Essence
"Why do you look like you're about to shit yourself?" Eli asked, glancing over at me before putting his attention back on the road.
"I'm just nervous. I've never been to an actual studio before. I'm excited though."
Today was the day I was going to record a song in Elijah's studio. I decided my song, "Damaged", would be the song I test the waters with and with all the equipment they had at the studio, I knew they'd have my song sounding like a hit.
"Me and Amon have had these studios established for three years, one down here and one in Atlanta. All this time and you never once talked about getting in the studio. Why?"
"I wasn't taking it seriously, that's why. I've always written songs and I've always said that I wanna be a singer, but I've never tried to actually pursue that dream. I let so many things distract me and on top of that, I never believed that I could do it. I still kind of don't."
"Then what are we doing? Why am I bringing you here if you don't even believe in what you're about to do. I know you have an amazing voice, mom and dad know, as well as anyone who has ever heard you sing, but it starts with you. You gotta believe in yourself before anybody else can." He said as he turned into the parking lot of the studio.
He was right, it does start with me. I knew I had a great voice, otherwise it would be very delusional of me to even have dreams of being a singer. It's just hard to believe that it could actually happen for me, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try. As we got out of the car, I took time to admire the building that was in front of us. I was really proud of my brother, this studio was his dream and I was glad he was able to make it a reality.
"Y'all fancy, huh?" I said as I looked around the place, everything looked so expensive and professional.
"You like it?" Eli asked as he lead
me down a hallway.
"Yeah, this is really nice."
We made it to one of the rooms in the back and when we walked in, I felt like I had died and went to singer's heaven. I was amazed at everything around me even though I didn't know what half of this shit was.
"Mon." Eli called out as soon as he walked in.
"Eli, nigga wassup?" The Mon' guy said, as he stood up from his chair and dapped Eli up.
"What's up with you? I haven't been down here in a minute, everything good around here?"
While they were playing catch up, I took a moment to really look around the studio room that we were in. I was so excited I just wanted to touch everything. My eyes landed on the recording booth and I could just envision myself singing my heart out inside of there.
"You know I'mma make sure everything's straight down here. Matter of fact, I gotta tell you about some business with this new artist. She reached out to me, but she actually lives in the A."
"Speaking of new artists." Eli said, looking over at me. "I don't think you ever met my sister. Essence, this is Amon, I've been knowing this dude for I don't know how long."
"It's something about this nigga Eli that we don't know about, he keep his family ducked off like he involved in some illegal shit. It's nice to meet you though." Amon said, giving me a hug.
"It's nice to meet you too." I said as I scanned him up and down discreetly.
It's crazy how I've heard so much about this guy, yet this was my first time meeting him. When I was in high school I would always hear Elijah saying stuff like, Oh I'm about to go out with Amon or I'm about to go do such and such with Amon. Sometimes I would wonder who the fuck Amon is, but I never cared enough to actually ask. He's clearly a real person though, not bad looking either. He had smooth brown skin with some pretty white teeth, a nice haircut, and he smelled like Heaven. I took note of his outfit as well, it was clean and simple. I could definitely tell he wasn't the flashy type - unlike his friend here who loved to have his neck and wrist shining.
"This is her first time in an actual studio, she's a singer and I'm just trying to help her get her feet wet a little bit." Eli stated.
"That's what's up." Mon' said, nodding his head. "So, you brought your lyrics with you right? Let me hear some of it."
My eyes widened a little bit as I nervously looked over at Elijah.
"We're in the studio, you know you're gonna have to sing, right?" Eli said as we made eye contact.
"Of course I know that." I said, feeling my heart begin to beat faster.
Of course I knew I would have to sing, that's the whole point of me coming here, I just thought that it was going to be just me and Eli. Not me, Eli, and Eli's friend who I don't even fucking know. Plus, they didn't even offer me any refreshments - no water, no tea with lemon, nothing. How was I supposed to sing under these conditions?
"I just wanna hear the melody, so I can get a feel for the song. I already got some beats made that might fit well with it." Amon said. "You don't have to be nervous, I ain't nobody."
I nodded my head, taking in what he said while trying to keep myself calm. I pulled my notebook out of my bag and flipped through the pages until I came across "Damaged". This was the first time anybody would be hearing this song and because I put all my personal feelings and emotions into this song, I was very self conscious about my brother and his friend hearing it.
I began to sing the first verse all the way up to the chorus and the more I sang, the less nervous I became. The guys bobbed their heads as I continued to sing and I noticed Amon messing around with his laptop and some of the other equipment. Both Amon and Eli had a very focused look on their face as I finished up the song.
"I'm thinking a strong beat, kind of soulful, yet smooth." I heard Eli say.
"Yeah, yeah. Definitely gotta have some background guitars up in there." Mon' said, as the sound of a beat he made began to fill the room. "Something like this, but I don't know if this the one."
I placed my back against the chair as I listened to that particular beat trying to imagine how my song would sound over it. I liked the beat, I just didn't want to jump the gun and pick the first one that I heard. Amon played a couple more beats before playing one that really caught my attention. A huge smile spread across my face, I knew this one was the one. The three of us shared a knowing look, they knew it too.
"This is it." Eli said, a smile covered his face as well.
"This is it." I agreed.
After finding such an astounding beat, it was finally time to record my vocals. I was new to this, so I was thankful to have the guys walk me through everything.
"Okay, so we're gonna go ahead and do a run through real quick, just to make sure you're comfortable with everything, the headphone levels, microphone level, allat'." Eli said, as I adjusted the headphones against my ears.
"Okay." I nodded my head, looking at him through the glass of the recording booth.
After making sure everything was good with the run through, I began to actually record the song. Recording in the studio was a lot harder than I thought, well not necessarily hard, but it required a lot more work than I ever imagined. After multiple takes and several hours later, I was finally finished. I walked out the booth with a huge smile on my face. For the first time in a long time, I felt proud of myself.
"You a whole professional out'chea." Eli teased.
"Don't gas me." I smiled, reclaiming my seat. "We've been here for almost five hours, I feel like I took over y'alls whole day. Does it usually take this long to record a song?"
"It varies for every artist." Amon spoke. "It might take a couple of hours for some people, a couple of days for others. It just depends. You did good to say it's your first time in the studio. Your voice the shit for real."
"Thanks." I said, trying to bite back the enormous smile that wanted to come across my face. I doubted myself alot, so hearing someone compliment my craft really meant a lot to me. "So what's next?"
"We're good for today." Amon stated. "Only thing left to do is go back over the track and edit it. Clean some shit up and put the final touches on it. Everything should be finished some time tomorrow."
"Okay, sounds good."
We talked for a little while longer, going over a few more things before Eli and I decided we were ready to head home. It was almost midnight by the time we made it back. Once I made it in the house, I headed straight for the kitchen, I needed to put something on my stomach before I headed to bed.
"Parents." I sang, once I noticed them both in the kitchen eating. I eyeballed their plates heavily before fixing my own. "So, guess what I did today."
"You seem really happy. What'd you do?" My mom asked.
"I recorded a song. My song. Eli helped me." I said, excitedly.
"What! That's why you look so happy." Mom said.
"Yeah, I am happy. Singing makes me happy."
"Well, I'm proud of you babygirl. You got a real talent right there and if it makes you happy then you should continue to do it. Beyonce better watch out." My dad said.
I rolled my eyes, still grinning. They loved to gas me. I finished up my food and wasted no time heading for the shower, so I could go to bed. The studio kicked my ass today. It was a lengthy process, but the whole experience left me feeling happier than I've felt in a long time. I couldn't wait to go back. This was only the beginning.