Realizing he'd been caught badmouthing someone "to their face," Cliff turned his head to look at Ronan, offering a fawning smile as if trying to prove his innocence: it was all Maxim, not me, Mr. Holmes, you know the truth, right?
Ronan also gave Cliff a smile, the kind of tight-lipped expression that showed his clean, even teeth, reminding Cliff of Professor Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence of the Lambs."
But immediately after, Ronan got back to work.
"Cliff, and Maxim too, it's about the emotion. You two need to pay attention to releasing the emotion. What's the feeling at the beginning of 'Chasing the Light'? It's the struggle and confusion of being in the darkest moment, while also feeling the grandeur of the world collapsing. So, the emotion has to be expressed through the melody."
Musical instruments can sense the performer's emotions and inject them into the notes.
At the beginning of "Chasing the Light," the drums must showcase the weight and grandeur of the entire world, the whole momentum needs to settle down. The keyboard and strings, on the other hand, must be light and airy, displaying an ethereal vastness, like spreading wings and soaring into the sky, making the listener involuntarily look up.
These are two different textures, demanding different things from the performers. Otherwise, the "architectural feel" Ronan was hoping for wouldn't be enough just by showing layers through the arrangement.
"You need to release your emotions, truly feel the freedom of opening your hearts and soaring freely. Playing it blandly has no life force at all, it's basically ruining the song. We're not on our last legs; we're still refusing to give up hope in the darkness, still fighting."
Ronan gave more detailed instructions, clearly dissatisfied with Maxim and Cliff's playing.
Cliff's first reaction was, "What about Ollie?"
Usually, Ollie was the one who made the most mistakes during practice, but today he hadn't been called out?
"Ollie is doing great," Ronan's voice came from the microphone into the recording booth. They could see Ollie raising his hands high in a celebratory gesture, which brought a smile to Ronan's eyes. He didn't add any further comments, just said, "Start from the beginning."
The atmosphere in the recording booth subtly changed, especially Maxim's competitive spirit, which seemed to have finally kicked in, as if he had finally entered recording mode.
However, Ronan today seemed... not so easily satisfied – and that was a very mild description. To be precise, he was being picky, or even more precisely, demanding.
"Cliff, the gradual build-up of power and emotion. The first four beats: thump! thump-thump-thump! thump! thump-thump-thump! The first note must release the emotion, and then your fingers quickly leave the keys, so you can feel the lightness of the air rushing in. Then the melody flows out like water. When you enter the second four beats, the first note needs to be even heavier than the first note of the previous four beats, but when you release it, the fingertip pressure needs to be even lighter."
"Thump! Inject the emotion! Feel the pause! Feel the release! Thump-thump-thump! Feel it with your heart!"
"No, redo the first four beats."
"No, try it again."
"Wrong."
"Still wrong."
"Cliff, let's try it again."
Just the first two eight-bar phrases had been repeated eight times, but there was still no progress. Right now, only Cliff was playing. Maxim and Ollie were both watching quietly, and Ronan wasn't recording, but was having Cliff practice continuously.
Ronan's tone remained gentle and calm. He wasn't angry at all and was incredibly patient, but the sharp glint in his eyes didn't waver in the slightest. Like a machine, he had Cliff repeat the practice over and over again. That invisible pressure slowly built up and then came crashing down.
Cliff also started to get agitated. "Release? What do you mean by release? This is a complete four beats, there's no rest in it at all. How exactly am I supposed to release? How am I supposed to control the rhythm? Are you sure you know what you're doing? Are you sure you know what you want?"
Even the best temper would get irritated by repeatedly going around in circles, let alone Cliff, whose temper wasn't exactly mild. Moreover, Ronan had indeed established a certain professional authority within the band, but this professionalism wasn't something that couldn't be challenged or overturned.
Don't forget, just three months ago, Cliff and Maxim still held the power in the band, and Cliff was still the band leader.
So, Cliff directly blew up, his face flushed as he glared at Ronan, venting all his dissatisfaction unrestrainedly.
"How exactly am I supposed to release the emotion? You tell me! If you can describe it so detailedly and clearly, why don't you just demonstrate it for me?"
Cliff was indeed a bit annoyed, especially since Maxim and Ollie were just watching from the sidelines, while he was the only one being pushed out and put on the spot. He had reason to suspect that Ronan was deliberately retaliating because he had chosen "Born This Way" today!
Ronan didn't slam the table and start yelling back at Cliff. Instead, he remained calm, just quietly letting Cliff voice all his thoughts. The way he listened intently made Cliff slowly feel uneasy, as if... as if all his anger was being accepted.
A faint chill ran down his spine.
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"Okay." After waiting for Cliff to vent all his emotions, Ronan didn't say much else and simply agreed.
Cliff, "..."
Actually, Cliff didn't really expect Ronan to demonstrate, because he himself knew how absurd that request was.
A producer has their own ideas about the perfect music they envision, but that doesn't necessarily mean they can perfectly perform it themselves. That's why producers need to guide the performers to reach the goal. The outburst of "if you can do it, you do it" is a simple and crude form of denial. Maybe Ronan couldn't do it, but that didn't mean Ronan didn't know what he was doing. Producers have their professionalism, and singers/bands have theirs. That's the meaning of division of labor and cooperation.
Cliff's outburst was just an impulsive venting of frustration because he couldn't do it himself, which made it seem unreasonable. But the fact that Ronan actually agreed put Cliff in a bit of a bind. The words got stuck in his throat, and his expression was a bit awkward.
Thinking about it again, Cliff really hadn't been able to find the right way. Actually, Maxim and Ollie were also a bit off, but their problems weren't as prominent as Cliff's. After all, the introductory part of "Chasing the Light" still needed the keyboard and strings to play the main role. Now that he had asked Ronan to demonstrate, and Ronan had agreed, maybe this was a good thing.
If Ronan couldn't do it either, then Cliff would feel more at ease. If Ronan could do it, then Cliff would have a learning model to follow.
Although Cliff was also a bit flustered, he suppressed the urge to ask Maxim and Ollie for help and watched as Ronan also walked into the recording booth.