Gettiing into the Routine

So I've been interning here at Rockharbor for almost 6 months now. I've had a lot of time to get a feel for all of the ministry opportunities the production team offers. Lately, I feel like I'm reaching a point where I am fairly comfortable in any position I'm put in. The challenge now is to become more consistent in every position.

This Sunday night, I was in charge of working the lyrics booth again. After getting comfortable with how the program works, the job is pretty easy to undergo. I just basically bring up the right slides at the right time. Anyone with basic computer knowledge could learn that quickly. The trick to being a good lyrics operator, however, is being able to pay attention to the small details. Knowing the right time to switch between slides or constantly keeping a step ahead of the music can make a large, yet seemingly unnoticeable, difference. In a way, you could say that I'm learning to be a multimedia "artist" (to stretch the term outside the box a little).

I happen to have always agreed with this philosophy and appreciate the fact the Rock Harbor does, too. Honestly, most people don't pay attention to how important a lyrics operator's job is until something goes wrong. For example, have you ever tried to sing a new song with the worship team but couldn't because the words on the screen were wrong or the slides were not being changed in time with the band? Or how about when the pastor is trying to explain a point in his sermon but nothing shows up on the screen till 30 sec. later. It can be pretty frustrating, and more importantly it makes the multimedia aspect of a church service more of a hindrance than an aid.

For this reason, I always try my best to pay attention to what is happening when I'm behind the lyrics book. It isn't uncommon for a worship leader to tag a completely unprepared chorus at the end of a song or even transition into an entirely new song altogether. The same goes for Bible verses. Sometimes the pastors refer to verses that were not originally in the sermon notes. Fortunately, because of how EasyWorship (the multimedia program used at the church) is setup, it is extremely easy for me to pull up any song in a matter of seconds.

However, there is more to being a good lyrics operator than just pulling up the right slide at the last minute. I also need to be sensitive to the right moment to pull it up and take it away. During worship, I may make a last minute decision to keep the chorus slide up because I know the worship leader is going to repeat it. While in another instance, I may anticipate fading out one slide during a musical interlude and wait to bring up the other until right before the worship leader begins to sing. Though these may seem like minute decisions, they make a huge - yet often subtle - impact on how you are enabling the congregation to respond to what's happening.

Camera Work

It's a few before Christmas, and Rock Harbor has been preparing for their special Christmas services throughout the entire week leading up to this. This Saturday and Sunday were the first two days that the Christmas services were being done, and needless to say there was a lot of excitement and some nervousness around the church. Unlike regular services, this special Christmas service incorporated a choir, dancers, and A LOT of special light cues to go with it. The sound mixers had more microphones to handle, and for the Sunday night services there were three cameras being used as opposed to just one.

My main job for that weekend was to help run one of the extra cameras during the 7pm Sunday night service. These cameras served a different purpose than the main camera because they were not used for any live feeds. Instead, they were being used to record the service from different angels in hopes of incorporating them into a video later. Fortunately for me, this meant that I could get some video experience without having anyone see my mistakes.

For the most part, the job was extremely easy. I was operating a camera that was positioned in one of the back corners of the room, and my main goal was to capture the choir, worship team, and audience. I controlled the camera by moving two large handles that were attached to it. This made it possible to pan up, down, left, or right very smoothly. During the worship sets, I basically panned back and fourth on close-ups of the choir. Later during a moment in the service where the congregation lit candles, I panned around the entire room to capture everything that was happening the best I could.

I only faced a few problems during that night. For one, my camera was mounted on a portable tripod on the floor. This meant that I had to be careful were I placed it because people continually walk down the isles and could trip over the tripod. Another problem I faced was that the tripod did not extend very high. As a result, when people near me stood up or walked in front of the camera, they easily blocked my frame; and I had little control in correcting the problem. I made some efforts to physically lift the camera enough above the audience to get a good frame, but it was difficult to keep it still and level. For the most part, I resorted to focusing on anything that was not obstructed by people - which was mainly the choir because they stood on risers.

Overall, I found this experience to be intriguing yet somewhat un-challenging. I hope in the future that I can get more experience with the main camera since it is set up for a better display.

