If you mix on Yamaha consoles, here is tip number I’ve lost count…Delay LCR.  It will be your friend.  I promise.

A few weeks ago I spent an evening mixing on a Meyer rig with a Yamaha PM5D at FOH.  After having spent 2 years on a PM1D at Kensington, it was like coming home to an old friend.  No plug-ins, parallel compression, or other tricks – just focusing on the fundamentals that make a mix great.  It’s a great reminder that the engineer and musicians are what make a mix.  The tools are only that – tools.

I spent the day yesterday commissioning and training the team at Piedmont Church on their new IMAG system.  16×16 broadcast SDI router, 8-input 1 M/E switcher with 3 auxes, 2 GFX computers running Renewed Vision ProPresenter and ProVideoPlayer with alpha keying, 3 cameras, intercom system, and a retrofit installation with LOTS of necessary wire and infrastructure.  It is a killer video rig that has met this church’s needs perfectly.

One of my favorite parts of my job is working with churches on the fit and finish of these new systems.  I’ve written for literally years about the art of setting the table for artists to create when mixing and leading an audio team.  This is no different.  After all of the discovery, design, and installation work is completed, the final step is commissioning and training. In these settings my role is to make sure that every single detail has been accounted for, from production IP network configuration to equipment labeling, desktop backgrounds that ensure volunteers are clear which computer they are operating to router and switcher optimization and configuration.  Once the table is properly set for these production artists, the technology disappears into a toolbox for them to use to create the experience that will connect people with God during each service.  It is an honor to partner with some of the most gifted church leaders in the country such as Dr. Ike Reighard, Al Holley, and Roger Christian at Piedmont Church as they advance the message of Christ in their community.

“A great approach, regardless the tools, will win every single time. Master the basics, keep it simple, no ego, people skills.”

So this year I was planning to take Christmas Eve off…I really was.  After spending the past 5 years working in churches professionally, this year seemed like a great chance to take the year off.  However, in November I started mixing at several of the North Point Ministries campuses here in Atlanta.  So when the request came to mix Christmas Eve in the West Auditorium at North Point Community Church, I couldn’t stay away, although t felt like a lightweight only mixing 3 services rather than the normal 9-13 I’ve done each of the past 5 years!  It is an honor serving with the team at North Point – truly one of the most talented and well organized production teams on the planet.

Enjoy the opener from the service below.  The bands in the East and West auditoriums are playing together to a common click track with the lead vocalists spread between the two stages.  Todd and Candi are in the East and Eddie and Ryan are in the West.

The best part of this year – I was able to mix on Christmas eve morning and be done in plenty of time for our family to go to church together in the afternoon and spend the evening at home preparing for Santa to arrive.  It really was the best of all worlds!

I recently attended the first service for Rock Point Community Church in Chattanooga, TN, a North Point Strategic Partner Church and one of my first official projects to complete at Moyers Group.  The church shares this facility with a Seventh Day Adventist Church who owns the building.  We integrated full audio/video/lighting systems utilizing a mixture of new and existing equipment.  It was unique and challenging to manage the needs of two different churches sharing one space.  The room turned out really great and it was an honor to partner with such great leaders who are paving new ground in unifying around commonalities rather than dividing over differences.  I can’t wait to see how both churches are able to use this facility to reach the city of Chattanooga!

Before:

After:

Here’s another excellent room I’ve been mixing in recently…Free Chapel in Gainesville, GA.  My friend Dustin Whitt has done an excellent job tuning this PA and overall giving the room some love.  It’s hard to go wrong with Meyer MSL4′s, CQ2′s, and 650P’s.  I cut my teeth professionally almost 10 years ago on rigs just like this one so this is kind of like coming home.  Enjoy the photos from a Night of Worship there last night.

]]> http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/blog/mixing-at-free-chapel/feed 0 http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/blog/shure-axient-wireless-system http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/blog/shure-axient-wireless-system#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 02:45:13 +0000 timcorder http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/?p=2818 Posted in blogIndustry News

Posted in blogProduction

One of the perks of my new position with Moyers Group in Atlanta is the ability to mix freelance on the weekends for some really cool churches around the greater Atlanta area.  This past weekend I spent the day with Dustin Whitt at Gwinnett Church mixing monitors.  For those of you who are not familiar, Gwinnett is North Point’s newest campus, launched just a few weeks ago.  At this point they do not have a permanent facility, so they meet weekly at the Gwinnett Center, a really cool arena & convention center complex in the area.

As you’ll see from the photos below, this is portable church like I would expect you’ve never seen before.  Two 53′ semi’s full of equipment, at least 16 fly points for the lighting grid, a big ol’ Meyer PA (8 MICA’s per side, HP700′s, Venue Profile at FOH & Monitors) add up to the best portable church experience I’ve ever seen.  When you combine that with the quality of artists and communicators in the North Point family of churches, the result is incredible.

It is an honor to serve with this team.  Check out these photos for more about my day.  If you’re in town, you really should come check this place out.  Sunday evenings at 6p.

Here is some youtube video I found from a few months before we arrived at New Life Church, along with some iPhone video I shot in the past few weeks to show the transformation.  I’m very proud of how far we’ve come as a production team in my time at New Life Church.

Having been an early adopter to the iPad, and recently selling the first gen and upgrading to the second gen version on launch day, one question I’m often asked is regarding my preferred apps and workflow.  I thought it might be cool to give an overview of what I would consider my must-have apps and such.  I recently read an article that gave solid insight into the experience of living with an iPad.  Check that out here.

