Preperation is One Important Key to Mixing Like a Pro

Here is another article. This one is from Robert Scovill who mixes for Def Lepard, Match Box 20, Tom Petty, and others. He also plays and mixes at his church when he is in town. You will see more from him in the future. Enjoy.
http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article/3336

It is not about the Gear

Here is an article on why we do what we do. Short and sweet from Church Sound Check. We do this for the Kingdom not the cool gear. http://www.churchsoundcheck.com/inatg.html

The Sound of Your Worship Room Part 2

Here is part 2.

The Sound of Your Worship Room

Here is an article on mixing in for Worship. I got it from FOH Magazine. The 2nd part will come tomorrow.

Choices for In Ear Monitoring

I think it is good not only to know what we use here at DSC for audio but what are the other options out there. I found this article from Church Production Magazine on in ear monitors and the many options out there. http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article/5751

Vacation Bible School

Well VBS has come and gone here at DSC and it was a crazy time of kids learning, singing, and playing. There were over 250 kids and over 100 volunteers this year. The worship center was transformed to a mountain camp for the kids to enjoy music, skits, and gospel presentation. Here are some of the things technically we did. For the cast we had 6 channels of wireless all on head worn Country man E6, DPA4066's Audio Techica 892 Microset. The wireless units were 2- Shure ULX4P's, Shure 1-ULX4s, Shure 1-SLX, and Shure 2-PGX, 1- Audio Technica 1800 series. The singers were on 4 handheld wireless, I don't usually like this but they had to get there mics off the stage for the skits and this seemed the easiest. They were two AKG mics we got on a rent swap with Audio Excellence. I am not sure of the model but they sounded good. 1-PGX wireless with a PG48 and 1-ULX with SM58 head. We had one PGX system go down mid week it was about 6 years old so not bad for a cheap wireless that gets moved around all the time. The band consisted of Percussion (cahone,Beta 56,/jimbe,2 pro 35)), bass (SansAMp DI, keyboard (Radial Pro DI). Sara led on acoustic into a Radial Pro DI and singing into a Beta 87c. We made 300 CD's of the music so each kid got a copy which has become quite the tradition here at DSC. These are live recorded and duplicated the week of VBS. I hope to do a pre-recorded disc for next year so the kids can get a copy before VBS and start learning the songs ahead of time. Well thats all I got for now.

Frequency Chart

This shows where different instruments fall within the audio frequency range and compared to the notes on a piano.

Feedback from 7/12/2009

Well we had are first Sunday with our new crews. Jeff and Melody took the mission this week. I thought it went pretty smooth considering we have VBS this week. VBS is always a challenge getting Sunday Worship stage cleared and getting the VBS crew on stage for Monday's 1st night. Jeff and I went over the checklists. I have changed a few things and we will try them again this Sunday and see how it works. I will be talking to Jeff and Melody and see what can be improved, though this is such a wierd week I might wait until the next time they serve. VBS is all week so no rehearsal on Thursday it is now Saturday at 11:00am. Set up is going to be a full band so we will see how it goes.
Thanks for all the work guys.

Relationship Between the Band and the Techies

I had Zach Nielsen, our music director, write a short piece on how he sees the band/Worship Leader and the Techies working together to make our worship services worshipful and not a distraction. I think you will like it.

Zach writes:
The relationship between the musicians on stage and the tech people is a very important one. I have always said that at times you can get away with a “so-so” bass player, but you’ll never get away with a “so-so” sound guy (or other facets of the tech ministry as well). Most people don’t really know when a bass player is bad, but they all can know for sure if the mix is poor, the lights don’t work, or the projection is distracting.

All this to say, the tech booth could be one of the most important places in our church. I value you guys to a great degree and know that if we don’t work together well, things will go south in a hurry.

Communication should be a high value for all of us. If we don’t communicate well, we can’t work together well. Good relationships are founded upon good communication.

Trust is also very key. Do the people on in the booth believe that the music guys know what they are doing and vice versa? Our jobs are big enough on their own without worrying about someone else's job.

An environment of grace has to be the norm as well. We all make mistakes and nothing ever runs 100% smooth. Undistracting excellence is always the goal, but when we fall short we all have to embrace an ethic of grace.

The are just some initial thoughts. Would love to talk to you guys more about this in person if you would like.

Know Thy Stuff

Here is an article from Curt Taipele about knowing your equipment that you use.
Curt is the founder Church Sound Check which has articles and other resources for church sound volunteers. http://www.churchsoundcheck.com/kts.html

Drums Micing from Shure

Here is a detailed look at micing drums.
http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Resources/ssLINK/us_pro_mic_techniques_drums_ea

Aviom

Here is a link that goes over the basics of the Aviom personal mixers we use on stage. I hope to have something showing how we set them up from the console soon. Keep Posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRBDJcqU1CI