It was time for DJ Soul to take the stage once more. As he passed the crowd, Vinyl Scratch nudged him and smiled. She had to raise her voice to speak over the large crowd that assembled around the stage.
“Good luck!” She said, barely audible over the idle chatter and occasional whooping of the crowd. She pushed her way to the front of the makeshift stage so she could be front and center once more. This show was much more “informal” unlike most of his shows in the bigger cities. Usually, they would have to have gates to keep the crowd in an “approved” area and to keep them somewhat distanced from the stage. There was none of that this time. Usually, they were indoors with the room done up to match the atmosphere for the music and that didn’t exist either. Just some banners with vendors and their stalls surrounding the area. Despite all that, the crowd was just as large as a normal turnout would be for DJ Soul and he was extremely thankful as always. He had all of his equipment ready but instead of normally starting off with music, he decided to give a small speech for the folks of the town that he loved, not only as his fans but as neighbors, friends, and family. He pulled the microphone up and began.
“How is everyone tonight?” Elation and cheering began for a moment before he continued. “Alright, alright… I want to thank everypony who took the time out to come and enjoy the music that I put my all effort into. I’m just grateful beyond all words that you all enjoy it. I do it for you all, and I enjoy every second of it… I want to play a new song for you tonight to start it all off. You ponies will get to hear it first and it’ll keep you all looking forward to what I plan to put out next. Again, thank you and I love you all.”
As the crowd began to cheer, even with some fans yelling “We love you too!” or “Thank you!”, DJ Soul started a beat. Something different. Something much more heartfelt. He added some scratches. Then some bass. He then added the cherry on top which was a complete track of bliss. It was a sound that couldn’t be explained other than what it really was; his best work yet. Normally, people would dance along to the beat, move with it, but this time was a bit different. It left some people just staring at DJ Soul as he kept mixing. Under his glasses, his eyes were closed. Even he couldn’t resist moving back and forth to the beat as he played. Vinyl Scratch even stood there in awe, staring at DJ Soul. For some odd reason, she felt herself helplessly shedding a tear at how beautiful it sounded. Every misery was let go and replaced with this enraptured melody. As he continued, he decided to just add a live touch to the track by transitioning to his second song. Instead of rough cutting, he decided to try to mix the entire show. Why not try something new?
As he neared the end of his set, he slowed it down and removed the songs piece by piece. Each ingredient of sound being singled out until it was down to the single beat that made up the start of his music. As he faded the song out, there was complete silence before the crowd applauded at the performance. It was much more emotional, this applause. It wasn’t as chaotic or loud as most of his other shows usually were. It was like they witnessed the majestic beauty of a one time occurrence; like something that they will never get the chance to see again. Even DJ Soul became teary eyed behind his glasses as he stepped back to meet the response of the crowd. He felt his lip start to tremble ever so slightly before he composed himself and spoke to the microphone with a quick “Thank you.” Instead of leaving, he stepped down off the stage into the crowd with Vinyl Scratch. For some reason or another, he felt it was just appropriate to give her a hug, his hooves wrapped around her snuggly. She returned the hug before it was let go and Soul started interacting with each of the members of the crowd. It was all smiles and even some happy tears shared between everyone.
It took longer for the crowd to break up as many of them lingered around to buy goods and merchandise, and of course say hello to Soul before they left. But when it cleared up as much as it could have, Soul and Vinyl Scratch stuck around as the stage and stalls were being broken down and even his equipment, which the event staff was nice enough to cart back to his home. Together, Soul and Vinyl Scratch started their way back to his studio.
“You know. That was my favorite show. Not only that, it was one of the most memorable too…” DJ Soul looked down as he said with a smile still plastering his face before he turned to look at Vinyl.
“It was really something special. It took me by surprise just how good it actually was.” Vinyl said with a chuckle. She then continued. “I mean, I love your music, and it’s all great. Some songs have made me feel emotional before, but I was tearing up and couldn’t even explain why… You just manage to always get better.” She then winked at him, causing him to laugh a bit as well.
“Well, I appreciate it. I can’t wait to hear your music though. I have faith that it will be just as good!”
“I think my music is okay… I don’t know if you’ll like it though. I’ve been experimenting with a lot more synth and bass. It’s all a lot faster too… Though, I originally did remixes and samples of your work.”
Soul shook his head.
“Don’t worry, I'm sure I will love it… But as far as setting good apart from great is all depending on the artist. I’ll explain when we get in the studio. In fact, I do need to start working on the series of songs. I think I may even have a name.”
Vinyl Scratch perked up when she heard the news.
“Really! Now you have to tell me the name!”
Soul winked.
“That’s a secret for now.”
Vinyl couldn’t help but pout and giving him a look.
“That’s completely unfair, you know!”
