undistract

7.20 Reverb

2008-07-22T13:14:00.007-04:00

This was the view on Sunday when I came into the church building. What a beautiful sight to begin another wonderful morning with Covenant Life Church.

Judah Groveman and Zelos led us in singing, and Robin Boisvert taught us on Christian citizenship in a message called "Don't Waste Your Vote." Listen here if you haven't yet or if you were under headset in camera land.

In case you - like me - quickly forget what happened just two days ago, here is a summary of Sunday morning:

2 Songs - Judah Groveman (Sing to the King; Nothing But the Blood)
Baptisms - Joshua Harris
2 Songs - Juday Groveman (Jesus, Thank You; Hail to the King)
Announcements - Mark Mitchell
Sermon - Robin Boisvert

Overall Comment - Checklists

Thanks to everyone who has been faithfully reading, learning from, and completing the checklists we introduced back in the springtime. If you look at recent Reverb posts, you'll notice fewer probems and issues, and I think that is partially because the checklists are helping us remember what to do and are assuring we get everything done.

I did notice, however, while going over the checklists from Sunday (yes, I do see them all each week) that there were several empty checklists. Some were for positions where people didn't come in to serve. Some were for positions that people actually filled. If you served and yet didn't complete your checklist, you will be hearing from me sometime this week. The danger with checklists is that by their very use they become critical. I need you to fill them out, no exceptions.

And for the checklists that would have been covered by absentees, I have some basic direction: ultimately the person directly above them in the org chart is responsible for their tasks. Who may that be, you ask? Check out the org chart for the auditorium production teams here. This means the camera director should take responsibility for a missing camera op. The audio producer should take responsibility for a missing stage tech. The executive producer takes responsibility for a missing lighting operator.

With several blank checklists, I'm surprised we had almost no problems all morning. Praise God! I'm pretty sure this means that people did appropriately take responsibility for each other. However, please do take the moment to use the checklists and fill them out. They will help you and they will help me later. Thanks!

Sound

Zelos is a younger band with a more modern sound than our normal Sunday worship team. Personally, I appreciate the more modern arrangements and I also like the changes in sound from week to week. Do you?

However, Jim asked me an excellent question as he was working on the mix: Because this is a younger band with a more modern sound, should it be louder?

No.

And maybe yes.

We should still be aiming to hit our normal sound pressure levels, around 95-98 dBC. Please don't push it just because it is a more modern-sounding band.

However, there will likely be a sense in which it will seem louder to some. I was absolutely confident that Jim stayed within reasonable limits on Sunday, but we still got one complaint about it being too loud.

I suspect that is because not everyone differentiates between style and volume. Sometimes a more solid kick/bass foundation can equate to "louder." Sometimes more electric guitar can seem louder, too. In this sense, I do want it to be "louder," if that is what the band's arrangement calls for. As sound mixers, we should be seeking to replicate the musical style that the band is producing, not necessarily the "normal" Covenant Life sound (whatever that may be) or even our preferred styles. Thanks, Jim, for doing this very well last Sunday.

One quick staging note for the sound crew: Whenever possible, musicians should take their instruments with them when they are done playing. I was so happy that all three guitars ended up in the green room after the 1st service singing concluded. But that left two things on stage: one drum set and one lonely, fragile violin in the middle of the floor. While the musician's are ultimately responsibile for the care of their instruments, the sound crew can serve by reminding people to take their stuff with them.

Lighting

Lighting was very smooth this weekend. Phil had everything aimed and programmed in a couple hours and everything ran as planned during the services. Thanks, my man!

Video

Video, too, was very smooth. The slides went great. Robbie, Dennis, and Sylvia worked out their own plan for side screen slides. What was that, folks? We could all learn from how you did it.

Baptisms went well, especially considering that we had no camera 5 operator. It would be wise for all video folks to review the preset shot order for baptisms here. One question came up from our house director about when to go to blank logo between baptisms. To clarify, blanking the screens is not a modesty issue if the final shot from camera 1 is wide enough to prevent immodesty. Blanking the screens is primarily to avoid the awkardness of people getting into and out of the pool. That means that there can be a pause between seeing the wide shot on camera 1 and the screens going blank. Don't wait too long, but definitely avoid the "stacked dissolve" where the camera director dissolves to camera 1 and then the house director immediately dissolves away to blank.

You Talk!

Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Comment away...

7.13 Reverb

2008-07-15T09:49:00.004-04:00

This was an exciting week and weekend at Covenant Life Church. Last Thursday, we launched our new website; on Friday, at the monthly One Meeting for singles, we were Undone, like Isaiah in God's temple; and Sunday we learned how to not waste our humor.

Fairly soon, God-willing, I'll post on the website launch. It's been a lot of work, but I believe the additional online sermons are going to be a blessing to the church and to others outside Covenant Life. We already have reports of people downloading entire series of messages at a time.

For now, I'll just mention the most exciting aspect of the new resource library to me: near-immediate posting. For the major church events, you will now see sermons in the resource library almost immediately after the meeting ends. The One Meeting was available as of midnight on Friday and the Sunday sermon was available at 4:05pm on Sunday afternoon. Say good-bye to waiting until Tuesday for sermons from that last weekend!

If you missed the sermon this weekend, you can listen to it here.

As a reminder, here are the elements of this Sunday's service:

Singing led by Mike Bradshaw
Communion, also led by Mike Bradshaw
Announcements by Joshua Harris
Sermon by CJ Mahaney

And now, my thoughts on the technical production for the morning:

Sound
Honestly, I have zero notes whatsoever about sound for the services. Silence is approval in this case. Many thanks to Mitch and his crew for helping this Sunday go off without a hitch. One thing I'll mention is that I like the five-vocal ensemble sound that Mike and his band are creating with Ken's help. Would you agree?

Lighting
I loved the look of the backdrop this weekend. We changed the style and color of the fabric of the panels right behind the preacher, and we lowered the light level on everything except the artwork to 35%. It looked great. Craig, which backdrop lights did you gel and what colors?

One note for all lighting operators from the worship team: we will be placing vocalists much closer to the front edge of the stage in the near future. As we encourage them to engage with the congregation and be more expressive (aka move around), we'll need to make sure that the lighting areas fill downstage more than we have in the past.

