The "Child In Time" Challenge by Deep Purple

[Nick Denison]

Mines coming.... gimme a few days. A5's will break my balls... but oh well, all part of the fun :D

[Robert Lunte]

I tried it again this morning with the other track. I hate the guitar jam in the middle, sucks... that is why I started going off on a tangent to try to mask the shitty guitar playing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSIwsJT2d5U

[ronws]

I prefer the video because it's live. For me, live is where it's at. I know I've been in other threads where we talked about the needs for perfection in recording. And I stink at recording and mixing. Wrong level for mic input, disastrous choices in post recording editing, Just plain singing to close the to mic, stomping and clipping.

A number of people are good at recording and maybe spending a week or more fiddling with it, tweak this, echo that. Patch in a better take on a rough passage. Etcetera.

But for me, it's got to be good live. And this is good live. The room sounded like it had some odd acoustics. But it didn't hurt the performance. And ain't that just like walking into some venue? You have to work with what's there. And I totally love the last note. That was something I never would have thought of.

If you decide to record an album that includes one or two covers, I would suggest you do this one. It would be worth paying the copyright to ASCAP. It's a well known song and it seems to fit your voice, or vice versa.

Nice, tasty rasp, too. Different than Ian's but it lends a good flavor, all your own.

[Robert Lunte]

Thanks Ron. The audio was live... it was one take as well. Well anyways... onto the next tune, probably going to post an original next.

[ronws]

I've just recorded my cover of the song. I'm gonna see about getting it mixed by someone way better than I am. Otherwise, I will take a stab at mixing, at which I usually stink.

Do we want to post results here or open another "Child in Time" tribute thread?

[ronws]

Robert is in a class by himself. Though if he reposted in here, that would be cool. This one will be for the rest of us.

I've sang this song a few times, especially when listening to "Made in Japan" while in the car. But for this, I decided to take some time, get my head in the right space, strike while the iron is hot, etcetera. Worked on a few sections during my long commute to and from work.

And muchas gracias, vielen dank, huge-o-mongous gratitude to Keith for mixing it for me. I had thought of mixing a version of it, myself. Never mind, I can't touch this. And absolutely made the right decision to ask him to mix it for me in the middle of his busy, busy schedule. Dude is indefatiguable. And a gracious gentleman that deserves all the success life has to offer him.

This is a song from my childhood but I am now forever reminded of the scene from the movie, "Twister." Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a character who drives the doppler radar box van. With loud speakers and an absolute love for 70's hard rock, is blasting out this song while they are driving down what we call a cut road, a road that cuts through a pasture between farm to market roads, that are nothing but 2-lane blacktop strips, themselves.

Anyway, here's my take on it.

https://www.box.com/s/dad8de33340f7fa3b709

[Keith]

Other the the A5's that were seemingly killing you, very nice job! And the last A5 was the best (I think it was an A5 anyway)

[ronws]

Actually, they didn't seem like a struggle to me though they are up there. But we can never hear ourselves as others hear us. And you did such a great mix. Others will have to ask you how loud it really was.

Maybe it sounded like dying because, except for the last A5, which was clean, I was getting some rattle on the other top notes. Hoping it brought a sense of urgency.

[Keith]

Maybe it was the mic getting killed I took a 4-1 compression ratio, then edited it a little - lowered the threshold to about half - that kept you high notes from blowing up my speakers :)

[devaitis]

Absolutely the best song to practice ever.

I like your version more then others here because clear voice suits better for songs like that.

[Dr.Evil]

That background noise kills me and i guess you sang into not realy good mic, so i can't possibly get a correct image of your voice. What i must say, is that you sound pretty well and you tried to get the correct emotional colour of the song and that's what i like. Technicaly Rob is better, but you was closer to the emotional feel of the song.

PS: tried to do my version on saturday but it didn't work out the way i wanted, so next try is tomorrow and maybe the day after tomorrow.

[ronws]

Thanks guys, those reviews are better than I expected. And yes, Doc, the mic I used is less expensive. I was having problems getting Audacity to recognize the Sennheiser, so I used the Fame CM-1 condenser mic, which was not nearly as expensive.

