DUMPSITE, Page 21

  “We need you to sound as ‘50-ish as possible,” Mother injected.

  Jules gave a slight wave and nod as he sang on three takes. He as well as everyone in the control room agreed on the third take.

  Duke was hemming and hawing about the vocal for Outta Reach, but while he was still talking Mother escorted him to the studio, adjusted the microphone and left him alone in the big room. Carl lowered the lights to set the ambience. He knew Duke from the stories his dad had told him.

  “Thanks, Carl,” Duke mustered.

  Mother started the track as Duke started his performance. No more then thirty seconds into the track Duke said he was ready.

  “That boy has a smattering of blues in him; this track is going to sound good,” Jonas quipped.

  Duke nailed it the first time around but asked to do a second take as he had some other ideas. The second track kicked butt as well.

  “Well done,” Jonas called to Duke from the control room.

  “Thanks Jonas,” Duke said as he questioned Mother, “you can use both tracks and edit accordingly, right?”

  “Yeah, it’ll work, sounds great, you really got the feel of the song.”

  “It was the horns, they always give me a swift kick.”

  Muddy walked in as if he was early. “Are we ready to start.”

  “Only have one song left to do,” Mother told him, “The Long Road Back.”

  “I missed, Helen Oh Helen?”

  “I’ll play it back for you while we set up for Vikki’s vocal.”

  Muddy loved the lead vocal, “Can’t wait for the background vocals to happen.”

  “Won’t be long,” Carl assured him.

  The Long Road Back, was the toughest track. The lyrics were still not quite what they needed to be. There were two lines Mother wanted to change.

  As the track was running, Vikki was going over the lines she would be singing. The AC crowd came in with a lot of back slapping and laughing coming from all of the participants.

  “What’s up with you guys?” asked Mother.

  “You should know, he’s your son.” James said.

  “What’s he done now?”

  “We just came from the factory building you and Muddy found. He showed us how we could save thousands of dollars by using the building as a storehouse and headquarters for the whole movie project. We love saving money.”

  “Well then, let’s get to work,” Jonas interjected.

  Mother asked if anyone had a lyric running through their head which would fit the second line of the chorus and the last line of verse three. There were numerous suggestions. Some not so good and some which may fit the bill. In a short time, the two lines were reworked, using the ideas coming from the minds of the gathered group. No one knew who came up with what. The final lines were better then good.

  “Let’s do it while we’re hot,” Jonas blurted out.

  The track started; Vikki sang the song. A very good rendition for the first take. Mother and Duke asked her what she thought. She suggested a change in the melody of the verse and a slight variation in the feel of the chorus.

  “Let’s hear it to the track,” said Duke.

  Both of her ideas worked well, giving the chorus a push at the high point and the melody of the verse sounded perfect. It was a go! Take two, needed three punch-ins which completed an excellent take. However, Vikki asked to do one more. She was right; she nailed it. The room stood in silent awe…Jonas was first to speak.

  “This rendition has stirred my inner self. I felt it directly from your heart to my heart,” he whispered.

  “Thank you,” Vikki said.

  “If everyone is in agreement, let’s take a short break and decide what we will do with the background vocals.” Mother suggested.

  “Lunch is on Carl,” said a comical Chuck.

  Carl looked up in amazement. Reluctantly he inquired, “it’s on me?”

  The boys from AC laughed. “Gotcha,” said Vince. “Lunch is on Chateau 54!”

  A short breath of relief could be heard coming from Carl.

  After lunch the final harmonies for the vocals had been completed. The background singers arrived. Vikki offered to sing, if needed. Duke and Jules completed the crew.

  The parts were given to each of the singers, who flawlessly executed them. All three songs were completed within the next two hours and it was time to mix.

  ThirtySix — Mix It Up

  The mix was ready to commence. The work recorded over the last two weeks would come together. M&M, Jonas and Duke all had visions of what the songs should sound like.

  “Let’s mix Outta Reach first,” suggested Mother.

  The song was brought up on the computer. The different plug-ins normally used were setup. They included a master limiter, two reverbs each in its own auxiliary channel and two delays. The song was played back and a rough mix was made as the levels for each track were adjusted to give the song a finished sound. Equalization, limiting, compression, enhancement such as exciters and different effects were installed where needed.

  Mother quickly added what he thought the different tracks needed. Duke and Jonas made some suggestions as he worked. When he had it as he thought it should go Mother played back the track. Muddy was surprised, it sounded like a new song to him.

  “Unbelievable.”

  They all suggested different levels to individual tracks. When they were satisfied the solo instruments came onto play. The sax solo, guitar solo and the harp were mixed into the final track, then the vocal. A bit of touch up and a few suggestions from Duke made the vocal pop out of the track. After a few more listens and minor tweaks they called for a take.

  Mother pushed a few buttons and said, “What’s next?”

  Jonas looked befuddled, “What just happened? Did I miss something?”

  “Yeah, me too!” said a mystified Muddy.

  “Gentlemen, let me play the final mix for you,” Mother told them.

  “How, when, where, help!” quizzed Jonas.

