Because of my heritage in the Church of Christ, I have lots of experience with acappella vocals.  I’ve always found this background served me well as an engineer.  If you can mix/blend 4 or 5 part contemporary vocal stuff, it seems like mixing a band is often times MUCH simpler.  My background made a big difference in mixing bands with money vocals like Avalon or Huey Lewis.

Below are some samples of what we did.  Everything you’ll hear, including the percussion, is all vocal.  Each song is comprised of 6-10 bed vocals – all doubled.  Add lead vocal, bass, and percussion and all told, most tunes come in with anywhere from 24-40 tracks.  I work exclusively in ProTools and this was my first project to do completely in new Version 8.  I have about 90 hours in the project – 35 tracking and 55 editing, tuning, & mixing.  My friend Michael Forehand, a great engineer himself, mastered everything for me and I’m very pleased with the finished result.  Check it out and if you’re interested in more about Chris or picking this up for yourself, head over to his website at chrislindseymusic.com

Let God Arise

Oh The Deep Deep Love

Mighty To Save

]]> http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/other/we-believe/feed 0 http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/other/im-still-here http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/other/im-still-here#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:44:30 +0000 timcorder http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/?p=1645 Hey everybody…

This is just a quick post to let you know I’m still here and will be back regularly updating this site once we get on the other side of Christmas.  For the past year I’ve managed to always have 8 or 10 posts in the queue so its made it easy to keep things fresh on here.  With all of the life things happening the past few months (a trip to South Africa, lots of responsibilities at work, and two kids at home that keep getting bigger and bigger every day), I’ve not been able to find the extra time to devote to writing.

BUT…

I have lots to write about.  The trip to South Africa was life changing in lots of ways and I want to share some of what we experienced and God taught me through the trip.  We just released a DVD of Danny Cox’s CD release show from October and it turned out so great.  I can’t wait to share a few clips!  I think this disc captures the essence of what we’re trying to do musically and artistically at Kensington better than anything I’ve ever seen us release.  I’m currently in the throws of 32 Christmas at Kensington services between 6 campuses.  Last week was my campus’ heavy rehearsal week.  I’ll be mixing 10 of those 32 services at the main campus in Troy so if you’re in the area for Christmas, come check it out.  This year is very music heavy (I think there are 6 or 7 tunes in the day) so the rehearsals were extra intense.  God’s also doing some crazy stuff right now that I hope I can talk more about soon.

I’m now the dad of a 4 year old and 1 year old which is so hard to believe.  Time is REALLY flying with Maddie & Brady!  But a couple of big “landmark” dates are coming, I guess.  January 10th I’ll turn the big 3-0.  I know to most that I talk to who are older than me, 30′s not that big of a deal but I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.  I guess there’s a lot of life evaluation sort of stuff going on in my head right now, which is probably good.  But still.  Then on top of that, Mindy and I will celebrate our 6th anniversary in February.

All of this to say I will be back come January.  Lots to share and lots to catch up on.  See you then!

I’ll leave you with a clip from the concert in Cape Town with Acappella Classic.  We started the show with having the group’s founder, Keith Lancaster, come out on stage all by himself, sing a bit, and then take it from there.  This clip is from my Flip Camera sitting at FOH but I think it captures a bit of the genuine excitement and joy we experienced from the thousands of people who came to the concerts in South Africa.  You’ll see what I mean that the crowds literally knew the words and harmonies to every single song in the set list.  The experience was one I will never forget!

I’m probably going to take a few weeks away from the blog while life is especially crazy. This past week, our music director, Danny Cox, released a new CD and we hosted a release concert in our main auditorium on Friday night.  It was a really special night as we also captured the show for potential DVD release.  The team on stage and behind the scenes knocked the entire night out of the park and it was such a great experience to be a part of.  Hopefully I can post some video down the road of some cool moments from the night.  Personally, as a fan of Danny’s music, I think it was one of the major highlights of my time at Kensington…let alone having the honor to mix it!

A week from Wednesday, I’m leaving on a very special music mission trip to South Africa that will take me to Johannesburg and Capetown mixing for a group of guys who were musical heros growing up.  Some of you may be familiar with the group Acappella – a contemporary all vocal christian group a.la. Rockapella or Take6 that has been singing in some form or another for over 25 years.  Growing up they were a huge influence on me and it was a great experience as I was building a professional portfolio to be able to work for the Aca Company back in 2002.  A reunion group of some of the old members has formed, called Acappella Classic, to do an extremely limited number of dates over the next few years internationally and I’ve been asked to mix their shows and road manage when I can get away from my regular gig at Kensington.  In addition to the tour in South Africa, there are plans for a central European tour next year, as well as an appearance in Nashville, TN next summer.

I’m really excited to embark on an adventure outside of the States for the first time.  The only bummer is that my wife isn’t able to join and it will be REALLY hard to be away from my family for 12 days (the longest we’ve ever been apart).  If you wouldn’t mind, I’d greatly appreciate prayers for safe travels and awesome ministry opportunities to be Jesus in a new place to new people.

