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xp_logs2005-12-22 06:00 pm
x-siryn.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2005-12-22 06:00 pm
In Giving of Ourselves--Recording Session
Thursday, Terry prepares to record her first professional single. Alison is on hand as her producer.
It was late in the day and all the people still here were volunteering their time, the rest of the staff off for the upcoming holiday, trying to beat the incoming storm home. Well, all the ones who worked for the studio were volunteering. The studio musicians would still have to be paid and it was their wage that Terry had been working to cover. Back-up singers, of course, weren't a problem though no one was quite sure how the mics would pick-up her multi-threaded singing. Not really an option to record different tracks for that, unfortunately.
She was still dressed for work in the style she'd adopted from the studio manager. She thought of it as industrial business--nice but not too nice that you couldn't climb on your hands and knees under a grid to fix a loose cable. Terry took the clip out of her hair and smiled in sheer pleasure.
In the recording booth, the studio manager grinned at Alison, shaking her head. "She gets this one moment of pure joy, and after that she's right back to being my mook, y'hear?" Stephanie leaned back, not a single ounce of bite to her voice as she'd said the words, and chuckled. "How many kids can claim to get to do this, anyway?"
"Oh, be quiet. She's a hard worker, you said so yourself - she'll more than make up for the expenses for this." Alison dropped her mock-scowl at Stephanie's mock salute, accompanied by a cheerful 'yes boss lady, ma'am!' and decided that quiet was good when Dan glared at them both. The recording engineer smiled at the young redhead through the glass and into the recording booth, giving her a thumbs up as she settled down, the musicians puttering with their instruments in there with her, careful not to disturb any of the mics that had been set up earlier, each now wearing their headphones meekly after being told not to remove them one more time. Or else.
"Right. Okay everyone. We're all done tuning up?" At the obedient nods, Dan grinned wolfishly. "Good like musicians. Gooood." Anyone asking for a smoke break would get dumped in a snow bank - the message had been clear and had caused much laughter, earlier. "Miss Cassidy," Dan asked with elaborate and cheerful courtesy. "Are we ready to go through the first run through?"
Terry took a deep breath and pressed her hands to her stomach, suddenly nervous. She'd warmed up earlier and the musicians were well-practiced but that didn't mean much right now that they were actually about to begin. "Aye," she agreed, a big quietly then swallowed hard and tried again in a firm, clear voice. "Aye, as yeh're ready."
Terry's voice brought another of those grins from Dan which no one had explained to the girl yet as the reaction of a hopeless fan of accents. "You'll get the cue from Brad," Dan nodded through the glass towards one of the musicians, a blond man who posed the moment his name was told, before the others all laughed at him. "Take your time, let him know when you're ready."
Alison grinned and waited, glad the warm up had gone well and curious to see what the result would be. Well, all right - she was dying to see Sean's reaction at this, but that would be for later, at that.
Terry smiled at the harpist, still nervous about her decision to let someone else play her instrument. She couldn't sing and play at the same time, at least not for recording purposes. But she wondered if she should have recorded it separately. "Brad, then. Tis yours to start." Relax, she told herself, he's a professional.
It was a short introduction, a note or two plucked delicately from the harpstrings and Terry closes her eyes. "I've met some folks who say that I'm a dreamer…"
Dan's features were utterly neutral as he worked, the man keeping a close attention on the sound board as Terry sang. He made adjustments now and then, slow and measured changes to the recording equipment. In the booth, both Stephanie and Alison watched, and listened.
~*~*~*~
Harmonies slowly faded away until just the last haunting voice remained holding the note. Terry chewed on her hair as she listened to the rough cut, eyes nervous and watching the three adults in the booth to see their reaction. It had taken three run-throughs to get the song down and she couldn't tell from the impassivity on their faces if they'd like what the result was. For her part, Terry thought it sounded…all right. Certainly good enough for her purposes.
Silence reigned for a moment but Dan didn't run the song through again, well used to the subtle cues which required that, and instead turned to the two women in the booth with him.
"I'm not sure," Stephanie finally said, shaking her head a bit. "It's pretty but-"
"-it's too much," Alison cut in, with a final tone, Dan nodding in agreement at her words. "We should try a quieter run-through."
"Maybe just with the harp and nothing else?" Dan suggested, grinning at Alison's thumbs up, while Stephanie made faces at the both of them.
"Let's keep most of the instruments and just scale them back a bit. Give one or two the forefront." Alison glanced at Terry through the window, raising an eyebrow at her slightly - it was, really, Terry's final decision, though she was pretty sure the girl would accept their verdict on it. "And only one main voice. No harmonics."
