From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 109: Record Studio (2)

"Let’s try it one more time. I feel like if you fix the position of lips as you say ’pick me, love me, choose me’, the words will be .1% more charming and enticing to the audience. Try to add a sense of longing into the words to really connect with the audience. Right now, you sound a bit forceful and dry, like you’re ordering me to do something."

At Jelissa’s repeated critique, William Forbes blinked in irritation before reluctantly re-singing the part of the signal song that Jelissa mentioned before looking at her with a resigned expression as if expecting to be asked to sing again.

Jelissa asked as she played back the recording before tapping her lips, "Hmmm, maybe one more time? I think-"

"Ahem, we still have 99 other contestants to get through. Why don’t we do them, then circle back if we have time?"

Larry Jackson finally interrupted Jelissa with a resigned sigh.

He knew that if he left her alone, she would really make William sing again and again until she was satisfied, and that might take hours or even days.

They simply didn’t have time for that, especially since they had to be done with the vocal recordings today and have something for the video recording director tomorrow.

As if remembering that she did in fact have other people to get through, Jelissa’s eyes widened dramatically.

"Oh! Well, that’s okay, I guess. William, you can step out for now. Jamie, hop in the booth, please." Jelissa turned to Jamie with a bright smile, and the blonde boy excitedly went inside since he got to record with such good equipment.

Jamie quickly warmed his throat up before cleanly singing through the signal song with no extra frills.

Jelissa listened to it once before tapping on her computer and speaking to Jamie, "Can you harmonize from the second verse? Starting with ’This precious dream’. Try making your tone a bit softer before brightening it up when you get to ’shining like a firework’"

"Yes!"Jamie excitedly responded before doing exactly as Jelissa asked each time.

The bright smile never left his face for one second, despite how many times she asked him to re-sing a single word or sentence.

Ari listened carefully, trying to understand why she requested so many takes of one single part or sentence.In some instances, he could hear the difference, but in others, it just sounded the same to him, but thinking that it didn’t matter if he could tell the difference or not, he memorized her instructions anyway.

"Thank you, Jamie, come on out. Ari, your turn."

As Jelissa smiled at him, Ari caught Larry Jackson’s disdainful expression as he stared at his mask.

Shrugging to himself, Ari high-fived Jamie as he walked into the booth, adjusting the headphones so they fit around his mask as he sat on the wooden stool.

As he stared through the glass walls, noticing the eyes of the two judges, the cameras, and the various expressions of contestants staring at him, Ari’s heart began pounding from nervousness.

His palms became completely sweaty, and he rubbed them repeatedly against his pants while taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Somehow, he felt a bit pressured, especially since Jamie and William Forbes had done so well before him.

Seeing the blonde boy smirking at him from the other side of the glass, Ari wanted to make sure he did well.

"Ari, let’s take a deep breath and start the warmup, okay? If you need to, close your eyes and shut everyone out."

Jelissa’s voice sounded out, and meeting her warm brown eyes, Ari closed his own eyes to shut out everybody else and began the warm-up he always did in class.

When he was done, and Jelissa played the instrumental for him to begin singing, he remembered all of the advice and requests that she had given both William and Jamie, and applied them as he sang through the signal song.

When the music stopped and he opened his eyes, it was to see Jelissa giving him a bright smile.

"That was perfect! Why don’t we try the second verse again with you harmonizing this time? I liked that little riff you did earlier, so could you replicate it?"

Sighing with relief, Ari began singing from the right spot and quickly finished his recording and came out of the booth.

High-fiving Jelissa, who praised him, he carefully watched her along with Jamie, while the other contestants recorded the signal song when it was their turn.

When it was time for lunch, the contestants cleared out of the room to head to the cafe, but feeling tired, Ari just sat in the waiting area while quietly trying to rap to himself.

Clack!

The door opened, and he snapped his head up, staring at Jelissa, who was eating a sandwich as she walked in.

She looked surprised to see him in the empty room.

"No lunch?"

"No, I was a bit tired."

"Aha, that’s my fault for dragging you all here early, but don’t worry, I’ll release you all on time today so you can rest. Tomorrow...tomorrow will be rough."

She laughed lightly to herself before sitting on the couch across from him and continuing to eat her food.

Thinking about whether he should leave or if that would be rude, Ari just ended up sitting awkwardly on the seat, and seeing him stare at her, Jelissa spoke up again.