A Surprising Weekend

Every weekend I usually work on Saturday evenings before the service and most of the day Sunday. For a while, I've had a normal routine of doing some miscellaneous work on Saturdays and either playing bass or mixing on Sunday nights. On this weekend, however, I was caught off guard by a surprising change of events. Apparently there had been some miscommunication between people in the sound ministry, and the person who was supposed to mix Saturday night and Sunday morning was out of town. As a result, I was put in charge of mixing for these services.

Suddenly having been given to sharpen my mixing skills more, I was both extremely excited and nervous. Instead of doing two Sunday evening services, I was now doing three services over a span of two days. It was definitely a different experience than what I was used to. I also was more independent than I had been before because there were no other mixers looking over my shoulder.

For the most part, the weekend went well. I did run into a few mixing problems, but they were able to be addressed and fixed the further the night/morning went. I learned that my perception of the guitar levels were a little off-mark, mixing them at a lower volume than the other instruments on stage. I also learned more about vocal control. The band I was mixing had two worship leaders: one who sang very "breathy" and soft and another who sang with a glottal tone. It was difficult to set their levels because their vocals shared the same sub-group which controlled volume output for both before sending it to the master fader. This sometimes made it difficult to set their gain levels because one vocalist needed much more gain than the other. If the gain was too high, though, it would cause feedback. So, reaching a place where gain levels were set correctly and did not feed back was tricky.

Needless to say, I was thankful for this surprise experience and for the fact that my mentor had enough faith in me to grant me that kind of control in a last minute decision. I cannot say this enough, but I really appreciate the fact that Rock Harbor actively invests in their volunteers. I have heard of so many other mega-churches that would not even consider letting someone behind an expensive mixing board unless they had professional credentials. Yet, after only six months of training in sound, I was entrusted with carrying the responsibility (even in the midst of a hectic situation). It is in moments like this that I can see where the leadership's hearts for their volunteers really are; and I admire what I see.

Uh-Oh

This Sunday night seemed like a typical intern week. I showed up, put together the podcast, then operated the lights for the evening services. The night went very well. There were minimal problems with the lighting or timer. I kept good time with the service log. Little did I know that I had made a significant mistake with the podcast that night, and it was not brought to my attention until the next day.

Apparently, I had begun the podcast at the wrong time during the service. The usual format exclusively includes the teaching; but I had accidentally began the podcast at the announcements section and included the offering worship set with it. For production and, more importantly, copyright reasons, this version of the podcast should not have been broadcast on the worldwide web. Fortunately, I was able to fix it the next day and begin the podcast recording where it was supposed to begin.

This experience left a very valuable lesson: always pay attention to what you are doing! I had become accustomed to beginning the podcast whenever I saw the speaker or heard his voice; however, I didn't take into account the fact that sometimes the speaker also does the announcements. Oops...lesson learned.

"Church-Led" Worship

This week was my rotation week for the Sunday night worship teams. It has been a few months now since we first started playing together, and we have gotten more comfortable together as musicians and people. This week, we were asked if we could meet with our worship leader early to have an extended practice. This year, the leaders of Rock Harbor's worship community have set goals to begin training their musicians to experiment with worship music on a deeper level.

Trevor, our worship leader for the night, explained that the leaders of the church want to foster a stronger vision of "church-led" worship. The idea was sparked after the head worship pastor, Caleb, visited a church movement in Redding, CA, at Bethel Church. The leaders there felt that God was calling them to teach their church how to worship through songs in a new way, and out if this was born what they call "Jesus Culture." In essence, this movement reflects a free-flowing worship style in which the worship team plays a prepared song but then transitions into an extended flow of refrains, following wherever the Spirit may lead. What impressed the leaders at Rock Harbor the most was the attitude of the church congregants. They had fully embraced the idea of leading worship as a church and many times played an active role in what direction the songs were going.

The leadership at Rock Harbor wants to facilitate that same essence into its own congregation, encouraging them to take a more active role in worship. The main purpose of this extended band rehearsal was to help us experiment with how that attitude would pan out musically. We practiced two of the songs that we were playing that night, but we intentionally prolonged them and swelled in and out of refrains, choruses, verses, and bridges multiple times.