  Duke laughed. “Show them what you did,”

  “Okay, I see the tracks, now how did you get the final stereo mix from there?” A still bewildered Jonas mumbled.

  “Yeah, me too,” repeated Muddy.

  Mother took them through the process, “While we were talking I had already pushed these two command lines on the computer. The program did the rest. By the time we were ready to mix the stereo track the computer had silently done it for us.”

  “Amazing, absolutely amazing,” was all Jonas could muster up. “Unbelievable!”

  “Yeah, me too!” Muddy said. “I’ve been watching Mother for a few weeks now. Although I’ve learned a lot and can record some tracks. It never ceases to amaze me what he can do with the computer.”

  “I’m on board with you Mudd,” said Jonas. “I can see I have a lot to learn before I get back to producing like the old days. The technology is incredible!”

  “You’ll figure it out, all you need is a good audio engineer to work with.”

  “You available?” asked Jonas.

  Everyone took a deep breath as they went to song number two, The Long Road Back.

  “We are all in tune to mixing at this point. Let’s mix the toughest track.” Mother suggested.

  This song was a more complex track to mix with all the extra instrumentation. There was a string section, horn section, the French horn had to project at the right moments and the sax solo at the end needed special attention. They followed Mother’s lead. Within an hour they were listening to a rough mix. There were special effects added for panning and some echo. All was falling into place as the production team was giving good counsel.

  They watched intently as Mother did the magic mix.

  “I still don’t believe what you did actually worked. You premixed this song didn’t you,” asked a bewildered Jonas, still not sure what he was seeing and hearing.

  “Should we go right into the final
track?” asked Mother.

  “Why not,” said Duke.

  They stopped just before the final stereo mix was made and went for a cup of coffee. There was a machine in the lobby which made a pretty good cup of java in the middle of the night. They wanted to give their ears a rest before the final mix went down. As they sat around talking about this and that the case and diamonds came up.

  “Anything new happening, Jonas?” asked Muddy.

  “Well, we should be ready to go any day now.”

  “This is getting exciting,” Muddy quipped. “I hope they find the darn thing.”

  “Let’s go and check the final mix before I push the magic button,” Mother suggested.

  “Magic button…now you’re really scaring me,” Jonas said.

  Muddy laughed lightly, as they headed back to check the mix. It sounded good but they tweaked the background vocals. A better blend of the individual parts was needed. Now they were ready.

  “Let it rip!” came the voice of reason, “I mean take it, let it roll…sorry I got carried away.”

  “No problem, Muddy. You push the button.”

  “Thanks, Mother,” as Mudd pushed the computer button the mix was magically made and stored for future generations.

  There was a knock on the control room door. Muddy hesitantly went to the door. As he approached he looked back as if to ask, should I open the door?

  Before he could say anything. “Open the door!” Came in a unison voice from Jonas, Mother and Duke.

  As Mudd slowly opened the thick heavy door his eyes lit up. “Mutty, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

  “Long story, but the short of it is I’m trying to find Belle, she’s been working in Toms River at my new office but didn’t show up today.”

  “Come in Mutty,” said Mudd. Let me introduce you. This is Jonas, Belle’s grandfather. The gruff looking man, in the shaggy sweater, is Duke. Mother you know.

  Mutty greeted all as Jonas in a worried tone asked, “What about Belle?”

  “She didn’t show for work today. Everyone thought she was enjoying her work at the office. She never called, notified anyone, just didn’t show.”

  “She left this morning for work at the normal time,” said Jonas. “I can’t imagine what could have happened.”

  “Have you called the police?” Mudd asked.

  “Not yet,” Mutty said, “I was due here earlier, but when Belle didn’t show I came down from Philly. First to the office to find out if anyone knew anything. I called her cell, nothing.

  “I spent most of my time there researching her schedule and anything I could find relating to her. There wasn’t much as she only worked here for about ten days. I finished the work for the music publishing and movie script registration before I left. I was hoping she would be here when I arrived.”

  “Let me check my suite, maybe she came back or left a note or something…she seemed completely normal when she left this morning,” Jonas said.

  “I’ll come with you,” Muddy told him. “Maybe she felt sick.”

  “We’ll wait here,” Mother called after them. “Let us know as soon as you know; then we can decide what to do next.”

  “Be right back,” Muddy said as he and Jonas went to see if Belle had come home.

  “This isn’t good,” said Mother with a distressed tone in his voice. “We’re having some problems here; I hope this is not connected to any of them.”

  “What about Solly?” Duke asked. “He seems to be a secretive person.”

  “He’s FBI,”

  “Whoa,” was Duke’s word of choice. “Should I be on my way or am I safe here?”

  “You’re safe; I’ll call him, it’s late and this could be bad.”

  Solly would be on his way. Muddy and Jonas returned. They sat in silence except for a few comments every once in a while. They were trying to piece things together. Mother thought the worse but didn’t say anything to upset Jonas. All waited for Solly.

  He was on his way. He only lived eighteen miles from the chateau. Solly arrived and asked if there had been any news. “Mother, please meet me in my office with all the information you have.”