My iPad is my go with me everywhere computer.  I start out my day reading the newspaper, twitter, facebook, and RSS through it every morning before I get out of bed.  During the day I live and die by the combination of Pocket Informant, QuickOffice, and IA Writer.  It was especially interesting to go without it for a few days after 7 months of ownership during the overlap between selling the first gen and buying the second gen.  I didn’t realize how much I’ve grown to rely on it until it was gone.

For my first gen, I used the Apple iPad case.  This time around I considered one of the Apple Smart Covers but like many others, the lack of overall protection makes me nervous.  Because of how much I carry my iPad, I recently decided to order a simple Portenzo moleskine-style case.  I considered several of the other companies making similar product but decided the Portenzo had the most consistent reviews.  It is supposed to arrive in a few days and I can’t wait!

Here is the list of my preferred apps…

* QuickOffice HD – gives a native app front end for all of your docs in the cloud.  Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, etc.  Download a doc, edit it, and send it back to the cloud.  Works great.  Only weakness is you can’t do realtime collaboration with others since its a sync thing.  If someone changes the doc while you’re editing it, when you send it back to the cloud you’ll overwrite them.  For all of my personal docs, this isn’t an issue.

* Pocket Informant HD – calendar and tasks app.  Sync’s google cal for schedule, uses ToodleDo for tasks since Google’s API doesn’t allow syncing with third party apps for tasks.  I LOVE this app!

* IA Writer – best simple writer app I’ve used.  Syncs with Dropbox, simple text.  I use it when I just want to write content without being distracted by formatting or other stuff.  Keeps track of word count and time required to read the post.  Love it!

* GoodReader – file storage/reader app.  Basically most any document but media.  Turn on WiFi server and it will mount your iPad as a drive on your computer so you can drag and drop files back and forth with GoodReader.  I keep digital editions of magazines, documentation, catalogs, will do an offline sync of Dropbox folders so you always have the most current version of files with you when not on WiFi.  Another must have.

* Penultimate with the Targus Stylus.  Best writing app I’ve ever seen.  I held off on a stylus until very recently, never really understanding what was the big deal about them.  Then I tried writing with one using Penultimate.  It’s the first real notebook replacement, at least for me.  I take notes in meetings, sketch, and brainstorm just like I am carrying 5 or 6 different notebooks.  MUST HAVE!

* Evernote – self explanatory.  The latest update really improved the functionality of the app.  Geotagged notes, record meeting audio, etc.

* LifeForms – PDF form filler.  No need to print PDFs to sign and then send back to someone, things like that.

* AppShopper is great for keeping track of new apps, finding apps on sale or when they go from paid to free.  I’m sure I’ve saved quite a bit just by checking in with this app every week.

* Social Media: Friendly (native Facebook app), Twitter, IM+ (multi-platform IM client)

* News: Flipboard, USA Today, News360, Zite, CNN, Today, Reuters News Pro, Fluent News, ESPN ScoreCenterXL, The Weather Channel Max+

* Tech News: SkyGrid, Flud News, Mashable, Macworld

* RSS:  Reeder.  I’ve tried some of the others but Reeder is still my favorite.

* Photography:  Adobe Ideas, LIFE, Photoshop Express, Filterstorm, Wallpapers HD, Photo Delight

* Music:  Garageband, Pandora, Remote, Set List (really helpful for production notes – acts like a virtual stack of cards you can cycle through while doing a show), DJay (awesome for walk-in music or production cues)

* Video:  iMovie (it’s pretty sweet), ABC Player, PBS, Discovery, TV Guide, Netflix, Redbox, Flixster, TED, VLC Player (multi-format video player – I think its been pulled from the App store but I have it you can have), Fandango

* Travel:  Google Earth (awesome on iPad), Kayak HD for trip playing, Urbanspoon and Yelp

* Shopping:  Ebay, Amazon Windowshop (best Amazon shopping experience), Target, Epicurious & BigOven for recipes and such

What are your favorites?  Anything I’ve missed?

I first observed John Cooper’s work a little over 10 years ago when he was mixing Wynonna and the company I was working for at the time provided production for an acoustic show on a military base. I was impressed with his mix, but equally impressed with his demeanor and approach to the day. It’s always stuck out with me, so I was especially interested in this video I ran across recently on the Waves site profiling John’s techniques and tools mixing the Ringo Starr All Star Band. It’s definitely worth a watch.

One of the most appealing parts of my transition to New Life Church last summer was inheriting a blank canvas of sorts when it comes to values and execution.  The talent here, both on and off the stage, is first class.  However, we’d never spent any time defining our “sound” and some strategies to be more consistent in arriving at it.  So a few months ago I committed these ideas to paper and we’ve been living inside of them ever since.  The inspiration for this discussion on the blog came from a common question I heard at Gurus a few weeks ago regarding getting a group of volunteer engineers to think alike and begin to move the same direction in crafting a mix.

Last time we discussed overall team mission and values.  I think this has to be defined first before going any further. Transitioning to more specific mix values, here’s what we’ve been living with…first some general concepts…

Accurate Tones:  We value getting it right on stage.  Great input makes great output, so it ALWAYS must start on stage.  This includes drum tuning, keys patch selection, mic placement on guitar amps, etc.

Classic:  There is a timeless quality to some records and overall music approaches that have stood the test of time.  Classic, good tones that don’t stray too far one direction or the other, trying to avoid super dated verbs/choruses/delays.  It is our goal to make timeless mixes that translate well both inside and outside our rooms.

Dynamic:  A worship set should be a journey.  Again, starting on stage and then translating through the engineer, it’s important that we take our audience on the most incredible journey.

Active:  Mixes should be active, always looking for the most interesting thing and highlighting it.  Many engineers have a tendency to be level managers and always mix a measure behind – one measure behind on pushing the solo, one measure behind on the transition, and on and on.

