小胖之家 | 陶喆歌迷会(Davidtao.CN)'s Archiver

wayne 发表于 2008-6-19 17:33

2005.09.29 天空的某處

9/23/05 Friday morning 12:50 am Somewhere in the sky…<br/><br/>Once again, I’m back after disappearing for what seems like quite a while. I’ve been calculating how many months I’ve been back to Asia from the US and I realized that it’s almost been four months now. So much has occurred during these past few months but mainly everything has been revolving around the new Love Can concert tour that so far has toured Shanghai and Beijing. The weeks prior to the shows were filled with stress, hard work but still some laughter for everybody involved. The two performances so far have been very successful and the media and audience reactions have been overwhelming much to our delight. This makes all the hard work and planning worth it but also tells us that what we set out to create is felt and appreciated by people. Yes, I’ve been thinking about the new album but haven’t started actual production on it just yet. As I said, getting this brand new show off the ground was very demanding so much of everybody’s attention and priority was on it. <br/><br/>Firstly, I’d like to thank everybody who participated in the production of this show. These are the people behind the scenes who you never see or really hear about but who make the magic happen. Secondly, I’d like to thank those of you who attended, supported and prayed for the show. Your love and positive energy carried us through and gave us all the strength to continue what was sometimes very difficult. Of course, all thanks and glory goes to God for His guidance and safekeeping of all us. The audiences in Shanghai and Beijing (including many people who came from all over the world) were truly overwhelming as we were told from many people that rarely did they see such a passionate reaction from an audience. It was my first time playing in Shanghai and Beijing so I had nothing to compare it with but judging from experiences in other cities I have to agree and say that these two shows empowered me with so much love and energy. I hope our future shows in other cities can generate such feedback and interaction. <br/><br/>One of the reasons this show was challenging was that I wanted to do something different yet at the same time keep “music” as the central theme just as in the previous Soul Power Tour. Often times with concerts, the music remains the same or similar while the visual elements are changed from tour to tour. That’s something easier to do since changing things such as your wardrobe, the stage design, lighting and choreography is really just coming up with different ideas than before. However, the same cannot be said about the music aspect. For the band and singer, it can become monotonous and boring playing a song time and time again the same way. However, to completely change the arrangement of a song or the way it’s sung is also not always possible. Musically perhaps it can be done but often times the audience simply wants to hear a song played the original way they remembered it on the album. Also, sometimes it’s not musically sensible to drastically rearrange certain songs since that could ruin it original flavor or feel. I’ve sung “愛很簡單“ over a hundred times the same way just like 張學友 has sung “吻別“ probably over five hundred times! Often times I think whether the audience tires from hearing that song played and sung the same way during each performance. Should I rearrange it into a dance song or perhaps do it with an acoustic guitar with an orchestra? The results may not necessarily