Video
The video was really smooth this weekend. There were a couple transitions that could have been improved, but I heard Ed and Matt discussing them immediately after they happened. Thanks, guys, for grabbing each opportunity to improve. You did a great job.

Also, there was a little hickup in the slide order because of a last-minute change, but the team adapted beautifully. In order to make this even more smooth, we will soon be introducing a new slide presentation software called ProPresenter. ProPresenter will allow the playback ops to see all their slides and select the one they want with the mouse, similar to the way lyric operators use SundayPlus. (Sidenote: SundayPlus operators may want to check out ProPresenter also, since we may switch over our lyrics computers, too, in the long run.)

This feels like a short post. That must mean it was a smooth Sunday. What did I miss? Please post your thoughts and comments here.

Worship Service Faux Pas

2008-07-08T11:18:00.003-04:00

Since I'm in the mood for posting links, Daniel Darnell of Collide Magazine has posted 10 worship service faux pas, which are worth considering. There are five here and five there. I know that we've been guilty of 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 at Covenant Life. What do you think of this list?

6.29 and 7.6 Reverb

2008-07-08T10:23:00.002-04:00

Because I was on vacation for these last couple weeks, I won't be posting an official Reverb review of the last two Sundays.

I do want to mark an historic moment, though: On July 6th, for the first time since I became Covenant Life Technical Director, I attended Covenant Life as a regular participant. I came in with my family, took my kids to their Discovery Land classrooms, sang without knowing the songlist, listened to the sermon, picked up my kids, and fellowshipped with friends. And I did all that without any specific responsibilities or even a radio earpiece in my ear "just in case."

I want to take a moment to thank my Assistant Tech Director, Ben, for his many hours of effort over the last couple weeks. His work allowed me to be leave without the usual extra days of pre-vacation buildup, and he offered me an extra day off on this last Sunday. What a blessing for me and for my family. Thanks, Ben.

Also, in lieu of a Reverb post, I thought I'd post a couple other blog items I noticed over the last couple weeks:

CJ Mahaney posts about Al Mohler's thoughts on the Gospel and Art.
Mike discusses what he learned about "How to Keep Volunteers" (pt1, pt2) at the Willow Arts Conference.
Ryan gives some good instructions on what a music team should do when the song lyrics aren't right. It's a great example of the significant role of lyrics operators in music leadership.

6.15 and 6.22 Reverb

2008-06-24T19:39:00.003-04:00

It may seem like the reverb is muted these days and that life in the Covenant Life production teams mix is really dry. For that I apologize. I've been trying to cram entire weeks into a few days in order to take extra time off. Last Thursday and Friday I attended the wedding of one of my wife's friends. This weekend we're off to Louisville to visit my father, step-mother, grandmother, and step-sister. Please forgive me for missing last week's post and for combining the two into one today.

The last two weeks were the final messages in our sermon series on the Psalms. Don Devries spoke on fatherhood on the 15th out of Psalm 78 and Brian Chesemore spoke on the worshiper out of Psalm 95. If you missed either message, they are already available online here. Just a note to interested parties: Covlife.org 4.0 - our new website - launches this coming Sunday, so goodbye sermons page. Hello, resource library.

The last two Sundays were a couple of the smoothest in recent record, and I don't think that's just because I've forgotten so much in the posting delay. In light of how well they went (and how much I have forgotten), I won't go into area by area critique. Here are some of the points worth mentioning, though.

A Sunday Off - On the 15th, I had my first Sunday "off" ever while I was in town. Ben and Bram led all the aspects of the Sunday meeting. I had a radio on, but I just sat with my wife during the first service and tried to stay out of the way in the second. This coming Sunday, June 29th, Ben will lead while I'm on vacation, and probably in July I'll have my first "normal" Sunday experience in a very long time. Thanks, guys!!

Baptisms - The baptisms were fantastic this weekend. We didn't miss any microphones thanks to Nate and Julie. And the camera shots worked the best yet. We set up a rigid shot structure for the baptisms, which I think is worth mentioning here:

Worship leader asks people to sit - Cam 1 tight on worship leader
Introduce baptisms - Cam 4 tight on pastor
Testimony - Cam 4 tight on the baptism candidate
"In light of your profession..." - Cam 5 three-shot of pastors and candidate
Out of the water - Cam 1 medium wide shot for modesty
House director takes blank "logo" slide live
Next person gets in - Cam 2 wide shot for transition.
Next Testimony - Cam 4 tight on the speaker
House director takes cameras live
Repeat steps 3 through 9 until last person comes out of water, then replace step 6 with..
House director takes lyrics live for immediate singing

We will go over this again with each camera crew as baptisms arise in the future.

Window Blinds Open - Due to popular demand, we tried running videos the last few weeks with the window blinds open. Did anyone notice? If so, what did you think? Please, please, leave your comments here. We really do need your reply on this one (because our staff is torn).

The Choir Returns - Not only did we have a choir this Sunday, but we had a choir that returned after the sermon. Nate, Patrick, and Christie were flying to get those mics back up during the sermon's closing prayer. Thanks for knocking it out, and thanks to Dave - one of our combo choir/sound volunteers - for making the last-minute adjustments on them.

One quick thought on being on stage: When any tech volunteer goes up on stage, it is helpful if you communicate two things with your body language and facial expression: 1) I'm supposed to be here; 2) I'm happy to be here. In other words, stand up straight, walk with purpose, and smile (you may just be on camera!).

That is really all I have to share at this point. Maybe I'll think of more details and post them in the comments. But I know you have some more thoughts, so add them.

6.8 Reverb

2008-06-10T09:13:00.005-04:00

Praise God for another wonderful Sunday at Covenant Life Church! I always enjoy Youth Sunday, when we get to hear and see how God has been at work in our high school students. Thanks to all the volunteers who made this weekend happen.

Here's a rundown of the morning to refresh your memory:

Singing let by Brett
Announcements by Adam
Senior Challenges by Sarah, Tim, and Josh
One fine sermon by Matt Maka (listen here soon)
A review of the 10:31 awards. Congrats John and Julie

Equipment Malfunctions

Before we get into some executional notes, I wanted to mention that we had an interestingly rough weekend when it came to equipment failures. These issues may be related to the two power outages that we encountered due to last week's storms. Or they may be unrelated. But in any case, I thought it might be wise to let you all know what happened, so that we'll all be prepared to handle these types of things in the future.

