The Hit Factory: Beijing’s Legendary Recording Studio

If livehouses are the cradle of the music scene, then recording studios are like the first day of school: when all that playful freedom gets channeled into precision and you start to learn the value of watching the clock. As one of the first commercial recording studios in Beijing, Baihua Studio has manipulated sound levels and cut masters for the pioneers of the Chinese rock scene: Cui Jian, Tang Dynasty, Black Panther, Cold Blooded Animals, Cobra and many more. Musicians take all the glory, but it’s the studio technicians who make their albums sound flawless – and who witness all the behind-the-scenes drama. We asked Dao Zi, a recording director at Baihua, to tell us a few of those stories.

What makes Baihua different?
First, hardware. The building as a whole was designed by a Dutch designer; there are springs underneath to eliminate the impact of traffic vibrations on the recording process (we are located next to the street, after all). Second, our reputation as the holy land of Chinese rock. Even before that, the music for Shaolin Temple, the movie that helped Jet Li gain fame, was recorded here. We were established in 1981. Third, equipment. We do rentals and no matter how high-end the request is, we have it.

Who is your customer base?
Thirty percent of our clients are amateur musicians; the rest is comprised of companies, city governments, movies and TV dramas. When big companies and cities need music services, they often hire professionals such as China Philharmonic Orchestra or the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra.

What’s the longest it ever took to record a single track?
Twenty-nine hours. Wait, minus the two hours I slept, in total it was 27 recording hours with only one break. The musicians come and go – as soon as they finish, they can go home and the next one starts – but I have to stay for the entire recording. It ’s a general rule of thumb that one engineer works on the same piece from the beginning to end. Even the position of the mic will alter the sound, so a different sound engineer would definitely have an impact on the music.

Has anyone ever started crying in the studio while recording?
Crying’s not special. I once told an artist: “Please stop. If I keep listening, I’ll vomit.” Another case was actual vomiting. A girl from a nightclub spent the whole day here trying to make a great song, but she hadn’t eaten anything all day, so she vomited a bit in the middle of a sentence.

What happened then?
Yeah, she wanted to finish the song, so after she threw up, she came out and ate some food, rested a while. Everyone comes here hoping to finish recording in the shortest time possible.

How many people can you fit in the studio?
Seventy. But somebody is planning to bring in 90 people soon.

What’s the biggest mistake that people make while recording?
Does making life unbearable for me count? Once, in the middle of recording, an artist stopped, said she wanted to put on some sunblock and asked for her assistant. The assistant opened the door and handed her the cream. You never open the door! Besides, the lighting inside was dim. I don’t understand.

I’m sure there have been people who weren’t ready to record but showed up anyway.
Yep. There was an American trying to prepare something for his girlfriend. The drums were bad and so was the singing. He knew it too but he didn’t have enough time to practice. Many foreign friends like to come here because our rental instruments are the best in Beijing.

And then there was the TV star who came in because he had to record a song. He was completely tone-deaf, completely hopeless. Finally, we worked out a solution: We asked him to sing one syllable at a time – giving him the correct pitch for each one. We recorded all of those syllables individually and then finally spliced it all together to sound like he’d sung the song naturally. If you listen to the finished track, you’d have no idea.

Have there ever been any fights in the studio?
Yes, in the early days, over a scheduling conflict. We were so busy that people needed to book six months in advance. Musician A was already recording when Musician B showed up wanting to record as well. So B turned the electricity off to stop A. They talked and A went back inside to continue recording and B did it again. That’s why their managers started fighting in the courtyard.

What do you think about the future of Chinese rock?
It’s going to become a huge deal at a slow pace. People say that only the rich have the money to play music all the time – I prefer the guys who are poor but stick with it their entire lives. That’s true rock spirit.

Have you ever dreamed of making a professional studio recording? Check out Baihuastudio.com or call 139 1050 2958.

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Photo: Max Wu