WorshipOutlet Christmas

WorshipOutlet Christmas

Need a Challenge in Your Worship Planning, Leading, Teaching and Preaching? Watch This!

Recently I ran across this video.  The pastor has a lot to say in a very short clip of his message.  If you need a challenge and a "spiritual reality check" regarding how you approach worship and preaching then watch it.  If you'd rather not be challenged- don't bother to click on it!  Blessings, J. Paul Davidson


 

Sound Matters on Sunday Morning: The Role of the Mix Engineer

Have you ever wondered exactly how the letters written by the apostle Paul were delivered the churches? After all, they didn’t have UPS, FedEx or the US Postal Service.


Well, of course the letters were delivered by a person. For instance, we know that Tychicus was the deliverer of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. What an incredible job he had. He was to deliver the epistle to the Christian church in Ephesus. His job was to make sure that they got to hear what Paul was saying to them. His job was to make sure that the message was not changed in any way and that the hearers heard it as Paul intended. And by him faithfully delivering the letter, the Christians of not only Ephesus but all Christians would hear Paul’s message. It was a simple, behind the scenes job that if not done right would have changed the landscape of the New Testament.

In today’s world of technology I would liken the job of Tychicus’ delivering Paul’s letter to the person who runs your sound on Sunday mornings. Yes, you read that right! I believe that the sound person’s job on Sunday morning is like Tychicus’ job of making sure the message was delivered.

If you will, the message of Paul was entrusted to Tychicus. It was through Tychicus that the message would be heard and received. In the same way, we entrust on Sunday mornings not only the sermon but also the music to a person who is responsible for delivering the message, words and music to the people! (If you use screens within worship –this person is another Tychicus too!) In my thinking, the sounds person’s job (which technically is a “mix engineer”) is the third most important job on Sunday mornings! And if their job is done poorly it can easily become the most distracting component of Sunday morning and keep folks from hearing! Everything that the congregation is going to hear goes “through” that mix engineer. I suspect if you are a worship leader or pastor you agree with me. And if you do, good for you!

Welcome to the worship environment of the 21^st century! Remember the “good old days” when you just turned the organ on and someone flipped a switch to turn on the PA system? Those days seemed simpler, didn’t they?

Now we have sound engineers, lighting people and projection people, sermon recording people, videographers and who all knows “what”. And because of this change in the worship culture/environment/heart-language of today, it is just as important to have the best person mixing your sound each week as it was to have the best available organist or choir director in the “good old days”. And if this is true, why are so many of us settling with a volunteer that has little to no training or expertise running the sound? It seems that many churches today use a volunteer for this position. Maybe the sound person is a teen or young adult and has some understanding of “how to do it”. But, still they are not experts in it. They tend to be more “volume controllers” than mix engineers.

Well, I would like to suggest to you that the single greatest thing you can do for your Sunday morning worship other than have a great worship leader and great preacher is to HIRE a professional mix engineer!

Hire someone who knows what they are doing. Hire someone who is trained and/or degreed in mixing sound. After all, you spent how many hours picking out the best sound equipment that fits your budget. Yet, that equipment isn’t worth too much unless someone knows how to use it to your full “sound advantage”. Sound matters in today’s world! An excellent mix engineer on Sunday mornings can move what you are doing to the “next level”. And there is a LOT more to mixing sound than simply turning on the sound board and fooling around with the sound levels!

How do I know?

Well, a year ago we simply placed an ad for a Sunday morning sound person on Craigslist. Within a day or two we had over twelve people apply. (It’s amazing how many young people mix sound for either bands or clubs on the weekends and are looking for some extra cash.) We interviewed three of them. And we hired a young man who mixes sound for clubs on the weekends and owns a recording studio. He actually has an associate’s degree as a sound mix engineer.

· He knows what he is doing.

· He is extremely professional.

· He’s picky about the sound because it reflects on his abilities.

· And hiring him is the single best thing we have done for our Sunday morning worship in a long time!

· Our Sunday morning rehearsals go smoothly because we don’t have to struggle with any sound issues.

