Posts Tagged ‘sound’

Meeting Shane Claiborne

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Jesus for PresidentSunday night I had the opportunity and pleasure for being the sound engineer for the Jesus for President tour stop in Hartford, CT for for Shane Claiborne. Meeting Shane was definitely a cool thing. He was exactly how I thought he’d be – passive, humble, chill, and fun to be around.

The presentation that Shane and his friends put on was interesting to say the least. It was certainly not what I expected. In all honesty though, I had no idea what I was going to see Sunday night anyways. I figured it would be a Q&A on his [Shane] new book. Instead, it was a 2 1/2 hour presentation on anti-war, being soldiers for love. (more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in random, sound, technology | No Comments »

Tech Confessionals

Monday, May 19th, 2008

In response to many others doing this and a couple of my posts being similar in nature already, I figured I’d do a weekly response to the services I attend/tech for.

This week was the first time in weeks I had attended the 11am, our Jazz service. I love the music and the atmosphere that the musicians create because it is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The musicians, Earl MacDonald and Kris Allen, are critically acclaimed and known throughout the country for their musical experience.

Later on I was able to attend the 6pm to worship, instead of teching. Always nice! Here are some thoughts.

  • I snap at people when cues don’t happen when I want them to. Thank God for the gracious people I serve with :) That’s definitely something that I need to work on. In the end, it’s all about God, not how good we look :)
  • Jazz is so unique, especially for me (I love it!), but it draws me in and allows me to reflect much more rather than look showy like I expected it to.
  • 6pm service seemed to be kind of quiet but it lacked the beefy sound of our bassist so that might have been why. Liked the mix though!
  • Beth our new worship leader as of this summer rocked! Great job leading the sets and making people feel comfortable to worship as they please!!
  • Cues were spot on with MediaShout! Kelly, one of our newest members picked it up quick and has a knack for hitting the right cues!

How was your Sunday worship??

Tags: , ,
Posted in church, sound, technology | No Comments »

April 27 Worship Set @ St. Paul's

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Once again, another amazing night of worship. Things were simply spot on and it was an absolute pleasure to create the sound of worship. I love my job and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Below you’ll find the links for the worship songs that came out well from the recordings. The other songs unfortunately were too distorted or didn’t come out well enough to post here. So for now, enjoy these tunes :) Once I get better at recording, there will be full services :)

Evensong Set

Vespers Set

Let me know what you think or if there are any problems :) Any skilled recorders out there, leave me some helpful tips please!!

Tags: , ,
Posted in church, sound, technology | 3 Comments »

What Tech Directors Wished Worship Leaders Knew

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

As one of the Atmosphere (tech ministry) coordinators at St. Paul’s, I receive the brunt of most of the criticism of what went wrong during a service. For good reason though — something bad happens, it is usually tech-related and thus my fault. I don’t mind it, however, there are certain things that would be helpful to me if the worship leader simply knew about them. Here’s a list of things on my plate that I’m willing to admit.

—We (tech guys) don’t always know what you (leaders) mean when you point to something on stage. Come up with hand signals i.e. pointing at monitor and then pointing up = monitor too quiet, raise volume. Simply pointing at the monitor does nothing for us.
—Ask for what you want (sound quality, balance, monitor levels) when you want it! Don’t expect us to know what you want simply because we are the tech director. We are super, but not supermen.
—Don’t be afraid to give us constructive criticism …. just because we work with buttons and computers all day doesn’t mean we don’t have people skills. Pick and choose your time though. If it is during the service and we are pulling our hair out, bad timing. An after-service email or follow-up is appropriate.
—We know what we are doing (most of the time). Unless we are completely screwing things up, let us work and we will let you work :)
—Continue to build up your team, reminding them that we are all on the same team. By having other band members getting upset at us during rehearsal or the service does not benefit anyone. Keep communication lines open so that problems can be fixed ASAP!
—This is as prideless as I can say it but don’t take us for granted. You will never sound good without us. Yes you can make plenty of noise but angry tech members don’t serve well. Keep in check with us, making sure that yes we are on the same page and still glorifying God with our work, not making each other go crazy.

Well that’s about all I can think of off the top of my head. Be sure to check out my worship leaders blog for his thoughts on worship too!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in church, leadership, serving, sound, technology | 2 Comments »

April 13 Worship Set @ St. Paul's

Monday, April 14th, 2008

Nights like last make it so worth it from the tech side of worship. Helping to create such an atmosphere of worship leaves me in awe of how great God really is. Beth and Stephen did an amazing job facilitating worship and the other members of the band were spot on! Cello, piano, electric guitar, bass — mmm sooo good!

Last night at St. Paul’s, God moved throughout the chapel and it was evident that people’s hearts and lives were being touched. In fact numerous times, the room became surprisingly bright with white light from outside as if He was expressing His joy in the service. Who knows if that’s the case but I believe it. God walked among us last night.

Be in awe.

In addition to the amazing experience, I was able, by the His grace, to record the band and have it actually sound good! Below are some of the links for the songs. Feel free to download as you like! Spread the word that the first unofficial release of the “Band at St. Paul’s” is ready to go. :)

Evensong Service

Communion/Reflection Set
Ending Worship Set

Vespers Service

Communion/Reflection Set
Ending Worship Set (It cuts off unfortunately!! Sorry!!! CD ran out of space during recording :( )

Any techies out there?? How do you record?? Equipment? Any suggestions?

Give me some feedback :)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in church, news, praise, serving, sound | No Comments »