I personally felt that this idea is a very creative step in the right direction for Rock Harbor's worship ministry. The church has well-established and high-quality method of ministry, which is excellent; however, it is nonetheless a system and sometimes runs the risk of feeling too controlled or produced. The fact that the leadership is willing to rethink their format and encourage those serving in ministry to push beyond their own boundaries is impressive to me. I also absolutely agree with the idea that the church body should be encouraged to have an attitude of active worship during the entire services. The shift in thinking from "being led" to "leading" is a significant and will take time to be rooted in the congregation; however, I believe that it is a bold and spiritually beneficial move, and I am a supporter of it.

Mixing More Intentionally

Recently, I had the privilege of being added onto Rock Harbor's sound ministry roster as a regular member. To me, this was a big step of recognition from "intern" to a "sound man" in training. I was extremely excited to say the least. Having been given such a privilege, I was inspired to improve in my abilities and begin seriously tune my ear for the main sanctuary (or "Centre"). The past few times I had mixed in the Centre, I was hindered by not being accustomed to the acoustics of the room. Because of this, I did not have a good handle on the EQ's of the sound board.

To help myself improve on my ear, I set aside time to record my bass and acoustic guitars as a simple, flat EQ'd mp3 file. I then put these tracks on my iPod and hooked it up to the main sound board. This gave me the freedom to experiment with the EQ's in a controlled environment outside of sound check. I was also fortunate enough to be given a handout by my mentor that mapped out all frequency levels with musical descriptions next to them. Before the band came, I spent an hour and a half experimenting with my two tracks. By listening and walking around the room, I was able to hear the differences between the adjustments I made.

By the time the band came to practice, I felt that I had a much better grasp on the room and how to EQ it. I was proven right when I started sound checking the band. I felt much more comfortable setting a solid mix than I had ever felt before. The only problems I experienced were sometimes getting the vocal levels under control and remembering to un-mute all the channels at the correct time. However, I feel much more confident in my mixing abilities and am excited to mix again in three weeks.

More Lighting Experience

This Sunday I had another opportunity to run the light board for the evening services. It had been a while since I last sat in on this position, so it was a good memory refresher. As I had mentioned in a previous post, the lighting operator does more than just hit a button that changes the light cues. I am also in charge of remotely changing the lights in the overflow room, operating the camera switcher, setting and starting the countdown clock, and logging time marks throughout the service. The responsibility of this position is not as simple as it seems to be; however, it is still the easiest out of all the other positions.

Each time I have ran the lights, I have been reminded of the beauty of art through colors. Lighting has the power to influence the mood and reinforce the attitude of the service, and Rock Harbor does not shy away from utilizing this to their advantage. Although some may see this as being emotionally manipulative, I see it as an extension of the attitude of worship that has already been established by the leaders of the church. The lighting schemes aren't necessarily "running the show" but rather reinforcing the experience. Once again, I understand that the idea of catering to "experience" raises many theological questions in some people's minds; however, I personally do not see a problem in finding a place for the beauty of art (especially colors) to interact with with how we worship as a Church.

Passing the Test

This week was a very simple week. Because of the choir concert on Sunday night, I could only work during my Saturday hours. Last, week the church drums set needed to be torn down because of a special mid-week concert that was happening. My job was to set it back up and properly mic each piece of the kit. Setting up a drum kit is nothing short of a daunting task - especially to one who is not a drummer himself. It is like fitting a puzzle together. Each piece of hardware has a certain spot where it fits comfortably within the sphere of the drum kit. If you place the high hat too close to the snare or angle it too obtuse from the kick pedal, it just feels silly. The same idea goes for the toms and overhead cymbals. If they aren't place just right, the entire kit just feels uncomfortable. Needless to say, it took me a great amount of time to finally reach a setup that I was somewhat satisfied with. Along with setting up the kit itself, I also had to re-place every mic (snare, hi-hat, kick, toms, and 2 overhead) and plug them into the snake. I also had to place the plexi-glass shield back in front of the drums and position the appropriate sound pads around the bottom of the shield.