Now to specifics of our “sound”…

Drums/Bass and Vocals are both foundational.  Of course in worship music there is nothing more important than the lyric.  However, there’s a fine line we balance here between the vocal sitting just right in the mix or being too far out front (what I call a “churchy” mix).  Drum sounds that are dynamic, engaging, natural, and just sound great are the foundation the rest of the mix is built on.

Electric Driven.  The reality of the most common style of music we play is that it is electric guitar driven.  The hook of most songs is somehow connected to electrics, so it is important to mix like they are important to us.  This is one of those other ways to avoid a “churchy” mix…keep them out front.  As an extreme generalization, the only times the electric shouldn’t be driving the mix is when he’s not playing.  Ha!  Seriously, when the band drops out its important to find something else to fill the space such as acoustic or piano, but most of the stuff we do is driven by electric.

Keys and Acoustics provide texture and interest.  A mix that is 100% drums/bass/electric can certainly become boring, so keys and acoustics provide the flavor to add musical interest.  Mix them that way.  It is RARE that the acoustic should be further out front than the electric if both are playing.  Sometimes keys or acoustics share focus with electric, such as in the intro hook to “Greatness of our God”.

Lead Vocal relationship to BGV, Male to Female vocals.  We have a lot of people on stage on a given weekend.  A lot.  There is a coolness and hipness to this that just works at New Life Church.  I was really skeptical of it coming in but it’s really engaging in the room and works really well for us.  However, there are few songs we do that should be mixed as a huge group vocal.  There are several, but most have a clear lead vocal/BGV thing going on and its important to honor that in order to maintain relevance musically.  The same goes for the relationship of male to female singers.  More often not there are 2:1 more women on stage than men, but there’s no faster way to make a mix “churchy” than too much female vocal sitting on top of the whole thing.  We accomplish this a couple ways – first in the arrangement and making use of lower harmonies so the ladies will naturally sit in the middle of the mix rather than on top, second through actively managing the level relationship in the group and keeping lead vocal out front with the BGV group tucked nicely behind it.

I’d welcome discussion about this topic either here in the comments or via Twitter.

One of the most surprising revelations I received during Gurus from so many people I talked to was how few teams have clearly defined mission and values, as well as value statements to define the target for mixing success.  I thought it might be cool to outline our team’s mission and values with some thoughts…

The mission of our audio team is to create moments for people to engage with God.  We try to do this with excellence since I believe that excellence honors God and reflects His perfect character, and through Christ-driven ideals.  Our serving should come out of the overflow of our personal relationship with Jesus.  Our team values include many areas I’ve written about over the years…

• The Table is Set:  it is extremely important for us to be prepared for the artists’ arrival with everything tested and ready to go so the people on stage can focus on creating music and moments with as little distraction from us as possible.
• Accountable:  doing what we say we will do, not making problems mysterious, taking accountability when we make a mistake and learning from it so it doesn’t happen again
• It’s All in the Details:  audio is a game of a million itty bitty steps.  There is no single smoking gun that will equal a great mix.  It’s all in the incremental tiny moves that equal audio amazingness.
• Change Happens:  it is so important to stay flexible and prepared to adjust to requested changes.  Most times strong preparation makes it possible to adjust to change more easily.
• Are You Being Served? It is our privilege to serve the musicians, vocalists, pastors, and ultimately our church in engaging with God.  Everything we say and do should come from the perspective of doing whatever possible to facilitate an unforgettable experience for the people on stage.  The result will most often translate directly to the people in the seats.
• Push the Envelope:  It is important to keep looking for ways to improve what we do and never become satisfied with the status quo.  There is always a way to be better in our craft.  Mixing is a skill and requires constant refinement.
• Rest in the Call:  it is the call of God on our lives that allows us to be successful mixing audio.  Mixing can be especially stressful and a high pressure position.  It’s important to keep perspective regardless of how good or bad things go that we are honoring God by serving Him with our talents and resting in that call.

I started out putting this whole thing in one post but it’s too much, so I’m splitting into two.  Next time we’ll dive into specific mix values.  If you haven’t defined your mission or values – both in general or directly related to the mix – I challenge you to do so.  I think you will find the exercise beneficial for your team.  Only time will tell how impactful these thoughts really become to our team.  But ever since committing to them, I make it a practice to use them in conversation or in coaching, all the while looking to make them part of who we are.

Until next time…

Gurus of Tech was an awesome experience last week in Chicago.  It was really great to visit with so many old friends, as well as meet face to face many new ones from Twitter and this blog.  The content was as great as you would expect…especially Scott Ragsdale’s interview with Robert Scovill.  I’m planning to unpack a few of statements from his interview over the next few weeks because there’s so much wisdom here, especially in the world of church production.  If you haven’t seen it yet, regardless of if you’re an audio guy or not, go here, watch, and take notes.  His is session #4.

http://www.willowproduction.org/gurus-chicago-2011/

The magic to me of Gurus is the organic-ness of it all.  In a world where there is seemingly at least one conference or trade show a month, Gurus still maintains an innocence just by the whole premise behind it – technical artists gathering together to teach each other, be inspired, and share community.  I’m definitely a convert and will be doing everything I can to take a group from New Life to the gathering this summer in Louisville.