Here’s a clip I found on Youtube of Acappella from back in the day…

I will return in a few weeks and we’ll be head deep into the marathon to Christmas.  Until then…

My favorite addition:  thanks to a nifty feature in Google Reader where you can create public blogrolls, I’ve assembled a dynamic page of links to sites related to audio, church audio, production, industry news, etc that I follow every day in GR.  I’m interested what other great resources or reads I might be missing.  Add other sites that are must read in the comments to this post and I’ll add them to the list.

This site is still completely hosted using WordPress.  I remain so impressed by the UI for WordPress on my server, the solid tools for writing and posting content, and the ability to completely administer the site remotely from my iPhone.  I have recently experimented with some other options out there for a site like this and remain convinced that WordPress is the way to go.

Check it out!  We’ll return to your regularly scheduled posts on Wednesday.

After 6 months of posting at least several times a week to this blog, I’m planning to take a couple weeks away for a summer sabbatical.  I’ll be back the week of July 20th.  When I get back, we’ll be in the throws of installing a new PA in the room where I mix, new wireless mic systems for campuses, our first Digidesign SC48 being commissioned, and then launching another live campus at the end of September.  There should certainly be plenty of blog topics!

See you then!

Today I ran across an excellent resource of many of Dave’s writings if you’re interested in some really good articles on advanced audio concepts and techniques. Most everything centers around recorded music techniques, but many things translate quite well to the live arena.

Here’s a few direct links to articles I would consider must reads:

1. Spectral Management, or Ways to Think About EQ & Mixing.

2. Kick Drum/Bass Guitar relationship. There’s just good input here.

3. Comb Filtering, Phase Shift, & Polarity Reversal. These terms are mentioned all the time in mixing but this article does a great job of explaining what the terms actually are and how to harness them in your mixes.

4. Microphone vs. the Ear. Why recordings don’t sound quite like the real thing and some things you can do about it.

Thank you, Dave, for such valuable teachings!

“…What could happen when you combine electric guitars, great vocalist, maybe a few trash cans somewhere in the middle, Pro Tools, LED video walls, moving light fixtures, and a team of musicians and tech crew who love to worship God. Um… Well… THIS!!

This full set was shot only using one camera and mixed for house only. The mix was then edited for tape, and the 6 sets worth of video were synced up. Finally the audio and video were synced. Special thanks to Kitt Bender for remixing the audio. Steve Nance and his crew over at Integrity Lighting, and all the volunteers at LifeChurch.tv Tulsa for all you do to make this stuff happen.”

Test #1 – Drum kit during rehearsal

Test #2 – “Digital” Piano visual tour

If its working or not working for you, would you do me a favor and let me know?  Thank you!

I’ve got lots more content in the queue so we’ll see where this goes over the next few months.  I’ve really enjoyed getting back into writing regularly!

In the meantime, I love Twitter and am much better at posting there.  Check it out if you haven’t already.  

I’ve also redesigned and simplified the personal website a bit over the past few days.  Check it out as well.

In the meantime, I must admit my latest addiction for fast updates: Twitter. If you haven’t tried it, you really should. From the homepage: “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” Facebook has its place to reconnect with lost friends and classmates, but Twitter is for everyday use. It’s addictive.

10 Channel Sennheiser 3532/SKM5000/SK50UHF Complete Wireless Package with premium Neumann capsules!

Installed system has never toured, meticulously maintained, and in like new condition. Purchased new in 2005, worth $63,000. This is a great opportunity to own an amazing wireless system with magical audio quality at great savings.

This turn-key, ready to go package includes:

(2) Sennheiser SK-50UHF – All in 584-608 mHz band
(5) Sennheiser EM3532 Dual Channel Receiver – Two in 584-608 mHz band, Three in 506-530 mHz band
(1) Sennheiser SAS-216 Selective Antenna System
(8) SKM-5000 Handheld Transmitters – Six in 506-530 mHz band, Two in 584-608 mHz band
(5) Neumann KK-105S Microphone Heads
(3) Sennheiser MD5005 Microphone Heads
(2) Spare B5000-2 Battery Packs
(8) Sennheiser Mic Clips
(2) Sennheiser A2003-UHF Paddle Antennas -Wideband Passive Directional 450-960 mHz
(2) Sennheiser Microdot Adaptors
(1) Sennheiser Lav Mic with Clip

Package is being offered for $40,000. Sold by Kensington Community Church in Troy, MI (outside Detroit). Due to the amount of equipment, pickup is preferred, although system can be shipped at buyer’s expense. Email me for more information today!  It won’t last long…

tcorder at kensingtonchurch dot org

Somewhere along the way there’s an interesting tidbit…

M7CL is a very clear concept and a professional tool based around the Centralogic™ idea. I wanted to paint a really straightforward design layout. Function and beauty come from the simple “cross” motif; a vertically laid out “Overview” and a horizontal “Selected Channel View”. Then when you look at the desk as a whole you can see thick side cheeks expressing warmth of sound and system stability while the sharp aluminum beams represent cutting-edge technology.

