[ Q&A interview ] A Glimpse of A Music Producer’s World

Researched, Conducted, Translated from Chinese and Edited by Danlin Chen

Yuling Lu composed her first electronic song in college. Since then, she has published three albums on different music platforms such as NetEase music and Spotify. As an independent producer, she uses her wild imagination and portrays our world with her own music.

I know that your major is not music, so how did you start composing songs?

It was a coincidence when I was still an undergraduate student. One of my friend is a painter and we often talk about art and music. One day, she let me try a new app called Auxy which is an entry-level composing app. I just began with some random drumbeats and then more and more melodies began flooding into my mind. After I finally made it a song, my friends said it’s amazing. So, I thought maybe this is something I can do.

Yeah, that’s cool! How did you create a song from nothing? 

There are various cases. Sometimes inspirations of melodies just strike me. Other times maybe a series of beats or percussions. For me, most of the time I would start with beat and rhythm. Then, I add other instruments like piano or guitar on the base. I often write down my ideas of the song structure on a paper and try to find different variants of the main melody.

So, you use a computer to combine different parts together? 

Yes, I produce all my songs on computer with different software like Garage band and Pro Tools. They have media keyboard and packages of different music styles. One good thing about this is I can mess with different combinations of timbre and sound effects. Another advantage is that it allows me to invent new sound effects.

Really! How do you create new sounds?

I enjoy observing the world with my ear. Many simple things can be very interesting. I would record sounds in daily life and modify them when using in my song. For example, today when I was shopping at MUJI’s store, I began to strike the kitchenware like whisk and spoons because I found the sounds really interesting, like part of the jazz drum kit. 

Wow, so you can combine the sounds from the real world and electronic sound together.

Exactly! That’s a fun part for me in producing music with computer. I can combine virtual and reality together through music. It brings new experience to me.

Yes, that’s what people couldn’t do in the past.

Speaking of this, recently I’m working on a new song project which I will only use the sounds I recorded from real world.

You mean there is no electronic sounds?

Yes, I use different ways to let celery make different sounds and use them to produce a new song.

Celery?

Haha. Right, there is various way you can make sounds with celery. I recorded the sound of breaking the celery with my hands. You can hear the sound of its sap coming out. You can also cut it into pieces, squeeze it, rub two stalks together, or cut it with knives. I even recorded the sound of me biting it.

That’s really a lot of fun. What do you want to express through this song?

I want to combine this song with visual images to illustrate the state of things from micro level to macro level. Celery is just a cut-in point. I have collected the images of celery under a microscope in different magnification. You couldn’t recognize what it is from a photo of nucleus or its cell. However, when you sense things transforming gradually from micro to macro, you can begin to understand the original appearance of things.

That sounds very philosophical.

Haha. And I want to use sounds to depict this status and process. I modified the sound of celery so that people couldn’t recognize it and then gradually you can tell the sound is from a kind of vegetable. To be more specific, I would use longer, enduring sounds to imitate long cell walls of celery or maybe shorter ones to represent the nucleus.

Cool! I definitely want to hear this song. It seems that you produce songs to express your ideas.

Yeah, I think I sort of unconsciously express my emotions through my songs. It’s interesting that when I feel stressful or lonely, I would be very productive. I can get relief from music. 

After finishing a song, do you feel a sense of accomplishment or want to share with others?

For me, I don’t care whether it is popular or not. I don’t even want to let more people know that I compose songs. It’s personal. I can get self-satisfaction through composing. I just want to have fun myself, not please others. But sure, I feel happy when people leave comments on NetEase or SoundCloud and discuss my works with me.

Many music sources can be easily obtained in the digital area now. Do you think producing music will become a very common thing?

Of course, because there are tons of resources available. It’s not a difficult thing if you really want to start. Nowadays I believe good music doesn’t necessarily require professional background or advanced equipment. Today’s DIY culture of our society provides a friendly environment for music creation. One of my favorite singer is King Krule. His debut album, six feet underneath the moon, was made in his bedroom with free sound source online. He is very talented and many famous producers like Frank Ocean and Willis Earl Beal have invited him to compose together. I truly think it’s a good thing for our era that everyone gets a chance to create something unique.