"You’ve been staring at me working all morning. Curious about why I’m making you all sing the song so many times??"

"A little bit," Ari admitted honestly.

Even with his Picky Listener skill, a lot of the takes sounded perfect, so he didn’t really get why she kept recording clips that sounded the same.

"Hmmm." Jelissa glanced at him thoughtfully before shoving the rest of her sandwich in her mouth.

"Okay, follow me."

She quickly led him back to the empty studio, whipping open her laptop and pulling up the carefully labeled audio files.

"Listen carefully, this was William’s first take."

She played about 30 seconds of William singing, and to Ari, it sounded textbook perfect, just like the example song that they received."Sounds good, right?"

At his nod, Jelissa clicked on another file, "And this was the last one. Hear the difference?"

Ari closed his eyes and listened carefully, finally catching the difference between the two versions.

If William’s first recording was like a robot singing perfectly, the final recording was more like a human expressing their emotions.

It had variations in pronunciation and inflection, pockets of softness and vocal strength, which really made the listener believe that the singer really wanted to be chosen by the listener.

"Get it?"

At Jelissa’s question, Ari opened his eyes and nodded in realization.

"Yeah. It’s a completely different song. It goes from soft and wistful to really bright with longing."

"Right?! You get it! I’ve noticed your ears are quite sensitive. You sang it the way I wanted William to sing it on the first try. Maybe because your voices have some similarities? Here’s Jamie’s, listen closely."

She played Jamie’s, and the vibe was similar and packed with even more emotion as Jamie sang in a lower, softer tone than William did.

"Sounds good, right? You can tell Jamie has been getting vocal lessons for a while. He has excellent control over his voice and a really good head for melodies. I wish Carlos weren’t having problems with his voice, but even without him, if we blend the voices of the two of you together..."

When Jelissa played the two recordings together, briefly adjusting the volume of each so Jamie’s voice was almost like an echo to Ari’s higher voice, it sounded good.

Not just good, great!

Their two voices mixed well, and Ari could even imagine the pockets and highlights that Carlos’s voice would fill.

"Wow."As Ari blinked in amazement, Jelissa clapped her hands excitedly.

"Obviously, the mixing is not perfect, but do you see what I’m going for? Singing a song is not just reading the words to the right tune, and recording it is not just capturing that. You have to fill it with emotion that can help you connect with the listener; otherwise, what would be the difference between you and a robot? You should work on that, too, Ari. A lot of times when I hear you sing, it sounds like it’s a job that you’re being forced to do, not something that you enjoy. Next to Carlos, you were my biggest worry for recording today, but it seems you applied the tips I gave to the others? You were lucky, but it won’t always work out that way, so think about my words, okay?"

At the surprisingly sharp insight, Ari could only swallow before replying softly.

"...okay."

"Good! I see that you’re quite interested in producing and liked your little traffic jingle. While I can’t give you personal pointers today, feel free to watch what I’m doing carefully and ask me questions at a later time if you have them. You can tell Jamie the same thing."

"...okay."

Jelissa smiled softly at him before gently ruffling his hair, "And about what I said earlier, I’m not trying to scold you. I think you’re doing a great job, and I see all the work you’ve been putting in behind the scenes. You’re so, so young, so I just want you to take care of your mind and body, try to enjoy the process a little more, and keep your chin up, okay? Ignore all the outside commentary and keep that confidence that always shines through. I’m rooting for you."

As Ari felt his eyes ache at the unexpected gentleness and praise.

For him, it was completely unexpected, especially when most of the contestants and trainers constantly criticized him or had nothing nice to say.

Even if he said it didn’t bother him, seeing somebody encourage him and say that they saw all the hard work that he put in really meant a lot."...Okay. Thank you."

Ari’s voice was a bit muffled as he responded, and he was thankful that Jelissa pretended not to notice as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"Phew! That sandwich was great! My hangover is cured!" Larry Jackson’s loud voice sounded out as he opened the door and entered the room

.Once again, Ari found himself thankful to Larry Jackson as the man barged into the room and broke up the touching scene.

Bowing his head toward Jelissa once more, Ari moved to a different spot while thinking over her words.

Enjoy the process more instead of thinking of it like work?

He wanted to try, but right now it felt like the combination of school work and a terrible job with the worst co-workers in the world.

The only enjoyable parts were performing, but the process to get there felt like a death march.

Truly, he didn’t know if he could live up to Jelissa’s expectations anytime soon.