With everyone and their grandma (literally) using some type of social media these days, it’s important to make sure your church has a good presence there. It’s one of the easiest, quickest ways to connect with current members as well as prospective visitors. So, where do you start?
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I just finished a wonderful book that I think anyone, whether they’re a member of a church or if they’ve never set foot in a church should read. It’s called Every Bush Is Burning by Brandon Clements. I had the pleasure of supporting Brandon’s efforts in getting the book published on Kickstarter a while back, and have just gotten around to finishing it. So, here are a few of my thoughts.
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I was turned on to a really neat initiative this past Sunday called 30 Hour Famine. It’s an event that’s being promoted by World Vision, and its goal is to try and make a dent in the world hunger epidemic. It’s aimed at youth and challenges them to go hungry for 30 hours while working to raise as much money as they can to donate towards this cause. Our church youth group is getting involved, and I wanted to share it here in case some of you may wan to mention this to your church leaders. Check out the promo video below.
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When talking about church websites, just like any other type of website, there are a wide range of them. Some are really nice looking and easy to navigate, others, not so much. While there are a number of factors that determine how good or bad a website might be, I think there are a few big ones.
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If you haven’t seen it yet, YouVersion has just released a beta version of their upcoming new website for the public to test out. You can check it out here. All you need to do is sign in with your current YouVersion username and password to get in and look around. From what I’ve looked at so far, it’s awesome!
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With technology usage in church’s on the rise, I often hear and think about the question “How much is too much?” It seems like even your grandparents’ church has a sound system and a projector somewhere with the song lyrics on it. Then on the other extreme are “megachurches” with some of the best audio equipment money can buy, intelligent lighting, HD projection, etc… When you start comparing that to the average concert people pay to go and see, there isn’t much difference, other than possibly the content of the event. So, are these churches taking it too far?
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Church presentation software has always seemed like an interesting market to me. There are a few good applications that are updated pretty regularly, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything new come onto the scene. That is until I saw Proclaim. I’ve had the opportunity to play with it a little bit since it’s currently free, so here are a few thoughts.
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Enhancing a mix with effects such as reverb and delay is a great way to achieve a true live sound. Many times, these effects are either overused, or used improperly. In my opinion, less is more when it comes to audio, so I tend to use effects sparingly, and only in a few different cases.
Vocals
Vocals are one of the best, if not the best case for using effects. When someone is singing, a little reverb and delay used properly can really add a lot of body and fullness to their voice. There isn’t a magic formula as to how much or what kind of reverb and delay to use, it all depends on the room you’re in and the sound you’re trying to achieve. Be careful not to overdo it and make the vocalist sound like they’re singing in a tunnel, though.
Drums
If you mic an acoustic drum set, the microphone won’t pick up the natural reverberation of the drum head many times. This is another case where a little reverb from the engineer can make the drum sound more real and live to the audience.
Guitars
I typically don’t add any effects to guitars, since most guitarists bring their own in the form of a pedal board. Know that it is possible, however, and can be done if a guitarist doesn’t have a pedal board, but still wants to achieve a certain sound.
These are normally the only instruments I deal with on a regular basis and add effects to. As I said, my philosophy is always “less is more,” so I try to use effects sparingly, so the natural tone or character of the instrument isn’t lost.
What other ways do you use effects in live sound?
For new engineers, the EQ can be one of the most daunting portions of a sound console. They’re not sure what all the knobs do, and may not understand what “low, mid, high” refers to. This will by no means be an exhaustive lesson in EQ, but I hope to dispel many of the myths about EQ being difficult. It’s a great tool to assist you in trying to achieve the best mix possible. First, let’s take a look at the five types of EQ, as well as their pros and cons.
Switchable is what you’ll normally find on low-end analog consoles, as well as other consumer grade stereo or car audio equipment. Usually you have the option of adjusting high, mid, low, with each of those being set at a predefined frequency, only allowing you to adjust the gain of each of those frequencies.
The advantages of this type of EQ are simplicity and ease of learning how to use it effectively. The downsides are the limited choice of frequencies to adjust, as well as no Q control, which we’ll cover a bit later.
This type of EQ is very similar to switchable, except that it offers a band or two that are “sweepable.” This means that you can adjust the frequency as well as gain of those bands. These usually occur in the midrange, between about 100Hz- 8kHz. The added frequency control makes this type of EQ a little more preferable to switchable, but it also still does not include any Q control.
Semi-parametric EQ adds selectable Q control to an otherwise sweepable EQ. Q is the measure of how wide or thin a band of frequencies you’re selecting is. This obviously allows you a little more control over how you’re effecting the sound, but can take more time to setup if you’re not familiar with it.
This type of EQ is usually found on high end consoles, particularly digital consoles. It offers full control over frequency and gain selection, as well as full Q control. If you’re looking for granular control, this is the way to go. It does take a while to learn, however, and also takes time to setup, since there are so many options.
Graphic EQs are generally found on the output side of a console, effecting an entire mix, rather than an individual channel. They are normally separated into bands, allowing you to adjust the gain of each individual band. These are the most difficult to setup, taking time to “tune” the system. These are generally utilized to adjust a system’s output based on a particular room, helping to eliminate problem frequencies, and enhance frequencies that are not balanced.
[Images via Sonic Electronix, Quad Eight Electronics, Solid State Logic, immusical, Mindspring]
How many times have you been running sound and had to battle with feedback? It’s the bane of an audio engineer’s existence. We do everything we can to prevent, but sometimes it appears without warning, and we have to deal with it quickly to minimize the distraction it causes. Here are a few tips I’ve developed over the past several years dealing with feedback:
Gain structure is one of the most important principles in audio. If you don’t have your gain set correctly, you will probably struggle with other settings since it all depends on the gain. To set gain, I start with both the fader and gain all the way down, then bring the fader to unity. After that, begin turning the gain up until it gets to a suitable level, or until it begins to feed back. If it does begin to feed back, back off of the gain a bit so you will have some headroom to be able to adjust the fader up if you need to. A good rule of thumb is once the gain is set, don’t touch it, just use the fader to adjust the level.
To many engineers, this is obvious, but I’ve also worked with many who don’t follow this practice, and many times it comes back to bite them. The more microphones you have open, the bigger the chance for feedback caused by any one of those microphones. My rule is, if you’re not using it, either mute it, or bring the fader all the way down.
Many performers have plenty of experience working with audio and know the drill when it comes to how to hold their microphone, where not to point it, etc. I’ve found that it’s always best to make sure of this, and not make any assumptions so you minimize the chance of problems during an event. Make sure the performers know not to point their microphone at any monitors or speakers, since that will definitely cause feedback. I’ve seen countless people finish speaking or singing, and hold the microphone down at their side, which just happens to be where the monitor is placed. That’s not a very pleasant sound.
What other tips do you have for reducing feedback?