"Oh sure, just sort it all out on your own. Pbhhht." Grinning, the manager fell back in her seat and waited as Alison turned to look at Terry and explained what they wanted to try this time around.
Terry saw the conference and wished that she could read lips. A moment later, Alison's cheerful voice sounded through her headphones, relaying the judgment. The musicians saluted cheerfully and some made quick notes on their music as she rattled off the new arrangement, finishing up with an efficient, "All right with you, Terry?"
Terry blinked, "We're re-recording?"
"We're just going to track in your vocals and adjust the fade on the strings. We can't scrub out your harmonies so we're going to need to redo those." Terry's eyes shifted to Alison as Dan explained it and found her teacher nodding.
"If yeh think so," she replied and looked over at Brad again. "Would yeh be so kind as to provide my intro?"
"I think, therefore I sing," Alison murmured, away from any of the speakers letting Terry hear them speak in the sound studio booth. She grinned at Dan as the song progressed, the man giving her a thumbs up with which she agreed. This version was far better, she thought as well - Terry's voice was the focus this time, for a more ethereal, yet present sound, as opposed to the multiharmonics from before.
"Once this is over, I get my minion back," Stephanie hummed happily - in tune with the song, which caused Alison no end of amusement.
Terry's nerves were a hundred times worse this time. No powers to hide mistakes, nothing but the vocal training that she'd put in with Alison over the past year. She closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of the adults in the recording booth, the musicians gathered around her. Just the song and the words. Just the longing for home.
As the harpist finally let the notes fade away, letting Terry's voice gently bring the song to a close, Alison smiled, knowing only too well both Dan and Stephanie had to be highly amused by the ill concealed pride showing on her face. She merely smirked at them both, then grinned at Dan in particular, raising an eyebrow at him. "Well. Let's bring her in here to listen to the first version, then this one, and see what she thinks, mmm?"
Terry was surprised to find that her hands were shaking when they called her into the booth. The musicians were resting, chatting idly in case they were needed again. "Is it utter shite?" she asked, worried.
"Why don't you listen to the first and the last version, hon, and let us know what you think?" Alison smiled reassuringly though as she spoke, getting up to pat Terry's shoulder, and then gently lead her towards the chair she'd been occupying. "Here. Have a seat. Listen. You can use my earphones, yeah?" She set them over Terry's ears herself, gently, picking up another set for herself and leaning on the console, earning the usual mock-glare from Dan in the process.
Terry clapped her hands over the speakers and listened carefully. The first version was, as it had been before, fine. Pretty, complicated and entirely adequate. "I think..." she began then they switched tracks and everyone watched her face intently as she became totally absorbed in the sound of her own voice. "...oh."
Quiet laughter surrounded Terry for a moment, Dan rising to his feet to wave a hand at the musicians still in the recording room, making a hanging gesture at them while sticking his tongue out to indicate the session was over. Various replies were sent his way, from the funny to the rude, though Alison was mostly concentrated on Terry's face at that point, merely waving in thanks at the lot as they left, one by one. Terry's harp was left in the room, though, to be stored away and wheeled off later, by the girl herself.
"Yeah," Alison grinned. "Oh." She nodded at Dan, who grinned merrily as he sat back down and started to prepare the track for burning, going through it at his own station to clean up the track properly before burning it to a CD for Terry to bring along with her. "Mind if I ask Dan to burn a few copies extra?" If nothing else, Alison wanted a copy of her own, if Terry didn't mind.
Terry shook her head, "I'd like one for myself and one for Bobby, if I can." She was proud of this. It had turned out exactly the way she'd envisioned. The sound of the track reminded her of home and though she and Sean didn't have much in common, the love of Ireland was something they could connect on. Or so she hoped.
"You got it, kiddo!" Dan flashed her at thumbs up over his shoulder, before returning to listen intently to his work. With a grin, Alison waved at Stephanie as the woman rose to her feet and made general 'have work, augh, hair ripping out' motions at them both before leaving the room. "Dan's probably got some time to spend on this before he feels it's ready. Wanna go to my office for now, and he'll page us when it's good?"
Terry watched Stephanie leave, "I should be helping her…" She glanced back at Alison and smiled, relaxing. Alison slung an arm around her shoulders and dragged her off laughing. If Stephanie had wanted her to work, she'd have said something.
