“That’s pretty strong. I’ve always been told that I let off a pretty strong straight vibe.”
Sorcha shook her head. “You’ve never met anyone as straight as me, my friend. I have like zero interest in the same sex. I have trouble finding even the most beautiful woman slightly more than objectively beautiful. I can suss out even the smallest amount of bicuriosity in anyone. And you are not bi. You are lighting up my gay-board like a Christmas tree.” She made little flashy motions with her hands.
“Usually people who say they are that straight…”
“Don’t you fret, Marcus. I’m an ally. I couldn’t give a shit what you do with your boy bits in your down—or up—time. Just because my pendulum is stuck in the upside of the swing doesn’t mean I don’t get it.” She patted my arm and flipped a few switches on the editing board. “Sex is awesome. Get you some.”
I couldn’t stop laughing. “I have the feeling that this job is going to work out just fine.”
“And remember, I’m so straight that we can appreciate a fine male together.”
“Bonus!”
“All right, Mister Women-Jill-Off-to-My-Voice,” she said, pushing back from the editing board, “if you know what you’re doing, why don’t you show me.” Sorcha held out the set of headphones she’d been using. “Back track and see if you can match me.”
Sliding my chair over, I exaggeratedly cracked my knuckles—actually hurting one of my fingers—and wound back the track so I could listen to the whole thing. I knew she was working on putting natural water sounds for a scene in a show, and I had to hear what she had done to that point before I could pick it up.
She was good and this was what I had been dying to do for a while. I loved voice work, but I also loved working the soundboards. I listened a few more times, and finally caught her pattern, and started laying down more special effects.
“How long do we need the effects in this for?”
“The whole scene,” she answered. “Another four minutes.”
I lost myself in the board and watching for perfect places to drop different kinds of water sounds to make the whole thing seem natural. It took me twenty minutes to layer in the sound the way I wanted, and that blended with hers.
I put the headset down, and smiled. “There.”
She pointed to the screen and speakers. “Show me.”
I keyed it up to the marker and let it go. The switch from her tracks to mine was flawless, and while there were a few things I noticed outside the headset that I wanted to adjust, I was reasonably pleased with the track.
The clip ended and Sorcha was staring at the screen, tapping a finger on her chin. She was quiet and I couldn’t read her at all. I was ready to hide under the soundboard before she finally spoke up.
“I’m getting Jerry to give you a room tomorrow. You don’t need any tutoring on this, man. That was flawless and damn near perfect.” She swiveled in the chair. “Ed is going to approve it on the first pass, and if you can get past Ed Roberts on the first pass, you’re golden. There’s a reason they always give me his stuff. He likes what I do. Well, now he has two of us.”
My stomach dropped a little and I hoped that it didn’t show on my face. “Ed Roberts?”
“Notoriously hard to work with,” she said. “He’s an up and coming producer and he’s a bit of prima donna and why do you now look like you’re going to barf?”
I coughed, and covered my mouth. “I uh…my stomach went sour. Sorry about that. I need to grab some tums. Do you mind?”
“Go on. I’m going to go find Jerry and talk to him about you and your own editing room.”
I nodded and tried to leave the room calmly. I hoped it work. I made it all the way to the bathroom, managed to lock the stall, and proceeded to heave up all of my lunch and swore half of my breakfast.
Not caring that this was a public bathroom, I leaned my forehead on the stall divider, absorbing the cool of the metal on my skin.
Ed Roberts.
I had just mixed a segment for Ed Roberts.
I heaved again, and this time, it was all bile, and I wasn’t sure that I was done gagging yet.
All at once I had impressed my mentor enough that she felt like I didn’t need more mentoring, and at the same time, I had a horrid realization that yes, Ed was in the same field as I was now and we were totally going to cross paths. Possibly often.
There had to be a way that I could avoid him. In all likelihood, Sorcha would be the one going to see him about the track, not me. But if I had my own studio and own assignments, at some point I was going to have to see him.
There was the rest of the gagging. Was this going to happen every time I had to deal with him?