Soul laughed, looking ahead as they came closer to his house. It was a moderately sized home that looked pretty normal as a home but as a studio, was much different. Soul approached the door that specifically accessed the studio potion of his home and opened it, allowing Vinyl Scratch to enter first. There was just a small reception area before going into where the magic happened. The room was well lit, very clean cut and classy looking. Walls bright red, nice hardwood flooring. The wall to the left was lined with a long single screen hooked up to turntables, another screen hooked up to a couple soundboards and a keyboard next to that, and it even had speakers overhead that were built into the wall. Everything was even accommodated with proper seating in the form of very comfortable office chairs in black leather. Behind that was a step up that was carpeted in black with a separate soundboard on it’s own podium facing the same type of speakers built into the wall and a glass partition that looked into an open room with a microphone that hung from the ceiling on an arm and a stool that sat in the center of the room. As she looked around, she couldn’t help to let out a “Whooooa…”. Soul then followed in and spoke.
“I suppose that you like it, yeah?”
“Definitely! This is awesome!”
“Well, if you want, it’s all yours to use when you’d like. I honestly don’t mind. In fact, if you really are serious about helping me with my album and even doing your own original stuff, then make it like home. This stuff doesn’t happen overnight or anything. In fact it will take quite some time. You can feel free to come over whenever you‘d like and use it. I‘m usually always in here, so just walk right in.”
She jumped then turned to tackle Soul into a hug, hooves tightly around him. He laughed before speaking.
“Hey, no problem! Don’t worry about it! Let me just introduce you to everything we have to work with here. I’m sure you know most of this equipment and how it works. I just want to get you up to speed with where everything is placed and where most of my music is found…” He began to walk down the left side of the room, motioning to the screens. “These are the computers and soundboards. There are a few and they correspond with the section of the screen the board sits under. All the saves are on a large storage that sits under the soundboards. All the files can be accessed here for most of your beats that you need to make. You can replay them and they play through the speakers unless you set them to your headset by plugging them into the jacks on the boards themselves. I only have one set of turntables over here, but those are for getting samples from vinyl. I plan to sell my album on vinyl this time around…” He then turned to walk toward the podium to the right of the room, Vinyl taking in all the information about his studio. She didn’t want to mess up anything that was rightfully his. He then continued. “This is a soundboard that will transfer anything from the computers to be heard in both here, and the room on the other side of this partition. It can also record any singing that comes from the room as well. I don’t sing or anything, but I figured I may need it in the future. Rather be safe than sorry!” With the last sentence, he turned to give a cheeky smile to Vinyl Scratch. She returned it before he gave her his last statement. “Well! That’s it! They are now yours as they are mine. I believe it’s now your turn to let me hear some of your music though…”
Vinyl Scratch was carrying a jump drive on her that had some of her songs. She simply nodded and handed it over to Soul who was quick to plug it into a jack on the soundboard and start manipulating the screens and soundboard to load the music and ready it to be played. He turned the volume up then looked to Vinyl Scratch as though he was looking for her approval to continue. She nodded again, worried that he may not like it. Despite her inspiration, she did a lot more synth type music that was more aggressive with a high BPM. Sure enough, when Soul clicked play, the bass was heavier, the beats faster, and the music much more aggressive than any music that DJ Soul made. Vinyl Scratch was worried that because it was different, that he wouldn’t be approving of the sound of her music. However, Soul simply sat in a chair then closed his eyes and took in the music. It was like, by closing his eyes, he tuned into his sense of sound like it was the only sense he had. His facial expression didn’t even change as he let the track continue. As it closed, he turned to look at Vinyl Scratch within his chair. He motioned for her to take a seat, of which she complied, then he began to speak.
“Your music is good, no doubt. I do like it. However, you wanted tips on how to get better and I know the one thing that you need.” He laughed, as his next statement would probably sound stupid at first. He actually expected a smart assed response. “Every song must have soul. Simply put…” He waited for a comment but was met with a slightly awkward silence that he was quick to break. “What I mean is, anyone can organize sounds and call it music. To me, music is taking a piece of your soul and using it to create the track itself. Through that and your love and passion for music, that organization of sounds can truly be called music. In order to make a good song, you have to be in the same mindset you want your listeners to be in. That’s why I have my own studio. When I come in here and start making music, I forget all the outside influences. Anything that may interfere with my music simply does not enter this room. I let go of anything and everything outside that door and that’s when it can happen. As for my putting my personal touch… If it’s a sad song, then I think about something that I can’t help but be brought to tears over. A happy song, just remember something that no matter how hard I try, it seems to always bring a smile to my face.” As Soul spoke, Vinyl Scratch nodded, heeding each word he said. “I mean, I’m sure you get the gist of it all but you’ll need to just work with what makes you comfortable. I could just keep saying this over and over but it won’t happen until you find out until you get in the right mindset. Just try to remember to do that when you come in here. Reincarnate yourself in the form of sound waves.” She was taken aback by the way he philosophically put a spin on things. While it did sound a bit outlandish, she did get what he was trying to say. He took the time to listen to a couple other songs of hers, though he didn’t criticize them as he was sure that he got his point across anyways. Really, he was just listening because he enjoyed her music anyways. Soul stood and stretched. He started to walk to the doorway that connected his home to the studio. As he reached it, he stood at the opening as he turned back to speak to Vinyl Scratch.
“Out of curiosity, are you a fan of tea?”
“I don’t mind it.” She gave a smile that was returned by Soul as he left.
