I found an interesting blog post from fellow sound junky Dave Stagl over at
It made me think twice about what I do on a Sunday morning, and why I do it. I hope it makes you think too. Check it out.
Tag Archive - Technology
You are all GURUS of TECH
Last year I had the opportunity to attend the first Gurus of Tech East held at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville KY. The gang from the Church Tech Talk vodcast had this crazy idea that they could hold a small get together similar to the Gurus Gathering at NAB. I call them crazy for many reasons but mostly because they expected 25 to 50 people to show up and when the day finally came the roster had topped 300. It was an amazing time of sharing and teaching from both the stage and the floor.
And that is one of the things I liked most about the Gurus of Tech; everyone has something to share and everyone is invited to share.
So who should be going? According to the website:
Gurus brings together producers, directors, creative team members, Photoshop pros, shooters, Final Cut masters, FOH engineers, lighting directors, wireless techs, stage managers and more. They just happen to work in a church, like you. They come because they have a heart for service and a passion for the work.
Last year I took a team of media producers, camera techs, stage managers and sound techs. Everyone came back energized and motivated to grow their ministry. It didn’t matter what sessions they sat in on, they were energized and pumped to see our teams do more.
This year I hope to take a bus load of people. This is such an amazing event that will grow and inspire your team and you cant beat the price… FREE!
You could spend hundreds of dollars on conferences throughout the year and not get as much spiritual and intellectual feeding as you will get at Gurus.
I challenge all of you to pack up your team, staff and volunteers and head to Louisville this summer for the best technology and media conference on the planet.
Check it out – www.gurusoftech.com , the vodcast churchtechtalk.com
Cleaning House… err Blog?
So I have come to the realisation that I am awesome at starting blogs. But frankly I suck at keeping them going. Like any habit you try and make or break, once you’ve let it slide once, it’s a rapid slippery slope from there.
I wonder sometimes if the problem I have is lack of structure in my day? I don’t have a set time that I do my blog reading or posting and as such, the habit forming processes is broken from the start.
Recently I moved a bunch of my sites from one hosting provider to another and that’s when I stumbled across the fact that not only had I neglected this blog, but that the comments were full of spam and garbage. I have Captcha installed, but this was human posted spam. The kind that is easy to clean up and manage when you log into your blog more then twice a year. So i just spent the better part of an hour uninstalling captcha and installing Mollom and then purging all the spam comments.
Now don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with Captcha. It was doing exactly the job it was supposed to do. But recently on another web project, Rob Feature over at Mustardseed Media turned me onto Molom. It’s a project by two guys, one being the founder of Drupal and since I now build exclusively in Drupal, it was safe to assume that Mollom’s functionality with Drupal is going to be rock solid.
So I’ve cleaned up the blog and will be posting a “Did you blog today?” note on the side of my monitor. Hopefully I will be able to bring you more tips like Mollom and such so stay tuned.
If your a blogger, what do you do to stay in the habit of being consistent with your blogging?
Free or Open Source Solutions in the Church
When trying to solve IT problems in the church, money is invariably a concern that must be over come. Not that this doesn’t plague other organizations, but in a church their is always the concern of good stewardship of the church’s money. So when is a good time to spend money on a commercial product instead of a Free or Open Source Solution (FOSS)? A lot of that depends on how you answer the following questions.
1. Who is going to use it? The level of direct contact that the office staffhave with the solution is a large contributing factor in any FOSS implementation. Putting an open source spam filter on the server has such a low impact on the day to day users that this should be an easy answer. Projects like ASSP are a great way to clean up the user’s inbox with little to no user interaction with the program. This was my first experience with deploying FOSS in a office environment and the results were well appreciated by the users. Even those that did not participate in the retraining process. The closer you get to the user’s desktop though, the more you have to look at what your users are doing and how adaptable are they to something different. At Lakeside we are exploring the possibilities of users having Ubuntu desktops and others having Open Office instead of Microsoft Office. You will want to take your time and do your homework before you rush these solutions out. Our big issue with Open Office is our dependency on PowerPoint and the massive library of songs that we have created. We need to be sure that we don’t rush into the migration and have to recreate everything.