Unsynced Audio/Video Switching - The graphics switcher controller had been having some issues all week, and a new one came up on Sunday. The controller on the table was not able to change the switch type (audio, video, or both) on the actual switcher in the rack. The solution was to reboot the system by powering off all three units (two graphics switcher and controller) and then restarting them (graphics switchers first and then controller). I still had to manually set the switch type to "both" (A/V) on the graphic switcher, but the switcher then followed the controller correctly.
Sound System Power Sequencer - Kenneth came up to me at the beginning of the first service saying that the sound system didn't seem to be working correctly on the left side of the house where he was standing. I was skeptical at first, but after a visit to his seat, I thought he could be right. I went back into the amp racks, and - sure enough - two amps for the left side of the system were not powered on. I wiggled a couple of the relay cables on our power sequencer, and - "click" - they came back on. Good ears, Kenneth! For the time being, there will be an added item on the audio producer checklist to confirm that all the amplifiers are powered on.
Camera 2 Intercom - For some reason the camera two intercom wasn't working at the beginning of the first service. Everything was set correctly. The solution was to press the camera power source select switch further into its correct position (up to RM). It's a little scary that it was in position but not fully engaged, but it seemed to work for the rest of the morning without any problems. If this happens again, please make sure I know since we'll need to have the camera serviced. Also, checking the intercom is a part of each camera operators checklist. We could have resolved this earlier, if we had checked it before the service.
Acoustic Guitar Wireless Connection - For the sake of stage cleanliness, we ran the acoustic guitar completely wireless on Sunday. However, it ended up not working throughout the first service. The wireless transmitter was functioning correctly and the cable was connected tightly, so Mitch suspected the problem was in the guitar itself. I never heard where that ended up. Does anyone know what actually happened, and was it ever fully resolved?
Camera Image Frozen - A small thing that I still can't explain occurred during the senior challenges: the camera image froze for about five seconds on the center screen. Any ideas why that happened?
Video Projector Lamp Explosion - To my shock and disappointment, the video projector lamp exploded between services. Please read more here.
DVD Video Input Sizing - Probably due to the power outage, the graphics switcher lost the sizing information for our DVD player. During the first service, several of the lower third names were cut off on the sides. I resized these during the second service without any problem. Video folks, if you see this happen during rehearsal, please let me know, so that I can resolve it before everyone else sees it, too.
Ultimate Support Keyboard Stand Collapsed - As we were tearing down after the services, I heard a crash in the sound storage closet. Mitch was putting the P120 keyboard away, and the ultimate support keyboard stand loosened and began sliding/falling down the stand, eventually dumping the keyboard on the floor. Thankfully, Mitch was unharmed, and he somehow managed to brace the P120 for the impact. This is the second time something similar has happened, and I think I know why: the new rolling keyboard cart is the culprit. Sort of. I don't think those keyboard stands were intended to hold keyboards for long periods of time (days on end) without being retightened. Add to that fact that we often put sideways pressure on the attachment when we push the whole cart by the end of the keyboard. Over time this will loosen the attachment point. So, for now, let's make sure not to push the cart by the keyboard itself. Push the cart or the primary upright support.

Now, to be honest, with all these things going on throughout the morning, I had little time or energy left to make notes on the actual execution of the service, but here are a few thoughts. Make sure to leave yours here, too.

Overall Comments

While I thought everything went well this last Sunday, I did have the sense that things were a little less "fine-tuned" than usual: missing a couple mic cues, lyrics coming up late, video elements coming up on the wrong screens. It could be that I didn't do my due diligence to lead the Youth Department in finalizing the Sunday details appropriately. But I think, too, that we were either a little overwhelmed or a little too loose mentally. Anyone agree or disagree?

Sound

Special thanks go to Mitch's sound crew for handling the whole morning minus two people! Their team is naturally short a person and then they had one person call in very sick. Setup went smoothly, and it seemed like rehearsal did also. Any notes from the sound crew?

Dave, I am really liking your mixes these days. I didn't get to listen intensely critically, but I was really happy with the overall feel of the mix. The bass sounded nice, I could hear the guitars, and I could follow Brett's vocal easily. Do know what decibel level we were maxing out at? It seemed reasonable to me, but I did get a couple "complaints" that it was louder than usual. I think they were sensing the intensity of the bass more than the overall volume.

Lighting

David, it was great getting to spend a casual evening setting up on Saturday. Thanks for sharing a bit of your life and for your personal encouragement. I have zero lighting notes from this weekend, so consider this silence as approval, and feel the pleasure of God in your service.

Video

I only have one note for the video crew: we have a system issue that I have yet to resolve that affects how we roll-in videos. The audio doesn't always dissolve correctly when we transition from a source to the BLK input (and vice versa). If you want to dissolve from black into or out of a video, make sure to choose another input that is blank rather than BLK (usually In8 will work fine). Let me know if you have any questions.

Your Comments Needed

Now it's your turn. Send your comments in here.

Video Explosion

2008-06-08T14:19:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately, the title of this post is not hyperbole for an increase in the use of video in Covenant Life's Church services. We literally had an explosion this Sunday.

Our main video projector lamp exploded, as you can see in these pictures.

Most of the glass remained in the lamp housing, but enough of the smaller pieces came through two layers of vents to make a mess on the floor. The speckles on the black rack in the picture above are shards of glass left over after we vacuumed.

I'm grateful for several things, which I take as gifts from God:

This is our rear-projection screen, so the glass didn't come down on the congregation.
The lamp exploded sometime between services, so we didn't have any down time.
We noticed the problem early enough to fix it.

Nevertheless, I have a few questions:

Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Does anyone know what might have caused this?
Less importantly, can I expect a free replacement lamp, given that we were just over 1/2 of the expected lamp life?

I am going to leave the projector manufacturer name off the post until I get to speak to the company personally. However, I will likely post again after speaking to them to let you all know how they respond.

I'm disappointed, to say the least, and this incident makes me hesitant to ever put one of these projectors out over an audience for front-projection. If we upgrade our video screen systems again, we will have to go front projection, and this situation will sway me toward other manufacturers if not sufficiently resolved.

