Miss Cleopatra: In Love I Fall

1

"Alright Al, that was great- but too much finger noise; tighten it up a little bit." My voice echoed around inside the sound booth as I spoke into the microphone. Al dropped his hands from the neck of his bass to shoot me a thumbs up. "From the top guys." I took my finger off the PA button and slunk back in my chair- letting the music fill the silence in the control room.

"And for you." I turned just in time to see one of the interns shoving a cup of coffee in my face.

"Thanks Kevin." I said, clumsily accepting the drink from him. I rotated in my seat to face the sound board again, but I could still feel his eyes on me. "Uh, did you need something?" I asked, turning down the volume in the studio so I could hear him.

"No, sorry- I just wanted to watch." He pointed to the band that was playing through one of the more difficult songs on their album. He had a twinkle in his eye, much like the first time I ever stepped foot in this studio.

"You a big fan of the Paper Cranes?" I asked, a small smile forming on my lips. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the kid was having a bit of a fangirl moment.

"Ah, I've seen them live three times." He brought his hand around to the back of his head and gave me a sheepish smile.

"Well if you want, you can chill on the couch and wait for their session to be over. Just don't touch anything." I warned. But apparently that was all Kevin needed to hear, because he grinned at me excitedly before plopping down on the couch. Pfft. Interns.

I remember my days as an intern: back when I was going to CalArts for music production. Back then I was pretty much in Kevin's position- making copies and going on coffee runs. But once in a while, I would get to sit in on a recording session with a few of the audio engineers and see how a studio really worked. But just look at me now: leading the production team at Sonic Sound Entertainment. It all went by so fast, I don't know where the time went.

"Hey Kade, how was that?" Jimmy, one of my sound engineers called to me from across the room.

"It's not there yet." I shook my head back and forth- something was still off about the sound. "It still sounds fake—there shouldn't be any vocal manipulation on Paul, he's got an incredible voice on his own." I pointed to the lead singer in the booth. Kiana, one of the other sound techs nodded and flipped a few switches before playing the song back to me.

"There we go!" The sound bit ended and I found myself clapping out of excitement. "You guys sound great- that's all for today." The PA system crackled  as I spoke to the band. They nodded to me and started packing up their instruments.

"Hey guys," As soon as the band emerged from the studio, I rose from my chair to get up and talk to them. "The album's going to be incredible." I said honestly.

"Well it better be. This album is our baby." Caroline, their drummer joked. "I don't want these 13 hour recording sessions to be in vain."

"Don't worry; if all goes well we'll be hitting the stands in a month or two and you can get some beauty rest before the tour starts." I teased. As my eyes roamed the room, I suddenly remembered the quirky little intern making an impression on the couch cushions.

"Oh uh, by the way this is Kevin our new intern. You need anything: coffee, bagels, Swedish Fish- just let him know and he'll get it for you." I informed the band. While the job description reflected one of a delivery boy, I could tell that Kevin couldn't be more thrilled to be fetching Paul Smithson his blonde roast every day.