I was especially honored to be able to join a panel with some great friends this time around to talk about the art of mixing.  If you were not able to make it and would like to download “bootleg” audio from our session, my friend Dave has it posted on his blog.  You can find it here… http://goingto11.com/?p=1032

I mentioned this on Twitter a few weeks ago but figured it was worth a full blog post. A little while back I happened on a weekly video podcast led by Dave Pensado called Pensado’s Place that has quickly proven it should be required viewing for anyone serious about mixing. If you don’t recognize the name, I promise you that you know Dave’s work. Dave has mixed hits for bands like The Black Eyed Peas to Justin Timberlake, Elton John, Jamiroquai, and Christina Aguilera. In 2002, Dave received a Grammy for his work on the hit single “Lady Marmalade,” featuring Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa, and Pink. Do I have your attention yet?

Every week Dave and his manager Herb Trawick host a roughly 45 minute program that is full of techniques, q & a, and interviews with well known current mix engineers. The content is really well done and it’s really important to me that we support Dave in this since it is highly unusual to find someone as successful as Dave creating this kind of resource.

One of my favorite episodes was #4 when he interviewed Tony Maserati. I’m linking to it here to get you hooked and then go check out Dave’s site to catch up on the rest of the back episodes already in the can.

Posted in blogDECADEFeaturedProduction

So I’ve shown you the cool official photos from our DECADE photographers and you’ve seen media samples from the service itself.  Today I’m going to share the snapshots I took with my phone throughout the two days.  Production fans will probably enjoy these most of all since they really show nuts and bolts of the process.  Enjoy!

Now for the part you’ve been waiting for…

These are raw, but I decided I am ok with putting them out there so you can see what raw looks like.  Are there some mix things I would change…sure.  Is everything perfect…no.  But there was such a spirit to what happened and I believe that translates to these videos in a way that supersedes everything else.

For more cool content, go to Youtube and search for “NLC Decade”. There are a few videos out there that really capture what it felt like in the room and I’m really pleased with how things translate.

Enjoy a glimpse at DECADE!

So if you’ve been following the series, you saw a few posts ago that the PA was a very large d&B J-rig.  Let’s just stop right there for a second and enjoy those words hehehe.

In this post we’re going to talk about the drums and keys rigs for DECADE and some overall direction things we’ve learned the past few months at NLC.

We’ve gotten our drum sounds as far down the field as we’re able with what we own, but it is in the plan for this year to replace our kits and go for a more vintage, timeless sound.  For DECADE, I took that future direction for a spin by renting a Ludwig Classic Maple kit from SIR in Nashville.  16×20 kick, 13″ and 16″ toms, and two snares – one for each guy…a 6.5×14 Black Beauty and a 6.5×14 Supraphonic.  For cymbals, I spec’d Zildjian…  17″ K Custom Dark crash, 19″ K Dark thin crash, 22″ K Custom Dark ride, and 15″ A hats.  Overall a very classic sounding kit and it sounded AMAZING!  I think this kit (or one very similar) is now at the top of our list for purchase this year.  My philosophy is to go for classic, timeless sounds that will translate to lots of different styles of music and sound good over many years.

I received a few questions regarding the Sub-Kick you may have noticed in some pictures.  If you’ve never played with one before, personally I’ve really enjoyed using one – especially with a nice and small, tight kick drum.  You put the condensor mic inside just as usual – in my case a Sennheiser E901.  Then add a bit of channel delay to line it up with the Sub-Kick on the outside.  High pass the E901 so the Sub-Kick takes care of the thump from the kick and the E901 handles the attack and character of the drum.  The combination sounds really really good on a well-tuned kick drum.

For Keys, we’ve been experimenting with a more software based approach as of late with strong results.  We own Yamaha CP-300 stage pianos that are used every week but I’ve wanted to enhance the quality of the sounds for a long time.  We spent some focused time over the past few months listening to demo’s of newer stage pianos – ideally looking for something with really killer sampled piano tones that can also do organs and strings really well.   There are a few options out there that seem to do both – the Nord Stage 2 piano, the Yamaha CP1 being two of them.  The problem is that both of those sell for upwards of $4,000…outside my budget with all of the other pressing needs to address.

The solution for us is the Native Instruments Komplete 7 collection, along with Ableton Live.  For a few weeks prior to DECADE, we experimented with using MIDI to trigger sounds from laptops since our players were content with the feel of playing on our CP300′s but we just weren’t crazy about the tones.  Now with a smaller secondary keyboard on top and MIDI going from both into a laptop, there are amazing organs, strings, electric pianos, and auxiliary percussion at our fingertips.  Combine that with Ableton Live to generate click tracks for the band and you have a really powerful package.

In the samples that you heard yesterday (if you missed them, go up to the media tab at the top of this page and you’ll find them along with a few others) the piano downstage was the Native Instruments New York Concert Grand.  The keys position upstage is running Live to trigger clicks and some tracks, along with Native Instruments exclusively for all of the other sounds generated.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you may remember my journey with Receptor and sampled piano libraries when we replaced an acoustic grand at Kensington with a piano shell from Slam Grand and sampled sounds a few years ago.  Now that was a little while ago so I disclaimer with that, but let me tell you how impressed I am with the grand piano samples in Komplete.  The ability to control three different lid positions, key noise, and pedal noise is amazing.  When you hold down the pedal, you hear the “dampers” let go of the strings, the voicing sounds great, and its low in resource requirements so it runs great on our Macbook Pros.

For the piano rig downstage, we just came out of the laptop into a stereo DI and went from there.  The upstage keys position was more complex.  We used a Digi003 interface to give us up to 8 line outputs.  Outs 1/2 and 3/4 were two stereo keys stems.  One stem was primarily keys sounds, the second a few loops and percussion sounds.  Outs 5/6 were some stereo ensemble tracks and Out 7 was click.