This entire experience challenged my memory in correctly setting up and mic-ing a drum set. Last month I had visited a class in which this entire process was explained, so this experience was the perfect "test" to see if I had remembered what I learned. I experienced a lot of troubleshooting and took a lot steps backwards. However, my reward came when we finally started sound checking the kit. All the mics worked and everything sounded right. Thank goodness! Obviously, I still have a lot to learn about mic placement for drum, but for this instance I was satisfied that I got everything to work the way it should. Consider the test passed...

More Mixing

This past week, I've gotten time to mix behind the board much more than I am usually able to. The church held their monthly mid-week worship gathering this Wednesday night. I was once again allowed to "take the driver's seat" and mix while a designated sound man watch over me near by. The ride turned out to bit a little bumpier than usual throughout the entire night. The bass player's signal was cutting in and out throughout rehearsal. I thought I had successfully troubleshooted the problem, but when the band began to play for the service the bass had completely dropped out again. Corey, the designated sound man, eventually took control of the board while I tried to troubleshoot the problem mid-service. It was very awkward trying to change out the cable, DI box, and eventually the bass itself while the pastor was speaking. We eventually recovered a signal, but because we switched instruments the EQ had changed. Now Corey and I had to EQ the bass mix while the band was performing. This turned out to be one of the more unpleasant sound experiences to say the least.

Apart from the bass fiasco, I also realized that a few distinct areas in my mixing abilities needed to be improved on. I have consistently been getting feedback by the sound men that my vocal mix always seems to be a bit too "buried" in the mix. Either I'm not pushing the vocals loud enough or another instrument in the mix is overpowering them. I also have struggled recently with understanding how to use the delay effect correctly on vocals. I tend to overemphasize the delay and use it too often. Unfortunately, both of these skills must be developed over time by careful listening and cannot be acquired overnight.

Finally, I have also been somewhat confused and frustrated by the differing mixing styles I have been taught by each sound man. There are three sound men who are certified teachers, and I have had the great opportunity to work alongside them each individually. However, I feel that sometimes the feedback they give me contradict each other's methods. One sound man says that it's better to mute the channels this way while the other says that way is how everyone should be doing it. I understand that they mix the same way with a few stylistic preferences of their own; but it's more difficult for me to learn with one format because of the particular styles of each.

Overall, I learned A LOT about mixing this week although the week proved to be more difficult to handle than others.

The Other Side of the Stage

A while back, I had the opportunity to audition for Rockharbor's worship team. Every year around September, the church begins a new cycle of using a new rotation of people for their volunteer positions. Mostly every commitment lasts for a full year before the cycle begins again. I was privileged enough to make onto Rockharbor's worship ministry as the bass player for one of their three Sunday night teams, and yesterday was my first week up.

The band doesn't begin sound check till around 5:30, so I still had a few hours beforehand to do my normal internship responsibilities (i.e. podcast, DVD and CD archives, etc.). I moved away from my work when the band and sound man started arriving. 5:30 came, and we began the process of our sound check. It was a very different experience going through this process while being the musician on stage. I had been so familiar with this process from standing behind the sound booth, but now I was the one being mixed into the house speakers.

The strangest part of the night was definitely how my perception of the mix sounded from stage. All of the house speakers (including the eight giant sub-woofers) are positioned so that they are in front of the stage. So from where I was standing, I could hear barely any of the house mix. I had to completely rely on what I was hearing in my monitor - and in this case monitor mixes are not EQ'd like the house. I could only hope that the sound man was putting together a good mix. Now, knowing how the sound men at Rockharbor mix, I knew that they were doing a good job; but this experience made me realize how much faith the musicians on stage put into the sound man. I just had to trust that he knew what he was doing and agree that any suggestions he might make were to the benefit of the overall mix. On the other side, when I'm mixing, I really need to know what I am doing and be able to ensure the musicians that I can be trusted as a mixer.