Not that Terry would have managed to work in any case since she spent the next hour fretting about the outcome of the CD. She was about to wear a hole in Alison's carpet with all the pacing.
Sitting at her desk with her feet propped on the corner, Alison grinned, having given up on even trying to get Terry to sit down. At least she'd managed to keep her away from the coffee. A head peeked through the open door way and Dan waved silently at Alison over Terry's head, while the girl couldn't see him, and then waved the CD through the opening. And waited, patiently, for Terry to 1) notice him and 2) pounce.
Terry noticed on her next turn and made a squeaking noise then slapped her hands over her mouth. Her blue eyes were huge over her locked hands as she tiptoed over to him. She lowered her hands just a teensy bit. "Is it done?" she asked breathlessly, voice lilting from the anticipation.
With a flourish, Dan bowed, the cases proffered up to Terry in what would have been a solemn way, were it not for the very impish look he snuck towards her in the process. "All done, ma'am!"
"Show off!" Alison threw a nerf ball from her desk at him, laughing as he pretended to make an escape the moment Terry had claimed the CD cases.
"Happy holidays to the both of you!" he called out cheerfully from the hallway, before heading back to close down the studio.
"There you go," Alison said, grinning while watching Terry. "All done and ready."
Terry's hands were shaking but she smiled brilliantly at Alison. "Thank you so much for this. I don't know what else to say, really. I'm just…this is better than I ever imagined. Even if Sean doesn't like it, I wouldn't trade doing this for the world." She blinked rapidly against sudden tears. "I'm sorry, I'm such a mess."
Alison snorted at that and dropped her feet from the desk, rising to her feet to go hug Terry. "Hush you. It's all good." She didn't let go, hiding a smile away from Terry, reflecting on how much things had changed since Sean's arrival, when Terry had been ready to all but leave the mansion in protest. "He'll love it."
The petite redhead clung to her teacher, still fighting tears. "Thank you. I...thank you." She pulled back and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "Um. Here's your copy. Uh, do you have a CD player in here?"
"Yeah, we keep several around here to review track." Alison held on a moment longer before finally letting go, rummaging through her desk until she pulled a player and a set of slim headphones. "Here you go." She smiled, just a bit. "Want to borrow that and listen to it in the car while we head back?" She could leave Terry to listen to it in her own like that for a bit longer, before listening to her own copy, after all. "Or, hey, y'know, we could listen to it in the car's CD player." Or maybe not.
It was late in the day and all the people still here were volunteering their time, the rest of the staff off for the upcoming holiday, trying to beat the incoming storm home. Well, all the ones who worked for the studio were volunteering. The studio musicians would still have to be paid and it was their wage that Terry had been working to cover. Back-up singers, of course, weren't a problem though no one was quite sure how the mics would pick-up her multi-threaded singing. Not really an option to record different tracks for that, unfortunately.
She was still dressed for work in the style she'd adopted from the studio manager. She thought of it as industrial business--nice but not too nice that you couldn't climb on your hands and knees under a grid to fix a loose cable. Terry took the clip out of her hair and smiled in sheer pleasure.
In the recording booth, the studio manager grinned at Alison, shaking her head. "She gets this one moment of pure joy, and after that she's right back to being my mook, y'hear?" Stephanie leaned back, not a single ounce of bite to her voice as she'd said the words, and chuckled. "How many kids can claim to get to do this, anyway?"
"Oh, be quiet. She's a hard worker, you said so yourself - she'll more than make up for the expenses for this." Alison dropped her mock-scowl at Stephanie's mock salute, accompanied by a cheerful 'yes boss lady, ma'am!' and decided that quiet was good when Dan glared at them both. The recording engineer smiled at the young redhead through the glass and into the recording booth, giving her a thumbs up as she settled down, the musicians puttering with their instruments in there with her, careful not to disturb any of the mics that had been set up earlier, each now wearing their headphones meekly after being told not to remove them one more time. Or else.
"Right. Okay everyone. We're all done tuning up?" At the obedient nods, Dan grinned wolfishly. "Good like musicians. Gooood." Anyone asking for a smoke break would get dumped in a snow bank - the message had been clear and had caused much laughter, earlier. "Miss Cassidy," Dan asked with elaborate and cheerful courtesy. "Are we ready to go through the first run through?"
Terry took a deep breath and pressed her hands to her stomach, suddenly nervous. She'd warmed up earlier and the musicians were well-practiced but that didn't mean much right now that they were actually about to begin. "Aye," she agreed, a big quietly then swallowed hard and tried again in a firm, clear voice. "Aye, as yeh're ready."