In the near future, I’m planning to roll out a Mac Mini on stage in our regular setup that will run Ableton Live and the Komplete bundle.  We’ll connect MIDI from our CP300 and from the secondary keyboard, then add a M-Audio Fast-track Pro interface so we can have two stereo discreet outputs and we’ve got our new keys rigs for our two main campuses.  Why the Mac Mini?  It will give us a dedicated machine that stays off the internet and is kept production ready for this singular purpose.  It is also clean, low noise, and has good reliability.  Finally, by keeping it connected to the network, our players can screen share into it for programming and control simply and easily.

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably noticed quite a bit of chatter a few weeks ago regarding a post Mike Sessler wrote back around Christmas about mixing FOH with in-ears that has generated quite a bit of buzz.  It was recently republished on ProSoundWeb and in Live Sound magazine.  You can find the original post here, along with a later response here.  Dave Stagl wrote a great response to the topic here.  I took it pretty squarely on the chin by some people for challenging such a popular post so I thought it might be a good idea to try to more clearly outline the why behind my objection with more than 140 characters per post.  I’m going to try not to re-tread the things already written by others so make sure you catch up with the original posts if you haven’t already.  This actually piggybacks well on an overall topic that’s been on my heart for a long time but I’ve not had the specific inspiration to outline fully until now.

I agree completely with what others have said that the most important thing is that the people signing Mike’s checks are happy with the results he is getting from a challenging PA deployment and mix position.  I also fully understand that you need to do what you need to do when you’re mixing in a challenging room, and I’ve certainly had my fair share of those kinds of situations.  What actually set off the whole epic Twitter conversation was a tweet I saw posted to Mike that said this:

SOUND GUY #1: I was a doubter but I just mixed all practice with IEMs and it sounds really good! I just got a new method.

ME:  Boo!  I don’t get disconnecting from the live room.  It’s called live mixing for a reason! #justbecauseitsonablogdoesntmakeitgood

In the conversations that followed, here are a few examples of other responses I heard:

SOUND GUY #2: I could find the specific balance between instruments faster in my ears

ME: I would argue spend the energy learning to find that balance in the room rather than IEMs

SOUND GUY #2: Why? What is the argument for taking the harder path?  I’m not opposed to hard work if it has significant benefits

ME: Because your job is to mix for what the audience is hearing.  They aren’t listening to IEMs with ambience mics.

Another snipet went like this:

ME: How do you compensate for what’s happening in the room?  Great mixes, especially in worship, are emotional & responsive.

SOUND GUY #3: Same way a worship leader using ears does. Pay attention, watch and feel what’s going on around you. Respond to the moment.

SOUND GUY #4: Well hopefully the worship leader has audience in his ears and not solely depending on his eyes to gauge reaction

SOUND GUY #3: Which is the same reason we put the audience mics in our IEM reference mix.

I believe strongly that this conversation reflects a path some are heading down that is the antithesis of sound technique for mixing great music in churches.  I’m going to probably go a bit more spiritual here then I normally do on this site, but after mixing more than several thousand services professionally, I’m really passionate about this from first-hand experience.  Mixing worship is a beautiful dance that happens with every note between the musician on stage, the engineer creating the mix, the audience who is participating, and the Holy Spirit who is hopefully moving throughout the room.  A weakness or mis-step in any one of these areas will hinder the overall experience.  Try having an engaging worship experience without the Holy Spirit being present and tell me how that turns out.  Expect amazing worship with a disconnected audience and while the musicians may enjoy themselves, the overall room will suffer.  Really great music played by great musicians with a really responsive, great mix takes the experience for the audience to an entirely different level.  I believe all music and the emotions stirred within us as we engage come directly from God, so really this dance applies to any great music experience.  Stand in a stadium as U2 plays “Where The Streets Have No Name” and tell me that God isn’t behind the feelings you’re experiencing.  No Way!  Experience Fleetwood Mac playing “Don’t Stop Thinkin About Tomorrow” with the USC Marching Band and tell me that isn’t a spiritual experience.  No way!

When you put IEMs in your ears or headphones on your head while you mix, you are altering that balance between those four pillars in a fundamental way.  It is impossible for you to react to what is happening in the room the same when you are disconnected artificially from what’s happening in the space.  Yes you can put ambience mics into your reference mix and technically you are hearing the “audience” while you mix, but in no way is this the same thing.  You’re removing the intangible, inexplainable spirit from mixing and trying to replace it with a “technical” solution that while on paper is giving you the same technical experience, IT IS NOT THE SAME!  You might as well be outside of the room and mixing from a video monitor of the room.  There is no end to this slippery slope.

The only compromising solution I’ve ever experienced that will improve the mix location while still keeping you somewhat connected to the room is nearfield monitors at FOH, delayed back to the PA so they are time-aligned.  This is still a huge compromise because it is very different having speakers within several feet of your ears vs. the rest of the audience who is 30-100 feet away from drivers, but at least in this scenario you are still connected to what is actually happening in the room.  If something goes left while you’re mixing, the likelihood of you catching it is much higher.  Personally I love having monitors at FOH vs headphones.  I have mixed that way for three years and I could never go back.  I don’t even keep a set of headphones at FOH when I’m mixing – if I need to solo something up, it goes in the monitors so it places in front of the PA soundstage for me.

Are there some people using IEM’s on tour with good results?  Sure.  There are guys doing close under-micing of every cymbal in a drum kit too but that doesn’t mean that is the best approach to a natural and dynamic drum mix.  There are lots of things being done in live audio all over the world that someone has good luck with but doesn’t deserve to be replicated widely.  I promise you that you will not find one of the greats – Robert Scovill, Joe O’Herlihy, Dave Skaff, John Cooper, Dave Kob, and countless others – mixing for long stretches of time with something covering their ears.  Those are the guys that I aspire to mix like, and if you’re serious about this art, you should too.  Just like great stage artists of our time, these engineers’ work speaks for itself.

