Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
Time passed quickly while Tatsuo, Sumire, and Mai relaxed in Tatsuo's room. Meanwhile, Kasumi and Tio were chatting in the living room. However, the time for the guests to arrive eventually came.
*Ding!* *Dong!*
"Well, it looks like Yakumo-Chan and Tenma-San are here." Tatsuo said as he slowly opened his eyes while still lying on Sumire's lap. "*Sigh* I kinda don't wanna get up."
"Then I'll send them away." Mai said quickly.
"Mai-Nee, can't you give it a rest." Tatsuo asked as he sat up.
"Seriously." Sumire said. "You should know by now that Tatsu-Chan isn't like other boys. He won't be restricted by this world's rules. So, it would be better to either adapt or give up."
"But Sumire-Sama~~~~!" Mai whined.
Deciding that he would let his mother deal with Mai's tantrum, Tatsuo stood up before heading for the door. However, before he could reach it, Sumire appeared by his side and grabbed his hand. Then, she started pulling him along.
"Come on, Tatsu-Chan." Sumire said excitedly. "Let's go. You need to get everything set up before they get here, right?"
"All I have to do is turn on the computer, though." Tatsuo muttered while allowing himself to be dragged along.
Meanwhile, Kasumi, who had been sitting in the living room with Tio, stood up as soon as she heard the bell. Then she walked over to the intercom.
"Soramoto Residence." Kasumi said after engaging the intercom.
{"Hi, Tenshin-San."} Yakumo's voice sounded over the intercom. {"It's Tsukamoto Yakumo. And I'm here with my Nee-San."}
"Alright, I'll be down to get you in a moment." Kasumi replied.
With that, Kasumi headed to the elevator to receive the guests. Meanwhile, Tio got up to join Tatsuo, Sumire, and Mai in the studio. And before long, Kasumi returned with the Tsukamoto Sisters and joined everyone else in the studio, as well.
When Kasumi, Yakumo, and Tenma arrived, Sumire, Mai, and Tio were sitting in chairs off to the side of the room while Tatsuo was checking the settings on the recording programs. However, he turned his head in their direction when they stepped into the room.
"Hey, Yakumo-Chan, Tenma-San." Tatsuo said with a smile. "I should be getting started soon. So, just have a seat with the others. Oh, but Yakumo-Chan, you can come watch up close if you want."
"Okay." Yakumo replied as she approached Tatsuo.
Meanwhile, Tenma placed her fists on her hips and pouted in Tatsuo's direction.
"How come Yakumo can watch from up close but I have to sit all the way over there?" Tenma asked as she pointed at the seats where the others were sitting. "I wanna see the action up close, too!"
"Do you know anything about audio recording or editing?" Tatsuo asked with an eyebrow raised as he turned to look at Tenma.
"Uh... No..." Tenma replied. "Still..."
"Well, the settings on everything are really important." Tatsuo continued. "Any slight changes could change the entire sound."
"I... see..." Tenma said, her earlier vigor gone.
Tatsuo wanted to continue by mentioning how Tenma seems to make things worse whenever she tries to help. But he was afraid she might start crying if he did so. And if he made her cry, he would have to deal with Yakumo getting overly protective of her elder sister, which was more trouble than it's worth.
"Anyway, let's get started." Tatsuo said while turning back to the computer. "First, I'm gonna put together the background track. You won't usually be around for this part, but you should get used to checking it for anything that doesn't sound right when we're working together."
"Okay." Yakumo replied as she paid attention to Tatsuo's every word.
Like that, Tatsuo got to creating the track, recording the main melody to be looped, adding a drum line and a base line, as well as any embellishments necessary to make the song sound better. He also added a little extra for the portion where the chorus would be. There was even a portion of the track that was heavily simplified for the b-line.
Luckily, Tatsuo knew exactly how he wanted the track to sound. Otherwise, it could have taken much longer than the hour or so it took for him to create the track. Then, once the track was ready, Tatsuo saved it before exporting it from the program. After that, he closed the program used to make the background music. Then, he opened the audio recording software and imported the background music.
"Alright, now we get to the fun part." Tatsuo said as he stood up from in front of the computer. "Vocal recording. First, we'll start by recording the hook."
With that, Tatsuo gestured for Yakumo to sit in front of the computer. And when she took the seat, he stood behind her and pointed at the screen while asking her to follow some instructions.
Meanwhile, Sumire, Mai, Kasumi, Tenma, and Tio watched as Tatsuo explained every step he took to Yakumo, who seemed to be soaking up the knowledge like a sponge.