Aside from my sound-related observations and experiences, this night held a lot of meaning for me. I remember visiting Rockharbor for the first time three years ago and being blown away by their music. This church has been blessed with many gifted people in many different ways, but there is no doubt that one of the most prominent gifts is in worship through music. Rockharbor has recognized and joyfully utilized this gift, having music play a major role in every service. As a Christian and musician, I am always grateful to be able to offer the fruits of this God-given talent for the sake of His glory; and I specifically try to make an effort to implement that at wherever I consider to be my home church at the time. Rockharbor holds a slew of gifted musicians, and the worship ministry is one of the most sought-after volunteer positions in the church. Still, whether by God's favor or simply by His blessing, I became one of the two new bass players this year (out of around 70 auditions, 6 of them bass); and I am extremely thankful for that.

Flying Solo

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to mix in the main sanctuary (or "Centre") for the first time on my own. Since the beginning of my internship, I have been learning how sound works and developing an ear for artistically creating a good mix. I spent many weeks in the broadcast room with my personal soundboard getting to know how EQ's work, how to set the correct gain level, how to use the compressors, and how to get even volumes between the instruments. There were also a few times when I was able to try mixing at the main board alongside one of the main sound men.

Finally, this week I was given my first opportunity to take everything that I had learned and really apply it. I was in charge of running the sound from the beginning of sound check all the way to the end of the last service. One of the regular sound men was there the entire night to lend a hand in case I needed help and to critique my mixing.

Overall, the night went very smoothly. no major problems aroused, and I felt pretty confident in what I was doing. The worship team that night was comprised of musicians from Rockharbor's high school and Jr. high ministries, so the nervousness of mixing for adult players was eased. I did experience a few problems during sound check, however. Up to this point, I had learned set my EQ and compression levels based on what I was hearing from the broadcast room speakers. The Centre is a much larger room and contains a different acoustic dynamic, so the levels I was accustomed to setting needed to be slightly adjusted. I was having a difficult time getting a good vocal mix without having the microphone feed back. After a few attempts at adjusting the EQ, my sound supervisor Jared suggested that I had my compression level too high. After bringing down the compression level, I had no more problems with the vocals.

I faced only two more difficulties throughout the night. One was that I sometimes did not make the vocals loud enough to hear over the band. Now, this task is trickier than it seems because of style Rockharbor likes to have their music. Every instrument should be at equal volume with the vocals resting above the mix slightly enough to be heard clearly. They should never be too loud nor quiet. Because the dynamics and volume levels of the songs constantly fluctuate, the sound man must always pay close attention the vocal levels and adjust them to match the band. My main problem was that many times my vocal levels laid slightly below the mix when I should have pushed it above the mix. This sensitivity comes with practice and a continual development of the ear.

The second problem I encountered was my not having enough control over vocal delays. All vocal channels are linked to an auxiliary channel that runs through an effects rack with a delay setting. Therefore, depending on how high one pushes this auxiliary fader, he can increase or decrease the volume/presence of the delay effect. At Rockharbor, the delay is primarily used to "fill in" the vocals - especially when long vowels are sung. The trick here is that the delay must never be too noticeable. The sound man must be quick to pull up and down the delay fader within phrases. Once again, this is another sensitive skill that can be developed with experience.

Overall, I was extremely excited and blessed to be such a crucial part of the service. I love music, and I feel that mixing has become another extension of that love God has given me. Rockharbor has an amazing quality sound system, and the church takes the power of music very seriously. Although learning how to mix artistically has been a challenging and long process, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to develop my skill at such a high standard (especially compared to most other churches). I strongly believe that if I am going to offer in worship the gifts God has given me, I want to be able to offer the best I can give.

Lights, Camera, Action!

This past Sunday, I was put in charge of running the lights for the 7 and 9 p.m. services. At the beginning of my internship, I was briefly introduced to this position but have had no experience with it since then (since my emphasis is more focused on audio). However, I wanted to know how the lighting system worked and gain some experience form this opportunity.

The job of the "lighting" guy is actually a three-fold responsibility. This person is not only in charge of light cues but is also responsible for running the video switchers and a timer. The video switcher controls what is shown on every TV screen outside the main sanctuary. Depending on which preset button is pressed, the TV's receive either a live camera or computer slides. The timer is used to help keep track of how long sermons and worship sets should run (or how long they run over the ideal time limit). It is up to the lighting person to set it at the beginning of each sermon and the worship set following it.