“The difference between greatness and mediocrity is not measured by the quality of the tools but by the quality of the approach.” – Robert Scovill, 2008 I believe @ Willow Creek Arts Conference

Here’s my point. It’s way too easy nowadays with all of the tools at our disposal to make mixing an intellectual, artificial, explainable task. We snapshot and program everything, we virtual soundcheck from a static performance for hours and hours, we use racks of plug-ins and outboard processing that would have never been available even 5 years ago, all in search of elusive greatness.  It’s human nature to take something that is unexplainable and try to make it explainable and repeatable.  I read many blog posts, magazine articles, and podcasts from experts with the best intentions every month, but the result way too often tries to make the inexplainable explainable.  Playing and mixing music is not an intellectual and repeatable task.  It’s mysterious…what works one day doesn’t necessarily the next.  The band doesn’t play the same every time.  The mix doesn’t develop the same every time from your snapshots.  Mixing is every bit a skill and an art that no matter how long you work to perfect, you cannot wrangle fully.  There’s always something new to learn, something new to adapt to. That’s what I love about what I do.

I challenge you with everything I have to embrace the tension of this beautiful dance.  It is not comfortable and it is not easy, but that’s part of the fun.  If your mix position is awful, I would argue there is NOTHING more important to address in your technical budget.  The reality is that people will tolerate poor lighting and poor video because neither are invasive to their person, but bad audio will keep a visitor from coming back to your church or a fan from buying another ticket to your show.  Can we fix every PA problem?  Certainly not – budgets often don’t allow it.  I mixed on an aged EAW KF650 rig for three years, 5 services a week, so I know well the frustration of knowing what the mix could be if it were only coming through a better transmission system.  If you have to come up with a creative solution to get you by until you can fix the real problem as Mike has done, by all means do whatever it takes to get the best audio you can get.

But I will disagree with you you every time if we’re considering mixing IEMs a superior technique outside of these compromised scenarios.  Master the art of mixing.  Only snapshot the bare minimum of what you can’t physically mix by hand.  If the band isn’t going to play it the same every time, why should you mix it the same each time through programming, plug-ins, and snapshots?  Plug-ins are an incredible tool, but run away from anything that takes you too far into the analytical brain and away from listening, mixing, and experiencing like a fan.

“Mix like a pro but listen like a fan. Always try to gain more of the listener’s perspective and turn off the analytical brain” – Scovill from the same conference.  This quote has always stuck with me.

Thank you for considering my perspectives and sticking with me through such a long post.  This actually sets up well the conversation we’re going to have next week at Gurus of Tech in Chicago on Mixing – It’s an Art, not a Plug-In.  I’d welcome dialog about this topic either here on the blog, via Twitter, or offline.

As you can imagine, it required a tremendous amount of detail to pull off an event like this.  I’ve received a bunch of requests to release the production documents and so here we go.  I think most of this will speak for itself so maybe it would be best to just open up the comments section to questions if there are any.

Production Binder (49 pages, includes room drawings, script, input lists, lighting notes…given to everyone on the crew)

Worship Information (the specific information for the worship team)

Crew Information (the specific information given to the crew approx 3 weeks before the event)

I’m sure there are better ways to do most of this, but I’m just showing you my way.  There were some lessons that came out of this, especially with the service documents themselves.

There are a ton of people on stage throughout the service.  A TON.  I went back and forth on how best to document this – using generic VOX1, VOX2, E/G 1, E/G 2 titles or using everyone’s names.  I eventually settled on names as I knew this would be best for all of our volunteers who would be operating.  However, this was not best for the Majestic Crew who didn’t know anyone by name.  Especially in audio world with so many mixes, it would have been easier for them had I created a version of specific documents that was more generic.

The production schedule was intimidating to create.  Because we were trying to keep our catering numbers as low as we could, we had to make sure as many people as possible had time in the schedule to go off site and eat.  We kept the on-site number to under 40 in most meals and this was a huge win for our budget.

The script was created in Numbers so it would translate easily to iPads, the building maps done in OmniGraffle, and Majestic drawings in AutoCAD, and most of the credentials lists done in Google Docs.  One note about that…we use Google Docs extensively at New Life Church and normally it is an awesome tool.  However, once we got on site at Verizon, internet connectivity was extremely spotty and inconsistent.  I’m REALLY glad that all of the important documents were created outside of Google Docs so we were able to maintain access.

Again, if you have questions, feel free to ask in the comments section.

We interrupt this series on #DECADE for a quick blip on Gurus of Tech in Chicago.  If you’ve never heard of it before, Gurus is what I would consider, for lack of a better term, a grass roots organization of church production artists from all over the country who gather a few times a year regionally for education, networking, and encouragement.  In the past, events have happened twice a year – once around NAB and once in the summer in Kentucky.  The team at Willow Creek so graciously stepped up this year to host an event in Chicago that is happening next week.  Due to the close proximity to DECADE that just wrapped up two weeks ago, plus my wedding anniversary all falling within the timeframe of Gurus, I had decided a few weeks ago to pass this time around.

Thanks to some gentle last minute prodding from friends and my amazing wife’s full blessing, plans have changed and I’m looking forward to attending my first Guru event.  On top of that, apparently there was a cancellation on the speaking team and so I was asked to join a panel with my good friends Dave Stagl and Scott Ragsdale to discuss “Mixing – it’s an art, not a plug-in”.  As a fan of great mixing, I’m really looking forward to hearing the other guys’ opinions on the questions we’re going to be asked as its a topic I think we’re all really passionate about.  It should be a fun time on Monday night.