Please leave a comment if you have any experience or suggestions on this.

Mark Dever on Videos in the Church

2008-06-06T10:38:00.003-04:00

Mark Dever of 9Marks Ministries has posted his ideas on use of videos in church services. Please read it, pray about it, consider it closely, and - if the Lord leads - comment there.

I have yet to formulate my response to his suggestions, but I know that his ideas challenge much of what we are doing at Covenant Life right now. Such challenges are great, as they sharpen my thinking on the topic.

If you have any discussion that you want to bring to undistract based on his post, comment away.

6.1 Reverb

2008-06-03T10:29:00.003-04:00

It's been a couple weeks between Reverb posts, due to Na last weekend, but it's good to be back. I want to thank Bram, Gavin, Jim, Pat, and Ken who led the tech teams during my absence on 5.25. From all reports, things went well, even if not flawlessly. Ben and I learned a lot about how to prepare for these times away.

The first Sunday services in June included the following elements:

Singing led by Mike Bradshaw
Scripture Recitation by Dave Brewer and Brian Chesemore
Announcements by Josh Harris
Pastor's College Graduation - isn't it humbling to see all the places God is taking Sovereign Grace Ministries?
A Sermon by Mark Mitchell from Psalm 139 on The Lonely (listen here soon)

The morning went very smoothly, so thanks to everyone for all the effort involved. Here are some reverberations from the weekend (which won't be complete without your comments).

Sound - Overall Comments

Setup seemed to go well this weekend. One thought: the crew - with my approval - broke to eat dinner at 6:00p before doing a line check. While that seemed like it would be plenty of time to eat and get back for line checks, it did make the arrival of the musicians a little more stressful as they set up and we tried to run line checks at the same time. I would suggest to myself and all other teams to complete both headphone and input line checks before eating dinner.

I thought the mix this weekend was great. Thanks, Dave, for making the low-end impacting but not overwhelming and for working to create a warm, full vocal ensemble sound. I think you accomplished several of the goals we've been working toward as mixers.

There are dangers with having a warm, vocal ensemble sound rather than a brighter, leader-up, bgvs-behind mix. One is loss of a worship leader's vocal direction to the congregation. A couple times I thought that Mike's direction was a little hard to hear. But I don't always trust my assessments because I have a radio earbud in one ear and a headset over the other. Any thoughts from the team?

Another DPA headset mic note. While the new headset mic is great, it seems to have a tendency to stray toward the back of the head. I'm not sure if this is just placement by the audio producers, or if it is actually moving when the pastor sings, or (most likely) both. But we need to get the mic closer to the corner of the mouth. It is more sensitive to plosives than the Countryman E6s, so it cannot be out in front of the mouth. But it needs to be closer or we won't get enough gain before feedback.

Lights - Overall Comments

I don't have any notes on lighting whatsoever. I did get a comment after the 2nd service that there was either a stray or "fallen" light in the worship cue. Let that be a reminder to do a visual double-check all cues on Sunday morning.

Video - Overall Comments

All the video elements went very smoothly this weekend also. Both DVDs read correctly in the player and their playback was flawless. Thanks, team, for not rushing either the in or the out.

I also want to thank Steven on camera 4 for implementing the recommendations on ministry mic pre-service setup that I wrote about here. The shots of the ministry mic were locked in so fast. Excellent!

My only suggestion this week is the never-ending persnickety one: I'd still like to try to get the initial camera shots up faster. Many times, this challenge gets pegged as the problem of the house directors, but the entire team can help them out. Here's the process that needs to happen:

Dave, Ben, or Bram reminds team (or informs them) that someone is coming up.
Camera director assigns camera to get shot.
Camera operator gets shot framed and focused.
Assistant director gets shot shaded correctly.
Camera director takes shot and notifies house director of ready status.
House director takes the shot to the main screen before his first word.

If we are all listening carefully and on our A game, I think we can do this in 15 seconds. Would you agree? If so, let's make this our lofty goal: If we have a 15-second notification, we will get a perfect shot up prior to the person speaking. Please post your "whoa, wait a minute!" comments.

Thanks, friends! Don't forget to share your thoughts, and do have a great week! I'll see you on Sunday, if not before.

Domain Confusion Resolved At Long Last

2008-06-03T07:23:00.002-04:00

At long last, I've finally sorted out why my old domain - www.undistract.net - was not forwarding correctly. Please forgive the empty pages that you saw over the weekend. Now, you can find undistract at all the following addresses:

http://undistract.com
http://undistract.net
http://www.undistract.com - this is the official home
http://www.undistract.net

Thanks for your patience!

Board Mixes from Na

2008-05-31T08:59:00.002-04:00

Bob Kauflin has posted some live board mixes of songs from last weekend's New Attitude conference. You can check them out here. I hope to write up some thoughts on New Attitude before it gets too far into the distant past, but for now you can at least listen. Enjoy!

www.undistract.com

2008-05-30T17:03:00.002-04:00

Strangely, after giving up on getting ahold of the url www.undistract.com when I redesigned this site, it suddenly became available yesterday. I snatched it up and now that is the home of undistract. Any links to www.undistract.net will soon forward to the new address. And the feedburner feed will update soon, too.

Na Setup Day

2008-05-23T18:17:00.004-04:00

Friday’s purpose was to get the Na main sound system up-and-running, and we got that mostly done by around 4:30p after a full day of box pushing, cable running, desk tipping, and minor noise making. You can see pictures of the room transformation here.

We are again using what has become the standard Na setup: Two Yamaha PM5D consoles at FOH and monitor world; a stereo JBL Vertec line array speaker system with twelve double-15” subwoofers.

I asked if we could arrange the subwoofers differently this year, using a technique that I learned from some friends at Clark ProMedia. Due to some limitations in space and cabling, we weren't able to do this as purely as I had hoped. However, we are going to try a close alternate. We placed four sub sources (three subs stacked) across the front of the stage at 7.5-foot intervals. I hope we'll find three benefits to this setup:

At that distance, the subwoofers combine additively at 80Hz, which is the punchy part of the sub frequency.
The group of subs then becomes a type of horizontal line array that also helps steer the sound away from the stage and into the audience just a little.
Finally, it spreads the subwoofer energy across the front of the audience, removing the power pockets in front of the pile of six subs on each side.

