My Church Gig

Titus 1:15 starts, “To the pure, all things are pure…” Yeah, but to the rest of us (artists especially) it’s a different story.  There’s a lot to be said for being wise as serpents yet innocent as doves.  (Matthew 10:16)  The thing is in our business erring on the “innocent as doves” side can really bite you later.

I started at Cornerstone as the webmaster.  When first skimming the website I discovered that the men’s sexual addiction group was named “Rock Solid.”  I couldn’t stop laughing, and mostly at the thought that I might have been the first to laugh at all.  Seriously?  Rock Solid?  Freudian slip or pure genius?   Clearly, sanctification has been a slow process for this here pilgrim; straight up.

Today was an interesting day for the media team.  I asked if I could write about three items that came through; a day in the life of the media office.  They’re funny items, sure, but I believe this is important stuff to talk about.

This rest of this post is more PG-13.  If you’re not easily offended then please read on after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

I just got notice today that I’m into my eighth year at Cornerstone.  That means I get a boatload of PTO days to take off this year.  Actually, it’s a cruel joke.  I can’t take that many days off and they know it.  But thanks anyway.  The thought really does mean a lot.

So, I’ve been in existential wrestling matches lately with this question:  Why do I do what I do?

I work at a cool church.  I know a few who would love to work at a cool church no matter what the pay.  I’m pretty lucky.  (“Blessed” for you spiritual types – still feels lucky to me.)

When I was younger I cared about the mission above all; you could keep the money.  Now in my 40s I care whether or not my job looks anything like a career.  Career and Ministry mix like oil and water in my head.  There’s no escaping that most churches need to employ people to keep things running.  You know… working at a church is a little like swimming in oil and water; treading the paradox of temporal necessity and eternal mission.

I believe current “economic realities” (words I hear every day) are purifying churches as much as they’re hurting.  We just came through a time of relative prosperity.  We started to bulge in unsightly places but just wore some fashion with slimming vertical motion to mask it.  Now many churches in America, just like a lot of companies, are cutting more than fat; they’re cutting to the core.  Ready or not, the necessity of increased volunteerism is here.  This is tricky for a lot of churches because they’re used to a level of quality they hired to achieve.  That quality is some of what attracted a lot of people in the first place.

Cornerstone has already made cuts and we’re not immune to more.  Who knows how bad this economy thing is going to get?  It’s unwise to think my job is any more secure than any other job in the country.  I’m ok with that.

I’d like to offer this thought to all who love their church jobs.  It’s where I’ve arrived personally at the end of my existential wrestling matches.

Our greatest American freedoms are often our greatest burdens.  Possibility and opportunity bring with them a certain Kierkegaardian despair for most humans.  We are naturally convinced our inner joy hinges upon working a job we love and feel we are destined by God to do so.  We despair that we won’t find work we love then, once we do, we despair that we might lose it.  I visited garbage dumps in Thailand once where men emerge every morning from cardboard structures in freshly pressed white shirts to work any job to provide anything for their families.  I have to believe that even in situations like that, joy can abound.  May God free us from temporal despair and rebuild within us the joy of a greater sense of eternal mission.  If a world-wide economic crisis is what it takes, let it be so.

 Math teachers and English teachers are completely different.  Ever notice?  Math geeks are driven to discover preeminent facts about the universe.  English geeks love subjectivity, human convention, art, culture, and fashion.  ”2 + 2″ is what it is (and is what it was) but the spelling and pronunciation of the word Colonel is just really odd.  It’s “pocket protectors save me money spent on shirts” vs. “dude, shirt pockets aren’t for putting stuff in – there are way more stylin ways to carry tools.”

In the audio world the difference between Technician and Engineer is pretty much the same.

Technicians are left-brained geniuses who picture signal flow in their sleep, understand electronics and physics, and can troubleshoot a 60 cycle hum in no time flat.  Right-brained engineers are artists who might not be able to troubleshoot their way out of a paper bag but can turn knobs to make bands sound larger than life.  On the perfect tour the technicians set up the gear while the engineer hangs out with the band on the bus.  The engineer mixes the show then drives away with the band while the techs tear down.  Most pro bands bring their own engineers with them for fly-dates and festivals.  It’s that important.