If you were planning to just catch Guru’s the next time around as I was, I strongly encourage you to reconsider.  I just heard this morning that now over 500 have registered for the event so I’m sure this is going to be well worth your time, even just from a networking and relationship standpoint.  I, for one, am really looking forward to finally putting names and faces together with some longtime readers and Twitter friends.

If you’re going to be at Gurus, please make sure and come introduce yourself.  See you there!

I’m in the middle of a series documenting the process for DECADE, New Life Church’s tenth anniversary service we recently completed.  If you missed the first two parts, make sure and catch it in the archives.

It was really important to us to maintain the look and feel of New Life Church even though we were doing an event in a potentially larger than life venue.  So we very intentionally selected a level of production system that would be the right fit for the space, especially in regards to the audio system, while not being so over the top that it would overshadow the content of the service itself.  The service was really just a longer version of our normal weekend and we wanted the production to match.  So no LED walls, a modest lighting rig that could provide beauty and wow, again without being over the top.  The most striking part of the entire set was the huge 22ft x 6ft letters that spelled out DECADE.  There will be a whole separate post on that from our set designer, Angie Brown, at a later date.  We went the direction of these letters to give the whole stage a NLC feel by creating something stunning in a “non-tech” way.  Often times those of us in production think the only way to create wow is through the latest and greatest technology…LEDs, versa tubes, Chroma Q, you name it.  Our creative team was 100% correct with this one that often times the best and most impactful design maintains simplicity and achieves the wow in the most low-tech way possible.

For those of you who are interested in the nuts and bolts of the systems you will see in the event video, here’s the overview.

Audio

(64) D&B J-Series Loudspeakers & Subwoofers in the air
(14) D&B B2 Subwoofers on the ground
(47) D&B D12 Amplifiers
56,400 Watts of amplifier power
46 input channels
FOH – Avid D-Show Profile w/Protools HD system
Monitors – Yamaha PM5D
26 Channels of Shure UHF-R Wireless Mics & Sennheiser G3 Wireless In-Ears
56 Channel Whirlwind Snake with 3-Way Transformer Splitter
(4) 16 Channel Whirlwind Sub-Snakes

Lighting

(32) Martin Mac 2000 Profile/Wash, Martin Mac 600 Moving Lights
(28) Martin Stagebar 54S LED Wash fixtures
(12) Arri 2k 10” Fresnels
(12) ETC Source 4
(6) Thomas Crowd Abuse Lights
Whole Hog III Console
ETC SmartFade 1248 Console
DF-50 Hazer with Fan

Video

(2) Barco SLM R12+ Projectors (12,000 ANSI Lumens)
(2) Draper 12ft x 21ft Projection Screens
(4) Panasonic 58”/42” Plasma TVs
(5) Panasonic HPX-370 Cameras
Panasonic HS450N 16 Input HD Switcher

Stage

One of the most important values we had in organizing the crew for DECADE was to utilize as many of our volunteers as possible.  We knew there would be many areas of load-in and load-out where we would need to rely on the Majestic crew and local hired hands, as no one on our team has experience in rigging or large builds of this scope.  However, once we got to the service execution portion, the ultimate goal was to give our core leaders the chance to raise the bar, work with some of the best of the best in the Majestic team, and hopefully be challenged to take what they learn back to our regular services.

With this in mind, we created the crew roster with lots of redundancy in roles – partly to involve as many people as we could and partly to ensure many hands make light work.  Looking back, I think the staffing level was just about right.  I’m not sure I would have changed anything.

Here’s the overview of the positions we filled with our team…

- Service Producer & 3 Assistants – lead the service elements, content, and overall direction of the service, call service cues

- Production Manager & 2 Assistants – lead the production of the event by interfacing with the production vendor & crew, venue, local union stagehands, and NLC Wired team

- Stage Manager & 2 Assistants – manage the event production script, maintain the schedule for rehearsals, manage stage transitions and people to/from stage

- A1, A2, A3 – positioned at FOH…A1 mixes the event audio for the room, A2 is the script manager – calling music cues to the A1, A3 is on com with Service Producer for video cues and countdowns

- M1, M2, M3 – positioned in monitor world…M1 mixes monitors and was from Majestic, M2 is wireless wrangler, M3 manages the stage from an audio perspective – communicating monitor changes, making sure everything goes as planned

- Audio Assistants x2 – all things audio…stage setup, runners, cabling, band setup, you name it.

- LD – lighting designers and operators came from Majestic.  I didn’t think we had anyone on our team who was ready for this challenge so we leaned heavily on Majestic in this area.  This was definitely the right call as evidenced by the LD walking out of the venue on Saturday night before I did with a completely programmed, gorgeous lighting show.

- Video Director – from Majestic

- Video Assistants x2 – script management, calling shots and keeping up with what is coming next, knowing names for our people on stage, maintaining the NLC look and feel.

- ProPresenter x2 – we set out to use two ProPresenter machines…one for anything lower third and one for full screen playback.  We ended up only using one machine but we were prepared for two.

- Shader – operating the camera CCUs

- Camera Operators x5 – camera positions were two center, two handheld (one stage left and one stage right with tripods to land in during the message), and the 30ft Cam Mate Jib (operated by Majestic)

- Each camera had a grip assistant assigned.  This person’s function differed based on the camera.  For handhelds, they fed cable, kept the op’s path clear, and so on.  For stationary cams, it gave us a backup in case anyone needed relief or couldn’t come through for some reason.  We tried to get as many of these people seat time behind the camera as we could.

