The Locket | Hero Fiennes Tiffin

Recording

Amelia

I drive along the windy road next to the loch. Molly and James' house isn't much further and then the recording studio isn't too far away from there. Normally I despise this road because it makes me feel sick due to how twisty it is, but for some reason today I am managing to tolerate and stomach it. Granted I'm not in the back seat like I normally am. I pass the entrance to their house so I know I've only got to drive for a few more minutes until I reach my destination.

The car in front of me turns off of the road and James' Black Range Rover comes into view. He then indicates and turns off of the road so I do the same. I follow him down a small one track road and we reach the small building that houses James' studio. I've not been here in ages so it's probably nothing like I remember it.

I grab my bag and jacket from the passenger seat and head over. The entrance has changed a lot since I was last here. Before there was just a black leather couch and wooden coffee table, with dark red walls and black carpet, but now the black couch has been swapped out for a burgundy one, the coffee table is still the same but there is now a few plants dotted around the room and also a flatscreen telly mounted on the wall opposite the couch. The walls are now a dark greyish colour and the floor is wooden. There are also now a few prints and photos up on the walls, which give the room a more welcoming feeling.

"I like what you've done with the place" I complement James.

"Thanks. We did it up last summer. Molly helped me do it along with Lottie actually" he replies smiling.

"Lottie actually helped someone? That's surprising" Lottie is one of the laziest people I know after my cousin Eleanor.

"Aye, Well she was grounded by your mum for sneaking out and had nothing better to do, so I asked her if she wanted to help and she agreed" he tells me. "Anyway do you want to get started?"

"Yeah. Mum will probably get suspicious if I'm out too late" I reply. We then walk through to the control room and James sits down and goes onto his computer to print the song lyrics.

"Here you go. I know you and Molly love this song and it's also one of our songs" He says as he hands me a few pieces of paper.

"The Heart Never Lies by Mcfly is a great song. I agree with your choice. I still don't get why you want me to sing some of it though" I reply as I scan over the pages of familiar lyrics.

"Your voice is good and I wanted to make the first dance as special as possible, and by recording it myself it achieves that because no one else will have played this version of the song before"

"Aw you wee sap" I tease

"Piss off" he jokes back. I've always had a sibling like relationship with James, even when he and Molly were just friends at the beginning. We tease each other all the time.

"Anyway what bits am I singing" I ask as I hand him back the lyrics so that he can circle the correct verses. He does that and then hands me it back. I'm singing the first, second and fourth verses along with some of the chorus and last verse.

"Ok. Do you want me to practise first and then we can get this over and done with?"  I ask

"Yeah. Do you want to practise with the backing track or not?" He asks me "We recorded it a few days ago and I've already done my bit. It differs a bit from the original though, just to warn you"

"Yeah I'll use the backing track" I then get up off of the couch that I was sitting on and go through to the recording booth and put on the headphones.

"Are you ready?" James asks through the microphone.

"Aye. Start the music" The familiar instrumental starts to play and I wait for the right moment to start singing.