· If there’s a problem that arises he is on it immediately.

It’s the difference between having the volunteer organist “Ethel” who is 92 and still playing the organ or having the young graduate from college who has a degree in organ performance. And while we all love “Ethel” you know what kind of difference I’m talking about!

Yes, it will cost you a little bit of money. But, it will be money well spent for the sake of everyone on Sunday mornings. After all, most of us would agree that Sunday mornings are more than “just important”. Sunday morning is the principle happening each week.

If you decide to try hiring a professional sound person you can negotiate the amount you pay them and you can determine the time that you need them there. We pay our sound person $75 per week. He is expected to be at the church and ready to go by 8 a.m. and is there until the service is over. It’s worth every penny! You might be able to get someone for $30-$50 per week depending on your needs.

Where might you look for someone?

· Try Craigslist.

· Try your local paper.

· Try calling a few of the local clubs.

· Let your congregation know.

Look for someone who has experience doing it and might have an associate’s degree or some form of training. If you are not able to find someone like this, then at least provide some online training or conference experiences for your volunteer. There’s all kind of training available online and other resources or mix engineering.

YouTube also can be a source of video training for mixing sound. Be sure to check it out!

Here are just a few sites/seminars/resources online for mix engineering you might check out:

• · http://www.down2earthaudioresources.com/index.html?gclid=CP3i8pbBiaECFR4aswodiFEmOg
• · http://www.prosoundweb.com/studyhall
• · http://www.prosoundweb.com/forums
• · http://churchsound.prosoundweb.com
• · http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=48371
• · http://www.pro-music.org/Content/InsideTheMusicBiz/jobs-mixengineer.php
• · http://www.musicianuniversity.com/courses/audio.html
• · http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar07/articles/maserati.htm
• · http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/church_sound_training_sponsored_by_leading_manufacturers_slated_for_septemb
• · http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/worship_wisdom_finding_the_people_while_learning_38_growing
• · http://churchtech.wordpress.com/2007/07/15/what-makes-a-great-church-sound-tech
• · http://www.churchsoundsecrets.com (provides training for your sound volunteers)
• · http://goingto11.com/
• · http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/tech_tip_of_the_day_phase_differences
• http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/worship_wisdom_remember_practice_makes_permanent

What resources have you found that you could share with others in regards to training your mix engineer? What’s your greatest challenge with your sound mix? Do you pay to have someone run your sound on Sunday mornings?

Worship Flow Matters!

Selecting just the right worship songs and hymns that create a dynamic and meaningful worship flow centering around the day’s themes can quite a challenge for today’s worship planner. Also, once you have selected the songs and hymns the next challenge is how you connect the songs musically as you transition from one key to another. With the right musical selections and seamless transitions the worship team and leader may then provide a seamless flow for the worshippers.

Granted, a seamless flow of worship is not what causes the move of the Holy Spirit. But, the lack of seamless flow can easily become a roadblock to Spirit enlivened worship. Starts and stops in worship can create awkward silence (the kind that is not a holy moment) which become roadblocks that can hinder the focus of the worshippers on the Lord. Good worship planning means that the planner is adept at getting all of those types of roadblocks out of the way for the worshippers. Worship flow matters!

Don Chapman from WorshipIdeas identifies the lack of flow as one of the three mistakes made in contemporary worship.

“Mistake #2: Stopping between songs. If praise songs are prayers, then think of your praise sets as prayer meetings! The traditional service order of separate event after separate event (song, announcement, song, testimony, song, reading, etc.) breaks up contemporary worship flow. George Barna states in his book "The Habits of Highly Effective Churches" that successful churches have at least twenty minutes of uninterrupted worship.

Think of it this way: people need time to settle in and focus on God. They've had a stressful week and probably have yelled at their kids on the way to church. It will take five minutes of music before most people's minds are cleared and they can even start worshiping.