"Wow! Tatsuo-Kun is amazing." Tenma said while watching Tatsuo teach Yakumo. She then turned to look at Sumire as she asked a question. "Does making music always go this fast?"
"No, almost never." Sumire replied with a smile while looking at Tatsuo lovingly. "But my Tatsu-Chan is just special."
"Naturally!" Mai cheered. "Tatsu-Kun is the best."
"I think you should keep your voice down, Mai-San." Kasumi said cautiously. "You don't wanna interrupt them, do you?"
In actuality, Mai did want to interrupt Tatsuo and Yakumo. Especially since they looked so cozy together at the moment. But at the same time, she was afraid of messing up Tatsuo's progress. So, she was feeling quite conflicted.
"Yakumo-San is just as impressive." Tio said. "It looks like her rate of understanding is quite high."
"Of course!" Tenma said energetically. "Yakumo-Chan is really smart. She's good at everything."
Hearing Tenma brag about her sister, Sumire, Kasumi, and Tio all turned warm smiles in her direction. Meanwhile, Mai was still struggling with the thought of interrupting Tatsuo and Yakumo, who were way too close for her liking.
"Alright, let's start the recording." Tatsuo said as he stood up straight and turned towards the recording booth's door. "Just set the recording to start before the point I showed you. Then, click the record button when I give the signal. I'll give another signal when you can stop, too."
"Okay. I understand." Yakumo said calmly.
With that, Tatsuo stepped into the recording booth and closed the door. Then, the ladies watched as he stepped towards the microphone hanging from the ceiling and took the headphones off the hook on the wall. A moment later, Tatsuo was wearing the headphones and adjusting the microphone to the perfect height for him. Then, once everything was how he wanted it to be, he raised a thumbs up to Yakumo, who was watching from in front of the computer.
{BGM: "Yo! (Excuse Me Miss) - Instrumental" -- Chris Brown}
As soon as Tatsuo gave the signal, Yakumo clicked the record button. Then, she looked up to see when Tatsuo's next signal would come. At the same time, the version of the instrumental Tatsuo put together with a piano as the main instrument played through the speakers set up in the studio. Then, after a couple seconds, Tatsuo started singing, and his voice could also be heard through the speakers.
However, to everyone's surprise, he only sang the word, "Yo!," before falling silent for a few seconds. Then, he repeated the same thing with a slightly different intonation. Then, he gave the signal to stop recording.
"Alright, let's see how that sounds." Tatsuo said as he left the booth. He then approached Yakumo, took a pair of headphones off the desk, and plugged them into the audio board. Then he played what he recorded.
Meanwhile, Tenma seemed confused.
"Why did he record so little?" Tenma asked.
"You thought the whole song would be recorded in one go, didn't you?" Sumire asked with a smile.
In response, Tenma nodded her head.
"Well, that's definitely not how it goes." Sumire replied.
Sumire then went on to explain how songs are recorded in parts. Also, that one part could take multiple recordings to get the sound the way the artist and the editor wanted it.
"Alright, that will do for now." Tatsuo said as he took the headphones off and unplugged them. "Start the recording from the same spot again, okay?"
"Okay." Yakumo replied.
With that, the recording got underway for real. First, Tatsuo recorded the rest of the hook. Then, he stepped out of the booth to check how it sounded before going back to record the two instances of "Yo!"
Then, after he got the chorus the way he wanted it, Tatsuo moved on to recording the songs' first verse, as well as the adlib leading up to it. After that, was the second verse.
All the while, Sumire, Mai, Kasumi, Tio, and Tenma watched, amazed by Tatsuo's focus. What was also impressive was the fact that Yakumo went from just following directions to actively helping, making it so that Tatsuo did not have to step out of the booth as often as time went by.
Then, once Tatsuo finished with the second verse, he moved on to the b-line. He then stepped out of the booth and took the seat in front of the computer from Yakumo.
"Alright, now watch this, Yakumo-Chan." Tatsuo said as he pointed at the lines of audio used to record the chorus. "We need to copy the hook that was recorded earlier. Actually, I should have done this first, but I felt like singing. So, that's what I did."
"And you sounded great, Tatsu-Chan!" Sumire cheered excitedly.
In response, Tatsuo smiled happily while continuing to edit the song. And his smile widened as Mai, Kasumi, and Tio showered him with compliments. Like that, it did not take long for Tatsuo to paste the chorus throughout the song. However, everyone noticed that there was a blank spot in the vocals between the b-line and the chorus at the end.