Terry's voice brought another of those grins from Dan which no one had explained to the girl yet as the reaction of a hopeless fan of accents. "You'll get the cue from Brad," Dan nodded through the glass towards one of the musicians, a blond man who posed the moment his name was told, before the others all laughed at him. "Take your time, let him know when you're ready."
Alison grinned and waited, glad the warm up had gone well and curious to see what the result would be. Well, all right - she was dying to see Sean's reaction at this, but that would be for later, at that.
Terry smiled at the harpist, still nervous about her decision to let someone else play her instrument. She couldn't sing and play at the same time, at least not for recording purposes. But she wondered if she should have recorded it separately. "Brad, then. Tis yours to start." Relax, she told herself, he's a professional.
It was a short introduction, a note or two plucked delicately from the harpstrings and Terry closes her eyes. "I've met some folks who say that I'm a dreamer…"
Dan's features were utterly neutral as he worked, the man keeping a close attention on the sound board as Terry sang. He made adjustments now and then, slow and measured changes to the recording equipment. In the booth, both Stephanie and Alison watched, and listened.
~*~*~*~
Harmonies slowly faded away until just the last haunting voice remained holding the note. Terry chewed on her hair as she listened to the rough cut, eyes nervous and watching the three adults in the booth to see their reaction. It had taken three run-throughs to get the song down and she couldn't tell from the impassivity on their faces if they'd like what the result was. For her part, Terry thought it sounded…all right. Certainly good enough for her purposes.
Silence reigned for a moment but Dan didn't run the song through again, well used to the subtle cues which required that, and instead turned to the two women in the booth with him.
"I'm not sure," Stephanie finally said, shaking her head a bit. "It's pretty but-"
"-it's too much," Alison cut in, with a final tone, Dan nodding in agreement at her words. "We should try a quieter run-through."
"Maybe just with the harp and nothing else?" Dan suggested, grinning at Alison's thumbs up, while Stephanie made faces at the both of them.
"Let's keep most of the instruments and just scale them back a bit. Give one or two the forefront." Alison glanced at Terry through the window, raising an eyebrow at her slightly - it was, really, Terry's final decision, though she was pretty sure the girl would accept their verdict on it. "And only one main voice. No harmonics."
"Oh sure, just sort it all out on your own. Pbhhht." Grinning, the manager fell back in her seat and waited as Alison turned to look at Terry and explained what they wanted to try this time around.
Terry saw the conference and wished that she could read lips. A moment later, Alison's cheerful voice sounded through her headphones, relaying the judgment. The musicians saluted cheerfully and some made quick notes on their music as she rattled off the new arrangement, finishing up with an efficient, "All right with you, Terry?"
Terry blinked, "We're re-recording?"
"We're just going to track in your vocals and adjust the fade on the strings. We can't scrub out your harmonies so we're going to need to redo those." Terry's eyes shifted to Alison as Dan explained it and found her teacher nodding.
"If yeh think so," she replied and looked over at Brad again. "Would yeh be so kind as to provide my intro?"
"I think, therefore I sing," Alison murmured, away from any of the speakers letting Terry hear them speak in the sound studio booth. She grinned at Dan as the song progressed, the man giving her a thumbs up with which she agreed. This version was far better, she thought as well - Terry's voice was the focus this time, for a more ethereal, yet present sound, as opposed to the multiharmonics from before.
"Once this is over, I get my minion back," Stephanie hummed happily - in tune with the song, which caused Alison no end of amusement.
Terry's nerves were a hundred times worse this time. No powers to hide mistakes, nothing but the vocal training that she'd put in with Alison over the past year. She closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of the adults in the recording booth, the musicians gathered around her. Just the song and the words. Just the longing for home.
As the harpist finally let the notes fade away, letting Terry's voice gently bring the song to a close, Alison smiled, knowing only too well both Dan and Stephanie had to be highly amused by the ill concealed pride showing on her face. She merely smirked at them both, then grinned at Dan in particular, raising an eyebrow at him. "Well. Let's bring her in here to listen to the first version, then this one, and see what she thinks, mmm?"
Terry was surprised to find that her hands were shaking when they called her into the booth. The musicians were resting, chatting idly in case they were needed again. "Is it utter shite?" she asked, worried.
"Why don't you listen to the first and the last version, hon, and let us know what you think?" Alison smiled reassuringly though as she spoke, getting up to pat Terry's shoulder, and then gently lead her towards the chair she'd been occupying. "Here. Have a seat. Listen. You can use my earphones, yeah?" She set them over Terry's ears herself, gently, picking up another set for herself and leaning on the console, earning the usual mock-glare from Dan in the process.