The lighting system itself was extremely user-friendly and easy to understand. All lights in the room are stationary, and the color schemes only change when a new overall theme takes place in the church. Also, for each week, lighting cues are preset to follow the flow of that week's service. In the end, the only responsibility I had as far as the lights were concerned was to press the "GO" button for cue changes at the right times.

Although this position may seem simple, it actually requires a bit of multitasking. Most of the time punching in the light cues, setting the timer, and changing the video switcher all happened simultaneously. For this reason, I had to anticipate the flow of the service and remember everything that I needed to do at each point. I also forgot to mention that throughout the entire service, I had to keep a log of what times each section of the service started. This simply served to record the flow of each service and check to see if they're finishing on time (or reasonably on time).

I believe that this aspect of the production ministry serves a valid and justifiable purpose in church ministry. There have been many debates recently about whether churches are too production-oriented and whether certain elements of production are even necessary for ministry. In the case of Rockharbor's ministry, I feel that they do a really good job at using these elements to facilitate the core of their ministry. Now, their ministry wouldn't be any less effective if the production ministry did not exist; however, the role that it plays is always in support to the ministry - never becoming a distraction or taking precedence over worship and teaching. For this reason, I appreciate all the care that is taken into running a ministry that supports the body of Christ as a whole through the use of technology.

Lyrics and Words

This week at Rockharbor, I was placed in the lyrics booth for the 7 and 9 p.m. services. This job entails anything in the service that is related to multimedia (i.e. DVD, slides, lyrics, Scriptures, etc.). For a number of weeks now my job had primarily been making audio and video archives of each week's teaching; this week I was excited to finally try something different. I had worked in the lyrics booth a few times during Rockharbor's monthly worship nights, but I had never done a full service before. Basically, my job was to put up song lyrics during worship, slides during announcements, and Scriptures during the teaching. Rockharbor uses a program called Easy Worship. This program incorporates Powerpoint, multiple translations of the Bible, and its own music library into one easy user-friendly interface.

Aside from running the computer for this night, I was also in charge of running two DVD's. The first was a video update on a church plant that had just begun and the second was the teaching for the night. I had to make sure that both DVD players were cued in the right places, I had to play and stop/pause them at the appropriate times during the service.

This job was both interesting and exciting for me because I had a lot of control over key elements of the service. It was my job to make sure that the correct song lyrics were up for people to sing to, and I always had to pay attention to the worship leader to follow him through each song's progression. Also, in this case, I had the responsibility of "giving" the message with as smooth as a transition as possible. However, I did not once feel insecure about taking on this responsibility. I am extremely impressed with how well Rockharbor designs all of their ministries to be as user-friendly as possible, and the lyrics ministry is no exception.

As far as spiritual matters are concerned, I didn't necessarily take away anything profound from this experience. I was simply reminded that there is no shame in offering my skills and talents to the best of my ability for the sake of bringing God glory; and I feel like that is exactly what I did by serving in the lyrics booth.

Freshening Up

This week, I was back in the broadcast booth with my own personal mixing setup again. After putting together the weekly podcast and DVD, I directed my attention to the sound board for the rest of my time. I was actually excited to be back in the broadcast room. I had been learning a lot of techniques from the sound men behind the main board, and I was eager to go back into a "solo" situation and see how much information I had really retained. So on Sunday night, from the beginning of sound check till the end of the first service, I became the sound man to my own personal congregation. I acted as if people were actually hearing what I was doing and tried to stay in that real time mentality for the entire service.

During sound check I set the gain and fader levels, EQ'd all of the instruments, and adjusted the compressor settings to the best of my judgment. Although I didn't create a sound that I was satisfied with at the beginning, by mid-rehearsal I had the entire mix dialed in to my liking. This was a good learning experience because I was challenged to remember how each instrument was EQ'd. When I mixed at the main board, the sound men would have the instruments EQ'd already. In the broadcast room, however, I had to start from scratch. This same process had to be done with compression levels. Compression has by far been the most confusing sound concept to understand for me; but being able to experiment with each knob and listen to how it affected the mix left me with a MUCH better understanding than I had ever had before.