While we confirmed functionality of all the flown speakers, I haven't actually heard the system in action yet. We'll kick that in around 9:00a tomorrow, and I'm excited to hear the Vertecs again.

I love working on the PM5D. To be honest, the 5D is the only digital console I have experienced, so I’m not trying to make a statement of it’s comparative worth to other digital mixers. I just like it.

I did learn one thing this last year: input assignments for “fader-flip” mixers are important when you are used to mixing on analog mixers. I moved some things around this year to get my most-needed channel sliders on the front 24 channels of the mixer. No more flip-flip-flip-flip-flip all session long.

CTS Audio is the contractor providing the equipment, and I’m always grateful for their help. I'm also inspired by their ingenuity. Covenant Life stole the design of their stage power boxes and adapted it for our purposes. They have some really cool road cases, too.

Mike from CTS was great to work with, and we have a Na newcomer, Daniel, running monitors. Schwartz will arrive tonight and tune up the system in the morning. If you're coming to the conference, don't forget to thank these guys for their contribution.

Back in Louisville Na-gain

2008-05-22T22:26:00.002-04:00

The Galt House is becoming my home away from home. I was here in April for Together for the Gospel. Now I’m back for my next conference experience, New Attitude, more affectionately known as Na (pronounced “nah” or “en-ay”).

Na will be a very different experience from Together for the Gopsel. Unlike T4G, when I could listen to the messages, I will have mixing responsibilities this weekend. And unlike T4G, when we sang to one voice and a piano, this full band will be driving and loud.

I posted the input list that the Na Band requested recently. I always enjoy working with this group, since they have some very nuanced arrangements between their three keyboards, three guitars, drums, bass, and beatbox. I am really excited about the opportunity to add a seventeen-person string ensemble. One evening will have a large choir, too.

I’m also excited because the Na Band just released their first album, Looked Upon (Lu), through NAP records and Sovereign Grace Music. I’m listening to it right now and really like it. While the live band will be significantly different in instrumentation and vocal arrangements, I want to be familiar with the lines, licks, and ear candy that define the sound of Lu. Hopefully I can bring some of that same flavor into the conference mixes.

I’d summarize my two main goals for Na as these:

Clear, comfortable speech levels at every seat in the room, so that we can all hear God’s word preached without distraction.
Powerful, enveloping music, so that we find it easy to sing to God in Spirit and truth.

Please pray that God helps me to serve these young men and women well. And please pray that God changes lives as only He can do.

If you are attending the conference, stop by and say “Hello” at the sound console next to the center camera platform. If you’re staying home, I will try to post regularly during the conference. However I may not get around to it due to a packed conference schedule and lack of wifi in the main hall. You will be able to follow our progress on my twitter page. Short posts that I can send from my phone are much more reasonable to pull off in the midst of crazy days.

Let’s get goiNa!

5.18 Reverb

2008-05-20T09:57:00.004-04:00

The Psalms series returned this Sunday in full force and with the full-stage backdrop. Greg Somerville preached on The Bitter from Psalm 55. You can listen to the message here.

We also had the privilege of baptizing two people. I'm so grateful that the entire church gets to rejoice together in the way God is changing lives.

Josh also kindly provided us a video bloopers announcement moment, probably without even noticing it. During the first service, he told our guests, "... We hope this is your last time at Covenant Life..." We do?!? I'm confident it was an honest mistake, but it will likely come back up again, if you know what I mean.

As usual, I have some thoughts that reverberate from this weekend that I'd like everyone to know about. Please send in your comments, too, even if they are not related to something I have written here.

Sound

First, special thanks to Jim and Nate. All the baptism mics worked correctly! I'm sorry that we didn't tell you that Jon was supposed to wear the "rocket pack" earset mic in the first service. We'll try to be more clear on that next time.

I wasn't able to really listen to the choir this weekend, but it seemed like Jim was able to get enough gain out of them. Any thoughts, Jim or others?

It seemed like setup and rehearsal went smoothly. Again, I really wasn't there, so I'm counting on you to agree or disagree by commenting.

One quick reminder on stage setup: We need to watch out for upstage creep. The rectangles on the stage diagram are sized to indicate the person and their instrument, not the music stand. Please put the music stand downstage of the rectangle on the diagram. Here's the issue: our musicians, no matter how outgoing in real life, are wall-flowers when on stage. They always stand as far back as they possibly can while still being able to read their music. If given the opportunity, they will stand as close to the backdrop as humanly possible. This causes lighting issues, primarily glowing foreheads and uneven lighting on the backdrop. Let's "encourage" them downstage.

You may have noticed that we are trying to arrange our services so that we can sing longer after the sermon. Many people have found this to be a great opportunity to reflect and apply, so you can expect to see this happen more frequently. But the change raises a question; if people are invited to the front with 10 minutes left in the singing, do we leave the subs and front fills on or turn them off?

The answer: Please leave the subwoofers and front fills on until there are people praying out loud for each other. In other words, if people are just meditating silently and personally in the front, leave all the speakers on. Once Josh invites pastors or care group leaders to come down and pray out loud with others, please turn those speakers off.

Lighting

Lighting went pretty well this weekend. I think the main challenges were associated with the big backdrop. A few notes:

There are nine panels in the backdrop. Please use five lights. Four of them will cover two panels and one will cover a single panel. Don't use more than one light on any panel.
Please place the light "break" transitions at the panel breaks. Breaking the lights in the middle of panels is almost impossible to do well.
Even if the lights are all aimed correctly, that does not guarantee they will be even in brightness. Please take the time to adjust levels between the lights to make all the panels the same brightness. Remember the cameras magnify the contrast, so even a small change to our eyes shows up more pronounced on the screen.
If there is a choir directly in front of the panels, please light the choir from catwalk 2 and use those lights to cover the panels as well. We tried to light the choir from catwalk 1 to push the shadow down to the floor, but the choir members looked too ghostly in comparison to the rest of the band.

Since we are discussing choirs, one other note: when we have a choir on stage, and someone comes up to talk or pray, we need to get lights off the choir to reduce the distraction of having them behind the speaker on the screen. Please plan to have such a cue ready just in case.