“Well, go ahead and start familiarizing yourself with the studio itself. There are controls for each of the screens. Go ahead and look around.” Soul then slinked away, leaving Vinyl Scratch to be like a kid in a candy shop. She started to walk around the room, giving closer inspection to the instruments that he had within the room. A lot of them were the newest yet still looked pretty used, though it was mostly cosmetic and wouldn’t interrupt the working condition of the equipment. She started thinking back to a previous conversation that had and her curiosity still peaked. She quickly started scrolling around on the computers directory for anything that may be labeled in the way of ‘current music’ or ‘albums’. Sure enough, with a little bit of snooping, there was a folder that sat alone in a ‘current projects’ folder. It was simply labeled ‘Love Sick’, and contained two tracks. ‘Two tracks?’, she thought? She wanted to listen, but she got a bit nervous as she didn’t want to be looking at anything she didn’t want to be and decided to close out the directory. Then again, she wasn’t against asking him to try to force the confirmation of the name out of him. She simply went back to the directory, this time looking at samples and what she had to work with. The amount of music he had on here seemed almost innumerable. She closed it out and moved down to his turntables, the very ones she watched him mix on at every show she witnessed. To see something that was always out of reach now be something she could use at her own free made her still feel slightly dream state. I mean, it’s something she would have given any amount of bits to have and now he was pretty much hers, in a sense. She spun the turntables, despite them not being on or with a vinyl on top, and started to examine the different switches and buttons that sat on the overlay of the device. She continued down the row, examining everything, though she really was doing that to pass time because she wasn’t completely comfortable with simply treating this all as it was her own. It was an excuse to say that she was “looking” so she didn’t really have to touch anything.
The rattle could be heard as Soul carried in a pot of tea along with the appropriate serving dishes for the both of them. He set them on the open counter space and began to pour the steaming tea into each cup. Soul took a seat in one of the chairs before speaking.
“I know it’s not the most formal of settings for this, but since the day is half over and I’ll only be getting a very small portion of work done, I figured I’d really take the time to relax, if that’s okay with you.” He smiled at Vinyl Scratch, blowing on his tea in an attempt to cool it down though it was rather futile since a quick breath wouldn’t really do much. Vinyl Scratched giggled before giving her retort.
“No, it’s fine. I think it’s just cool to be here. I’m excited to actually work with you.”
“Well, I’m flattered. And I agree. It’s nice to have someone to work with on a project. Also, did you find everything to your liking after looking around?”
Vinyl nodded before she decided to go for it and try to prod for an answer.
“I did. I also came across something interesting.”
Soul decided to take a quick taste of his tea. Just after he took the sip, he began to sit it down in the middle of his response.
“Something interesting?”
“What is this Love Sick project? I don’t think I have heard of it before.”
Soul kind of figured she’d of seen it, chuckling a bit at the question.
“It seems someone is quite inquisitive.”
“I’m just a natural Sherlock Holmes, Soul!” She said sarcastically yet playfully, winking as she did. Soul nodded and decided he may as well give her the in depth answer she was much too curious to find out about.
“Alright, well… Love Sick is what I want to name the album. The reason being…” He stopped, trying to find the right words. He didn’t want to sound overly philosophical nor did he want to lack any real sense.
“Music is the one love of my life that has never failed me. Through music, I have found everything that makes me who I am. Literally, there is just much love in me I have got to give. I give it by creating the wonderful tracks of mine that people enjoy… So much love, that I feel Love Sick. Thus the name… If that makes sense.” He couldn’t help but laugh as he probably sounded like a crazy old man or something. Within all of the description, Vinyl Scratch finally began to partake in the tea as well.
“Well, I like it nevertheless. I think it’s something different. I would definitely pick it up if I saw the name alone. However, I’m going to get the chance to participate in it. I think I’m obligated to be the first to buy it.”
“You think I’m going to make you buy it? You get to have your very own copy when it’s finished.”
Vinyl Scratch lightly blushed.
“Already showering me with gifts? What can I say?” She stuck her tongue out playfully. Soul takes a sip once more of his tea.
“Of course! That’s just how cool I am. It starts with tea, then with music. Eventually, it‘ll be the studio!” He continued to laugh, almost in an ‘as if’ manner but not specifically directing it to be rude.
“Well, anyways. You brought it up so, I believe you’d like to hear this…” Soul said, standing up and relieving his tea to the countertop. He scrolled through his directory and pulled a project up on the screen. “I want you to hear the progress. Love Sick will be an album that is completely continuous. The songs all melt into each other so that it doesn’t lose momentum or emotion when you listen to it… Come here.” He waved for Vinyl Scratch to get closer, Vinyl Scratch complying. They stood, side by side as the melody filled the room in all of it’s beauty. Soul closed his eyes, his head bobbing to the beat of the song. He put his arm around Vinyl Scratch, as they both began to rhythmically and simultaneously moved their heads. Tears started to form at the closed lids of Soul's eyes, despite the fact that he held a small smile. He felt even better when he knew that he could share something so personal with someone. He knew that this would be the start of something great. As the music ended, the room slowly falling silent, Soul leaned against Vinyl Scratch and spoke.
“Tomorrow, we should start.”