My Greatest Award (나의 제일 좋은 상)

Studio

"So you just connect everything to this interface and it just records?"

Daniel and I are both in my bedroom in the dorm, looking at my amateur recording set up. Today is one of those rare days where all four of us have a day off at the same time. Taylor decided to spend the day in his room; who knows what he's doing in there? Haejoon chose to go out with some friends to Myeongdong.

I hadn't known what I should do today since I'd just finished a cover and I'm taking a short break from recording. I'd considered asking Lisa if she wanted to hang out, but I dismissed the idea for several reasons. As I always remind myself, she's my mentor. And besides, she's been extra busy recently; apparently her solo is coming in a few weeks, but it hasn't been announced yet. It did, however, lead to me having less classes this month and so for the past two weeks I've been doing more practice on my own. My motivation has been wavering every now and then though, when I remember what Haejoon said to me in the café and I think about how uncertain our future as a group actually is.

Daniel had entered my room while I was idly laying on my bed, texting Jason; apparently he'd quit his job at the café and started going to university. Daniel had asked if I could explain to him how I do my covers, since it apparently interested him.

"Well, basically. The interface pretty much replaces the audio driver of my laptop, so any audio input and output goes through it. So, I can just connect my guitar or my mic through the interface and it serves as the input."

"But that's just the recording part. What about the actual arrangements? I notice you tend to come up with your own arrangements for your covers."

I take a moment of pause to word my answer. "It basically starts with me listening to the original a few times. From there I can kinda picture in my head how I want my cover to go. Then I map out each section of the song, and list down the important elements and instruments I want in each part. And that's it. I just pick a key I think fits and start recording."

"Which instrument do you normally start with?" Daniel asks, interest still ever present in his voice.

"It really depends on the genre of the cover. If it's more towards a full band style cover, I'd normally start with the drums. If it's a more pop style, or if it's a piano-driven or acoustic guitar-driven style, then I'd start with the main instrument first and build from there."

"What's this thing for, then?" Daniel fiddles with the circular pop filter I use with my mic.

"It's just something I put in front of my mic when I record my voice," I explain. "It helps with wind or popping sounds from my mouth and all. It's not really necessary but it's pretty good to have."

Daniel stops asking questions and becomes silent for a moment. I begin to worry that my explanations hadn't been comprehensive enough, before I look at him and see his contemplative expression.

"Hyung, do you think I could become as talented as you?" Daniel breaks the momentary silence. "In music and recording and all, I mean."

I'm taken aback for a second, flustered by his question. "Dan, I'm nowhere close to being as good as most people in the field. I only know what I know because I made mistakes and learned from them."

"I guess..." Daniel trails off. Though I can tell that he isn't feeling bad, but instead he's just contemplating. "You did get crazy good at dancing out of nowhere, though."

"That was all Lisa, Dan," I deflect the compliment.

"Still, you got an A after only two weeks of learning dance from scratch," Daniel persists. I almost deflect it by mentioning that the bar had been set lower for our evaluations, but I think better of it.