Ma Xiaodong was asking him to paint white correction fluid on a blue and white porcelain vase! Forcing a masterpiece to become bland was a waste of art!

"Did you hear that?"

Ma Xiaodong, determined, pressed the wavering Luo Boning.

"I... I understand. I'll try to change it."

Intimidated by Ma Xiaodong's authority, Luo Boning reluctantly agreed.

Ma Xiaodong nodded in satisfaction, thinking Luo Boning couldn't change the song on his own.

This young man was already intimidated by the song.

He would have to help Luo Boning in private, taking the lead in the changes while letting Luo Boning take the credit.

He had to give Lin Zai Shan a lesson and show him who was in charge in the music department of Oriental TV!

...

While Ma Xiaodong was planning to give Lin Zai Shan a lesson,

In the palm garden of Huaxin Apartment,

A small production team led by the story group leader, Kui Yu, was shooting Lin Zai Shan's promotional video for the competition.

This video would be shown on TV before Lin Zai Shan's appearance, not at the live event.

Millions of viewers would learn about Lin Zai Shan through this short video before hearing his song.

The task of the story group was challenging; they had to help Lin Zai Shan reshape his image to the maximum extent through this video.

For this, the story group had been brainstorming and designing background stories and shooting angles for Lin Zai Shan.

"Uncle, do you want to shoot the beach scene first or the underground passage scene?"

Sun Yuzhen, acting as a liaison, joined the production team to assist with the shooting.

Bai Ge, having no classes in the