weddingnovel Chapter 76 First Steps into the Recording Studio
Chapter 76 First Steps into the Recording Studio
The doorbell rang late at night. Judy sat on the living room sofa, her hands tightly gripping the belt of her bathrobe, so nervous that she held her breath.
Qi Ke glanced at her, gently patted the back of her hand, and then led the others to the second floor, leaving the entire first floor to the mother and daughter who had not seen each other for a long time and whose relationship was complicated.
About an hour later, the sound of footsteps going upstairs could be heard softly. Qi Ke opened the door and saw her standing at the top of the stairs, her eyes slightly red, but with a relaxed smile on her face, as if a great burden had been lifted.
"She agreed." Judy threw herself into Zeke's arms, her voice muffled and nasal. "She agreed to let me move out, and she agreed to let me not take those photos. She even... she even agreed to let me choose my own life, whether I want to continue acting or go to college, it's all up to me."
Zik hugged her and stroked her hair: "That's good."
"Zick," Judy looked up, her eyes full of curiosity and inquiry, "how did you do it? My mother... she looked at me strangely today, both guilty and relieved, and she didn't even object to our relationship much."
Zikta extended his index finger and gently tapped his temple, whispering:
"It's all thanks to this, my dear. Wisdom."
Judy pouted, clearly dissatisfied with the perfunctory answer, but did not press the matter further.
Judy slept soundly that night.
The next morning, the villa was in a mess as the Spiders were busy packing their bags and preparing for their trip to New York.
Casablanca's decision to move up the release date of "Sweet Dreams" completely disrupted everyone's original plans.
Currently, the entire track only has a rough demo and a music video that has just finished filming. The official studio master tape has not yet been produced. Casablanca is in a very urgent rush to produce the master tape, and the record factory is on standby, waiting for the rice to be cooked, and cannot afford any delays.
As per the additional terms of the Spiders' contract with the record company, the final recording of this single had to be completed at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York.
The main reason was that Amanda insisted on recording there, claiming that she would not sing unless she went to Electric Lady.
"Zick, can I go to New York with you?"
Judy moved closer to Zeke and asked in a soft voice.
This is another benefit of the end of this saga: Evelyn brought all her identification documents with her last night, so Judy can not only go out and go back to school openly, but also travel across state lines.
Zike stuffed clothes into his bag and turned to comfort him, "Honey, this trip is really rushed. We won't be in New York for long. I have to go back to Los Angeles right after the recording. I need to get Giorgio Morodel to help with the synthesizer mixing, and I also need to oversee the MV editing. It'll be non-stop."
"Besides, you've been to New York many times, there's nothing new or fun about it."
"This time is different," Judy said, gently shaking his arm affectionately.
"What's the difference?"
"I want to see the place where you grew up."
Judy leaned forward slightly, her face flushed, her eyes bright and full of affection.
"Brownsville? Come on, that place is a mess, you won't like it." Zeke shook his head helplessly.
"When I went to New York before, I always went with my mom to film movies, meet directors, and audition. But this time is different; this time I'm coming home with you."
Qi Ke's heart softened, and he couldn't bring himself to say the refusal he had prepared.
"Alright, it's just one more plane ticket."
The group immediately set off and boarded a flight to New York.
As Zeke said, the schedule was extremely tight. After the plane landed, there was no time to rest. They drove straight to Greenwich Village and headed straight for the Electric Lady Recording Studio.
This recording studio was originally a bankrupt nightclub. It was built by guitar legend Jimi Hendrix and has witnessed the birth of masterpieces by countless legendary musicians such as the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. It is one of the halls of fame in the music industry.
Unfortunately, Hendricks died of a drug overdose less than a month after the studio opened, which, in Zeke’s view, was almost the standard end for a rocker.
The floor is covered with thick carpet, and the walls are entirely wrapped in dense plush carpet, maximizing noise isolation and sound field concentration. You can even faintly hear the crackling of static electricity as you walk around.
This was actually Zeke's first time stepping into a professional recording studio.
An on-site engineer, who had been waiting for some time, smiled and handed over a small metal spoon, kindly reminding me: "When you walk through the corridor, you can gently tap the wall twice to effectively remove static electricity from your body and avoid noise during recording."
Zeke took the spoon, thinking it was just a useless folk remedy circulating in the industry. He turned to Judy and whispered, "It's probably just a hoax. I'm not falling for that."
Others followed suit, and only after he personally tried tapping the wall did he realize that the slight static electricity tingling sensation on his body had quietly dissipated, which was indeed effective in reducing noise.
Judy covered her mouth and chuckled. She had worked in a professional recording studio in France and was a seasoned veteran compared to Zeke. She immediately whispered a sarcastic remark about Zeke, who usually pretended to be a music master to impress people, but in the end, he didn't even know the basics of recording studio etiquette.
The two looked at each other and couldn't help but burst into laughter, their travel fatigue largely dissipating.
For Zik, compared to the rough demo recordings of the past, sitting in a top-notch recording studio and participating in the recording work as a producer was a completely new and interesting experience.
Room A, the Electrical Lady's Studio, is the main studio with the highest specifications and most advanced equipment in the entire recording studio. The magnificent and huge giant mixing console occupies half of the wall, with densely packed knobs, faders, and buttons neatly arranged, precise and professional, exuding a powerful aura.
A young white recording engineer put down the tape reel he was holding, wiped the dust off his hands, and quickly stepped forward, smiling as he extended his hand to Zeke.
"You're Zeke Rossi? I've heard so much about you. I'm Jimmy Iowen. 'YMCA' is an absolutely mind-blowing production; I didn't expect you to be so young."
"You flatter me." Zik reached out and shook hands with him. "I was just lucky and caught a few good notes."
He secretly thought to himself, "Another Jimmy. To make it easier to distinguish him, I'll just call him Iowen from now on."
"No need to be modest, luck has always been part of ability." Iowen laughed heartily, his tone sincere. "I didn't have this kind of treatment when I first started out. You know what? At first, I was just sweeping floors and doing odd jobs. Later, I worked my way up to resident engineer, and only later did I start making records for Springsteen, Tom Petty, Stevie Nix, and U2."
Qi Ke was slightly startled. This was definitely a classic underdog story; it was so inspiring!
"This place has magic." Iowa raised his hand and gently patted the massive mixing console, his eyes full of enthusiasm. "Here, as long as you understand sound, no one cares about your background."
Time was of the essence, so after a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone quickly got to work.
Amanda got into the recording booth and took her place, while Iowen also threw himself into his work.
While adjusting the equipment and calibrating the sound field, he inquired about Zik's production ideas and meticulously taught him the basic operation of the mixing console and techniques for controlling tone.
The producer's job is not actually that hard. The complicated equipment debugging, tape recording, and track editing are all handled by professional recording engineers. Zike only needs to accurately describe the timbre, rhythm, and emotional texture that he has formed in his mind and control the overall production direction.
Amanda's singing skills are solid and stable, and her grasp of the emotions in the song is also spot on. The whole process went smoothly, and she quickly completed most of the vocal recording work for the entire song.
During a break, everyone went to the recording studio's common lounge to rest.
Iowen then introduced Zeke to his friends:
"Seymour, this is the genius kid Zeke that everyone's been talking about lately. He's the creator of the wildly popular 'YMCA,' the rising star of Casablanca."