I’m much more an engineer than a technician.  When I say “One Two, Hey Who” into a microphone to tune a monitor wedge I’ll say something like “hey Chris, bring 160 hertz down 5 dB in here.”  It sounds really technical and everyone acts really impressed.  I wish there was a less nerdy way to say “160 hertz down 5dB” because it’s a subjective, artistic call; not a technical correction.  What I’m saying is I think it sounds muddy around a low E and that needs to come down a touch for things to sound balanced.  Everything that can be described as boxy, thuddy, muddy, nasally, hollow, piercing, essy or shimmering has a number; a frequency that sounds to an engineer like art, not science.

Most churches don’t have a mega-pool of talent to go fish in or the budget to hire a good engineer.  Ironically, the wires, knobs, blinking lights, and the really-really-important-but-not-in-front-of-people position attract all sorts of technical types – and a few who lack important people skills.  This can be frustrating for band members and worship leaders because they, on the other hand, are artists.  This disappointment, tension, and conflict are far too common in churches.

I want to throw two things out there today:

If you’re a good musician with a gift for hearing the whole band at once, consider becoming an audio engineer.

I’m not talking about musicians who aren’t cutting it on stage and need something to do.  I mean good musicians who love music as a whole, not just their instrument.  You might just be the best candidate for sound engineer at your church or in your ministry.  It’s a less glamorous job but more important than any other when the band starts playing.  At the end of the day the quality of bass or guitar playing means squat if the mix is off.  Pray about it and be humble enough to give it a shot.  I fell in love with it.  You might too.

If you’re a worship leader and you don’t trust your engineer, step up your game.

I’ve seen a few jazz and blues acts at small clubs where the sound was phenomenal without a sound system or with a small portable system and no engineer.  Seasoned players balance with each other and play with great style.  I know from experience that when a band sounds great the mix mixes itself.  Don’t blame your engineer or technician for your band’s poor performance or lack of ability to blend clearly on stage.  In rooms that seat less than a few hundred it’s entirely possible to achieve great sound with little more than vocals in the mains.  Strive to be that good.

And please, be nice to the pocket protector behind the console.

If you go to Cornerstone you might be interested in our recent adventure with Steve’s podium mic.  Last Saturday and on the previous weekend he wasn’t as easy to hear as usual.  We moved his mic to the back side of his notes stand which left the mic a few inches further away.  (Top pic … it used to live there before.)  His level dropped into the 50s and low 60s in decibels.  Two things happened: 

1. People noticed the difference.
2. The congregation was not as responsive as usual.

It was a somber message in a subdued tone but our congregation is typically more responsive any day of the year.  On Sunday we moved it back to its optimal place (like the bottom pic … thanks Steve!) and bam, we were back in our target range; somber message heard and understood.  Doesn’t look like much of a change in those pictures.  This either shows the delicate nature of our business or my completely OCD approach to audio.

With that in mind I wanted to mention a few things about how volume levels affect congregation response and listener fatigue.  I hope this is helpful for pastors and teachers too.  I hope you guys care about this as much or more than your sound guy.

Decibel meters kind of match thermometers here in the Fahrenheit-loving United States.  Imagine standing outside in a t-shirt.  Anything over 90 is pretty hot but, hey, some like it hot.  The 80s is warm; fun summer weather for all ages.  The 70s is pretty comfy and the best part is you can drink coffee outside.  The upper 60s is still ok but if it dips to 60 or below, most of us begin to crave new fall fashion apparel and accessories.  New shoes couldn’t hurt either.

Normal conversation happens from the low 60s to the low 70s, kind of like an early Spring afternoon.  It’s what we’re used to.  When we listen to speech for a long while (like a 50 minute sermon) listener fatigue happens when it’s either too loud for too long or when it’s too quiet for too long.  Being too loud is rarely a problem.  The laws of physics, feedback, a reflective room and the pastor’s general performance make getting his voice in the upper 60s a real feat of engineering some days.

Here’s what happens when the pastor’s voice drops into the chilly regions of 60 and below:

• People are tired after church and they don’t know why.  It took real effort to listen.  Their brains worked long and hard, and now it’s nap time.
    
