Gwinnett Church

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.

NLC…before & after

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.

My iPad Workflow

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?

John Cooper

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.

Values to achieve the NLC “Sound”

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.