If an extended praise set is new to your church, don't try 20 minutes of worship right off the bat - work up to it. Start with two or three songs in a row and gradually build up to five or six when you sense the congregation starts to "get it" and begins hungering for more worship.” (Don Chapman, www.donchapman.name) Taken from Don Chapman’s document entitled “The Top Three Mistakes in Contemporary Worship”

Creating just one really good solid dynamic musical flow for worship is not nearly as difficult as trying to create one week after week and year after year as a worship planner. Fortunately, there are recourses that are available online which are helpful in creating musical transitions to help with worship flow. You might want to consider using them as you face what at times can be a daunting task Sunday after Sunday.

One such resource is www.WorshipFlow.com which Don Chapman has created. He has made a way to help you create seamless key changes between songs and/or hymns. For a small six month subscription or annual subscription fee you are able to plug in the needed key transition and you will be able to download a written out for your keyboardist and/or the transition in chords for your guitarist. This is perfect for musicians who are not well versed in smoothly transitioning between musical keys. Don provides some fresh and modern sounding transitions.

Also, part of the subscription to WorshipIdeas will also provide you with underscoring (for example: the music to play under a Scripture reading or prayer between two songs). This is especially great for keyboardists who do not improvise!

Here’s a three minute video tour of Worship Flow:



This is a resource that is well worth the subscription! I encourage you to check it out!

Gripped by Grace,
J. Paul Davidson

Rich Vocal Harmonies Made Simple!

Vocal harmony can sometimes make or break a worship song. Harmony adds texture and color to a song and adds interest.

But, what do you do when you have no one on your worship team that can either make up harmony on the spot or even learn written harmonies and “hold their own” while singing their part? And on top of that- what do you do when you have someone who can learn harmonies if they are written out – yet the majority of worship songs have no written out harmony? A good option is to consider using a voice modulator when the vocal harmonies are hard for the singers of your worship team to hear.

Within the last year we have found our TC Helicon voice modulator to be a HUGE blessing to the vocal sounds of our worship team. The vocalists within our team have good voices and are truly worshippers. However, only one of them is able to learn harmonies and yet very few worship song charts include harmonies. And our time to teach the harmonies or write them out is so limited. So about a year ago we purchased a TC Helicon voice modulator to use for our harmonies. What a difference it has made! Now, those who might never have tried singing a little harmony are periodically harmonizing with the harmonies of the modulator!

As we shopped around for the highest quality and price for a modulator, we ended up using TC Helicon VoiceWorksPlus (http://www.tc-helicon.com/voiceworksplus.asp)

How does it work? The modulator is a small unit that you plug into a keyboard midi or a guitar midi. (We use it with our keyboard. For the sake of explaining how it works we’ll use the example of plugging it into the midi of a keyboard.) The modulator is run through the midi of the keyboard which then produces vocal harmonies based upon the notes or chords (various types of harmonies that you choose are either created from the chord or the exact notes that are being played) played on the keyboard. A microphone is also plugged in through the modulator then to the sound board. So, whomever you would choose to sing into this particular microphone becomes the vocalist that is used by the modulator. As the keyboard plays and as the vocalist sings, the modulator creates harmonies with the exact words that the vocalist is singing! It’s amazing. Watch the video and you’ll see how this works: http://www.tc-helicon.com/voiceworksplus.asp

Will the purchase of a voice modulator bust your budget? Probably not! We purchased the TC Helicon VoiceWorksPlus for around $700. Check out their website: www.tchelicon.com and under “products” go to “Just find a dealer in your area” and “contact the dealer.” If you want to look at the VoiceWorksPlus and watch a video on how it works click here (http://www.tc-helicon.com/voiceworksplus.asp). If you end up purchasing one, you will also need to purchase the footswitch (http://www.tc-helicon.com/switch-3.asp) so that you can change the sounds while playing the keyboard or the guitar.

If the dealer close to you has one on hand, go and check it out in person. For us, every penny spent on the voice modulator was more than worth it to the quality of our worship. We use it all the time - and we’ve only begun to tap into what it can do!

I'd like to hear from you! How do you create harmonies with the worship and praise songs that you use in worship? Do you teach them to your group? Do you have singers who are able to improvise parts? If so, did you help them develop them? What's your greatest frustrations with vocal harmonies?