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Our church financially supports Santhosh and Sophie George who are missionaries to Kerala, India (shown in map above). Recently our church sent a care package to them. In a list of requested items, I saw that they would like to have some recorded accompaniment for several songs that they sing in their services. I was able to obtain permission to record three of the songs that they asked for.
The first is “Complete in Thee” arranged by Kristin Campbell. This version was recorded by members of the Steve Pettit team on an album of the same title. You can purchase it here. This was my favorite to play as it has a moving final verse with loads of sixteenth notes. It took a few tries to get it right because some of the intervals are big. I think the biggest was 14 from the first note to the last.
The other two recordings are Sovereign Grace Music compositions from Steve and Vikki Cook. The George’s requested recordings of “Before the Throne of God Above” and “I Will Glory in my Redeemer.” These were very basic arrangements loosely built on the chords being sung, so I tried to spice them up a little. They were probably written for other praise band instruments to carry the accompaniment more. The arrangements can be found here and here.
Making these recordings was an entirely new experience for me. The recordings that I normally post on the site are live recordings from worship services, so mistakes and imperfect sound are expected. I wanted these three songs to be just right though. With the generous assistance of our music pastor, Jon Kopp, we were able to get some pretty decent sound out of our old Kimball grand piano. I was surprised just how good it sounded…probably better than it sounds normally in person. We used a Shure vocal microphone under the piano and a vocal shotgun mic just above the strings with the lid all the way open. These two gave us a nice balanced sound with a slight natural reverb that I didn’t have to enhance.
As far as editing, I only removed some noise in the recording. You can still hear it a little. The only other thing I did was cut the best takes together to get a final product. It was fun and not terribly difficult, but it also gave me a great respect for those that can do it professionally and in fewer takes. I think we knocked out four songs in about and hour and a half. I’ll talk about the fourth song in another post forthcoming.
I hope the Georges’ ministry is enhanced and blessed with these recordings at their disposal. I’m thankful for the opportunity and the resources to be able to make these.
Feel free to listen to the recordings below and share your feedback on how they sound. See if you find it easy to sing along to. Any pointers from those that have done this before would be great (especially in the area of mastering/effects).
A big “thank you” goes out to Jon Kopp, Sovereign Grace Music, Ben Everson, and Steve Pettit for assistance in recording these songs as well as a gratis permission for the George’s to use them.
Copyright 2003 Bible Revival Ministries. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Before the Throne of God Above
Copyright 1997 Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Ministries. All rights reserved. International copyright reserved. Used by permission.
Copyright 2001 Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Ministries. All rights reserved. International copyright reserved. Used by permission.
[...] Piano recordings for India [...]
Your thoughtfulness and initiative coupled with technical prowess and talent will touch no telling how many lives across the world, none of whom you’ll likely see on this earth – it’s building treasures in heaven. Great job!