Video

The video team had some difficulties this weekend, but they were from the Lord, not from the team. The DVD didn't work correctly in the DVD player, and the slides were out of order due to some late changes on our part. Thanks for serving with faith and for rolling with the changes. I have a new quote: change is just three letters from challenge. (Woah, deep, right?!)

We had four cameras set up this weekend for baptisms (note to non-CLC tech folks, we have no cam 3, just 1, 2, 4, and 5 - strange, I know!), which leads me to a couple thoughts on shooting baptisms for the future:

Camera 4 and 5 color correction - cam 4 and 5 both have digital color correction units inline. They are located below the assistant director desk area, and are labelled appropriately. Camera 4 color is locked in and doesn't need to be changed. However cam 5 could still use some help, so don't hesitate to adjust it there to get rid of the green. Camera directors, please make special note of this.
Shots during baptisms - Overall, the shot structure for this weekends baptisms were right on. Thanks, John! We start with a pastor explaining the purpose of baptisms, followed by a testimony from the first participant, and then the actual baptism. Cam 1 is the best shot for the pastor and testimony. Cam 5 for the baptism. After the baptism, we should use Cam 2 for a wide shot of the entire baptistry just to avoid any immodesty or simply uncomfortable proximity to a very wet person. Stay with cam 2 as the person leaves and the next gets in.
When the last baptism is over - we want to move quickly back into singing, so we can go immediately back to lyrics on the center screen, rather than watch the person leave.
Camera 1 shot - If possible, don't show both the pastor and the person being baptized. Depending on how close they are standing to one another, that may not be possible. But if possible, just show whoever is talking at that point in time.

Finally, when there is a person speaking and the band is still on stage, let's move quickly to a shot that doesn't have people in the background. I understand that we may need to see cam 2 first simply due to how the shots line up, but if cam 1 or cam 4 have a clear background, let's move to one of those fairly quickly.

That's all I have. Thanks, everyone, for serving this weekend. We couldn't do corporate worship without you. And we can't improve without your suggestions. What do you want to add to the discussion?

5.11 Reverb

2008-05-13T10:00:00.005-04:00

Last Sunday was Mother's Day, so I want to send a particularly loud, "Thank You", to the wives and mothers who served this weekend on the production teams.

Moms serving on their special day include Julie, Kathe, Dolores, and Lani. Thanks for being willing to lay down your lives even when you are supposed to be resting. God will honor you really well in heaven, believe me!

We also had several wives who allowed their husbands to serve. Susanna, Marlia, Kathy, and Amanda: thanks for giving up your husbands and handling the kids on Mother's day. A mother's job never ends, does it? Thanks!

I want to honor my wife, Cara, who serves our entire church each and every weekend by joyfully shouldering 100% of the responsibility for our two little ones so that I can lead our tech teams. I love you, babe!

If you weren't here on Sunday, were on the video team, or were in Discoveryland, you can hear Josh's message about motherhood here. It should be posted soon.

My notes on this Sunday were sparse, which is a great thing. It means that I noticed very few distracting problems and that this Sunday went particularly well. [Post-writing note: somehow, in spite of the sparse notes, this is a really long post. Just a warning, and thanks for reading!] Here are some reverberations from the weekend...

Overall Notes

I was reminded this Sunday that those of us on the staff planning side need to have a more consistent list of questions to ask the worship leader each Sunday. We need to know when they will talk during the song set and what band members will be returning at the end of the service. Ben and I will try to keep better track of this so that we can program lights and plan for video transitions more accurately.

I am pleased to announce that we have added a new feature to our video system that just went fully live this last Sunday. We are now broadcasting on three different channels throughout the building. This gives people in different rooms the option to watch what they want from the auditorium. In the long-run, we are going to install picture-in-picture televisions in some rooms so that they can watch, for instance, both the camera shots of the musicians and the song lyrics at the same time.

This does have some implications for the video team, however. The main change in activity is that the column "spycam" is now being broadcast at all times on Ch. 4. Whatever you are watching via the spycam is now available for others to see as well. Please don't let this hinder you from using the spycam for legitimate video team sight into the auditorium. However, it should return to it's stage+screens shot (preset 4) whenever it's not being used for some other purpose. And now is the time to stop using it to see if your friends and family are somewhere in the auditorium.

Also, as a reminder, the video team does need to set the audio volume level for the video broadcast. This used to be more intuitive when the recording audio levels and the broadcast audio levels were located in basically the same place. Now they are separated. The broadcast audio level control is right above the mixer that controls what you are hearing in the control room. As a general rule, whenever the service changes from music to speech, we need to change the audio level. If you have to turn up the volume to hear the person talk, please also check the audio levels to the broadcast. Make sure the green lights on the output meter are bouncing around zero decibels. This is officially a playback operator responsibility, but assistant directors can be of great help also if the playback op is over by the recording station.

And while we are on the topic of audio levels in video land, Tony wrote in this comment to last Sunday's reverb post that I didn't get to answer:

"We can't see what's going on upstairs, are totally dependent on house audio being at the right volume, and if everyone else is talking in the room, as the Camera Director usually is, and add to that they are usually not sure when exactly the leadership wants the image up (is it right when they say the magic word, which one, or after, how long after, and how long to keep it up)."

Tony is expressing a legitimate concern here, that demonstrates an area where I think we can grow. Certainly, our video control room is cut off from what is happening in the auditorium, but we need to work extra hard to overcome that limitation. We must not assume that there's nothing to be done or - worse yet - to use that separation as an excuse to check out from the service.

We should be tenacious to make sure that the audio level for the control room is at a proper listening level at all times. If you can't hear what is being said or sung, please either make the change to the audio level or ask someone to do it.

We also need to be diligent and tenacious to keep one ear and one eye on what is happening right now even as we prepare for what is happening next. Don't get so wrapped up in what is happening next that you lose sight of the present. I know that's a balancing act, but I think you all are up to the challenge!

Finally, I have the sense that - occasionally - our video teams use the freedom to talk as a license to talk about things unrelated to the work of supporting the church service, things like sports, work, children, websites, or even video tech stuff. There's nothing wrong with talking about these things, but we should be focused on what the pastors are saying from the stage at all times. Video producers, please make sure you are setting the example in this area.