- Stage Crew x2 – these guys handled any moves needed on stage during transitions.  Mic stands, table and stool on and off, communion elements to the pastor, etc.

So if you are keeping track, that equals 9 team members from Majestic:  production manager, 3 audio, 3 lighting, 2 video and 30 staff and volunteers from NLC actually operating the event.  Add an additional 10 or 12 stagehands helping with the DECADE letters load-in and other projects around the arena and you get a sense of the scope we’re talking about.

In wrapping up this part, I have to brag on these people a bit.  I’ve been doing this production thing professionally for over 10 years now.  In that time, I’ve worked in large and small churches, arenas and theaters with lots and lots of different people – union/non-union, staff/volunteer, you name it.  I’m convinced I’ve never been more proud of a team than our Wired team serving at DECADE and what God allowed us to experience and accomplish for Him and for NLC – the way everyone stepped up, gave this event everything they’ve got, rolled through the changes and challenges, dealt with the nerves and uncertainty of producing something so epic, and served so gracefully through it all.  DECADE would have never happened without every one of this team serving and giving of themselves to something that is far bigger than any of us and worth our entire life!

From New Life Church:  Neil Greathouse, Nathan Pruzaniec, Bryan Barnard, Drew Spurgers, Kyle Basham, Jenna Wilson, Jason Hollis, Mindy Corder, Jade Gay, Emily Stockdale, Seth Jeffrey, Ken Barnes, Jack Benson, Nick Keith, Everett Ellis, Markus Turkia, Shelly Weir, Pamela Floyd, John Sketoe, Brent Hill, Robert Floyd, Derek Lewis, George Perkins, Bill Cunningham, Jim Rice, Doug Avra, Braeden Gregg, Gary Morrison, Brett Brownderville.

From Majestic Productions:  Ryan Bates, Jeremy Dodd, Derek Seal, Christian Hahn, Joey Davis, Ethan Frazier, Kyle Shepherd, Jeremy Seawell, Chris Ferrari

Thank you everyone!!

If you’ve been following my twitter for the past few months, you’ve seen me refer to the most challenging project I’ve ever been involved with or led, New Life Church’s tenth anniversary service called DECADE.  My role for this event was to lead the execution of the production at Verizon Arena in Little Rock, with 9 contracted production staff, 21 local union stagehands, riggers, and electricians, and 41 volunteers from the New Life Church Wired team.  I’m going to take a few posts to detail much of the process that went into this event in hopes it will be helpful to other churches considering undertaking a similar type of event.

To celebrate ten years as a church, I first learned of the vision last summer to host a service where we could have everyone from our 5 campuses together under one roof.  In Arkansas, there are only several venues that could hold that size of a crowd so we quickly knew we were headed to Verizon.  The arena has an in-the-round capacity of just over 16,000 or just over 13,000 in an end-stage configuration.

The most important decision was the production company we would partner with for audio, video, and lighting systems.  I knew all along we would need to hire someone – there was no way we had the kind of inventory, resources, or expertise necessary to even consider doing the event ourselves.  In early fall I interviewed 6 different options, both local and national.  From the document presented to our executive team when we made our final choice, my criteria in selecting a provider included:

- Single point of contact production company to be solely responsible for entire event (audio/video/lighting)

- Large worship team (including ensemble) = 48 channel audio system with separate monitor desk, large scale arena PA system (d&b, Meyer, etc)

- Lighting system to deliver similar experience to what we create at the GLR campus (modest moving lights, bright colorful stage, excellent lighting for video)

- 2 large screens on each side of stage for video playback & IMAG (21’ x 12’, 12k lumens minimum).  Lyrics to be keyed at the bottom of the screen over live video during worship.

- Multi-camera IMAG system with Jib for side screens & capture

- Multi-track audio recording and video capture capability so we can capture the event for potential future release (worship CD recording, highlight reel to web, etc)

In the end, we hired Majestic Productions based in Summitville, IN and this was by far the best decision we’ve ever made.  During the interview and bidding process it was clear that Ryan Bates and his team “got” our event in ways others missed.  Their bid was the most complete, including things not even on my radar that I would need such as a 4 channel com system, confidence monitoring, video distribution gear to the building, etc.  Ryan and Majestic acted as our single point of contact and him and I spent much time on the phone from October until the event in February.

Even if you’ve never heard of Majestic, I promise you that you are familiar with their work.  Since 1997, the Majestic team has provided production for events such as Passion, Catalyst conferences and Catalyst West , Orange, Youth Specialties, Chris Tomlin, Jeremy Camp, Gaither Homecoming, Hillsong United, and on and on.  For an event like DECADE, it was important to me that our partner be completely comfortable with what we were trying to accomplish as I knew the timeframe for rehearsal would be tight, we hoped to utilize as many of our Wired volunteers as possible, and expertise was everything in getting it right the first time.  It was comforting to our whole team that while this event was a huge deal to us, it was just another service to the Majestic team.

Over this series we’re going to first talk about production systems, then crew, the documentation we created, and finally some media samples from the service.  Come back tomorrow for the next post…

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Well as you can tell, the flow of posts has recently come to a halt.  While waiting for things to kick back in again soon, I just experimented with my first official foray into the LD chair in addition to mixing audio and have some photos to share.  Newlifechurch.tv recently hosted our first ever 2-day Woman conference and I programmed all of the visual looks for each of the sessions during rehearsals in addition to mixing audio for the actual event.  It was a rewarding experience to be able to use a completely different part of the brain but I also confirmed that audio is the lifegiving seat for me.

Enjoy!  I’m posting an audio clip from the session 1 opener as well as the photo gallery.