Chapter 19: Sawtooth Wave
[Chapter 19: Sawtooth Wave]
After leaving the police station, Ryan spotted Marvin embracing a stunning girl and approaching the car. The driver had already exited, opening the door for him. Only then did Marvin slip inside, and the car sped off.
"He represented a lot of well-known DJs, really dedicated, though he tends to be a bit flashy, as you just saw," Dead Mouse shrugged.
Ryan turned to Abigail and shared the news that he would be a guest performer alongside Dead Mouse. Abigail was thrilled for Ryan, expressing that she would definitely try to make it to the festival, provided she could still get tickets.
Soon after, Ryan hopped into Dead Mouse's car while Abigail and her friends continued their adventure in Panama City.
...
Not long after parting ways, Abigail received a phone call.
"You're coming too? I thought you wouldn't have time," Abigail exclaimed.
...
Ryan followed Dead Mouse and his crew back to the lounge behind the Harpoon Harry's bar. It appeared no one had cleaned up; the place was in disarray -- tables and chairs were toppled, cables were frayed, and there were a few drops of blood on the floor.
Given the current state of things, it was clear that Dead Mouse wouldn't be able to perform at today's Beach Bash music festival.
"Let's cancel tomorrow's show at the nightclub on Daytona Beach as well. We need to rehearse for our performance at Ultra Music Festival," Dead Mouse remarked as he scanned the messy room.
"Can I come find you later? Babe, I have to get to work now," Dead Mouse's assistant said to the bikini-clad girl beside him.
The remaining bikini girl was also asked to leave. The assistant stepped out to gather a few helpers to clean up the room, while Dead Mouse engaged in a discussion about visual animation with another assistant.
"There's really no need for additional animation control, nor for helmet synchronization. VJ work is actually simpler now," the assistant nodded.
VJs and DJs had similar names; originally, they referred specifically to those who played music videos on channels like MTV, VH1, MuchMusic, and Channel V. Over time, it evolved to include those responsible for stage effects -- more technically referred to as real-time visual designers. In simpler terms, they created large-screen visual effects animations.
DJs typically performed at nightclubs, with expectations around sound, light, and visuals. Well-known DJs had dedicated teams that produced exclusive animations, creating an entire visual system, which would also be used in music videos and single covers -- effectively their "visual calling card." This trend had spread through the industry, and specialized VJ panels emerged at Winter Music Conference.
"Then what should he do?" Dead Mouse pointed at Ryan.
"Are you really that clueless about what Marvin means?" the VJ laughed. "You're just the mascot -- they don't even need you standing there the whole time; just show your face at the beginning."
Dead Mouse considered this for a moment and nodded.
"Actually, I have performance experience, I can..." Ryan quickly spoke up.
But neither Dead Mouse nor the VJ gave Ryan the chance to speak further, diving right into the next topic.
Ryan realized that while he had been allowed to join the discussion, he wasn't really being heard at all.
Ryan planned to recommend his own music to Dead Mouse later; perhaps after hearing it, he would change his mind.
"Can I use this laptop?" Ryan pointed at another perfectly intact notebook on the table.
Maybe thinking Ryan was getting a little bored, Dead Mouse nodded and even helped him unlock the laptop by entering the password.
...
Ryan noticed that this all-black laptop contrasted sharply with the sleek silver MacBook sitting beside it. The black one featured a cool icy blue backlit keyboard, with an alien head logo at the bottom that pulsed with a breathing light.
As he scanned the chaotic desktop, it was comparably messy to the one back at Trey's place. Ryan noticed numerous programming tutorials, clearly indicating that aside from being a DJ, Dead Mouse was also a programmer.
Next, Ryan stumbled upon a trove of electronic games on the laptop. Titles like Crysis, BioShock, and Call of Duty 4 were all recent solo releases, alongside online games like World of Warcraft.
Additionally, there were various hardware photos and blueprints for a mouse helmet's internal design.
Through Dead Mouse's personal computer, Ryan could distinctly sense that he was mostly a "techie."
Then, Ryan unexpectedly discovered a test version of FL Studio hidden in a corner. As a classic DAW software, FL had a dedicated following.
Out of curiosity, Ryan opened it and was instantly captivated. The software contained a standalone test plugin, signed by Dead Mouse, which Ryan quickly recognized as an audio effect plugin. He glanced up to see Dead Mouse still wrapped in discussion with the VJ and his assistant and quietly grabbed the headphones to plug into the laptop.
After a brief trial, Ryan became excited. Although the plugin was challenging to use, it provided an incredible degree of freedom, almost allowing him to customize any sound effect he envisioned.
In other words, he could create the particular sounds that had been swirling in his mind.
However, due to the incompatibility of project files across different software, Ryan had no choice but to start from scratch to produce a new version of Tremor.
Time ticked away.
...
"Let's decide -- erase the original intro recording and replace it with an explanation of this incident. The high school student will also make an appearance at the start; we'll do a LIVE PA performance first, followed by a song. If he has his full work ready, we'll play his music; if not, we'll play one of my older tracks. What do you think... Ryan?" Dead Mouse paused, remembered Ryan's name, and then asked.
In the quiet room, no response came; the only sound was the crisp clicking of the mouse as Ryan kept clicking.
"Ryan, you're just like Zimmermann -- totally zoned out while playing games!" the assistant grumbled, approaching Ryan from behind before suddenly looking taken aback.
"Zimmermann, you have to see this!" the assistant exclaimed, sounding nervous.
Dead Mouse leaned closer to Ryan, and upon seeing the screen, he realized Ryan was actually making music.
It may have seemed like a simple borrowing of the laptop, but to a DJ, having someone dabble in their familiar software felt like being paraded in a medieval display, which was an unbearable form of exposure.
So Dead Mouse removed Ryan's headphones and prepared to shut down the software.
"No, you have to listen to this," Ryan quickly grabbed the mouse back, then hit the play button.
Although the laptop's speaker significantly lacked bass and the treble was quite muddied, leading to distorted sound, an industrial-sounding intro emerged, accompanied by a looping buzzing effect. The combinations of sound suddenly left the three of them momentarily stunned.
During the interlude, the harsh, distorted sounds added unexpected layers to the primary melody, causing Ryan's lips to curl up -- this was exactly the "sharp yet deep," "rough yet clean," sound effect he had been trying to create earlier.
At the same time, Dead Mouse looked surprised, his mouth slightly agape. He had never imagined the existence of such sound effects before he pressed play.
"Did you create this just now?" Dead Mouse quietly asked.
Ryan hesitated for a moment, then glanced back at the plugin interface, seeing the waveform reflecting a jagged sawtooth pattern, an idea striking him.
"How about we just call it Sawtooth Wave?" Ryan suggested.
At the same time, Ryan's newly created music had only reached the intro stage before coming to a halt.
"Due to the differences in software, I need to start over. The vocal samples are still on the Nashville computer, and I can't produce the climax part in a short time," Ryan explained.
"Nashville, can you call your family to upload it?" Dead Mouse asked slowly.
"There might not be anyone at home," Ryan shook his head. Trey was away on business, filming a music video for a singer named Julianne Hough for a song called That Song In My Head.
"Is that so... If it's convenient, I could have an assistant catch the next business flight to Nashville to help you retrieve the samples," Dead Mouse continued, eager for Ryan to complete the official version of Tremor tonight.
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.