My Church Gig

In the ongoing effort to balance intensity with volume levels I made a change to our system processing this week.

Last weekend we got the usual complaints but this time I was told that people said “it sounds great, it’s just too loud.” I’ve never heard “sounds great” as part of a volume complaint so I perked up. It might be because people who complain generally like choirs and we had one last week. Just a guess.

It was interesting to me because I featured the choir and lead vocal prominently and let the band take a little of the back seat. Ironic after all my talk about vocal placement but it just felt right for the morning. To give an idea, measured in dB-A Slow the band even with guitar solo ranged from 85 to 89 at most. At the 9am service I let the choir run up to peaks of 93 with no complaints. At the 11am service I only ran the choir up to 91 and 92 with complaints. In each case I just gave the room what felt right at any moment.

On Monday I gave a critical listen to the raw CD over the system. Truthfully, it’s a little in-your-face in the high-mids especially when it breaks 89dB-A. I can see how it would be uncomfortable for some.

After the jump: Smaart screen shots and audio clips of adjustments made to the system if you’re interested. If you don’t feel like wandering off into the technical weeds, just jump down to the audio clips.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m prepping a post about some technical stuff having to do with volume levels and multiband compression in a live setting. In it I reference last weekends worship.  That worship time deserves a short post of its own.

Last weekend’s worship at Cornerstone goes down in my book as one of the most memorable in our history. I can’t put my finger on why, and if I could it would only diminish its personal meaning the way naming things does.

I love what Frederick Buechner says about naming things in his book The Sacred Journey. My memory is hazy and I never have a copy around because I’m always giving it away, but I remember that he spurred this thought I carry around.

As a small child, a tree has greater personal meaning and intrigue before you learn to call it a tree. Before it has a name it only has its treeness and you’re not yet aware of any distinction between you and it. There is only what is at the moment you see, touch, and smell the giant in front of you. We inevitably and necessarily learn the names of things and lose an innocent sense of wonder as we start to feel that we understand them; that we own them somehow.

We would be wise to take care in describing and naming things we don’t understand – like an amazing time of worship. I saw a couple people on Monday and Tuesday with a look in their eye still of, “Wow. I don’t know what that was but… Wow.” And isn’t it the same with God? Certainly God would inspire a stunned and awe-full “Wow” infinitely more than anything else ever could if we’d let ourselves be comfortable with not naming, not fully comprehending, and not owning him but rather being (re)named, comprehended, and owned by him. I understand the deep value of the ancient Jews never speaking his name.

So, my fellow tech friends, may you have more moments of “wow” and more mixes (and camera shots, focus rolls, graphic slides, lighting transitions…) that come together on their own in ways that feel deeply spiritual and full of mystery.

I used to smoke.  That means I quit smoking once. We all know that smoking is more than a habit; it’s an identity.  If you smoke then you’re a “smoker.”

Here’s the hardest lesson I learned when quitting:

Just because you don’t have a pack of cigs on you doesn’t mean you’ve given it up.  Nope.  You haven’t given it up till you toss the lighter in your pocket.  (And the ones in your glovebox, junk drawer, night stand, yesterday’s jeans…)  That’s harder to do than it sounds, believe you me.

I don’t know why, but that’s what I think of when a guitar player or bass player walks in and asks, “Hey, do you have any guitar chords and a guitar stand anywhere?”  I think to myself, “I know your type – you’d ask me for a smoke AND a light.”

If you don’t have (1) all your own chords and enough of them, (2) a tuner with a mute switch, and (3) guitar stands for all of your axes then you are no more a “guitar player” than a “smoker” without a lighter.  And, no, that pick in your pocket doesn’t mean a thing.  Drummers don’t ask for sticks and sound engineers dislike roadie duties.

OK, this is a fun little rant but honestly, I don’t mean to impose my personal standards upon everyone else. The answer is actually yes.  We have a few guitar chords.  We have a few guitar stands littering the back stage.  You can always grab some if they’re available but, please, put them back.  Remember that they’re only there in case you forget your own.  Guitar cables like to walk so I don’t like to stock up on them.

What I’d like to point out to fellow volunteer musicians (I am one too) is that when you show up with everything you need and display a sense of self-sufficiency your confidence level as well as the confidence level of everyone around you goes up.  It says something about how seriously you take your gift; God’s gift to you that you give back in worship to him.  Nothing says “pro” more than a player who only has to say, “just give me your XLR for my acoustic” or “my amp’s ready for a mic.”

A tip for the road:  Don’t take any non-church gigs without having all that stuff.  The sound guy down at that super-cool club will stare at you blankly and only for a second or two.  You’re on your own.

OK.  Go shopping.  Need suggestions for what to get?  Leave a comment.

Chris Pedro was hired as my audio assistant when we built our building 5 years ago. I was still doubling as webmaster and that hat grew by gallons after we moved in. Nowadays Chris is the secret glue that holds this joint together. He masters audio, manages the podcast, mixes weddings and funerals, bails out ministries with tech problems, replaces house lights, sets the stage… the list goes on. And over the years he’s become a darn fine engineer.

Now, Chris is reading this and probably feeling a little queasy about public praise so I’ll take it easy on the guy. What I wanted to share is the secret of any success I’ve had as a church FOH guy: sharing FOH and other responsibilities with someone I trust.

I believe that if it’s at all possible, especially in a church environment, you need a Pedro. Read the rest of this entry »

Lately volume complaints have been more frequent and bundled with complaints that the vocals are not clear enough.  When someone is polite enough to email or call and give us a way to get back to them then it gets discussed between Scott, our worship pastor, and Chris and me, the FOH engineers.  We take this stuff seriously.

Rather than get into the weeds about clarity and volume again, I thought I’d share part of an email I sent to Scott in this discussion.  Here’s a candid peek into our inner workings;  the kinds of emails that pass regularly between the production staff.  I’ve edited it slightly but the substance is the same.  (I’d love to share other people’s emails too but they’d exact their revenge by doing mean things to my cube and FOH booth.)

If you’re an FOH guy or gal I think you’ll resonate with this.  If you’re a worship leader remember that vocal clarity starts with vocal performance.  If you’re one of our vocalists please don’t be discouraged.  We have room to grow, that’s all. Read the rest of this entry »