Planting Seeds...

Anyone in ministry knows that you can't play the "Lone Ranger" when it comes to purchasing those "big ticket" items like a digital console, a new line array, IEM's, or wireless microphones. You shouldn't make the decision by yourself to go get that "big ticket" piece of gear, pay for it with the church credit card, and then ask for forgiveness later. I mean, you could, but it wouldn't be long until the finance chairperson came to you and took your spending privileges away. Trust me, this does happen, it happened to me early on in my ministry.

I don't operate as the "Lone Ranger" anymore. I view myself more as a farmer now. I plant "seeds" or ideas, water and nurture them, and then collect the harvest. Let me help you to understand what I mean.

We all have a laundry list of "big ticket" items we need to purchase. The church I work at desperately needs a technical "face-lift." We've got a great Yamaha M7CL digital console, and some great audio accessories, but we need a speaker and acoustic system/design overhaul. We have what I call "coverage and clarity" issues. We have big holes in our speaker coverage and a terrible flutter echo which degrades the clarity and intelligibility of the spoken word and music. What this translates to is bad sound. Also, it makes it very hard for the FOH sound person to make it sound great, in every spot of the room, every Sunday. It also makes my job much more stressful due to the number of complaints that I, as the worship pastor, receive on a weekly basis.

Recently, I had an opportunity to plant some serious seeds. My fiance and I took our finance chairman, Rod, and his wife out to dinner and also to see Chris Tomlin and Israel Houghton in concert at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA. At dinner I spent time planting those seeds by casting the vision of what kind of audio we could have at our church and providing solutions to our sound problems. As we were finishing dinner I encouraged everyone at the dinner table to really listen to how great it would sound during the concert. I told them to pay attention to the volume, and the clarity of the sound. During the concert Rod kept giving me a thumbs up and nodding his head in approval. During intermission, while the women went to the powder room, Rod and I spent time getting excited about the possibility of our church experiencing, every Sunday, this level of excellent audio. At the end of the concert Chris Tomlin asked every pastor and worship leader, that was there in attendance, to raise their hands. Over fifty percent of the audience was filled with my fellow "farmers." I know that some of them were there at the concert doing the same exact thing I was doing, planting seeds.

Tonight, I spent time with Rod and his finance team planting new seeds and watering the ones I had already planted. We are now talking about how we might raise the capital, to hire an acoustician and sound system designer, fix our worship center's acoustic problems and buy our new line array that will provide better coverage.

The concert was quintessential in helping me to move forward in the process. I can talk all day about gear, but when I can set it up and let some one see and hear it, then they become believers. Rod, has become a believer and a fellow seed planter.

The Indie Way...

This is Quartermain...they're an indie band. They're playing a show tonight. They were told that the sound system would be provided.

Here's what was provided...

Are you in an indie band? Let me define indie. Meaning you are unsigned, don't tour with your own production (i.e., sound, lights, video, backline, etc.) or sound engineer, and typically aren't playing the local arena to sell out crowds. If that's you, I've got a couple of tips that could increase the consistency and quality of your sound.

1. Try to "advance" the technical side of the show as much as possible.
That means get in contact with whoever booked you for the show and ask for as much detail about the sound and other technical nuances in advance. Over the last 16 years of working on and off with indie bands one of the things that most groups are terrible at is being up front about needing to know what technical/sound "things" will be provided. You don't have to be bossy or rude, but your "sound" as a band is part of what makes up your brand. If there's one thing that people know it's the difference between good and bad sound.

2. Recruit.
If you have a friend who you trust, is organized and will work for a late night meal at Denny's after a show recruit them to be your "manager." This is very important. This person could be the one to "advance" the shows, run the merch table, take care of the sound (only if they know what they're doing), take phone calls/emails from promoters, run your myspace, etc. This person is invaluable. As a musician/songwriter your job and passion is typically not to run a business, even though you should be business minded, your job should be to be the best musician/songwriter possible.

3. Vocalists.
I say this with as much gentleness as possible. Vocalists, whether you're the lead vocal or backup, invest in your voice. Get voice lessons and be the best you possibly can be. If you want to be in this for the long haul, training your voice will strengthen it and you will be able to play those 2 hour shows night after night and not lose your voice. Also, I am tired of the over use of pitch correction in the studio enviroment. Learn to sing on pitch. If you do this, it will greatly improve your band and your sound.

4. Bring everything and the kitchen sink! (some items I never leave home without)

• Hearing Protection (i.e. earplugs)
• Microphones (invest in some good microphones. try a Shure Beta 58 for starters.)
• 1/4" cables (i.e. guitar cables)
• XLR cables (i.e. microphone cables)
• Black Gaff Tape (there's 101 uses for this stuff, seriously!!!)
• Extra drum sticks & strings
• Extra snare head
• Nalgene water bottle (those things are awesome. I take them everywhere)
• Microphone Stands (booms. black.)
• Adapters (can't leave home without these. I did the other night and I ended up needing them)
  
• Any items that are unique to your band (loops, click, in-ear, etc.)

I hope this helps out. Remember what I've outlined above is only a starting place. We could talk for hours about this stuff. If you'd like to talk more about this leave me a question or comment and I will respond.

Paralyzed By The Sound Console...