Honestly, I am encouraged by the fact that I'm growing as a sound man and a member of the church. My mentor made it very clear to me a few weeks back that as I continue through my internship, he hopes that I will gain enough experience to mix for church service as a regular sound man. That meant a lot to me as someone who is trying to become more immersed in the church that I am serving. I also applied to be a part of Rock Harbor's worship ministry for the same reason. As a member of the church, I want to offer my talents, skills, and heart to the best of my ability.

In the Mix

I have now been interning at Rockharbor for almost 3 months. I've gotten some pretty good experience with running lyrics for worship services and learning how to create video and audio files for the weekly podcasts. However, my main goal as an intern has been to become more familiar with sound mixing and how that relates to worship musically and to the church as a whole. Since my first day, I have been developing my mixing skills by practicing on an isolated sound board with a live feed of the church service flowing into it. The advantage to having an isolated mix is that I am able to freely figure out how things work without worry about anyone hearing my result.

Throughout the summer, my mentor Alex would sit with me and critique my mixing. He explained to me about EQ's, fader levels, effects, and compression and how each elements effects the "sonic landscape" of a mix. He says my main goal as a mixer (at least for Rockharbor's style) is to create an overall mix in which all instruments are evenly blended but can still be heard independently.

So after 3 months of taking in advice, observing the mixers in the main sanctuary, and developing my own ear, I was finally given the opportunity to try my hand at mixing the main board alongside one of the sound men. I had been waiting to mix at the main board for a while because I knew that working in a live setting would be drastically different than working in a isolated room. I had to learn how to adjust to new elements such as live instruments, room acoustics, powers subs and speakers, and bodies filling the room. I also had to prepare for smooth transitions between music, teachers, and videos.

During my first run, I was a little nervous. Unlike mixing in the side room, hundreds of people could hear the adjustments I was making to the mix. To me, it seemed like every change I made to the mix was magnified because I was working with larger and more powerful speakers than I had before. However, at the same time I felt more free to listen and mix artistically because I was now working in the midst of a very live atmosphere.

One thing that I quickly learned about mixing in a live room is that I constantly need to be aware of the volume level of the worship leader's vocals. Because musical dynamics affect overall volume level, I constantly adjusted the vocals to match the volume level of the rest of the instruments. The singing styles of each worship leader makes a huge difference as well. Some worship leaders belt; others sing in a breathy manner; while even other may constantly switch between both styles. The ranges of notes also make a difference in vocal volume. Typically, vocalists sing more quietly on low notes than they do on high notes. All of these aspects can change the vocal volume and can occur multiple times throughout one song. This is why it is always important to listen to the vocals' volume in relation to the rest of the mix.

With that being said, I am slowly getting a feel for what it is like to create and maintain a good mix in a live setting such as the main sanctuary. A sound mixer must always be alert and aware of what is happening on stage and on the board; and he must be quick to make the appropriate adjustments. As I continue in this internship, I hope to develop these skills to the point that they simply become natural to me.

What Have I Been Up to Lately?

So my July has been somewhat busy, which translates to not having time/forgetting to make journal entries every week. However, my main focus of this entire month has been one task: learning how to create the sermon podcasts that Rockharbor archives and posts on their website every week (Click here for an example).

Every sermon given at Rockharbor is recorded (both visual and audio) directly onto a hard disk recorder that is located in the media booth at the back of the main sanctuary. The recorder is then taken to a computer located in the broadcast room off to the side of the sanctuary. From this point on, my job is to take these raw video and audio streams and convert them into production quality videos and mp3's. I start by dragging all the files I need onto the computer desktop. Next, I use a program called Final Cut Pro to put the sermon's video and audio together. This process is known as rendering. The video and audio data are recorded as two separate elements and need to be syncranized in order to create a movie that plays back with sound. After rendering the sermon "movie," I need to edit the piece for any unwanted footage (i.e. music, announcements, congregation-specific instructions). Finally I need to create a fade-in and fade-out for the movie.