Sound

The week 2 sound team did a fantastic job handling the orchestra this weekend. Thanks to Mitch, Frank, Bob, Dan, and Gavin for taking the extra time to get everything set up correctly. One huge blessing was that every single orchestra mic was plugged in correctly the first time. That's a huge time-saver, and it made rehearsal so smooth!

Julie, the orchestra sounded tremendous. I really loved the fullness of the cellos and the smooth sound you got from the higher strings. If you have any notes as to how you accomplished that, I'm sure the other mixers would love to know. Post them here, or I'll pick your brain soon, both for future Sundays at Covenant Life and for my own mixing at Na in two weeks.

Just a note to all mixers on orchestras, choirs, and the like. I've noticed a trend when we have a high number of open mics on acoustic instruments. When no one is in the room the acoustic sound is able to reach FOH more easily. But when rehearsal ends and people come into the room, the overall volume at FOH goes down a little and we push the levels into feedback. Typically after a song or two, we adjust mentally and bring the levels back down so that we're not on the edge of feedback.

A few suggestions:

During rehearsal take some extra time, as much as possible, to get more gain before feedback than you think you need. Make it louder in the house than you really want it. Then when it drops, you'll be in a more comfortable range.
I recognize that sometimes we can't get the level out of choirs or orchestras that we normally expect from a Sunday band. Do everything you can to get the gain, but if you need to settle with a slightly lower volume, don't push it. Being on the edge of feedback for the majority of a service or even a song isn't worth it.
Finally, have it in your mind that these elements will seem softer when we start the service with people. Just thinking about it will help you restrain yourself from pushing the levels into feedback at the start.

One small note to audio producers. Since we changed to the DPA headset mic, the speaker's microphone is often too far behind his mouth. I can see how this would happen, given the way the headset is made. Please make sure, though, that the mic element is about a half inch behind the corner of the speaker's mouth.

Lighting

The lighting was right on this weekend. I didn't have a single note except that I need to talk to worship leaders about who is coming up at the end of the service. Thanks, Dave. Any comments from the rest of you?

Video

The video crew did an amazing job this weekend. Most importantly, given our recent discussions, they nailed the Psalms video roll-in. It was perfect. There was a slightly longer pause at the beginning of the video in the first service, but it was not a problem at all from my perspective. I'll ask this afternoon if it seemed too long to anyone on staff.

Peter, what tips do you have for the other video teams? Do share, my friend!

Camera 2 operators, I have some notes for you, based on some challenges common to all the teams. You have a difficult job because you have the wider shot and you tend to be the go-to camera when the pastor moves. Here are some framing and following ideas:

You have the medium shot, and it should include the entire pulpit top and the pastor, but it shouldn't be much wider than that. If you've got someone who moves a lot, you can go a touch wider.
You also have an angle that requires the pastor to be framed up on the right side of the screen. If he turns to his right (our left), you'll need to frame him even more right than the 1/3 line on the screen.
This means that you have to be ready to "rock." When the pastor steps back, you must move back with him. Please don't try to frame empty space back there. No matter how it's done, it always looks funny.

Also, because you are the go-to camera for movement, please be ready to move all the time. I frequently see something happen that I would narrate this way:

Camera Director: Take Two.

Camera 2 Operator: Whoa, red light. Red light means I'm live. I better grab that camera and follow.

Video Screen: Whoa. Jerky shot.

Congregation: Whoa, that's distracting.

Three suggestions to eliminate this distraction:

Camera directors, please always make a ready call for camera 2.
Camera ops, please keep following all the time.
And don't take your hands off the camera unless you really need a rest.

SundayPlus

And now, at the end of a very long post, a quick thought for SundayPlus operators: If the quote wraps over multiple slides, always break the quote at the end of a sentence. If absolutely necessary break the quote at a comma or other "thought pause." Please don't break the quote in the middle of a thought. I should have caught this before the first meeting, but I didn't look closely enough at the quotes.

Comment Away

These posts have gotten the highest number of comments of anything I've ever written on my blog, so keep the ideas coming. They are very helpful and always provide good food for thought for me and the other team members. So, comment away!

A Quick Mothers' Day Exit

2008-05-11T13:23:00.002-04:00

Happy Mothers' Day to all moms out there! I want to thank my wife, in particular, for being the type of woman who gladly carries the full burden of parenting on Sunday mornings, so that I can serve the church. She doesn't even get mother's day off from that responsibility!

I also want to mention that I will be postponing my Reverb post until Tuesday in order to go as quickly as possible to celebrate this special day with my wife, kids, and our extended family. Enjoy the day!

Song Lyrics

2008-05-10T13:34:00.005-04:00

Midnight Oil Productions has written a short article on their approach to creating song lyric slides. If you are responsible for song lyrics, please read these instructive basic principles for creating pleasantly readable lyric slides.

If you have any comments or disagreements, please leave them at the midnight oil blog or here.

(HT: Ernie Stevenson)

Off to Louisville Again SooNa

2008-05-08T21:30:00.002-04:00

This afternoon, I shipped off part one of several paperwork sets for the fast approaching Na Conference, to be held in Louisville one last time.

Step 1 was getting a list of console inputs finalized, so that the folks at CTS Audio can program the PM5Ds we'll be using at both FOH and monitor land again this year.

What can you expect this year?

First, and most importantly, there are some fine preachers coming: Josh Harris, Mark Dever, Albert Mohler, Eric Simmons, John Piper, and CJ Mahaney. We'll be using DPA4066 and Countryman E6 mics on them all.

We'll also sing with the Na Band, led by Devon Kauflin, using some of their music from their new ablum, Lu. I have asked for an advance release copy of the album to hear the mixes early, and I am looking forward to its arrival.

What did they request on their input list?

Drums
Bass
Beatbox
2 Electric Guitars
Acoustic Guitar
Synth
Rhodes Piano
Electric Piano
5 Singers

Of the 48 channels in the Yamaha PM5Ds, the band uses just a little over half, so we've got room to spare. For two sessions, however, we are packing the desks full. Any guesses on what we'll be adding to the open 17 inputs? A hint: I doubt CTS will be able to provide all of the 14 AKG C414EB mics that I requested. Other options for them include the Neumann KM184, AKG C3000, AKG35, or Shure SM81 (as a last resort).