"But, um... I have a question, Tatsuo-Kun." Tenma said while raising her hand like the student she was. "Why didn't you record in that blank spot?"
Hearing that, Tatsuo could not help but grin. Then, he set the recording to start about halfway through the b-line before standing up and heading back into the booth.
"Like I said, I felt like singing. So, I did." Tatsuo said. "But I won't be singing for that part."
"Not singing?" Tenma asked while tilting her head in confusion.
Yet, Tatsuo did not answer the question. Instead, he closed the door to the recording booth, put on the headphones, and gave Yakumo the signal to start recording again. And just as he set it, the lyrics of the b-line played through the studio's speakers. And when it got near the end, everyone saw Tatsuo take a deep breath. Then, as soon as the b-line ended, he got started.
"Eh, girl, can I ask a couple questions? / How ya doin'? what's your name? what's your age? Where you reppin'? / I ain't into half-steppin', I just cut to the chase. / And I really gotta say that I'm impressed with your face / and ya curve's, and ya walk, and ya talk, and ya swagga. / Am I to forward when I say, 'I gotta have~ ya?' / Nope? Alright cool, baby then listen. / I need to know if maybe we could start exchangin' them digits. / Then, maybe we could start discussin' going out on a date. / Like a late night dinner, maybe going to skate. / It's whatever you want, Baby, it's up to you. / I'm just throwing out suggestions of some things to do. / We could chill and rent a movie, have some fun in the jacuzzi, / maybe hit the mall, we can go shopping 'til we're woozy. / If you got the time, Girl, we could spend some paper. / So, just gimme your number, Babe, I'll call you later."
{A/N: I actually took the time to write a rap verse to the instrumental to the song. Sometimes I think I need more hobbies.}
After reciting the entire verse, which was longer than any other section of the song, Tatsuo gave the signal for Yakumo to stop the recording. Yet, the recording did not stop immediately. Because no one was expecting Tatsuo to start rapping out of nowhere. In fact, even Sumire, Mai, and Kasumi, who had heard Tatsuo play the piano and sing many times before, had never heard him rap like that.
Yakumo did eventually came to her senses. Then, she stopped the recording. After that, Tatsuo came out of the booth to listen to his recording. When he did, he was more than satisfied.
'Ha! One take like Hova.' Tatsuo thought to himself happily.
However, since Tatsuo was certain that Jay-Z did not exist in this version of Earth, he did not vocalize his thoughts. Otherwise, he was sure that everyone would look at him like some kind of lunatic.
"Good." Tatsuo said with a nod. "That takes care of almost everything. Now, the only things to do are the runs and adlibs. But that shouldn't take too long."
"Runs and adlibs?" Tenma asked curiously. "What's that?"
Tatsuo then gave a quick explanation while setting the recording to a certain point. Then, he once again went into the booth to continue recording. And after another few minutes, Tatsuo was satisfied with what he had. Then, he played the entire song from the beginning so that he could listen for anything that sounded off.
Once he was finally satisfied with everything, Tatsuo did two things. First, he saved the track as it was, with all the different audio tracks visible for future editing. Next, he exported the track as an .mp3. Then, he sent the song to Sumire, Mai, Kasumi, and Tio while apologizing for not being able to do the same for Yakumo and Tenma because of his mother's marketing strategy..
"I'll send the recording data to your email, Mom." Tatsuo said after sending everyone present a copy of his song. "I'm sure the company would want to do a final review of the song, right?"
"That's right." Sumire replied with a nod; her expression much more serious than usual now that the topic was business related. "I doubt they'll have anything to nitpick about, though. Still, it wouldn't look good if we didn't at least give them a chance to do their jobs. But when Yakumo-Chan is ready, she'll be in charge of the final edits for your music."
Sumire then turned to Yakumo with a smile.
"And I believe that she will be great after she's done learning." Sumire continued.
"I'll do my best." Yakumo replied without much change to her expression.
"Anyway, I'm sure the two of you must be hungry." Kasumi said in her usual gentle tone. "We all had some snacks while you were working. But you two have been focused for hours. On top of that, we kind of skipped lunch. So, how would you like to have dinner?"
After having it pointed out, Tatsuo and Yakumo both realized they were hungry. So, the agreed to have something to eat. In fact, Yakumo and Tenma both agreed to stay for dinner. Then, after dinner, the group of seven chatted for a while before Tatsuo walked Yakumo and Tenma home.