Chloe wandered back to the entrance hall deep in thought. The old man was probably right. Maybe there would be other chances. After all, not every famous pop singer had been to Rockley Park School.
There was a guided tour of the school before they went home. Chloe didn’t really feel like going on it, but she knew she’d regret it if she didn’t. They trailed around in a large group, and were shown classrooms, the dining room, the dance studio, and even one of the bright, cheerful bedrooms where the students slept. Chloe was so fascinated she almost forgot that she’d failed her audition. Most exciting of all was the room Chloe had passed with the red warning light outside. The light was needed because down that short passage was the school’s very own recording studio!
Chloe squeezed into the control room with the others. Through the glass panel behind the mixing desk she could see a rock band setting up. They had one little room for the drum kit and another for the guitarists. There were cables trailing everywhere and all the musicians had headphones on. The mixing desk looked so complicated. There were rows and rows of knobs, and several computer screens, too. A gray-haired man in a cardigan and wearing headphones was twiddling the knobs and talking to himself.
“Give me some snare, Joe,” he’d say. Or, “Floor tom. Steady beat.” Chloe hadn’t a clue what was going on, but she could have stayed there all day.
“This is Mr. Timms, our recording engineer and head of music technology,” said the boy who was showing them around. Mr. Timms took off his headphones and swiveled his chair to face his visitors.
“I’m doing sound checks at the moment,” he said. “But I can show you how we record music on lots of different tracks and then put them all together. Here, each of the black lines shows a sound picked up by a different microphone.” He pointed to where lots of lines were running slowly across a computer screen.
“It’s like the monitors you see in hospital dramas on TV!” said a girl at the back of the room. Everyone laughed, but Mr. Timms nodded.
“Very similar,” he agreed. “The lines on hospital monitors jump whenever there is a heartbeat. Here they jump when there is a drumbeat. Look. Give me a bit of snare again,” he said into a microphone set into the mixing desk. So he wasn’t talking to himself after all! He had been talking to the drummer in the studio. As the boy hit a drum, one of the lines on the screen jumped up and down.
“There you are,” said Mr. Timms. “Now, I have five different microphones on those drums. Each one will pick up a different sound and the sounds will be recorded separately. Now, listen to this.” They all watched while he twiddled several knobs. The lines disappeared for a moment. When they came back, they were all jumping and jerking on the screen.
“This is a recording I made a while ago,” Mr. Timms explained. “Ten microphones were used, so you can see ten separate lines jumping. With these sliders on the mixing desk, I can bring in whichever sound I like, however softly or loudly I need it.”
It was amazing! When all the sounds were turned up, Chloe could hear a band playing with drums, guitars, and two singers. As he slid the knobs, different sounds were taken away until Mr. Timms was left with one of the guitars all on its own. It was awesome. Chloe wished she could give it a try.
“Those of you who get a chance to go to this school will learn how to mix the music you make,” Mr. Timms said. “Understanding recording techniques is an important part of making music in the twenty-first century.”
As the group made their way back out of the studio, they passed Chloe’s friend with the dreadlocks. He was waiting to go into the control room.
“Hey! Chloe,” he said, grinning at her as if they’d been friends forever. “How y’doin’, kid?” Chloe grinned back.
“Fine,” she said. “Thanks.”
Several of the kids looked at her enviously, and once they were out of the studio one said, “How do you know him?”
“We talked earlier.” Chloe shrugged, not wanting to admit how upset she’d been.
“Lucky you!” said a girl she’d seen earlier who had been carrying a guitar.
“Why?” Chloe asked. The girl stared at her.
“Don’t you know who he is?” she asked. Chloe shook her head. “He’s only Judge Jim Henson!” the girl said. “He’s head of the rock department! I was scared stiff doing my audition in front of him. He’s performed with lots of incredible people in his time!”
“Oh!” Chloe said. “Well, he’s really nice.”
Before everyone went home, they filed into the small theater, where Mrs. Sharkey, the principal, was waiting to speak to them.
“Only a few of you will be accepted as students here,” she said. “But I don’t want any of you to go home feeling like failures. You all have something to offer, otherwise we wouldn’t have called you for interview.”
Chloe perked up at that. They must have thought she had something about her. And she wouldn’t be the only one to go home disappointed. She hadn’t thought about lots of the others being rejected, too.
“You all have ambitions,” Mrs. Sharkey continued. “And, whatever they are, you must hold on to them with all your strength. Being a success in the music industry is one dream that many people will tell you is impossible to achieve. But never you mind if no one at home takes your ambitions seriously. Never mind if you don’t know anyone else who has achieved what you want to achieve.” Chloe listened carefully.
“Maybe you won’t make it,” Mrs. Sharkey admitted. “There is a risk of that in every career choice. But you don’t want to worry about that now. You are just at the beginning of your lives. These are your Diamond Days, when anything can happen. Walk toward your dream every day with a sparkle in your eye. Don’t worry if you don’t know the way. Trust your heart to lead you and you won’t go far wrong. Thank you all for coming, and I wish you all the very best.”
Chloe filed out with the others.
“How did you do?” Danny asked her as they met in the main hall.
She shrugged. “Not very well,” she told him reluctantly. “How about you?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It was scary. Come on,” he added, “let’s go and find your parents.”
Chloe wanted to stay positive on the way home, but it wasn’t easy. Mrs. Sharkey might be right about Diamond Days, but not only had Chloe ruined her Big Chance, now she also had to face her mom about her ruined jacket!