AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s a long story, but the short of it is that it was something private between a little six-year-old and me years ago.”
“Got it… It’s private. It just seems odd.”
“No different than black socks,” she muttered.
“Oh, I was going to ask you about that. Is it something like the black hat, but maybe a novice or something?”
Byte burst into giggles. “Holy cow patties. That’s hysterical.” She continued to laugh, once again drawing Hunter’s eyes to her face as she dabbed at the corners of her eyelids.
“It’s not that funny.”
“Oh, but it is. No, the black socks have nothing to do with hacking. It’s nothing. Just a pun.”
“About me?”
“Sorta. Anyway, it’s just an email account. Why don’t we get started. Where’s your office?”
“Downstairs. Come on,” Hunter said as he led her down the staircase into his recording studio. “I have an office on the other side of the studio.”
Byte’s gait slowed as she studied the room. Large sound mixers sat behind a glass partition with two laptops connected to them. Speakers were located in both the ceiling and the walls. There were three condenser microphones suspended on retractable boom arms, along with headphones and sheet paper upright stands.
“This is cool,” Byte said in admiration.
“Thank you. It’s taken me a while to get it to this level of professionalism, but I’m happy with it.”
“Why do you have enough equipment for three?”
“Some books have two narrators, and occasionally there will be additional narrators who might not overlap, but need to transition quickly. I worked on a book last year that had nine narrators. Of course, the bulk of it was supported by two, but seven other narrators joined the project, even if only for a few lines. It was quite the production. My engineer earned his keep on that project.”
“And they all came here?”
“That time they did. Even though we generally are in different locations and send all our reads to the engineer, we managed to turn that project into a mini staycation. It was a lot of fun, even if it was taxing at times.”
“I learned something new. I guess I thought you just read the book and poof, you have a finished product.”
“If only. It’s not just the recording, which is on average six-hour days, but then it’s proofing and editing. Now that I have my own studio, a lot of that can happen from here, but on occasions, I have to meet an engineer or producer whom the author hires.”
“How did you choose this field?”
“It chose me. I took a few drama classes in college. I’d thought about moving to LA and becoming an actor at one point, but I wanted a consistent paycheck, so instead, I looked at working behind the camera. It was in one of the classes for editing that my instructor asked if I’d ever thought about doing voice-overs. I told him I’d done a few for a buddy’s business, but I didn’t see myself doing it full-time. Again, a weekly paycheck was the goal.”
“But you eventually did take it on.”
“And never looked back. I dropped all my unnecessary courses and graduated with a liberal art’s degree, majoring in Arts and Entertainment Technologies. Definitely wasn’t the road I’d expected, but I love what I do. What about you? Have you always been a hacker?”
“That’s a story for another day. Let’s just say that like you, it wasn’t the road I’d expected, but I love what I do. So before you start digging into why, let’s get you started with a crash course on how to break the law. Show me your office,” Byte instructed.
Hunter opened his office, offered her the desk chair, and pulled up another chair beside her.
“It’s a new laptop,” Byte said.
“I didn’t want the illegal stuff to mix with my job. I have too much to lose should the Feds confiscate my laptop. This way it’s protected.”
“Right.” Byte snorted. “If the Feds show up, they will take everything electronic, including your Kindle. But getting a new one was a good call.”
What have I stepped into?Hunter wondered.
Without having time to contemplate the wisdom in what he was doing, he took notes and asked questions as Byte showed him shortcuts and code he should look for when tagging his brother.