• The congregation isn’t as responsive as the pastor secretly wishes.  They can’t be.  I’ve sat in churches where people feel trapped, unable to move or flip a page in their Bible because they’ll miss something.  (No exaggeration.)
    
• Some people will check out after 20 minutes and the rest will check out after 40 minutes if the presentation of the message is not compelling.

Our target for sermon levels at Cornerstone is around 63 to 73dB A-weighted, like a friendly conversation outside Starbucks in May.  We don’t have any assisted listening packs but we don’t get asked for any either.  In fact I’ve been told by a few hard-of-hearing friends they never have a problem hearing Steve.

I got this in an email today from a kind lady who has a hearing condition:

“…I wanted to say thank you for putting so much effort into good sound.  I can always hear Steve’s word even when he speaks softly and that is important to me.  It may seem silly, but I struggle hear people’s words in so many other areas of my life that it is really nice when I can hear all the words for a change.”

Thanks Elizabeth.  You are my new favorite person.

 Half of the love I have for managing audio at a church is for the philosophy of it all.  I spend more hours pondering that than I do the nuts and bolts of gear and technique.

Sound (including music) is the most subjective and critical element of what we do during a church service.  Sorry video and lighting guys!  I know it sounds egocentric but let me explain.

Nobody walks out of the room when the screens are too bright (our 6K Panasonics won’t blind anyone) but some do when they think it’s too loud.  Nobody whines when a sermon slide is too red but some might if they don’t hear their favorite instrument on top of the mix.  Nobody scowls at the lighting operator when they don’t like the lighting scene but, sheesh, you should sit in my chair once in a while.  It’s creepy to scowl at strangers by the way.  Don’t do it.

Sound is intimate and personal.  It can be pleasurable like the close whisper of someone you love, a mother’s lullaby, or music on your iPod that stops the clock.  The soothing nature of crashing waves, a babbling brook, and the rush of rain on forest leaves seems to have been woven into our DNA millennia ago.  Sudden loud sounds spark a primal response; an adrenaline rush of panic.  Other sounds are invasive and annoying, like the incessant drip of a faucet, a pesky insect, or the neighbor’s barking dog and they threaten us with a temporary sanity fail.

Sounds (especially in music) draw deeply emotional responses from each of us.  When it’s bad we argue sometimes; and heatedly when we do.  When it’s great it deepens our worship experience and our connection with the teaching.   This makes church sound and music uniquely spiritual and, for my role, ultimately important.

Consider this from Rick Warren’s book, Purpose Driven Church.

I’m often asked what I would do differently if I could start Saddleback over.  My answer is this:  From the first day of the new church I’d put more energy and money into a first-class music ministry that matched our target.  In the first years of Saddleback, I made the mistake of underestimating the power of music so I minimized the use of music in our services.  I regret that now.

Hey, if you’re not happy with sound at your church then hire a qualified audio engineer for crying out loud.  You’ll find a few humble types out there eager to jump in.  It could change your church.

“Lead by example,” however trustworthy and valuable, is an often overrated mantra in church culture.  Another easily inflated quote from St Francis is “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

These are admonitions for the all-talk, no-walk.  They’re also course corrections for the OCDs, control freaks, and socially challenged among us who are a taco short of a fiesta platter when it comes to empathy or just playing nice.  Clearly, they’re not replacements for actually leading people with words or telling our good news in a little detail.

From friendships to marriage to sex, most humans have a misguided hope that these things happen naturally.  We’re afraid by nature.  When a husband or wife says, “I shouldn’t have to tell you, you should just know!” it looks like unreasonable anger but it’s not; it’s absolute terror.  Uncovering our desires with words leaves us uniquely vulnerable and we’d rather avoid any reaction, good or bad.  So please.  You should just know.  And I’m not talking about this any more!  Good times of worship don’t happen without a little direction either.

Here are a couple of observations after years of people-watching from my sound booth.  I hope they are helpful to worship leaders and worship bands alike.