Keith was able to clean it up quite a bit as I stomped that mic pretty hard.

And I feel successful because you mentioned that you got the feel that I intended.

And thanks, Deva. I think other versions with voices not so clean as mind will be just as good.

Sing it like you mean it.

[Dr.Evil]

Well how is that possible, that program didn't recognize a mic? Is it a USB mic? If windows re ognizes than it will work with any recording software, in theory...

[ronws]

It's not a windows problem, it's an Audacity problem, or I didn't have the level on the second channel right for the USB interface. Each channel can be set 3 different ways with an output level for each channel. +48 for condenser mics, line in, which I thought was for instruments but I may be wrong and was probably for pre-stage devices, such as the Roland GS-6 digital rack unit for my guitar. And DI, direct input, which is probably what I should have used. In which case, it was not a Windows problem or an Audacity problem but a "Ron being an idiot" problem.

Which happens more often than I care to admit.

Anyway, looking forward to your cover, Doc.

Or anyone else, for that matter. It's a cool song to do but it is a challenge.

Also, I happened to like the guitar work on this track, and so, I didn't want to vocally riff. Granted, it's not quite the same as the live version video that was linked in the other thread but I think who ever created this karaoke track did a really good job, considering they were trying to recreate the one and only Ritchie Blackmore.

[Keith]

+48 (phantom power) is for condenser mics. It is a power source (kinda like USB is a power source ) hope that helps.

[Enigma8118]

There is a pretty good version of this song on www.karaoke-version.com. It's available as a download in either straight Mp3 music track form or as an Mp3+ CDG karaoke track w/ on-screen graphics.

As I recall, Gillan stopped doing the A5's back in the early to mid '90's and would begin on the C5 'ooh's' and then just do the last section of screams the same pitch as the one preceding it (i.e., repeat the E5's again on the aah's instead of going up to the higher A5's) while Steve Morse would do the higher (original) notes on the guitar. Still very powerful. I even have heard a Dream Theater cover of the tune where James LaBrie didn't try the A5's and I'm pretty sure didn't do the E5's either (keyboard part covered the higher notes on the aah's screaming section).

[Robert Lunte]

hmm, interesting...

[ronws]

I know, Robert, right? I expected a few more people to give it a shot. I had started a separate thread so that this one didn't get to weighty, and, again, you are a hard act to follow. I am the only other one to do it and yours has been seen by some as the better performance. Kudos to you, Maestro. I know there's a few people here that can sing as high as you or I do. Or, even if the A5 is a little too much for them, though the C5 and E5 are still harmonically linked to the Am chord of A-C-E and would work well.

There's a few people here who have laid claim to C7, which is a whole octave higher than my highest note, ever.

Oh well, maybe some are waiting to be inspired by the style of the music. It is definitely different than Kamelot or Iced Earth or other bands more recently popular.

[Robert Lunte]

Hey, did someone say they found a bed track for "Child in Time" that is really good? Im thinking of doing a serious video in the studio of it and I would like to have a good recording of it? Or would be willing to commission anyone to do a great version of it with fat instrumentation, on a WAV file, etc...?

[Robert Lunte]

ok, i found it.

[Olem]

You did a good job here , Ron, and Keith too for mixing it. Ya, the A5´s sounded a bit too screamy but at least you could hit them, i can´t , i have "only" reached G5.

[Keith]

I sang the high note at the end of "Sometimes She Cries" by Warrant the other day- only one time. I was pretty proud of it lol. haven't been able to sing it since - only If I tune it down a whole step. Not sure what note it is, but it is really really high!

[Felipe Carvalho]

Ill give it a shot, not really my thing doing this high stuff, but anyways, will certainly be a great study.

[Robert Lunte]

Ya, try the suggested file that Enigma8118 from Karaoke Version. I downloaded and it does sound pretty good and it keeps us all legitimate. Its $2.

[ronws]

I don't think there's any problem with either dropping or raising a semi-tone or two to match a song to one's voice. The pros do it all the time.