Coming out of China’s turn-of-the-millennium electronic scene, indie band YuFeiMen spent a decade pushing boundaries with classic albums of graceful techno, drum ’n’ bass and chill-out music. The trio regrouped ahead of their 20th anniversary but their activities were cut short by the untimely deaths of keyboardist and songwriter San Shao and lead singer Jiang Fan. In this Apple Music Session, guitarist and producer Aqing brings three tracks that capture the group’s futuristic fusion aesthetic. “These songs are from our treasure chest,” he says. “They’ve been chosen carefully, taking into consideration innovation, style, inheritance and continuation.” Below, Aqing gives Apple Music some background for each of the songs. “亲爱的” [“My dear”] “I had worked on this one for a long time when an opportunity arose, so I decided to write a melody and lyrics for it. The song was full of possibilities. I went through lots of different arrangements and recordings of the vocals before picking this version to release on Apple Music. I hope you’ll like it.” “彩云追月” [“Colourful clouds chasing the moon”] “I love this well-known Cantonese folk song. The graceful melody and gentle vocal line make it well-suited to YuFeiMen’s elegant style. We performed it at a music festival once. Taking inspiration from the hardware audio source, I’ve arranged instrumental motifs that fit the original tune, added a modern feel using vocoder and sound effects, and embellished it with a Cantonese gaohu lute. The vocals are produced to be languid and relaxed, like a Southern lady strolling beneath the moonlight.” “茄子 (feat. Akini Jing)” [“Eggplant”] “This is a song from over a decade ago, but it’s aged into a fine flavour. It’s a precious thing—Akini Jing’s voice sounds so clear and Kiddou’s arrangement is irreplaceable. So I haven’t changed it very much. I just brought a more modern feel to the beat and tone. For the [Dolby] Atmos production, I left that in the hands of the mixing engineers, trusting in their creativity.” Aqing also gives Apple Music a peek into the production process for these tracks: “The use of Dolby Atmos was a big part of production this time. I feel like Atmos sets a new audio industry standard. We put so much effort into making the pieces the first time, so for the Atmos production, we turned it over to our friends Wang Lu and Ruan Xiangbo of L+R Sound System, Yang Zhen of Xinghai Concert Hall and Li Make of Royal City Studios. Let me thank them here! “I actually do recording and production work in a personal studio—a room in a nearby hotel that’s been slightly modified into a home studio. We prefer that relaxed feeling to a nervous, confined environment, so we didn’t really renovate it into an industrialised audio studio. It’s a corner room so we won’t disturb people when working into the night. “My notion of sound: Basically I look for what reactions the sound quality inspires. I’m not chasing after ‘real instruments’—I use both software and hardware. But I’m particularly attentive to the placement and feeling of the notes. For the maracas in the first half of ‘亲爱的’, for example, I made multiple recordings of real instruments because I couldn’t get the spatial sense I wanted through software. I’ll also get an idea and edit the MIDI track directly—and I never get tired of repeatedly recording a hardware source. “I’m a fairly solitary worker, because I feel that making music requires individual contemplation and as little outside interference as possible. I’m even more on my own since my bandmates passed. Usually, unless it’s absolutely necessary, I won’t trouble anyone else, because I worry they won’t understand—or won’t feel anything at all. That’s one of the reasons I’ve used AI voices. But even so, I still spend lots of time editing and processing the vocals. Every note and beat of every song ought to have its own place and character. So our music always takes a long time. The song-a-day kind of thing isn’t really something I can do. “For me, music production is a form of relaxation and enjoyment. I often work late but don’t feel exhausted. And there’s also planning work, so switching between the various roles is a way to regulate things. “I’d like to thank all our friends who have supported our music directly and indirectly so we can continue to work. We love you.”