be favorable both musically and to the audience. However visually, whether I sing “愛很簡單“ in a red velvet suit or white linen shirt probably makes little difference to the audience and could be easily accepted. Therefore, my point is that making visual changes to a show is easy but making effective and musically sensible changes to a show is quite difficult. <br/><br/>Many changes that were made to this show (as compared to both my Soul Power tour and other people’s shows) are “invisible” to the audience. However, this is not to say that they are minor or trivial. These changes I’m about to share with you are not “visual” changes such as the stage design, wardrobe or any obvious things you can easily notice. I’ll leave those things for your discovery. Often times, while “invisible” changes you make to something are very important they are, unfortunately, are very easily overlooked. It’s akin to car design (something I love) in that often times we only look at the exterior changes of a new car (as compared to it’s previous model) but rather overlook the hundreds of interior and mechanical changes and improvements that make the car drive and perform better and safer. The key, however, is that these “changes” are not a means to an end but that they are more importantly improvements to the previous effort. <br/><br/>One thing we are constantly trying to improve upon is the sound during a concert. There are many variables including weather (if it is an outdoor venue), venue size and design, audience capacity and, of course, available sound systems. First of all, a quick lesson in what the “two” sound systems do in a concert. There is the sound system that provides what we hear onstage (the PA) and the system that you, the audience, hears (the House). Both systems are equally important though the system that directly matters to the audience is the house. However, the quality of the music and sound out in the house depends greatly on how well we, the singer and band, hear and feel the music as we are performing it onstage. If I cannot hear myself properly onstage then I may sing off pitch or often times sing too hard wearing my voice out. If the band cannot hear themselves properly then they may play the wrong parts or not “get into the music”. These things can then directly affect what you hear and feel. Even if we have the greatest system and speakers out in the house you may still feel that the music is uninspired and lacking in impact. <br/><br/>Therefore, this time we have decided to begin using in ear monitoring systems rather than relying on using traditional floor monitoring systems. There are two main problems with traditional stage monitors and one being that they fill the stage with loud sound levels, which then in turn are picked up by the many open microphones onstage causing an audio “loop” and feedback. This means that the audience hears a cluttered and “dirty” sound in the house. The other problem with onstage floor monitoring systems is that they don’t provide the clearest and most direct sound for the band and singer. Can you imagine up to ten to fifteen speakers sitting on the floor playing music loudly at you while you’re trying to hear your own voice or instrument? Of course, these floor monitor systems are also unsightly and clutter the stage quite a bit. How do we remedy this problem? Well, like I said we’ve decided have the entire band use wireless, in-ear monitoring headsets. I dare say this is one of the first, if not the first, large-scale Chinese pop concerts that has used this form of monitoring