Putting your screen elements together

Hey tech fans,

Its worship time and you are looking into a program to use to put together all the visual elements you want to use. There are a couple of different programs out there for your to choose from. Some of the more popular include:

MediaShout

Easyworship

SundayPlus

SongShow Plus

Worship Him

For a more complete listing and review of many of the possible softwares go here.

These programs each have different features that are unique to them, but most of them have some kind of que list function, a library function, and ability to enter new songs. Many of the programs have a trial version that can be downloaded. I highly reccomend downloading the trial before buying one. Try it with your service to check functionality and how well you can adapt to it. Try several different softwares before settling on one as the comparison will be helpful un making your decision. You might also look into what other users are saying on forums about the various worship softwares.

Another training resource

Hey tech fans. I was surfing across the internet checking out sound systems for churches when I stumbled upon another training resource for church sound. I have not read this one personally, but from the reviews others are giving it and the credentials of the authors, I would say it is a must have when training your church sound engineer. This book would also be put to good use as a general reference book when it comes to church sound and acoustics. The authors are Joseph De Buglioand and Blake Engel, who have set up many church sound systems in many different denominations around the world. You can purchase the book alone for $120 or the book and a cd that contains pdf files with color graphics of everything in the book for use on your work station pc. As this is the 3rd edition of the book you can be assured that it has been revised and tested. One advantage of this book is that it tells you when you need to seek professional help to fix a problem and when you can fix it yourself. Even though this book is a bit more pricy than the one in the previous entry, I would recomend spending the money on it. When you have sound technicians that understand the principles behind what they do, they can end up saving a church body a lot of money by avoiding costly system mistakes. Happy reading and remember, good, well trained people are worth more than fancy expensive equipment.

Choosing the right system

So you have decided to replace, upgrade, or install a new sound system. If you have taken my advice from the last couple of posts, you have invested some time and a little bit of money into the people who will be running your sound system. Great. Now it is time to choose the correct system for your needs. There are a couple of providers out there, so shop around. Some sites you can research on are:
AudioLinkServices
JdB Sound
A well designed sound system can be the difference between actually hearing what is being said, or sung, and hearing feedback, static, and other spirits that like to live in sound systems. Some things to remember when designing your system:

Put the speakers in front of where the microphones will be. Many churches, feeling they need to preserve the aeshetics of the sactuary chose to hide the speakers or to place them in acoustically inappropriate places. If you place microphones in front of where your speakers are, you create a feedback loop. The microphones will pick up unwanted noise from the speakers.

Choose the right equipment. This seems obvious, but many times a church will buy equipment without consulting a sound technician or someone who has some knowledge of how to put together a working system. These churches either end up returning the equipment they bought, usually at a loss, or just make due with it.

When buying microphones, consider their use. Some microphones are designed for speaking while others are better suited to picking up music or singing.

These are just a few things that should be considered or looked into when designing a sound system for you local church body.

Sounds Good To Me

Hey all you tech fans out there. Worship these days, in many churches, is tending more toward a garage style band with drums, guitars, basses, etc. which is being brought about by the younger generations outcry for worship music that is meaningful and authentic to them. This is well and good; worship should change with the times and peoples who are doing it. One setback for many older churches, however, is the need for an electric sound system to incorporate the electric instruments and the new style of worship into the service. The current systems in use for some churches have speaking microphones, maybe a few microphones for picking up vocals from singers, but for the most part they lack the knowledge and equipment to set up a system that can handle the new style.

If I can offer a word of advice, before investing in a sound system, whether upgrade from an older system or installing for the first time, invest some of your resources into the people who will be running the system in your assembly. Peavey authored an excellent guide on church audio. You can pick it up from your local music store or from a Peavey dealer for about $10. This book is an excellent guide for anyone looking to learn more about how a sound system works. What makes it even better is that it is specifically engineered for the church sound or tech person with articles including the topics of the role of a church sound person and mics in the church setting including lapel and postern mics. This manual strives to educate the church lay sound volunteer on how the system they use works. It can get a bit technical at points, but for the most part it uses language that is easy to understand and offers a glossary in the back for looking up terms used.

Peavey also offers workshops periodically to train and discuss the topics in the manual. To find out if one is being held in your area, contact you local Peavey dealer. The Peavey website can help you find your local dealer: http://www.peavey.com/support/dealerlocator/.

Should we use technology?

I know I am opening up a can of worms, but there has been some debate as to whether the Church, God's called out people, should use the emerging technology to our advantage or are the old ways good enough. The status quo says that the old way of doing things was fine. Word of mouth and regular acoustic were good enough for those that went before us, so why do we need to change with the world around us. First of all I should point out that while we, as Christians, are not of this world, we still live in it. In order to reach the world we live in, we need to use the tools the world uses so they can come to understand us and we them. We live in a world of technology, and it would be irresponsible for Christians to turn a blind eye to it. If we are not affecting technology, then technology is affecting us.

There are a variety of tools out there that we can make use of and in the coming post I hope to find and explore those tools. I know there is need as evidenced by the voice of one of my fellow bloggers (below is a link to his blog).

Radical Congruency

Until next we meet, keep the faith and continue the race until you reach the end.
Love,
Matthew