In short, after the establishment of Huaxia Audio and Video Co., Ltd., although Cao Zhiqiang was the actual person in charge because no one else understood music, he finally established a platform for making music in a legitimate manner.

This is like a team. If you decide on your number first, it will be much more convenient to recruit troops later, and no one will accuse you of being treasonous.

The next step is to find a place to record Cao Zhiqiang's songs into records.

In China in 1983, there were very few units that could record records, but in Beijing, there were only a few units in total.

Of course, strictly speaking, it’s not really a place where no records were recorded.

In fact, these days, it is not impossible to record a sound with a tape recorder and then rip it into a tape and sell it, but the quality is just inferior.

For example, the hawkers who sell audio tapes at street stalls now sell tapes of Hong Kong and Taiwan songs, which are basically pirated and copied by themselves, and they are still selling well.

There are also some copies of cross talk storytelling on the radio, which are also very popular.

But what Cao Zhiqiang wants is not this kind of shoddy product. It must be regular high-quality records, so he has to find a regular unit.

When it comes to formal recording companies, China Record Company is certainly the best, but this company is obviously in competition with Huaxia Music, and they don’t have much contact with each other, so it’s probably not easy to deal with.

So Cao Zhiqiang took his "original" songs and found Chen Hanyuan, the director of CCTV's editor-in-chief, and asked him to help find a reliable place to record the record.

Unexpectedly, Director Chen is an enthusiastic person. He was very surprised when he heard that Cao Zhiqiang had actually established a joint-stock record company with private equity. He also heard that Cao Zhiqiang had also created many songs that he would play and sing himself and record them.

Records are even more surprising.

As a result, Director Chen very enthusiastically donated the CCTV studio and used the CCTV studio to record songs for Cao Zhiqiang.

Of course, it's not free, but it costs money, and it can't be used during the day, only at night, that is, after all CCTV's programs have ended.

In addition, CCTV can not only help Cao Zhiqiang record songs, but also help Cao Zhiqiang record a large number of commercial tapes. It can even provide blank tapes. All it takes is a friendly price from Cao Zhiqiang.

In other words, CCTV has taken care of all production matters, from live recording to mass recording of records, including the production of tape covers, etc. Because they don't care about distribution, it has to be left to Cao Zhiqiang, or in other words, China Audio and Video.

Do it yourself.

Of course this is no problem, or in other words, this is beyond Cao Zhiqiang’s imagination.

After all, it is China Central Television, which currently has the best facilities. What an honor it is to have China Central Television help me record records.

Not only that, Director Chen also said, not to mention audio tapes, they can even cover MTV video tapes, as long as they pay.

After asking again, I found out that CCTV is also facing reform. To put it bluntly, it is trying to find ways to generate income.

But a TV station only has a few income-generating projects, which are nothing more than advertising.

But in this period, there were no private companies, and they were basically state-owned enterprises and collective or township enterprises. However, these enterprises had very little awareness of advertising, and not many approached CCTV to advertise.

And helping Cao Zhiqiang record records is undoubtedly a way to make money. Although it seems inconspicuous, as long as the number increases, there will be a lot of money.

In this way, under Chen Hanyuan's guidance, Cao Zhiqiang and the two people responsible for post-production introduced by Chen Hanyuan, a total of three people, started the recording process of the album with the help of CCTV's studio.

Because the early stage conditions were simple, he didn't want to make any big productions. Cao Zhiqiang just wanted to play guitar and sing by himself.

In addition, in order to avoid trouble, Cao Zhiqiang chose the main theme song for the first song, which is the so-called red song.

Although, with the popularity of "Nostalgic Love" in the 1983 Spring Festival Gala, many so-called banned songs have been lifted, and some popular songs such as love songs are no longer banned as "music", but they are still banned.

To put it bluntly, at the beginning of 1983, Inland had to be careful if they wanted to release records.

To put it simply, different places have different policies. In some places, such as the southern region, pop songs have been completely liberalized, but in other places, such as some places in the north, they are still skeptical about pop songs.

Cao Zhiqiang is a new person with a new song and a new company. He is the first batch of songs to start the business. There is no need to follow the policies and trends from the beginning. Naturally, he will start with the popular songs. This is the safest way to operate.

After choosing again and again, Cao Zhiqiang decided to use the two songs "Blood Stained Style" and "Red Flag Flying" as the pioneers.

Of course, the songs that impressed Uncle Xu and Uncle Wang before, such as "Proud Boy", "Chasing Dreams", etc., will also be recorded.

But if those songs want to be sung with the feeling, they need a lot of mixing, or at least a small band to cooperate. If you just play and sing by yourself, it feels like it will be difficult.

So, Cao Zhiqiang decided to release the two songs "Blood Stained Style" and "Red Flag Flying" as singles first to see how well the market would accept them, and then slowly release "Proud Boy" and others.

In order to make money easily, all these songs must be released as singles one by one.

After releasing the single, I will add a few more new songs, and then make a hit album, which will be officially released during the May Day holiday.