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  The suspense was getting Jonas down. Mother suggested to Muddy maybe he should take him to his suite and stay with him until something substantial is heard.

  Muddy and Jonas went back to his suite. Mudd went to the kitchen and started the coffee machine. The phone rang. Jonas jumped on it. “Hello!”

  “Hi, this is Belle.”

  “Belle, what happened?”

  Belle related the whole story to Jonas. Mudd could only listen and watch Jonas’ face change from one expression to another. Jonas didn’t talk much, just listened.

  Mudd was at a loss for words, not the norm!

  The FBI had descended on the chateau. Solly’s office was full of agents.

  ~

  “What do you know about this mess that you haven’t told the FBI?” Mother asked Mudd.

  “Really nothing, I heard only one side of the conversation. Anything I think I know would be concluding without the knowledge of what was going on.”

  “Stop! What do you think was going on at the other end?” Mother asked in no uncertain terms.

  “I think, she was in Chicago.”

  “What?” said Mother with a quizzical look on his face. “Why did she go to Chicago?”

  “It’s where Jonas thinks he left the case full on diamonds.”

  “That was a long time ago, is she crazy?” Mother said. “How does she expect to find the diamonds by herself. If she knows where they are, others also know. She could be in a lot of danger.”

  “Jonas is worried.” Mudd added.

  “What else did you pick up from the phone conversation?”

  “It sounded like she owed $80,000 to some not so nice people.”

  “She’s trying to find the diamonds to pay back the money?”

  “I think so.”

  “Have you told the FBI or at least Solly?”

  “No, Jonas asked me to keep quiet, make like I know nothing.”

  “Easy for you to do; what does he intend to do?”

  “I don’t like being in the middle of all this.”

  “All right Muddy, we have to figure out what to do.”

  “I’m going to see if I can find Jonas and ask him what his intentions are. It would be best if he came clean about Belle.”

  “Good luck!”

  Mother headed to Solly’s office but couldn’t get in, he was asked to wait by an agent of the FBI. Shortly, Solly came out of his office with a grim look on his face.

  “Solly, what’s going on?”

  “Too much to tell you in a few minutes. Be patient for a little while and I’ll call you in; we need to talk to a few more people and then you.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  Mother headed to see Jonas, as he knocked on the door, it opened but it wasn’t Jonas. Cassandra Greene, appeared with a badge slung over her belt.

  Are you an agent as well?” Mother asked as he told her he wanted to talk to Jonas.

  “I am,” she said. “Let me call Agent Weisman.”

  Weisman approved. Mother entered the suite. Sitting on a chair with his head in his hands, looking older then usual, was Jonas.

  “Hi Jonas, is there anything I can do for you?”

  “I wish there was but right now I’m trying to work out why Belle didn’t tell me about the money she owed some gamblers back home, I would have helped.”

  “Maybe she thought you’d already done too much for her so she couldn’t ask.”

  “You know what bothers me even more,” said Jonas. “I can’t understand how Belle would get involved with a bunch of gamblers.”

  They sat quietly for a time. Then Jonas started to talk. He related the phone conversation to Mother. He had to call the FBI because it was about the cas
e.

  “You did the right thing Jonas.”

  Solly and Weisman were at the other end of the lobby. They had put together some of the ins and outs which had been going on over the past few days. They concentrated on Maggie and found Gerald had visited her a few times for short periods. As if there were messages going back and forth. Cassandra had bugged Maggie’s room two days ago. When they realized Gerald was running to and fro between his office and her suite they surmised the leak Noodles had suggested was working. At least enough to stir the pot. There would be a dead end when the name, Elliot Grogzynski was not found in any credit report, driver license or social security card. It would be too late for them; they would have to disperse. They would put surveillance on Gerald and hope he would lead them to Sean. There was also a cell tap on Maggie’s phone. She was good at vanishing.

  Two agents went to Maggie’s suite. They would question her about her son-in-law in hopes of a break in the Sean Malloy case. She opened the door but as the agents showed her their badges she slammed the door and started to scream obscenities. They immediately split up. One stayed, should she try to run and the other reported to Weisman.

  “I’ll be right there with a pass key,” Weisman said.

  The other residents of the chateau were starting to gather as the noise Maggie was making was carrying through the hallways. She was cussin’ and throwing furniture around her room. Mother had finished talking to Jonas. He was in the lobby when he heard the ruckus. This is not good for our reputation, he thought to himself, let me go see if I can calm things down.

  No such luck. Maggie was being escorted from her room. She made a public spectacle of herself. Calling down each person she saw while being scuttled away. Mother figured all the residents would be very upset about Maggie’s outbursts.

  To his surprise they started to applaud as the FBI literally dragged Maggie from the premises. He was hit with remarks like, “she was rotten to the core,” “she never said as much as hello,” “what a devilish person,” and many more as he mingled with the group of actors, musicians, singers, artists, writers and producers. There seemed to be twice as many folks there as actually lived at the chateau. They were overjoyed at her exit.