5.4 Reverb

2008-05-06T11:55:00.002-04:00

The reverb from T4G continues. Two weeks ago, we heard from Thabiti Anyabwile. This last Sunday, Dr. Albert Mohler preached. It is indeed an honor to have men of this caliber teach our church. Dr. Mohler spoke about the sovereignty of God in spiritual hearing and seeing. You will be able to listen to the message here soon.

As usual, I have some thoughts about the production aspects from this last Sunday morning. Please don't forget that you can share your thoughts in the comments section, too.

Communicate with the Musicians and Pastors

One of the strengths of our technical teams is the excellent relationship our teams members have with the musicians and pastors we serve. Please know that this is often not the case, and that we are very blessed to have people who are willing to work with us - instead of against us - to make things go as smoothly as possible.

With that in mind, I want to encourage any and all communication with the worship team that you think will help you serve them more effectively. Specifically, I would like to make sure that the sound team members have met the musicians and vice versa. Because the musicians and the sound teams are not on the same rotation, I'm sure there are many Sundays when the musicians don't know the names of who is serving them on the sound team or what roles each person is playing. That puts both the musicians and the sound team at a disadvantage. So, sound teams - and audio producers in particular - please take the initiative to introduce yourself to the musicians. Let them know what role you play and how you will be serving them that day.

Also, I would encourage the entire sound team to hang out with the band after the first service to give and receive feedback on how things went. Other possibilities: lighting operators, please don't hesitate to talk to musicians about where they are standing (are they in the light?); camera directors, always feel free to double check with worship leaders about who is doing solos in what songs or what instruments will be covering song transitions. Cool? Thanks!

A Special Visitor

We had a visitor to the second service this past Sunday who was hearing impaired and needed sign language interpretation. We haven't had anyone in this situation for a while, so it caught us a little by surprise. In the past, when we had a group of folks who needed sign language interpretation, we've always set out a music stand and a clip light for the interpreter. We scrambled to put the pieces together to serve them, but it was a joy to do so. Let's always be ready to jump in to serve new visitors in any way we can. Also, audio producers, lets have a music stand and clip light ready by the monitor board for the next few weeks in case our friend returns.

Food and Drink

This is a reminder that no food or drink other than bottled water is allowed in the auditorium on Sundays. Yep, that means you. Yep, that means your coffee! I know that you all arrive early and serve a long time, but I need to ask that you not consider yourself an exception to the rule. This can be a serious temptation to others, particularly because it makes them feel justified in bringing coffee in during the second service.

So, let me be more specific, just for the sake of clarity (I'm sure there will still be questions):

You may bring food and drinks into the auditorium when you arrive in the morning, but please consume them in the green room or in one of the practice gyms.
By 8:15am, all food or drinks must move to the green room or main lobby. No more eating or drinking in the practice gyms at that point.
Please do not take your orange juice, cookies, muffins, or fruit from the between-service break to your station in the auditorium.
No food or drink is allowed, ever, on the IMAG control desk. You can take your food up into the control room, but leave it over by the couches.

Thanks, everyone, for helping us keep the auditorium clean and the equipment functioning correctly!

Sound

Once again, special thanks go out to the week 1 sound team. They are faithful to come in to the optional setup time late on Saturday after the 10:31 meeting. I am so grateful for this initiative and sacrifice because they are much better prepared for the morning, having been there to help with setup.

I'm almost never downstairs during the soundcheck stage, so I depend on your feedback to let me know how things went. Comment here if you were serving and have any thoughts. I know there was an issue with one of the synth channels that was still being worked out after the rehearsal finished. What was the resolution to that problem?

The Sunday planning team has been trying to mix in some other types of musical styles recently. This was another one of those mornings, with only piano, synth, and vocals. How do you all think this went? I'm very curious to know what you, as members of the congregation, thought.

My personal take was that it was a nice change, but it seemed to lack energy. While I don't want to base the "success" of our musical worship on externals, as I looked around the congregation, people didn't seem as engaged. I'm not sure what exactly triggers that response. It was probably a combination of many things, including arrangement, lower spls, mix, and maybe more.

I did think that this arrangement worked perfectly for the new song, "O the Deep Deep Love," but it just didn't hold together as well for the first two songs ("Blessed Be Your Name" and "God Over All").

During the second service, Roger played a synth bass more often, and I think that helped a lot. But it still felt lacking. What do you think?

Lighting

Just three quick things:

For this last week, we went back to a staggered panel backdrop. After doing this again, I think that it's best to use one light per panel in this setup. Trying to cover more than one panel with a single light gets problematic in this setup.
Please make sure you leave the stage diagram with focus arrows and the cuesheet in the lighting notebook for the next person.
Craig had some questions about the lights backstage. Some of them do have three-way switches. On the checklist, it says "Off" or "On." Just make sure that the lights are off or on and don't worry about the position of the switches.

Video

Excellent job this weekend, video crew. We had three spontaneous additions to the singing time this weekend, and you nailed each one by getting the speaker up there quickly.

Just one tiny thought in this area: if we are confident someone is going to talk, and we have the cameras locked in and adjusted, we can go ahead and put them on the screen before they say the first word. I'd love for it to feel planned, even if it is spontaneous. When we wait until after the beginning of the first word, it seems like we are responding rather than being proactive. This is such a little thing that, if it is all I have to comment on, it proves you all did a great job.

You also did a very good job with the video roll-in this weekend. We are still trying to sort out why the DVD was registering as having a "damaged area," but that certainly wasn't your problem. The second service was particularly smooth and I liked letting the audio roll all the way out, even though the lights came up when the video blacked.

It seems like we regularly have a slide go up early, regardless of the team. It is usually the guest reception slide or the cell phones slide. The typical reason I get is that the person thought they heard the speaker say something related to it. I know a lot is going on during announcements for the playback operators, so an honest question: are we asking too much of them at that time? Or is it reasonable for them to sit down and listen carefully to what is being said? I just want to set you all up for success, so if we need to rearrange some responsibilities during that transitional period, just tell me.

Thanks for another wonderful Sunday, friends. We couldn't do this without you! Comment away, and we'll see you next weekend.

Checklists

2008-05-04T15:14:00.003-04:00

Several people have asked if I could post the checklists we are using, so here are the most recent versions, all subject to change: