As the keyboard player I occasionally came into the studio to mix sessions when no real engineers were available. This session had started late but was easy. Tweaking a backing track for a nightclub performance. The client sat on the standard studio couch at the back of the room, her long legs stretched out on the small coffee table. Clarisse was a coffee colored shemale, painted lips, feminine features, tasteful breast implants. She sang at the drag shows and had been taking vocal lessons, recently bringing her voice closer to tune in her limited register.
"Please come to the show. You can tell me if the mix works." We both knew the dense techno backing tracks generally sounded very flat and brittle in a live setting so I had EQ'd and reverbed as much as I good without a full remix. "I'll put you on the VIP list of course."
I had a relatively early wakeup and a girlfriend waiting at her apartment but I decided to go, being genuinely curious about whether the mix would improve things or make a mess of it.
I phoned my girlfriend while locking up the studio. "You're going to see Clarisse?" She was incredulous.
"Yeah. I want to check the mix. I'll ring your buzzer after the set. Figure 2am."
"Okay," she said, but her voice sounded weird. "Have a great night!"
The show was at the local drag bar. The stage area on the second floor was a standard industrial box. I stood by the DJ who doubled as bored soundman. Clarisse and her three songs was the only "live" entertainment that night and she strutted around the stage, voguing, posing, kind of singing and I suppose you'd call it rapping. The mixes did make give the music space, make it feel a little bigger, funkier.
After the set I shouldered my way through the queens, chasers and female fellow travelers to stick my head into the tiny maintenance closet that doubled as a dressing room. Clarisse was lounging against the wall in full triumphant diva.
"I'm so glad you're here. What did it sound like."
"I think it worked."
"Oh I felt it." Another thin drag queen was pouring shots from a bar bottle.
"You sounded amazing tonight." The tray of shots was set on a packing crate.
"Let's do it again," I said and turned to leave.
"Oh please stay. I need help relaxing." The hangers on erupted into laughter at the veiled good natured come on.
"Early wake up," I said, and made my way out into the bar and the night.
I buzzed Cindy while checking the time. 2:45. Late, but not that late. She buzzed me in and I moved up the four flights of stairs not wanting to stand in the cramped glacial elevator. She met me at the door looking very much awake, wearing a robe over what looked like her street clothes. I moved in for a customary hello kiss but she turned away.