2. Is it compatible with the rest of the world? Or, no man is an island. You don’t want to have the best FOSS setup in the world and not be able to share files with people in your congregation or any outside services you may use. Imagine your graphics guru making up that sweet Easter invitation and your print shop only accepting Photoshop files. You will need to talk with your users and get a good understanding of what they do and who they share their files with.
3. Who is going to support it? Many churches don’t have a staff IT guy, it’s just a fact of ministry. You may contract an outside service or have a volunteer IT team. This will be your most deciding factor when it comes to deploying FOSS. Deploying Ubuntu on all your desktops may be a great idea. You have done all your homework, researched your users file sharing and work styles. But when something doesn’t work the way it was supposed to, who are they going to turn to? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that FOSS are buggy or inferior, it’s just a simple fact that they are different. GIMP is an amazing alternative to Photoshop, but if your users are shortcut junkies, they will be lost. In short, plan out your FOSS deployment and it’s support plan.
There are probably a few more things that should be concidered, but these are what I consider to be the essentials. A FOSS implementation can help your church manage its IT budget, but don’t get stuck with expensive support costs.
What’s that knob do?
Often church sound people are volunteers that have an ear for sound but don’t have a lot of technical experience. One of my favourite and most often heard questions is “What’s that knob do?” so I try and explain it in as non-techy a way as I can. Today a twitter pal posted a link to ChurchSoundGuy where they have compiled a cool Dynamics 101 from Rick Naqvi of PreSonus. Who better to learn about the ins and outs of compressors and limiters then the guys who make them. It may be a little more techy then my tutorials, but once you read through this, I highly recommend that you take some time and “Go twist some knobs”!
Are you a GURU?
I promised a morning blog post, so here it is.
If you haven’t heard about it yet, then you have to check out the up coming conference/learning group Gurus Of Tech in Louisville on July 13-15. This is going to be an awesome time of learning and sharing with some of the greatest minds in technology and creativity like Barton Damer and Brad Zimmerman, but more importantly we want you to come and share too. Because everyone has some experiences we can all learn from. Check it out and I hope to see you there.
Blackberry vs. iPhone
I’ve been a very happy blackberry user for a number of years now and would highly recommend it to anyone who spends a larger portion of their day away from their desk where they can’t be reached by telephone or email. I’m not one of these guys that feeds into the immediate response delirium that has forced so many people to be available 24/7, but I do see the importance of timely responses. And thus, as I don’t get to spend much time at my desk, I carry a blackberry.
And then last Christmas I bought my wife an iPhone. We had talked in the past about how much she hates blackberries (She’s a grade 1 teacher), but one day at the mall we stopped and looked at the iPhone and she said “I think I could get used to something like this”. So I stored that chunk of wisdom in the back of my brain for a couple of months and bought her a shiny new iPhone for Christmas.
Now she can’t understand how she lived with out it. She has all her school meetings, our kids appointments and everything else she used to forget about until the last minute, stored on her iPhone. She’s extremely organized with it now. But the part she likes the most is the fun silly games she can download to pass the time while waiting at the dentist or doctors office. A feature that, until the recent App World launch, was ackward and often pricey on a blackberry.
I have spent some time playing with all sorts of iPhone apps and I have to say, I’ve started to consider switching. Not because my blackberry doesn’t do what I need it to do, but because that’s all it really does do. Don’t get me wrong, App world has opened the door to a slew of new programs and games, but Apple has rounded second base in the app distribution game (over 25,000 apps and 1 billion downloads), while blackberry chose to bunt and is desperately trying to make it to first base.
So what is stopping me from making the switch? There are a couple of things that bother me about the current iPhone (OS 2.?) that are holding me back. The first would be battery life. Maybe it’s how my wife uses it, but the idea of not getting a full days use from a single charge is disheartening. Second would be the inability to have TSR like apps running in the background. I have a few blackberry apps that run in the background that I’m not ready to give up (ReQall, Gtalk, Twitter). Thirdly would be keyboard and I don’t mean the lack of one on the iPhone. Personally I don’t mind the UI keyboard on the iPhone, but I do wish some times it would go landscape. After a few years of being a berry user, I’m all thumbs when it comes to typing (yes the punn was intended). Lastly would be the speakers. The other night we were looking at movie previews on our respective smart devices and the speaker on my blackberry blew the iPhone out of the water. Considering the iPhone is also a multimedia device, I would expect the speaker to be better. I guess that is why the iPhone comes with such nice headphones.