In fact my designs for the M7CL cosmetics took inspiration from the “DMP7” – which was Yamaha’s very first digital console back in 1987. In the very early days of digital mixing consoles, DMP7 made a big impact on the professional audio industry with its sophisticated user interface and lightweight / compact body. From a cosmetic viewpoint, it was really clean-cut and a functional beauty. I hope you feel the M7CL shares that same philosophy which Yamaha have been developing for over 18 years.

Yamaha DMP7 – 1987 vintage – original price $4,200

The DMP7 “Digital Mixing Processor” is a completely digital MIDI-controllable 8-channel 2-bus mixer with three sweepable bands of EQ per channel, three internal effects processors, and motorised faders. The channel levels, effects send/return levels and master level are all set up using the faders, which jump to the right place when the appropriate mode is selected. The other functions are programmed using a conventional 16×2 LCD interface and data entry slider (which is, of course, motorised). Each send can be switched between pre and postfade per channel. Each channel has its own phase switch. There is a compressor across the stereo output.

The desk can be totally automated: MIDI controllers and note values access all the parameters, and it takes program changes to select scenes (with a variable crossfade of up to 10 seconds). Moving the faders remotely from a MIDI fader box is a rather creepy experience.

The ergonomics of this desk are (in my opinion anyway) pretty superb, certainly for the major controls. It’s the right size and shape, the controls are in the right place, and it’s a breeze to use. When it comes to EQ settings (which could arguably be called “major controls”, depending on one’s taste), one is back to menus and data entry sliders, which is a bit of a shame.

The fader mechanism is rather cute. Each fader has a conventional miniature electric motor with a drive band to a larger nylon pulley, and the spindle of this drives a wire which is carried along the length of the fader, around another pulley at the top, and back through the fader knob itself via a couple of tiny tensioning springs. It’s very neat and relatively simple for what it does. The data entry slider is a completely different technology, and seems to use a plastic worm gear with some kind of clutch.

This console was so revolutionary for its time. Hitting just as the home studio craze really took off in the late 80′s, I remember seeing project studios with three of these units finally realizing automated 24 channel mixes. My dad’s project studio was only an 8 track 1/4″ reel to reel, so he would stripe SMPTE onto track 8 and then use an Atari computer running simple MIDI sequencer software to chase that sync and “record” the fader moves from the console. Extremely primitive but it worked great and provided a level of mix control never before possible outside of major studios.

I will never forget the first time I saw fader flip on that console – motorized faders performing multiple functions. To think that 20 years later I’m able to mix on Yamaha’s current flagship product every week is pretty cool.

The new address is myblog.cordernotes.com and the main website is cordernotes.com. Also, my personal email has changed – you can find it on the website if you need it.

UPDATE:  Fixed the link to the blog.  Thanks Wayne!

I’ll gradually post this stuff over the next week or two so that others on my team who weren’t able to attend can share in what I learned and experienced. The first three posts come tonight…check it out!

To check out a really cool production website that outlines all of Willow’s main auditorium systems, budget, production documents, etc…go HERE. Trust me, if you’re a gear head, this site is pretty cool. I’m definitely going to get something like this set up for us before our Arts Conference this fall.

For some cool photos of the conference, especially if you weren’t able to check it out in person, are available HERE and HERE from Willow. There are some great shots!

For the official conference blog with session summaries and other cool stuff, go HERE.

1. Build a 16 channel snake with stage box for more stage inputs. I currently have one 24 channel snake with box and it just isn’t enough.

2. Build a new snake for the piano. 4 channels for piano mics, 2 for a Motiff or Triton above the piano, and 2 returns for wired ears at the piano.

3. Strip and redo the connections on our existing 4 channel piano snake so it can be used elsewhere

4. Build amp stands so guitar amps can stay low to the ground but be easily tipped back at the ears of the player. I’ll post the design once its done because it will be home made and simple to build.

5. Build a portable wireless transmitters “rack” for the mics we’re using in a service. They need a home and an organized storage system. I have a great idea I picked up from Willow that will be simple to implement.

6. Come up with four nice looking table stands for amp heads so they don’t have to go on the ground or on black boxes. Our black boxes are too big and beat up to be the right thing for this task. At Willow, they have these cool little triangle truss pieces with a table top on one end and a base at the other. I want three for amp heads or keys modules and one for the drummer mixer so we can eliminate that black box as well. The result will look much more streamlined and professional.

Six vocalists…recorded mostly in the KCC basement studios to my ProTools rig. Tracking process was trio bed vocals, extras, bass & perc, then finally lead vocals. Overall time for this was just over 80 hours – 36 tracking and 46 editing and mixing. Most songs have somewhere between 20 & 30 tracks. Considering it’s a college group, I’m especially happy with how tight it is considering 36 tracking hours in the studio to do 10 songs. Crazy pace!!!

It’s a lot of work, and it was especially hard getting “up” for doing the project this year on top of all of my new responsibilities at KCC, but I’m glad I did it. There are four songs in the box.net widget off on the right side of this page for your listening enjoyment. Check ‘em out and let me know what you think…

If that widget on the side panel doesn’t work for you, here’s a link to the public box on Box.net…

http://public.box.net/timcorder