1.  People don’t just worship; they are lead to worship.

A friend who’s off-the-charts gifted at entertaining guests told me, “it’s funny … people need permission to let down their hair and relax … toward the beginning of a party you need to welcome everyone and say, ‘enjoy yourself – have a good time!’ and the tone of the party picks up right away.”   You have to drop a verbal cue for what you’d naturally expect people to do.  It enriches their experience.  You give them a gift they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

It’s true for congregational worship too.  A few expressive types will always stand and sing out, a few reserved types never will, but most folks want permission to sing out and engage passionately whether they know it or not.  This is new territory for most and they’re unconsciously waiting for a leader to help them take another step.

Cornerstone has some great worship leaders.  You will often hear, “sing with us!” right after the build of a pre-chorus leading into an anthemic chorus and the reaction is often stunning.  It’s almost like the homerun crack of the bat at a baseball game making an otherwise hotdog-and-beer-sleepy crowd erupt into sudden cheering and involuntary high-fives.  With simple, timely, and appropriate verbal cues, they give the gift of a great worship experience, a greater sense of unity as a body of believers, and a greater awareness of God’s nearness.

As an aside, I’m talking about verbal cues during worship here, not preaching.  My advice?  Don’t preach during worship unless it’s a planned (and brief) element of the service.  Don’t recap the pastor’s message after it’s over.  Too much of a good thing cheapens it really really fast.

2.  Great musicians don’t just make great bands; bands are lead to sound great.

Most people unconsciously assume that any worship band’s performance (or any teaching pastor’s performance for that matter) is generally good enough and bad sound is just the sound engineer having a bad day.  Believe me.  When the band sounds great, the mix mixes itself.  At Cornerstone we have awesome bands, not just great musicians.  They work hard too.

1) They spend hours with songs before Thursday rehearsal.

2) At Thursday rehearsal the worship leader lays out clear expectations for parts and playing style.  Chris and I also give input because we hear the whole mix.

3) They record a run-through of the worship set.

4) They listen to the recording before Saturday and come back ready to make changes based on what they’ve heard in the whole mix.

5) Not to be underestimated in value: they play to a click!  We notice when it’s missing.

Our musicians are hard-working, teachable, team-players who allow themselves to be lead by a worship leader who gives clear direction each week during rehearsal.  That makes for great worship bands.  This has been the single most important factor in achieving the best sound we can have at Cornerstone.

So all that to say:  Want better worship times and better bands?  Speak up.  

Your thoughts, observations and comments are always welcome!

After 7 years of FOH at my church I’ve settled in with what works and what doesn’t work for Cornerstone when it comes to volume levels.  Volume is the most popular and complex subject when it comes to church sound and worship.  In this post I’ll stick with where we actually run our levels and talk a little about the hard work of getting a great mix within context.

I’d like to frame our context a little first.  We rock like most churches in America with Tomlin, Hillsong, Crowder, and the like.  We offer ear plugs for people who ask but here’s the deal:  I don’t want to be that church where a third of the people feel they need to plug their ears to worship God.  That’s lame.  For me it’s just plain lazy because I’ve learned that when I get lazy it gets too loud.  The quickest way to make things sound better is to turn it up 3dB and that will push it over the edge for us.  Getting a stunning mix within the green of the picture below is hard work that involves more than turning knobs; you absolutely need a great performance from the band and tools that are often met with resistance like full isolation for the drums and off-stage guitar amp isolation.

With that in mind, here’s my take on Cornerstone’s dB levels.  Get a DB meter app on your iPhone and check it out for yourself this Sunday.  We’re probably just like most churches in the country.  We stick to the green and creep into the yellow.

Our target range is 85dB to 90dB measured A-weighted with slow response.  An occasional peak of 94dB might sneak out but we don’t ride up there.  A-weighting doesn’t measure sub frequencies (felt more than heard) and we run those hot.  Depending on where you sit you will really feel the kick and bass.  We are not timid with our mix by any stretch.  To compare with a couple super big churches, we run a little louder than Willow Creek in Chicago and much quieter than North Point in Atlanta.  Contrary to many volume complaints I receive, we are well within OSHA noise exposure limits.