So what are your thoughts? what do you use, are you happy with it and would you switch?
A 12 Step Program for Sound Technicians
I stumbled across this nugget of wisdom last night and thought it was well worth the share.
It’s from TheViking over on Guitarist Praise & Worship
Step 1 Know Sound.
A lot of churches are not blessed with people who actually knows what good live sound is. Actually, often they don’t know what bad sound is either. While most musicians listen to music and try to mimic sounds or styles, a lot of sound technicians don’t seem to pay any attention to sound quality at all. Many sound techs are more volume controllers than anything else.
I usually put together a CD with examples of good live sound and bad live sound. I then bring this to the venue and set up a date with the techs going over the different examples explaining what makes them good or bad. Usually I hand out a copy for each tech with notes. You would be surprised how many techs who never thought about clarity in a mix.
Step 2 Know Instruments
To be able to dial in a decent live sound, the sound technicians need to know the instruments, including the characteristics and diversities of the human voice. At this stage I usually bring in frequency charts as well as suggested EQ-settings as a starting point.
With the help from the band, we do instrument by instrument. Listening closely to each instrument finding what frequencies that makes a guitar sound like a guitar and so on, we build familiarity for the technicians. This will help them fix issues in the mix at a later stage.
Step 3 Know gear
For a lot of church sound techs, they have gotten the job because no one else wanted it. In other cases they are good at operating other technical gadgets without really having a clue about sound systems. I usually go over the in-house system and make a simple diagram over the parts and the functions.
In a lot of cases the problem is that the techs don’t really have a clue about what is on a mixer and why it is there. At this stage I usually go over the functions on the mixer and how it can be used. At a minimum you need to explain EQ-settings, AUX, FX and mute. There are a lot of good books on live sound out there, and if you lack the knowledge on how to get there yourself, I am sure the band would be more than happy to contribute with a couple of $’s each to get one for the sound guy or gal.
Step 4 Know the music
Ok so let us say that you are on your way here. The sound tech has understood the concept of good live sound, the difference in instruments and frequencies and has a basic understanding of the gear. The next step is to get the tech to know the songs.
A very helpful tool here is making up a sheet with each song on it. Write in who is doing lead and backing, what instruments are on, if there are any solos and so on. I usually make these sheets very, very clear by using different fonts or colors for each musician/ singer. This way the tech will know what happens and when it happens.
Step 5 Know each other
One of the main problems I see in a lot of churches is that a sound tech more often is that annoying dude who messes up the sound, rather than a friend. I think it is crucial for any band to build a strong relationship with their sound tech. The tech can enhance or destroy what you are doing and should be viewed as a part of the band.
As any musician needs to practice, a sound tech needs to practice as well. Of course you can practice at home by yourself as a musician so you know your part when you are meeting up with the band, that is however not that easy for a sound tech unless her or she has a multi track recording to practice mixing with.
If the band rehearses anywhere with a PA-system, the sound techs should be included at every chance possible to hone their skills. I used to attend a church in Stockholm years ago. The band and the techs hung out, set up and rigged down together. It was great as friendship allows you to be more direct and speak your mind, rather than calling a meeting to sort out differences of opinions.
Step 6 Know the room
Some people might be surprised that I put knowing the room as far down the list as Step 6. However there is a reason for that. Without knowing sound, gear, instruments, the music and the band, knowing the room would be pretty useless to church technicians.
If you have gotten this far, I believe that your sound tech should have some point of interest in making everything sound as good as possible. Why, because he or she is a part of a team doing an important job in the church. Knowing the room will now become pretty essential to make everything smooth and clear all over the room.
With the band playing or with a CD for that matter, I take a tour of the empty room with the tech to listen. I repeat this when the room is filling up and when it is full. People will alter the sound. With basic knowledge of main EQ, most of this can be fixed. It is also a good pointer for all over sound levels.
Step 7 Communicate
Communication is the key to any cooperation. However to communicate, people need to speak the same language. Sometimes it can be necessary to educate each other on what we actually mean by expressions that make perfectly sense to us, but appears meaningless to others.
A little more bass, less boxy, a bit more air in the mix, I lack some definition, a tad more kick in the monitor, are all things that could be easily misunderstood and overdone or even underdone. We need to learn how to be specific and explain what we need in ways the techs actually understand.