onstage. It’s expensive to equip the entire band with these systems, plus, there are other complications such as having to deal with frequency interference and having the band “learn” to use such a system. Most seasoned have learned to accept and get used to traditional floor monitoring systems despite their weaknesses. Therefore, having my band switch to a new system initially was quite challenging. I had to convince many of them to try it but when they got used to it they now all insist on them! Again, this is something rather “invisible” to the audience but a way we’ve chosen to improve the sound and experience of this show. <br/><br/>There are many other things I will share with you about this tour in the near future as it comes to a city near you. There are still many dates scheduled and many more surprises we are planning for you. I hope as fall approaches you are all able to enjoy the change in weather and season. <br/><br/>Till then…take care and God Bless. <br/>DT<br/><br/><br/>2005年9月23日 週五凌晨 12:50 天空的某處<br/><br/>在消失了一段好像很長的一段時間之後,我又回來了。算算我這次離開美國回到亞洲的時間,我才發現到現在已經快四個月了。在過去的是幾個月裡,發生了好多事情,大部分的事情都是圍繞在上海與北京「就是愛你音樂驚奇之旅」的全新世界巡迴演唱會。演唱會開始前幾個禮拜的時間,對所有參與其中的工作人員來說,那是一段充滿壓力、工作以及些許笑聲的時間。這兩場演出可說是相當成功的,觀眾與媒體的反應遠超乎我們的預期。所有的辛勞工作與計畫都是值得的,這也表示人們確實可以感受、欣賞我們所想要創造的一切。是的,我已經開始構思新專輯,不過目前尚未真正動手製作。就像我之前提過的,要讓這場全新的演唱會落實是相當吃力的,所有人的心力都是以此為優先。<br/><br/>首先,我要感謝所有參與製作這場演唱會的夥伴們。雖然你們從未真的聽過或見過這些人,但是他們是創造奇蹟的幕後英雄。其次,我要感謝參加、支持並為這場演唱會禱告的所有人。你們的愛與正面能量引領著我們,給予我們在遇到困難時得以持續前進的力量。當然,所有的感謝與榮耀都將歸於 主,因為祂帶領守護著我們每個人。上海與北京的觀眾(包括許多來自世界各地的朋友)實在太驚人了,我們聽到很多人說 ,他們很少看過如此熱情的觀眾現場反應。這是我第一次在上海與北京表演,因此我無從比較;但是若從之前在其他城市的演出經驗來判斷,我必須說這兩場表演充滿著許多愛與能量,激發出我潛在的爆發力。我希望我們未來在其他城市的表演,也能創造出這樣的迴響與互動。<br/><br/>這次演唱會之所以充滿挑戰的原因之一是,我除了想跟Soul Power Tour一樣,以音樂作為中心主旨外,同時我也想要加入一些不同的元素。通常演唱會的音樂都是相同或相似的,唯有視覺元素會隨著巡迴場次而有所變化。只要可以發想出不同於以往的創意,變換服裝造型、舞台燈光設計、舞蹈編排等通常會是比較簡單的。但是音樂的部份就沒這麼簡單了。如果樂隊跟歌手每次都用同樣的方式表演同一首歌,這對他們來說也是相當單調乏味的。然而,如果要完全改變一首歌的編曲或演唱方式,這並不是每次都行得通的。就音樂上來說,這也許是可以執行出來的,但是觀眾們通常都想要聽到記憶裡的原始專輯版本。此外,徹底重編某些歌曲在音樂上有時是不成立的,因為這會破壞了原有的韻味或感受。我已經用同樣的方式演唱「愛很簡單」超過一百次了,就像張學友大概也唱了超過五百次的「吻別」吧!我經常在想,在每次的表演裡,大家是不是已經聽厭了以同樣方式演唱的歌曲。我是不是要把它重編成舞曲?或者以空心吉他搭配交響樂隊的方式演出呢?這在音樂上或對觀眾們來說,其結果可能都是不盡如人意的。然而從視覺上來說,當我在演唱「愛很簡單」的時候,穿著艷紅絲絨西裝或純白亞麻襯衫,可能對於觀眾不會有很大的影響而且易於接受。因此,我想說的重點是,在演唱會上要製造視覺變化是比較容易的,若要創造合適的音樂異動則是相當困難的。<br/><br/>在這場演唱會裡的許多改變(相較於我之前的Soul Power Tour以及別人的演唱會)對觀眾來說是「隱形」的。然而,這並不是說這些改變是微小或不重要的。我想要跟大家分享的改變並不是像舞台設計、服裝造型或任何你可以輕易發覺的視覺變化。那些東西你們有機會自己可以去發現。通常,你對某些事情所作的「隱形」變化都是很重要的,但也是很容易被忽視的。這有點像是(我很愛的)汽車設計,我們經常只看到新車的外部改變(相較於它之前的車款)而忽視了許多的內部機械變更與改進,這會讓車子的駕馭與性能表現更為精良且安全。關鍵在於這些變化並不是一種為了達成某種目的的手段,而是一種承先啟後的重要進步。<br/><br/>我們不斷試著改善的就是演唱會的音響效果。這裡面有許多的變項包括天氣(如果在戶外場地的話)、場地大小與設計、觀眾人數,當然還有可使用的音響系統。首先,第一個要面對的課題就是「兩」套音響系統在演唱會裡的作用。有一套是提供給我們在舞台上監聽的(the PA),另外一套則是你們 ﹣觀眾聆聽的(the House)。雖然與觀眾有直接關係的是後者,但其實這兩套系統都是一樣重要的。然而,觀眾席的音樂與音響品質,主要還是視乎歌手及樂隊在舞台上表演時所能聽到、感受到的音樂。如果我不能在舞台上準確地聽到自己的聲音,那我就可能會走音或唱得太用力而使嗓子受損。如果樂隊不能準確地聽到他們自己的聲音,那他們可能會彈錯或無法「融入音樂裡」。這些便會直接影響到你們的聆賞與感受。即使我們在觀眾席有最棒的音響系統與喇叭,你還是會覺得音樂平凡無奇,貧弱無力。<br/><br/>因此,此次我們決定採用耳機監聽系統,而不是傳統的舞台監聽系統。傳統的舞台監聽有兩個主要的問題,其一是這會讓舞台充斥著巨大的聲響,舞台上許多開啟的麥克風便會接收到這些聲音,形成音響「迴路」或回授噪音。 另外一個舞台監聽系統的問題是,他們無法提供最乾淨、最直接的聲音給樂隊與歌手。你可以想像當10到15具喇叭座落在舞台四處,而你卻想聽到自己的聲音或樂器的樣子嗎?當然,這些舞台監聽系統也是不雅觀的,會讓舞台看起來很雜亂。我們要如何解決這個問題呢?就像我說的,我們決定讓整個樂隊使用無線的監聽耳機。我敢大膽地說,我們即使不是率先採用這套舞台監聽系統,至少也是大型華語流行演唱會的領先者之一。要讓整個樂隊配備這樣的系統不僅耗費不貲,還有一些如頻率干擾、樂手學習使用等複雜的問題得克服。儘管傳統的舞台監聽系統有缺點,但是很多資深樂手都已經學習接受這樣的狀況。因此,要讓我的樂隊轉換到一個新的系統,一開始是很有挑戰性的。我必須說服他們很多人試用看看,現在他們則是都堅持要用這個系統。這對觀眾來說,又是「隱形」的,但是我們選擇用這種方式改善這次演唱會的聲音體驗。<br/><br/>不久的未來,當我巡迴到你的城市的時候,我還有很多其他的事情要與你分享。還有許多我們正在為你籌劃的演出行程與意外驚喜。我希望隨著秋意漸濃,你們都可以享受此刻氣候更迭、季節遞嬗的感覺。<br/><br/>保重,願主時時賜福<br/>陶喆<br/>

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