Volume 1 / Chapter 48
TL: LightNovelCafe
“Pronunciation is first. The purpose of vocal training is to find the right sound, not to teach you how to sing well. All I’m doing is helping you to make the proper sound from your body as an instrument. The first step to that proper sound is pronunciation.”
Vocal trainer Ryu Sun Hee’s confident attitude and clear voice made the 12 contestants even more nervous. The best vocal trainer who had taught several famous singers.
As they were already tired from spending all morning with the rigorous schedule they had been given by the fitness trainers, it was unnecessary to yell “Don’t use strength in your body!” at them.
“Come out and sing the song you’re most confident in one by one. Sing the song you’re best at. Don’t do something hard or something you want to do.”
It was necessary to fix the voices they normally spoke with first.
“You try singing first.”
Kwak Hye Sung was resentful of his body. He stood out wherever he went. After starving all day and running hard, a gentle song flew out of him gently,
“Another da~y gets further.”
Ryu Sun Hee grimaced at the first line of Kim Kwang Suk’s ‘Around 30’,
“Stop. It’s not further, it’s far.ther. You need to write the lyrics on a piece of paper and read it. Don’t sing until you can read it accurately. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Everyone sang in turn, but were torn apart in the introductions and had to start practicing reading the lyrics like Kwak Hye Sung. There were two people who did not hear Ryu Sun Hee’s criticism. It was 1st place nominee Jessica who was receiving harsh training at Mango Entertainment and Lee Hae Jun who was only 18 years old but had started as a trainee when he was 13 years old.
Since Lee Hae Jun found out he had to share a room with Jun Hyuk, he had been down. He was displeased that the only other contestant in his teens was already receiving celebrity treatment.
Lee Hae Jun had been watching the rules of this industry for five years already. It was a place where he had to stay afloat amidst constant comparison with others. It did not leave his head that Jun Hyuk who was also in his teens was his rival. This opponent was too strong.
It seemed the production crew had given Ryu Sun Hee advanced notice about Jun Hyuk who was up next,
“I heard you don’t sing. It looked like they are planning on highlighting the fact that you’re going through a survival program without singing. You don’t need to receive lessons, right?”
“No.”
“Fine. You can watch from the side. It’ll help to watch too since these are the kids you’ll be competing against.”
Jun Hyuk had already been watching the other contestants’ vocal training with interest. Singing with accurate pronunciation was the same as making the correct sound with an instrument.
First, there was only correcting pronunciation. As soon as they were given lyrics, the practice room quickly became full of noise with the instructions to practice reading. They seemed like elementary school students clearly reading the text in new textbooks. It was surprising how in a room full of the noise of 11 people, Ryu Sun Hee could pinpoint any one person making even the slightest mistake in pronunciation.
However, watching this interesting scene was only for a moment and the staff quietly took Jun Hyuk out of the room after taking a sudden phone call.
“The schedule got messed up a little. You’ll have to go with me right now to record.”
“Record?”
“Yeah, do you remember the 1st mission from Star Week? Park Ki Young’s song?”
“Ah, yes.”
“We got a call that there’s no time to record it except for today. All the other kids finished recording. You need to record your guitar instrumental.”
“That’s really nothing. Anyone can just play it. Honestly, I don’t really remember how I played it.”
It was just an accompaniment without anything special. It was the type of music that even a decent guitar session man could record easily.
“Ha ha. It’s not that simple. Would we do it so easily when we’ll be releasing it for digital sales? We’re going to trim it and make it much more elaborate. I bet you’ll find it interesting once you go and try it.”
When he got to the recording studio, the song he played for the mission was already playing.
“It’s too weak. Try making it livelier.”
“It doesn’t mix with the accompaniment. And lower that. That’s right. Okay, stop it there.”
Everyone else must have finished recording their parts, but none of the people who completed the mission with him were present and five soundtracks were dancing on the recording studio monitor.
The producer who saw Jun Hyuk and staff put out his cigarette,
“Oh sorry. Can you wait a bit? Let’s start once I finish this.”
Jun Hyuk sat on the recording room sofa and watched the producer playing with all of the sounds through the equipment with interest. For an hour after Jun Hyuk arrived at the studio, they had not even finished the 1st draft of a 3 minute 40 second song.
“Uh… You see.”
Jun Hyuk began to speak when he could not take it anymore.
“Oh sorry. Will you wait just a little longer?”
“No, that’s not it…..”
Jun Hyuk jumped up from the sofa and put his hand on the monitor track,
“This, lower it by 1/7 at 77 seconds. At 96 seconds, I think you can just make this and this higher by about 3/10.”
The producer’s eyes widened at Jun Hyuk’s input,
“Did you learn sound engineering?”
“No. I saw you do it for two hours. This thing lets you see each voice, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s fix it like that and try listening. The part that stands out too much should have disappeared.”
Anyone who heard a WAV file at home will know what a wave is. However, how could he pick out one point and modify it by lowering and heightening it? Even he who had been producing for 10 years could adjust the awkward parts but what Jun Hyuk was talking about was impossible. Fixing it by making by small modifications was all he could do. But how could he find exact modification figures like 1/7 and 3/10?
“Try it.”
The engineer adjusted the track as soon as the producer allowed for it. The producer’s scowling face lit up when he heard the modifications again,
“Something wasn’t right, but this was it.”
The producer realized that the broadcast station music director’s assessment of Jun Hyuk was not wrong,
“They kept calling you a genius; you really are good. How did you figure it out?”
“I just did.”
He just knows by hearing it. It was something he had heard often. It was what people with talent always said.