The Music We Make

It was eight thirty the next day and I was already in the studio to get ready for the day. I was always the first one there; I loved the quiet time in the morning to mentally prepare for what I needed to do. As always I made coffee and I had even bought donuts so I laid those out. I wasn’t as nervous today, but I was a little anxious about what the day might bring.

Matt was the first one there, and I was surprised he came alone and not with the rest of the guys. He even beat the other producers to the studio, which was rare; musicians are stereotypically late to everything.

“Hey Rosie,” he said with a smile. “I figured I was too early to get into the studio. Thought I’d have to wait in the parking lot.”

“Nah, I’m always here at least half an hour early,” I told him with a smile.

Matt and I talked for a while as we waited for the rest of the men to arrive. He told me about his girlfriend, Val, and how she had a twin sister, Michelle. He told me about how the band had known each other for years, and some of them had been friends since they were small children. I loved hearing him talk about how they became a band, and how much they “sucked” before Johnny and Brian officially joined the band.

“It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come already,” he said. “But I know that this is only the start. This record is going to be so different from the last two. I have a lot of faith in this project.”
I smiled at him, “I am excited to hear what you guys have written already.”

Once the other producers and band members arrived, we discussed a course of action. We wrote out all of the songs that the band already had demos for. Matt told us they were working on a few more, but they were still rough. We talked about where to start and what our goals were for what we wanted to accomplish. We decided that we were going to start with the song they had titled “Bat Country” today.

We started by having the whole band play the song together so that we could hear the sound. I was amazed and addicted right away. Out of all of the bands I had worked with, this was one of the best. They were early in their careers, but I knew that they would be huge after this song came out.

“Holy shit,” I said after they were done. “That was amazing!”

“I fucked up like twenty times,” Brian said with a sigh.

“Me too, but whatever. We’ll get it down,” Zack said with a laugh.

We then broke off, Mudrock with Johnny, Fred with Jimmy, and me with the guitarists. Matt usually recorded after we were done with the rest, so he decided to listen in with Zack and Brian. We went over to my area and got Brian set up to play, while Zack and Matt sat on the couch to hang out and watch. I got the demo tracks ready while Brian got situated so we could start playing.

“Where do you want to start?” I asked him.

“You’re the producer, aren’t you? You tell me,” he answered as he tuned his guitar.

“Well, usually I ask the musician what they want since it’s their music and all, but sure, I’ll decide for you. Let’s just start right at the beginning.”

Brian didn’t even answer me. Matt threw a piece of paper he had crumpled at his head and said, “Stop being such a bitch.”

“Shut up,” he said with an eye roll. “Ready?”

I started the metronome and got everything ready to go. I said, “Whenever you are.”

Brian began playing, drawing me in. He was amazing. I almost got distracted by how good he was, but my pride took over; I knew I needed to prove myself now. We took chunks of the song and worked on recording them, re-doing it as many times as Brian wanted. Every once in a while he would stop and curse at himself for messing up, which was honestly hilarious, but I needed to not laugh at him. We weren’t on that level. Zack and Matt, on the other hand, made fun of him at every chance they got.

After he played each section, we would listen to what I produced. He seemed satisfied with what we created together, which made me happy too. When we worked together there was no awkwardness or rudeness. He was good as what he did and so was I. The final product of what we made together was amazing.

“Sounds great,” Brian admitted at the end of the day. “I want to do the solo over tomorrow, though.”

“Sure,” I said. “I think it sounds good, but could be a little tighter. But I agree, we should do it tomorrow.”

Brian got up, put away his things and left. He wouldn’t look me in the eye or anything. I sighed, not knowing why he was still being so cold to me. I thought after that session he would see that I was good at this.

Zack could see my disdain. He said, “Don’t worry about that asshole. He can be a perfectionist.”

“And his girlfriend just dumped him,” Matt said.

“True,” Zack laughed.

I laughed softly. “Well, regardless, I hope he knows that I’m good at my job and I’ll do whatever it takes to produce the best record possible.”

“He knows,” Zack said. “After today, he has to know that. Today went smoother than any of the songs we recorded for the last record.”

“Well, thanks. I can’t wait to hear more.”

-0-

After the guys took off, I cleaned up the studio then headed out myself. I went back to my apartment where I lived with my best friend, Andrea. She was already home for the day and was cooking dinner for the both of us.

“You’re an angel, Andi,” I told her, so grateful for her. She was seriously the greatest roommate ever; she cleaned and cooked and paid rent on time. And she was my best friend.

“No problem, Rose. I have to work in a bit, unfortunately.” She worked as a bartender downtown and made a shit load of money in tips. And she was going to school for social work, which we often joked would be a huge pay cut.

We ate dinner together and I told her about the band, especially about Brian and how he bugged me so much. She immediately asked, “But is he hot?”

I laughed. “Well, yeah, unfortunately.”

“What do you mean, unfortunately?”

“He’s been a dick so far,” I said laughing. “I’m always attracted to assholes.”

“Hey now,” she said, “He might not be an ass. He might warm up to you.”

“Hope so,” I said with a sigh.

After dinner she left for work and I was all alone in the apartment. I couldn’t help but think about Brian again. He wouldn’t leave my mind. The way he played guitar amazed me; he was so talented and so sexy when he played…

I swallowed and rolled my eyes at myself, knowing that these were unhealthy thoughts. Every time I thought one of the musicians was hot, it usually ended up badly. When I first started working I made the mistake of sleeping with one of the guys, and when he showed up to work the next day, he didn’t even speak to me. It was awkward and made me feel like shit and I wasn’t about to do anything like that again. I wouldn’t let myself think about Brian that way.

My phone buzzed, pulling me out of my thoughts. I was surprised to see that it was Matt calling me. Did something happen?

“Hey, Rosie,” he said after I picked up the phone. “I forgot to mention it to you today, but going out tonight to celebrate the start of a new album and I wanted to invite you along.”

I was surprised. “Oh, uh, sure. Where and when?”

“We’re meeting at Johnny’s Bar in about an hour. Need a ride? Val is going to DD.”

“Oh, that would be awesome, but I actually live really close to there. I can just walk over,” I told him.

“Oh, shit. If I lived any closer than I already do I would be there every fuckin day! I didn’t realize you lived in Huntington Beach, not LA.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t live in that big of a city,” I admitted. “Anyways, I’ll see you in an hour.”

“Can’t wait!”

Notes

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