The Assistant | Scavi

Last recording

"That was a lot..." Avi stretched his arms and looked at his sister. "I am exhausted..." He sighed softly. They had just finished the meeting for the tour and it had been a three hour marathon. 

Esther nodded. "Me too. But I need to write a ton of mails now to organise the rest while you get to make music." She winked at him.

"True..." Avi smiled. "And I am looking forward to it. We're finishing the last song today... We recorded the main vocals yesterday, but it is a lot of harmony work we need to do. So I'll make some tea and then we'll work until we're finished, we need to finish everything in three days and I want two days to revise everything."

Esther smiled. "It will be alright, Avi. I'm sure that your music will be wonderful" she said. "If you feel like I can help you, let me know, you know the drill. I'll be in my office." 

Avi nodded. "Of course. Thank you." He accepted her kiss onto his cheek and then got up and left the room. He went downstairs into the tea kitchen, prepared three mugs of tea and went into the studio where Kevin and Scott were already waiting. "Hello..."

Scott turned around. "Hi Avi" he said. 

"Here you are. I thought you could try something else today. This is green tea, Kevin's favourite" Avi explained and handed over the two mugs. 

Scott smiled. "Thank you. Are you ready to record the last bit of your EP?" 

Avi dropped down on the sofa and sighed. "Never ready to finish something" he explained. "It's the most difficult thing to just say it's done and give it away to get it pressed and published. Not being able to change anything anymore... it's a weird feeling." He took his tea and drank a sip.

"Is it because you want it to be perfect?" Scott asked. "Or because you get new ideas and cannot put them in?" 

Avi furrowed his brows. "I really don't know, Scott. Maybe a little bit of both. But I avoid listening to the finished songs until publication day. It's a weird habit, but that keeps me sane." He laughed nervously. 

"If this is what you need, Avi, it is not weird, but... I don't know your way of coping?" Scott mused. "I mean I don't know what it feels like to put out new music and to just let go of your work and hope for the best..."

"Mmhm..." Avi just hummed and drank from his tea. "How do you like this kind of tea, Scott?"

Scott tried it and nodded. "Good... interesting... it tastes a little bit fruity?" 

"Mmhm, there's a hint of blood orange in it" Avi explained.

"Mmhm..." Scott said, seemingly thinking about what he was just drinking. "So today we're just recording the harmonies for Full Moon?" 

Avi sighed and shook his head. "There's a bridge which will solely consist of my voice. No lyrics just sound. So just harmonies does actually mean that we're recording the biggest part of this song." He finished his tea quickly and got up. "Let's do this" Avi said and went into the recording booth. 

"Kevin? Can we start?" Avi asked, sounding slightly annoyed. 

"Of course we can. But Scott is taking over today, I will just supervise him" Kevin explained. 

"Wonderful" Avi said and Scott sensed that he was beyond annoyed. 

But the blonde just smiled and drank from his tea. "I will do my very best" he promised. "Now... do you want me to play the whole track once and then we'll see where we can go from there?" 

Avi sighed. "Yes, please." 

Scott played the track twice before they started to record the harmonies bit by bit. It was meticulous work and it would have taken them forever if it wasn't for Kevin who started layering the vocal tracks while they were still recording. So they were finished rather early, at half past three. 

"I am exhausted" Avi said and got up. "Kevin, would you mind..."

Kevin just smiled. "Go, Avi we'll finish and meet again the day after tomorrow around noon" he said. "Same procedure as last time.

"Thank you" the bearded man said and then just left the room with a quick 'bye' on his lips.

Scott turned to Kevin. "What was that? I thought we need to review the tracks..."

Kevin smiled. "Yes, but he will do so tomorrow on his own. We will finish Full Moon now and then I will give you a copy of his songs, because I trust you. Listen to them tomorrow, think about them and if you find anything that doesn't sound right make a note so we can get to work, okay?"

"Sure. I can do this" Scott said confidently.

"Good. Now how about you try and finish the song?" Kevin asked.

"Me? I only did rough mixes so far..."

Kevin smiled. "I know. This is not much different. Just do what you would do, if you get stuck, I'll help you..."

~

Scott left the studio that night with an old school MP3 player and a reminder that he should not let anyone else listen to the songs, not even his closest friends.

On his way home he stopped to get food for himself and Mitch who just got out of his studio as well.

He just arrived at home and was washing his hands at the kitchen sink when he heard Mitch coming in.

"Oh jeez, I had a horrible day, Scotty, I cannot wait for some Chow Mein to comfort me" he said and dropped down on the sofa.

Scott chuckled and handed him his box.

"Thank you, you're a lifesaver" Mitch said and shoved some into his mouth immediately.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Scott asked.

Mitch shook his head. "Same old shit with the boss. Cannot wait to start my own label" he said. "What about your day?"

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "Same old. Avi is still the moodiest person ever which sucks, but Kevin let me mix the last song basically on my own..."

"Oh wow! My bestie the producer" Mitch said. "That sounds amazing. What song is it? When can I hear it?"

Scott shrugged his shoulder. "Release day is two weeks from now" he explained. "But don't expect too much, we're talking about an ode to the moon here."

"That sounds nice, I am looking forward to listen to it" Mitch said.

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "It's just a stupid love song to the moon."

Mitch chuckled. "Wow, Avi must have been in a very bad mood..." 

"Why's that?" Scott asked.

"Well..." Mitch put down his food and looked at him. "It is interesting how you think about him and his work when it's been a good day contrasted to when it's been a not so good day."

Scott sighed. "True..." he said. "It's just that sometimes I think that we finally get along. Today he brought tea for us and we talked for a moment, but then he brushed me off and even though I was the one recording him while Kevin was just supervising, he always talked to Kevin, never to me."

"Why didn't you speak up, Scott?" Mitch wanted to know.

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Mitch. Just wanted to get it over with. It's just one more day in the studio and then I'll be doing different work with different people. Like the video shoot and everything that goes into promo. I'll be fine, Mitch. Maybe I just need to learn that not everyone I will work with will be nice, there will probably be people more complicated than Avi. And Avi is okay..."

Mitch giggled. "It still helps that he's kinda hot?" 

Scott rolled his eyes. "Yes..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~