Terry clapped her hands over the speakers and listened carefully. The first version was, as it had been before, fine. Pretty, complicated and entirely adequate. "I think..." she began then they switched tracks and everyone watched her face intently as she became totally absorbed in the sound of her own voice. "...oh."
Quiet laughter surrounded Terry for a moment, Dan rising to his feet to wave a hand at the musicians still in the recording room, making a hanging gesture at them while sticking his tongue out to indicate the session was over. Various replies were sent his way, from the funny to the rude, though Alison was mostly concentrated on Terry's face at that point, merely waving in thanks at the lot as they left, one by one. Terry's harp was left in the room, though, to be stored away and wheeled off later, by the girl herself.
"Yeah," Alison grinned. "Oh." She nodded at Dan, who grinned merrily as he sat back down and started to prepare the track for burning, going through it at his own station to clean up the track properly before burning it to a CD for Terry to bring along with her. "Mind if I ask Dan to burn a few copies extra?" If nothing else, Alison wanted a copy of her own, if Terry didn't mind.
Terry shook her head, "I'd like one for myself and one for Bobby, if I can." She was proud of this. It had turned out exactly the way she'd envisioned. The sound of the track reminded her of home and though she and Sean didn't have much in common, the love of Ireland was something they could connect on. Or so she hoped.
"You got it, kiddo!" Dan flashed her at thumbs up over his shoulder, before returning to listen intently to his work. With a grin, Alison waved at Stephanie as the woman rose to her feet and made general 'have work, augh, hair ripping out' motions at them both before leaving the room. "Dan's probably got some time to spend on this before he feels it's ready. Wanna go to my office for now, and he'll page us when it's good?"
Terry watched Stephanie leave, "I should be helping her…" She glanced back at Alison and smiled, relaxing. Alison slung an arm around her shoulders and dragged her off laughing. If Stephanie had wanted her to work, she'd have said something.
Not that Terry would have managed to work in any case since she spent the next hour fretting about the outcome of the CD. She was about to wear a hole in Alison's carpet with all the pacing.
Sitting at her desk with her feet propped on the corner, Alison grinned, having given up on even trying to get Terry to sit down. At least she'd managed to keep her away from the coffee. A head peeked through the open door way and Dan waved silently at Alison over Terry's head, while the girl couldn't see him, and then waved the CD through the opening. And waited, patiently, for Terry to 1) notice him and 2) pounce.
Terry noticed on her next turn and made a squeaking noise then slapped her hands over her mouth. Her blue eyes were huge over her locked hands as she tiptoed over to him. She lowered her hands just a teensy bit. "Is it done?" she asked breathlessly, voice lilting from the anticipation.
With a flourish, Dan bowed, the cases proffered up to Terry in what would have been a solemn way, were it not for the very impish look he snuck towards her in the process. "All done, ma'am!"
"Show off!" Alison threw a nerf ball from her desk at him, laughing as he pretended to make an escape the moment Terry had claimed the CD cases.
"Happy holidays to the both of you!" he called out cheerfully from the hallway, before heading back to close down the studio.
"There you go," Alison said, grinning while watching Terry. "All done and ready."
Terry's hands were shaking but she smiled brilliantly at Alison. "Thank you so much for this. I don't know what else to say, really. I'm just…this is better than I ever imagined. Even if Sean doesn't like it, I wouldn't trade doing this for the world." She blinked rapidly against sudden tears. "I'm sorry, I'm such a mess."
Alison snorted at that and dropped her feet from the desk, rising to her feet to go hug Terry. "Hush you. It's all good." She didn't let go, hiding a smile away from Terry, reflecting on how much things had changed since Sean's arrival, when Terry had been ready to all but leave the mansion in protest. "He'll love it."
The petite redhead clung to her teacher, still fighting tears. "Thank you. I...thank you." She pulled back and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "Um. Here's your copy. Uh, do you have a CD player in here?"
"Yeah, we keep several around here to review track." Alison held on a moment longer before finally letting go, rummaging through her desk until she pulled a player and a set of slim headphones. "Here you go." She smiled, just a bit. "Want to borrow that and listen to it in the car while we head back?" She could leave Terry to listen to it in her own like that for a bit longer, before listening to her own copy, after all. "Or, hey, y'know, we could listen to it in the car's CD player." Or maybe not.