I wanted to address the issue of something I call being "paralyzed by the sound console." What I mean by this is that you become so focused on twisting, tweaking and pushing knobs and faders that you stop listening and in turn you stop mixing. Here are some tips for combating the paralysis.

1. Look: not at the console, but to what's happening on stage. If you're not watching what's happening on stage you might miss bumping up the fader for the guitar player playing the ultra cool solo.
2. Listen: Turn your ears on. Stop looking at the console. Your #1 job is making it sound amazing.
3. "Step Away From The Console": This is probably the best thing you can do. Get your hands off the knobs and faders and literally step away from the console and listen to the mix. You might hear things that you didn't hear before.

Remember the console does not mix the sound for you. What makes the mix is your trained ear listening then interpreting what you hear into what technical adjustments need to be made on the sound console.

The Joys of Technical Directing...

For the last two years I've had the privileged of being the technical director for the Transforming Churches Conference. Ever since I have stepped out of the live production management/audio engineering gig to transition into my current role as the pastor of worship at Beachpoint the conference provides me with the opportunity to exercise some of my other gifts. Who knows, maybe some day I'll be back in the "biz" again. Here's my top ten list for the needed qualities to be an excellent TD.

1. Creative
2. Problem Solver
3. Organized/Detail Oriented
4. People Person
5. See's where the problem is before it's there
6. Self-starter
7. Willing to work incredibly long hours
8. Makes sure the creative vision becomes a reality
9. Focus
10. Sense of Urgency
    

Training Tailored for You

Here's my bio and info pertaining to Training Tailored for You.

Matt Lewis is incredibly passionate about equipping and training volunteer and paid technical artists who use their gifts for the glory of Gods Kingdom. Matt realizes that there are tons of conferences and other training opportunities out there, but none of them tailor the information to you and your specific situation. Matt brings over a decade of experience working with and mixing for both secular and gospel artists. Also, what is most unique about Matt is that he's been both the sound guy and the worship guy. Currently, Matt serves as the pastor of worship at Beachpoint Church in Fountain Valley, CA leading an amazingly talented group of volunteer creative and technical artists. If you need training and solutions that work for you, please feel free to contact Matt Lewis at:

Matthew Lewis
e. matthewjlewis@me.com
p. 714.869.8200
f. 714.526.1690
b. churchsound.blogspot.com

Microphone Selection Part II

In my last post titled, "Microphone Selection Part I," I mentioned we'd be talking about what types of microphones are available to today's technical artist. In my crusade to keep things brief and simple here we go...

Definition of a microphone
"A microphone, sometimes referred to as a mike or mic (both pronounced /ˈmaɪk/), is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal." (courtesy of wikipedia)

Types of microphones
There are many types/varieties of microphones (dynamic, condenser, ribbon, carbon, piezoelectric, etc.) We will be focusing on two: Dynamic and Condenser microphones. Here's some practical information

Dynamic microphones:
1. Usually, more durable than a condenser. It can take a lot of abuse and it keeps on working.
2. Will tend to be more forgiving because it doesn't pick up every nuaunce of an instrument or vocal very well. This means if you have a vocalist who is really "throaty" a dynamic will tend not to exaggerated the harshness of there voice.
3. Can typically handle much higher sound pressure levels (SPL's) because of the nature of how the mic is built.
4. Not great for Cymbals, Strings, Flutes, Piano's. These instruments usually have so much detail in the upper registers that a "dynamic" element usually won't pick up that high end nicely.
5. Dynamic mic's are usually less expensive than condensers.

Condenser microphones:
1. Typically much more expensive than a dynamic microphone. You get what you pay for with a condenser. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars, but if you can spend somewhere from 300.00 to 500.00 on a nice condenser that's usually a good starting place.
2. Good condenser's tend to pick up every single nuance of whatever it's picking up. Try a condenser on a women's voice or on a piano. The condenser should sound more "open" than the dynamic element. Try it sometime, setup a dynamic and condenser mic with flat eq and A/B it. With the condenser you should be able to hear all the sparkle at the top end of the vocal or instrument without having to crank the 12K on the console eq.
3. Do not use condenser's on high SPL inputs like a kick drum. If you do, you run the risk of damaging the extremely sensitive element.
4. Make sure to handle your condenser microphones gently. These mic's don't like to be dropped.

Well that's all for today. I hope that was helpful. If you have any questions/comments please feel free to post them. Part III of Microphone Selection will take a look at microphone pickup patterns.

Microphone Selection Part I

I love the tech guys at my church. They are always willing to work hard, and put in the time necessary to "make it happen." After yesterday's rehearsal I noticed that the saxophone had been mic'd with a kick drum microphone and the overhead microhphone on the aux. percussion was a beta 58. Something hit me in that moment, "My guys don't understand how to choose the correct microphone for the job." So, in the pursuit of helping my own team out and all of you out in "blogland," I will be writing a series on microphone selection, placement, eq, and dynamic processing (i.e. compressors & gates). Please let me first start off by saying that there are many different opinions on how to do things. I am only presenting what has worked for me. I'd be happy to hear from any of you who have tips and tricks that work.

Tomorrow we will start to look at what types of microphones are available to today's technical artist.

Until tomorrow...