Having checked that Taylor was happy to work with three of the students on their guitar tracks, Jake took Mark, Cole and Carlos into the studio house to work on their vocals. He wanted some peace away from the buzz of the studio. Gauging by Dr Marrs’ tone of voice when he’d summoned Dorrian, he was going to work these kids hard with the expectation of fast high-quality results.
Both Cole and Carlos were confident about their vocals, disclosing to Jake that they both fronted bands and had written their own material before. After a couple of run-throughs and a few tweaks by Jake, all of them were satisfied with their efforts and were eager to get back into the studio. Sensing that Mark was less confident, Jake sent the others back across to JJL to wait in the lounge until Dr Marrs summoned them.
“Tell me about your lyrics?” suggested Jake as he sat in the kitchen with Mark. “Angel told me you had them written before we started this project.”
“I had them half-written,” corrected Mark quietly. “My older brother died in a car wreck when I was fourteen. I guess they’re a letter to him.” He paused as he wrestled with his inner emotions. “I miss him.”
“Tough subject matter but lyrics are a great means of therapy,” said Jake, empathising with the boy’s pain. “Used them many times myself. Many times.”
“How do I sing it though and keep the emotion out of it?” asked the boy, staring at Jake as if pleading for a miracle solution.
“You don’t,” replied Jake simply. “Sing straight from the heart. Want to run through them?”
Mark shook his head, “I need to hear Angel playing it while I sing it.
“Fine,” Jake acknowledged. “Let’s do your song live. I’ll message over to Dr Marrs and tell him to hang fire on recording Angel’s session for now.”
“Can we do it live?”
Jake nodded, “Sure. It might not end up sounding as produced as the other tracks but Jim can capture a high quality, raw, open, live version. We’ve done it a couple of times with Silver Lake tracks. It’ll sound stronger that way.”
“Will you help me out on vocals?”
“This is your song, not mine, Mark,” said Jake calmly then, seeing the fear in the boy’s eyes, relented and said, “But, I guess I can sing some harmonies for you. Will that help?”
“That’d be great.”
“Ok, let’s get back over there and wait our turn.”
It was almost six o’clock before Dr Marrs called Angel and Mark into the live room. They were the final pairing to record their song. Not wanting to keep the others any later, Jake had asked Nicole to escort them back on the school bus, promising to see Angel and Mark safely home when they were finished for the night.
“Right, folks,” called through the producer from the control room. “Let’s run through this a couple of times before we go for it for real.”
Guessing what the wily producer was up to, Jake played along, “Great. Gives me time to work out the harmonies.”
“Two guitars would strengthen this one,” commented Dr Marrs.
“Ok,” agreed Jake. “Happy to play as long as Angel and Mark are happy with that.”
“Sure,” said Angel readily. “You can cover up if I fluff the notes.”
“Right, let’s go for it,” called out Jim Marrs. “Jake, the Taylor on the rack over there should be in the correct tuning for this one.”
“Got it.”
Over the next hour, Dr Marrs made them play through the song from start to finish eight times. Every time he had them change something, slowly and subtly honing the song, tightening it up and, without the students realising it, polishing it into one of two highlight tracks for the record. Both Angel and Mark remained oblivious to fact that he was recording every second of it.
“And we’re done,” called through Dr Marrs at the end of the eighth run through. “Excellent effort, kids.”
“Thanks,” said Mark, his voice husky after singing for so long. “And thanks, Mr Power.”
“You and Angel did all the hard work,” replied Jake. “OK, gather up your gear and let’s get out of here. Been a long day.”
“I’ll see you back out here for nine,” called out Dr Marrs from the control room. “I’ll make a start tonight but there’s still a lot of ground to cover in the morning.”
“We’ll be here,” assured Jake.
Leaving everyone else in the house fast asleep, Jake crept quietly out the back door shortly after five to go for a run. Having been cooped up in the studio for two days, he needed to taste fresh air and to stretch his legs. Conscious that he needed to be out at JJL before nine, he shortened his planned running route, opting instead to run north up the beach towards the two WWII towers.
As he pounded along the sand at a leisurely pace, he allowed his mind to wander to the planned memorial show. It was only two weeks away and, despite receiving numerous emails and messages from Jethro and Maddy, he had barely given it a thought. His mind strayed onto the new ballad he’d been working on and, as he headed past the centre of town, he reached the conclusion that they needed to include it. He just hoped Grey and Paul the felt the same about it.
Up ahead, he spotted another early morning runner. As he drew closer to them, he realised it was Nicole. Increasing his pace, he caught up with her and called out, “Mornin’!”
“Hi,” she said brightly. “This is a sweet surprise.”
“Sweaty surprise,” joked Jake, noting that she was wearing only a sports bra and very short silky running shorts.
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