“Er, so this is my room...”
“W-Wow. It’s really clean...!”
“T-That’s because I cleaned it...”
I had suddenly started clattering around and working in the middle of last night, to the point that Yuzu came to peek in and ask, “What are you doing?”
By the way, the equipment for home recording is already connected.
“Alright, let’s start by recording the guitar.”
“Okay...!”
She took the guitar out of its case and tuned it. Then, the recording began.
For the first few minutes, Ichikawa-san seemed nervous, but as expected of amane-sama, once she started playing, she showed her natural concentration.
Incidentally, I already finished recording my drums and Sako’s bass yesterday. The plan is to layer the acoustic guitar on top of those first, and finally record the vocals separately at the end.
“Yeah... I think this one was pretty good. Want to listen?”
There were some minor mistakes, so she re-played it a few times. By the fourth take, we got a good one, so I played it back from the beginning.
““Hmm...””
We both tilted our heads in unison.
“The phrases are played accurately, though.”
“It feels somewhat... unreliable, doesn’t it?”
“I guess so...”
The actual sound being produced is the same as in a live performance, but for some reason, when listening like this, it feels like something is missing.
It might be a problem with my recording technique or volume adjustment.
To find the cause, I listened to tracks from other bands with similar compositions. It turned out that many sound sources have extra sounds outside the band, like electric guitars or pianos, or arrangements that can't be reproduced by just three people live.
“I guess we have to decide whether to add other sounds or not...”
“Other sounds?”
I nodded back as Ichikawa-san tilted her head.
“Right. Basically, the choice between adding sounds to increase the quality of the recording, or not putting in anything more than what we can play live.”
“If adding them makes the quality better, shouldn't we just add them?”
“Well, it’s not that simple. It would mean layering the guitar multiple times, so on the track, it would sound like there are several Ichikawa-sans, right? In other words, it can't be reproduced live. Some bands hate that because they don't want to disappoint fans who come to see them live, or they feel like they’re lying. So it’s not a one-size-fits-all thing.”
“I see, that makes sense...”
Thinking ‘hmmm,’ I stood up and looked at the CD shelf on the wall.
“Well, these days, more people just listen to the recordings, so the vast majority of bands prioritize the richness of the sound. In the sense of making the sound you want most heard, you could say that’s more being ‘sincere’ to the music. But for example, The Libertines apparently recorded four people playing in the same place and barely used machines to fix it, and that atmosphere really shows in the sound—it actually leaves a great impression. Even in Japan, Chatmonchy during their three-piece era was very particular about live reproducibility, barely including anything other than what the three of them could do. If you listen closely, there are places where they recorded the same phrase a few times or layered it thinly, though. I listened to Chatmonchy a lot to use as a reference for amane... Here, this one, this one, and this one. I’ll lend them to you if you want. Since they use electric guitars unlike you, Ichikawa-san, I don’t know how much of a reference it’ll be, but at least you might understand how much the bass and guitar complement each other...”
When I grabbed about three Chatmonchy CDs from the shelf and turned around to hand them over, Ichikawa-san was looking up at me with a broad, beaming grin.
“...Actually, I’m not lending them.”
“Eh, why!?”
“I’m just doing that fast-talking thing typical of otakus anyway...”
I muttered excuses under my breath, thinking that anyone has fun talking about things they love.
“I think it’s great when you talk like that, Konuma-kun! Let me hear more.”
“No thank you... The way you say ‘talk like that’ already sounds like you’re making fun of me.”
“Eh!? That’s completely your paranoia, Konuma-kun.”
Just like when we talked about guitars at the instrument shop, this person looks at me with that face whenever I talk even a little bit.
“...Anyway. Whether we layer sounds or not is an important point in deciding the band's future stance.”
“I see, I understand that. So, does that mean we can't record the rest until we ask Sako-san and Yuri?”
“I guess so...”
I crossed my arms, saying those words more as a lead-in to thinking than as actual agreement.
“Then, for today’s pre-pro—”
“Though, it would be a waste to let today go to waste. Should I ask the two of them on LINE?”
Ichikawa-san started to say something, but I talked over her.
“I guess so...”
“Hm, what’s wrong? If you have an opinion.”
“No, nothing. Just my distractions showing on my face. And I’m just falling into self-loathing.”
“Huh...?”
“Geez, it’s fine, don't look over here.”
With a red face, she suddenly turned away.
“O-Oh... Well, I’ll LINE the two of them for now.”
As I sat back down and took out my smartphone—
“Ah, but wait a second?”
Ichikawa-san stopped me by grabbing my wrist firmly with both hands.
“Hm...?”
As she did, her weight shifted toward me, and she was closer than I imagined. Her moist eyes were right where I could feel her breath.
“W-What is it...?”
“No, um, if you do that, won't they realize I’m at your house...? You’re bad at hiding things like that, Konuma-kun...”
“Eeeh...”
Apparently, I’m not trusted. ...Well, I might not be good at it.
But it’s true that Yuzu is home for that very reason, so I can’t afford to let the cat out of the bag here.
“How about we try recording with layers for now, and let them listen to the layered and unlayered versions tomorrow? We know something is missing because we’re listening to it now, but Yuri and Sako-san wouldn’t know even if we asked them at this stage, right?”
“Well, that’s true. ...Then, about what to layer.”
“Yeah, yeah!”
She must have known what I was going to say. Ichikawa-san leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. This person is really the type whose tension and expressions change constantly.
“...Want to try playing the electric guitar?”
“Yes!”
She raised both hands and clapped, cheering “Yay.”
“Why do you look so happy?”
“I’ve always admired them, electric guitars! They’re cool, right!”
Amane-sama began playing an air guitar stroke near her stomach, going ‘shred-shred.’
“Is that so...”
My somewhat dry response was purely to hide my embarrassment; I couldn't help but think that Ichikawa-san is definitely at her cutest when she’s simply being happy and enjoying music. (Wait, what?)
Partly to look away, I picked up the guitar leaning against the stand in the corner of the room and handed it to Ichikawa-san.
“...Here. For now, try playing the same phrase as the acoustic guitar.”
“Got it!”
I handed her the headphones and connected the electric guitar to the computer with a cable. She must be hearing the guitar in the headphones. She played randomly, going ‘clank-clank,’ and was happy again, saying, “Wow, it goes ‘k-ching’...!” Yeah, she’s cute...
...No, that’s not it. There was something I forgot to do.
“Can I borrow the headphones and guitar for a moment?”
“Hm? Yes, go ahead.”
I borrowed the headphones from Ichikawa-san and put them over my ears.
While I was adjusting the volume and tone while sounding the guitar—
“...What kind of sound is it making?”
*Snug.*
Ichikawa-san pressed her ear against the outside of my headphones with a little ‘ei!’
“Ngh...!?”
Pressing an ear to the headphones meant that other parts were also... well, sort of... pretty much touching at zero distance. Surprised by the sudden sensation, I pulled back.
“I-Ichikawa-san...?”
“I was just curious about the sound...”
Ichikawa-san’s eyes grew moist, and her cheeks flushed red.
“No, but...”
Then why are you staying still with moist eyes and red cheeks like that?
If she were truly just curious about the sound, she would have either tilted her head blankly with her usual airheaded move and asked, “What’s wrong, Konuma-kun?” or pulled back while saying, “S-Sorry...!” I’m quite familiar with Ichikawa-san’s behavior.
“...Did you hate it?”
“I didn't hate it...!”
“I see. Then, yeah, well, that’s good... Sorry, those distractions again.”
“Ah, right...”
The battle against the whimsical ‘distractions’ living inside Ichikawa-san has only just begun...!