It is the home to many famous recording studios from your previous world and this one, such as Capitol Records, Infrasonic, Henson Recording, and the Village. Even movie studios have their own recording studios in LA, so that they didn't need to outsource.

You didn't expect to run into a cla.s.smate when you headed to one the studios. He is working at Ocean Way Recording, which will be called EastWest Studios in the future. Since your friend is working there as an a.s.sistant in one of the recording rooms, finding a soundtrack for your footage becomes easier.

"Man, you caught me at a bad time. My schedule is stacked."

Your friend tells you after all the pleasantries.

"Mark. I don't need anything complicated. Just a good heavy metal soundtrack to go with the footage here. One of the generic one will do."

You are willing to pay for a soundtrack, as business is a business and friends.h.i.+p is friends.h.i.+p. You didn't expect your friend to give you special treatment as you are currently a n.o.body.

"If that the case, have a look at the ca.s.sette archive down the hall. There should be one that suit you there. You will be doing me a favor taking a few of them away. The station gets so many of them every day that it starting to pile up."

Mark is talking about how every new artists, composers and singers sending in their audio tape to the studio, hoping to get their moment of stardoms. Unfortunately for them, the studios only review one or two samples a day. They just didn't have time or money to burn.

"If you don't mind."

"Nah, nah, I don't mind. My boss doesn't mind either."

His boss waves his hand dismissively, telling you and Mark to pipe down while he trying to compose a soundtrack.

You head down the hall to the archive with a Walkman in hand. You friend won't help you find one to your liking, and you don't need to pay him either.

Inside the archive, you realize what your friend had said a minute ago was an understatement. There are boxes and boxes of ca.s.sette tapes everywhere, and they aren't labeled correctly.

You let out a sigh and begins digging through mountains and mountains of ca.s.sette tapes, listening to each one to see if they suit your need. After a dozen ca.s.settes, your ears are in h.e.l.l.

How could they call these horrible sounds music?

It is no wonder the music industry is struggling to stay afloat.

You swear it will be faster and better to just compose a piece yourself. Even if it isn't as good as you wanted, at least you get to keep your hearing and your sanity. You quickly pack up and left the archive room. You return to the recording room your friend is at.

"Hey Mark, I really need your help. It will be worth your while."

Mark gestures his hand from the audio control, telling you to pipe down. He is busy a.s.sisting his boss, doing a recording.

There are two other people in the room, a man and a woman. They were holding each other hands in comfort as they watch their 10 years old daughter in the live room.

"Britney, a little higher, please." Mark's boss request as he adjust some of the k.n.o.bs on the audio control. The girl raises her voice nervously.

Britney is very nervous and frightful. You can tell that from her status window. Her attribute window is visible, but her skill window remains hidden. The same with her trait window. Those two windows require you to look a little deeper, right underneath her clothes.

You will not strip little girls! There are lines that must not be cross.

As you couldn't hear what the little brunette-haired girl was singing, you take a seat next to your friend and pick up a spare headset. Your friend only pays you attention briefly before returning his attention to the computer screen.

Mark doesn't mind you listening in, and neither did his boss. They are very cool people.

You almost crack up when you heard her high-pitch voice through the headset. The song was all over the place due to her nervousness and fearfulness. Luckily, you manage to hold in your laugher. It was for obvious reason.

For one, your friend and his boss will likely kick you out for ruining their recordings. For two, there is a faint aura shrouding the little girl. It was dull grey color.

It disappears the moment you take off the headset and reappears as you put it back on. Only you can see the aura, and you quickly realize it has something to do with her singing.

As their girl raises her voice, the dull grey color spread outwards, invading the control room from the live room. The moment it touches you, you feel kind of depress. It appears that your emotion is being affected by her singing.

"Wow, she sucks."

You mutter under your breath after you remove your headset. Your friend chuckled. He agreed with you wholly, and so did his boss.

Once the recording is done, Mark take off the headset and face the couple.

"Mr and Mrs. Spear. Thank you for coming. We have done recording her voice. We will send it off for a.s.sessment as soon as possible."

Your ears twitch. "Spears?"

You recall what the girl's name was, and your mind immediately put one and one together.

Mark's boss opens the door to the live room. "Britney, you can come out now. See, that wasn't hard, was it? There is nothing to be nervous or scare about."

You stare at the little girl heading out of the live room with shock and surprise. You swore she couldn't be the same person, but you must make sure. "No. No. I must not strip little girls…"