The more we communicate the easier it is to understand that the bass player might mean a lot when he says a little, while the acoustic guitarist means a little when she says a little. We all have different scales so let’s sort those things out.
Step 8 Record, record and record.
I am a firm believer of recording live mixes of several reasons. First of all it provides a good tool for the musicians to improve their playing, secondly it can give really good hints on needed changes in the orchestration and thirdly, it will be a tool to improve the quality of the live sound.
By having the mix “documented†you can go back and go over the good and the bad with the tech. By using heir sheets from Step 4 they can make notes on what works and what doesn’t work. I do not care if it is recorded to an old cassette deck or an mp3 player, as long as it is recorded. As the musicians need to evaluate their playing, the sound tech needs to evaluate his or her job.
Step 9 Keeping it interesting
I come from a family who has been into music and sound for decades. I wanted to be good at it because it gave me something. Someone managed to keep it interesting. I had my first sound tech job at 12 years old. It was a pretty much straight forward gig, 2 ole ladies with acoustic guitars and one preacher. I had been a volume controller for the pulpit mic for a while under my father’s supervision. Now I got to manage 5 channels as well as the mains.
The thing here is to let people grow with the task, setting realistic goals, keeping it interesting to learn more and handle more. Too much too quick will most of the time discourage people, while too little too slow, will most often bore people to ignorance.
I have been to numerous churches and with very few exceptions I have heard people complain over sound. Funny enough I have never heard someone in a congregation say “Hey let’s send our tech on a weekend sound seminarâ€. Keeping it interesting is also about actually equipping people to become excellent.
Step 10 Gear up
Everyone loves unwrapping new stuff. A zillion kids can’t be wrong at Christmas. I have gone in and out of churches that get new chairs, new lighting, new décor, new coffee machines and what not, but still run the same ole PA-system year after year after year.
If you manage to get someone to take sound seriously, I think everyone will benefit from the occasional bone throwing. It doesn’t have to be the huge investments, but maybe a decent headset, a new chair for the tech or even a new mic every now and then. Making people feel that what they do is important often starts with small gestures.
What actually works like a charm is to have the tech explore different solutions on the bands needs. I watched one of the most hopeless cases I ever seen turn into quite a decent tech after he was given the possibility to impact decisions on what gear to get. Suddenly he found a trigger to learn more.
Step 11 Recruiting new talents
You might be going wooot, while scratching your head now. If we finally are having a sound tech who actually does a decent job, why go out and bring in someone else
?. There are mainly two reasons for this.
First of all teaching someone something often lifts your level of knowledge as well, as you are forced to think about why and how from a new perspective. Secondly, your sound tech could get sick, move away or move on to another church, and you would be left with having to start all over. If you let the sound tech train an assistant, that job will be less stressful on the band.
Step 12 Acknowledge efforts
When I started out as a kid doing those kinds of 2 ole ladies with acoustic guitars and a preacher gigs, I was pretty fast getting credits for my efforts no matter how “easy†the gigs might have been. I felt welcomed and included. I am not saying that I did not get straightened out from time to time, but that always happened in private, while acknowledging happened in public.
The reverend was introduced, the singer, choir or band that was performing was introduced and the sound guy was introduced. That made me really want to do my best not only for the people on the platform or the ones sitting in the pews, but I wanted to do my best for God.
I probably messed up more times than I remember, but I got better, and so will people who are allowed to make mistakes but still receives acknowledgment for their efforts. You would be amazed how little cred most sound techs get at all. If the pastor or the band doesn’t do it either from the platform or after, the chance that the congregation does it, is slim to zero.
————————–
You might find this all to be interesting but a lot of work. Maybe you find this to be utter rubbish. I don’t know. What I do know is that patience, a will to share knowledge, an inclusive friendship and acknowledgment probably will get you a lot further than criticism, ignorance and hostility.
I see the frustration from both sides. I have been on both sides and I still am. I am not saying churches should treat sound techs like superior beings, but they should not be treated like necessary evil either. It is often very easy to praise those on a platform and forget about the ones who clean the church, the ones who prepares the meals, the ones who decorates and yes, the ones who manages the sound system.
——————————
Hopefully this inspires everyone to join the program.
Peter