One interesting piece of trivia for you:  the chatter in the courtyard between services rides at 90dB.  That’s louder than worship in the auditorium.  Who would have guessed?  Keep those ear plugs in!  Funny how perception rarely reflects reality.

(After the jump is a little more about perception and getting a great mix within context.)

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Christmas Eve services and the weekend after are like the Super Bowl for church services.  It’s the most attended service of the year by fans and visitors alike.  I heard we had close to 6,000 adults and children.  Yikes.  I think we bring our best every weekend but Christmas Eve is an opportunity to reach for even better.  I retuned the house system with EAW Smaart (first time with Smaart) in less than an hour.  Not the smaartest thing to do (pun intended) … you know, a drastic overhaul on the system right before the Super Bowl of church … but the risk paid off.  Big.

The average person probably only noticed a small difference.  Our mixes were already good.  The difference is now most of our channels have very little EQ and when I move faders the mix does exactly what I expect it to do.  The goal with Smaart is getting “linear response” out of the system so that what comes out of the mixing console is exactly what you hear in the room.  There’s still work to do like solving some time alignment and phase issues but just this first step has given me what feels like a brand new system.  

In the last couple weeks I’ve had more of those moments being stunned at the sound during worship: moments where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  That’s a great feeling.  Speaking of the sum of the parts, you don’t get a great mix without a great band so props to last weekend’s band!  BJ, on drums, is a high-school senior who plays like a seasoned session player.  Dude showed up and took down all the cymbals except hats and ride and absolutely rocked it.  Jason lays down one of the most solid bass foundations at Cornerstone with just the right flair.  Greg added great shimmer and rhythm with his Larrivee.  Kevin’s choice of tones and parts are always perfect.  Stephanie and Kim have chemistry like few others.  Their pitch was perfect and their energy contagious.  Scott’s guitar tones are always above the bar – he is a tone freak.  He and Kevin share the same playing sensibility and street smarts.  Scott’s voice and mic technique was great.  With volunteer players like we have at Cornerstone it sounds great even when the sound guys have a rough day.

I’m curious if anyone in the congregation notices the difference.  If so, leave a comment.  I’d love to hear.

After the jump is just geeky stuff about tuning our auditorium with Smaart.

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The third fader in this picture is fader #32, our money fader.  It’s the pastor’s mic.  The little LED label at the top reads $$$$.  (It’s in the picture at the top of this blog too.)  When our pastor first saw this he chuckled and said something witty about jaded sound guys.  True,  at one point I was about as jaded as they come but I’m recovering.  I know how it looks to someone unfamiliar with the audio industry but there’s a much deeper meaning.

If you’re mixing the Rolling Stones the money fader is Mick Jagger’s channel.  Sure, people came to see the Rolling Stones but if Mick’s voice is not clear and present, your fired!  The bottom line is they all paid to hear Mick sing those songs.  It’s your job to deliver the goods no matter how great you made everything else sound or how much of a pain in the neck the guy was during sound check.  His is the money fader so you put a big fat dollar sign on it to remind you when you look down.

You’d be surprised (or not so much) at how easy it is to forget this when caught up in the moment.  Sound guys aren’t always the target audience.  I like music for different reasons than most folks.  Heck, I couldn’t tell you the words to my top 5 favorite songs but I could sing you the melodies and love how they weave in and out of guitar lines.  It’s in my nature to work hard on the instruments then just throw the vocal on top because they have to be there.  I’m not alone.  How many concerts have you been to where the lead singer was buried in the mix?  A wise FOH engineer told me, “you do not represent the band to the people; you represent the people to the band.”

This is true for most of us, maybe especially we who serve in churches.  It’s human nature to favor our own preferences even when our job is to serve the needs and even preferences of the multitudes.  We do not always reflect our target audience.

Well, people come to weekend services with various expectations but the common denominator is that they all came to hear the pastor teach.  It’s the most important mic of our day – more so than the awesome worship band or the thundering audio track from a bumper video that we prefer to mix.  It needs to sound as natural as possible without fatiguing the listeners by being either too loud or too soft and that takes real work.  You’d be surprised.  The pastor’s fader is what people are paying for, not with cash but with their time and attention.  It’s what they value most.  So will I.

What’s your money fader?