Chapter 40

“He sounds tired, Randall,” Sandy said.

“He’s busy that’s all, Sandy.”

I decided to call Maurice.

“Hello Randall, what can I do for the man who’s giving me the chance of my lifetime?”

“Hey Maurice, I got the mask and I’d like to come over and hear how my voice will sound with it on, and you tweaking it, like you said you would do? Is now a good time?”

“Sure, as long as you bring your lovely ladies with you,” he remarked.

“Sure thing. Bye.”

“You two certainly are helping me in ways I would have never thought, getting things to happen that I couldn’t get done on my own. I sure do owe you two.”

“We plan on collecting your debt pretty soon, Lover,” Carol said.

Sandy leaned forward from the back seat and kissed me on the neck and growling a little, causing Carol to giggle a bit.

Fortunately, I just pulled up to Maurice’s place.

After walking in with the ladies, Maurice turned on his setup.

“Before we do anything else, can I find out what Sandy’s vocal range is? You two can vocalize if you want, but since hearing her audition for ‘Brides’ I’ve been wanting to find out ... her range.”

“OK by me,” said Sandy.

“Sing something from Beauty please dear?”

“Tale as old as time, True as it can be, Barely even friends...”

“OK, Sandy ... from that note, go up the scale with me, first let me go to the note, then please match it vocally as best you can, all right?”

Maurice and Sandy went through the procedure that Carol and I had performed previously with Maurice. When done, Maurice explained his findings.

“While Carol here is a bona-fide Soprano, Sandy is as close as I’ve come across to a ‘perfect’ Mezzo-Soprano in quite some time. Her bottom note is a healthy C3 and her modal top is B5. With a singing coach or voice lessons, I see her getting up to an E6 or F6, possibly higher. Have you ever had a voice lesson, Sandra?”

“No, I haven’t – I can listen to a song and, in my head I can re-pitch it to suit my range, but few pianists can do that, so I’ve been stuck singing songs in their original keys.”

“Sandy,” I said. “Maurice is the guy you’ve been looking for, he can take a song, re-pitch it on the fly and make you sound heavenly.”

“Just a second, Sandy?” Maurice said, making some adjustments to his synthesizer. “Starting on this note, sing ‘Beauty’ again please?”

She did, and as before with Carol and I, Sandy’s voice became clearer and her tone sounded so much better, singing up where her range really is. She went over to Maurice and gave him a great big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I pulled out my new mask, having Carol connect in the back and Maurice added a cordless pick-up just inside the back of the mask, above my hairline. The mask held it in place, although I didn’t understand why he placed it there.

“How well do you hear me, Randall?” Maurice said.

“Clear as a bell, Maurice,” I said.

He got up and hooked my hanging mike wire into an extension and turned on an additional piece of equipment.

“Remember Randall, you sing in your regular voice and I will control the color, timber and quality of your voice, OK?”

“All right Maurice, whenever you’re ready?” I said.

The girls turned as I was speaking, I could tell Maurice was playing with my vocal quality.

“Randall, talk about your sister and tell me what it is you love so much?” Maurice asked.

“She is the reason for my existence, the essence of my being, when I fall asleep at night all I can think of is her, as I fall asleep.”

“How does that sound to you girls?” Maurice asked.

“Really good – Just like the voice from the movie,” Sandy said.

“I’m recording now, talk about the moment you realized you had fallen in love with Carol?”

“From the moment I first picked her up as an infant, I was nine – she was one, that was when I knew how I felt about her...”

“That’s enough Randall. Get the mask off him, please?”

All it took was a pull from behind and I grabbed the hair between my wigs ears, as Todd said to, and it came right off. The extra mike Maurice attached stayed on inside the headpiece. Sandy fixed my hair with a brush. Carol fixed the hair on the back of my head and I was instantly ready to hear how it all sounded.

After Maurice pushed a few buttons, I heard myself saying what I had just said, but it sounded extraordinarily like the Beast voice performed by Robbie Benson in the animated Double Academy Award Winning Disney Classic.

We are going to rock this!

“Girls, put it back on me please?” I asked. After re-hooking me, I asked Maurice to record me while I sing as the Beast.

“‘If I Can’t Love Her’ reprise, please Maurice?’” I heard the music start as I looked at Carol as I sang this,

“No pain could be deeper, No life could be cheaper, No point anymore if she can’t love me. No hope she would do so—No dream to pursue, so I look to myself, despite the things I see—For I know that she, cannot set me free, Let the world be done with Me.”

I shook Maurice’s hand as the three of us left, with Sandy holding my mask in its box.