He had already thought of the album title, and it was called "Those Things About That Person That Year".

"Manager Cao, Manager Cao?"

When he heard someone calling his name, Cao Zhiqiang, who was flying outside the sky, opened his eyes and found that it was Chen Guangming, known as Chen Gong.

At the same time, his apprentice Xiao Wang was also looking at him.

"Ah, are you done discussing it?" Cao Zhiqiang smiled.

"Yes, we have finished our discussion." Chen Gong smiled.

"Manager Cao, the recording is now completed. I listened to it several times just now. It's perfect and can be recorded directly.

Then it’s getting late, do you think we’re done?”

Cao Zhiqiang smiled and nodded, stood up directly, and shook hands with the two of them: "You two really worked hard."

"No way." Chen Gong said with a smile, "You introduced us to the business, and you can also hear such a good song. We are truly grateful to you."

Upon hearing this, Cao Zhiqiang smiled.

Indeed, you have to pay money to record songs, and Cao Zhiqiang, the post-recording staff, also gave them ample benefits in private. Of course they were happy.

This is not considered corruption, because Cao Zhiqiang did not give money, but gave each person a Shanghai brand watch, so it was just a courtesy exchange between friends.

"Okay." Cao Zhiqiang stretched, "It's getting late, it's time to go back."

After a brief pause, Cao Zhiqiang asked again: "By the way, how was the recording of the song yesterday?"

"Don't worry about that." Chen Guangming said with a smile, "After recording the song yesterday, I worked overtime to record the record. I don't know the exact number, but there are ten or twenty thousand."

Upon hearing this number, Cao Zhiqiang nodded.

It can rip 10,000 to 20,000 tapes a day, which is pretty good based on the technology currently available in China.

Of course, the recording speed in developed Western countries is definitely faster, but it’s not available in China yet.

Cao Zhiqiang remembers that the first domestic production line with an annual output of 18 million cassette tapes was in 1984. The specific tape factory is not clear.

Before that, domestic tape production lines, the best of which were the Shanghai Tape Factory and the Peking Tape Factory, had an annual output of just over seven million tapes. Excluding holidays and the like, they could only produce about 20,000 boxes a day.

Anyway, for now, the transcription of audio tapes in Beijing is basically done by the Peking Tape Factory.

Yes, large-scale record production during this period was all done by tape factories.

Specifically, the production unit, such as CCTV, hands the master tape to the tape factory, and the tape factory directly produces the tape that transcribes the master tape content. It does not produce a blank tape first and then records it.

In this way, from the source of production, the music tapes produced using the tape production line will have faster production speed and better sound quality.

Even the tape factory can even prepare the packaging for you. You only need to design the packaging, and when the tape comes out, you can directly find a worker to affix the packaging cover for you.

The cover was easy to do, it was just a matter of asking a few people from CCTV to take some profile photos of Cao Zhiqiang holding a guitar.

In fact, according to Cao Zhiqiang's original intention, he did not want to show his face.

But there is no way. The singer is Cao Zhiqiang. If he doesn't show his face again, what if he is impersonated in the future?

This is not impossible, the lower limit for people in this period is also very low.

So Cao Zhiqiang made a compromise and only took pictures of the side of the face after putting on makeup, so that no one would impersonate him and his face would not be completely exposed.

In fact, Cao Zhiqiang only plans to release records and does not plan to hold any live concerts here and there.

Firstly, concerts are a waste of time, and secondly, they can easily get into trouble.

For example, the original singer of "Blood-Stained Style" had a lot of problems due to the cost of live singing.

People these days are very fond of moral kidnapping, so the best way is to just release records and not go to any concerts.

Even if you can make more money at a concert, you can't go.

Especially for a popular singer like Cao Zhiqiang, if you were asked to work in the army for free, would you go or not?

Of course, it doesn't mean we won't have concerts, but Cao Zhiqiang can't go.

Cao Zhiqiang has thought about it all.

In the early days of the record company, in order to build a reputation, Cao Zhiqiang could only compose, play and sing by himself, all with the highest cost-effectiveness as his priority.

But once the record company produces a few hits and has a certain reputation and funding, he will find a way to audition singers and artists.

Then, from now on, I will only be responsible for writing songs, lyrics, packaging, and then promoting these artists.

In the future, concerts and other events will be handled by these own artists.

As long as the contract is signed, there will be no problems.

Anyway, in this period, artists are the least valuable, and it’s not just what the record company says.

Of course, this will all be done in the future. At this stage, you still have to rely on yourself.

But even if Cao Zhiqiang wants to rely on himself, he cannot sell himself cheaply. At least not holding a concert is the bottom line.

As for the future, when you become famous, it's not impossible to hold one or two concerts occasionally.

In other words, if you have the opportunity, it is still okay to hold a concert abroad. After all, you can earn foreign exchange without being slanderous, and there is no moral kidnapping. How great.

After bidding farewell to Workers Chen and Wang, Cao Zhiqiang left the CCTV building and walked towards a Citroen CX20 car parked on the roadside at the entrance.
To be continued...