After this initial editing process in finished, I am able to export this new Final Cut Pro project to two different destinations. The first of these is the exportation of the movie for use of a DVD archive of the sermon. For this, I simply convert the movie to Quicktime format and drop this file into a ready-made Rockharbor template in the iMovie program. From there, I simply type in the appropriate date and burn the DVD.

Now, the second route is a little more complicated. I need to take the audio only and prepare it for the website's podcast. I start by exporting the audio as an AIFF file onto the computer's desktop. For the podcast, I need to use the recording program Garage Band. Every podcast includes five separate tracks: 1) a voice introduction stating the sermon title, pastor, book, and sermon series; 2) background music for the introduction; 3) a voice conclusion giving contact information about the church; 4) concluding background music, and finally 5) the sermon itself. Every week, it is my job to record a female voice who reads a specifically scripted introduction to that week's sermon. After all these elements are compiled and correctly arranged, I upload an AAC version of the entire session into iTunes. Finally, I convert this AAC file to mp3 for the website and burn the original AAC version onto a disc for archives.

As one can see, this is a pretty complicated task that takes at least two hours to complete. However, I find it admirable that a church like Rockharbor is willing to be that diligent and thorough in archiving their pastors' sermons. I know that on some occasions when pastors need breaks from teaching, the church will use a video archive in his place. The weekly podcasts Rockharbor posts on their website also serve as a vehicle for the Lord's teaching outside of the building. I have heard stories on more than one occasion of people across the world, such as the Middle East or Southeast Asia, faithfully gathering and listening to the podcasts as their only source of pastoral teaching. Every week, the podcast receives somewhere around 100,000 listeners from around the world. When put in that perspective, something simple as making an mp3 in garage band becomes a very noble responsibility. So besides from knowing how to find my way around production tools a little better, I can appreciate the fact that my work as a humble intern has spiritual implications that reach across the world.

First Morning at the Shark Club

Last Sunday was my first morning working at Rockharbor's satellite church. Unlike a typical satellite church that meets at a school gym or community center, this satellite service takes place in a lively night club called the Shark Club. Every Sunday morning, volunteers from Rockharbor transform this late night hot spot into a place of worship. The bar was blocked by a curtain display, paintings of revealing women around the room were draped over, and certain questionable items were rolled away from the meeting place.

For this morning, my job was to help and observe how the portable sound and media equipment was set up. Around 7 a.m., a truck with a large trailer pulled into the club's parking lot. The trailer was filled from one end to the other with road cases, chairs, and speakers - all specifically used for this service. As I helped to begin wheeling in the speakers and road cases, other volunteers were already putting units into places and running wires. The worship band would play on the club's stage, while the seats were placed over the dance floor. The sound board was positioned at the very back of the dance floor, as well as the multimedia unit next to it. A handful of power cords and an XLR snake ran from these two units to a separate rack off to the side of the stage. This rack contained power amps and the other side of the snake.

All cables (both XLR and speaker), music stands, mic stands, and microphones were stored in a "custom" case that was wide and tall. In it were three bins that helped to separate between instrument cords and power strips. I helped with plugging in mics, direct boxes, speakers and sub woofers, and monitors. As mentioned before, all cords eventually ended at the power unit that was placed next to the stage. The channels on the snake mirrored those on the board. This configuration was set up exactly like that of the board on the main church campus. The channels on the board were specifically labeled and never changed, while the snake at the power unit served as a patching bay.

By the time we were done setting up, the Shark Club looked like a miniature version of Rockharbor's main building, complete with a heavy wooden cross always lit on the side of the stage. The atmosphere of the service was undoubtedly a little different, though. Two large permanent disco balls hung above the stage; red velvet couches and booths surrounded the dance floor seating area; and a fish tank lit by black lights could be seen directly behind the sound and multimedia consoles. Not to mention that people played a few games of pool in the club's pool room before the service. There was no mistake that we were still in a night club, but I enjoyed the fact that we Christians could take part in a genuine worship service in the midst of such a worldly atmosphere. Rockharbor could have easily chosen a more neutral and less questionable venue, but instead we meet here in a dirty night club. I find it to be a fitting representation and reminder of our calling as Christians to go into the world and transform it with the Gospel of Christ rather than be intimidated by it.

First Post

Hi journal,
This is my first official field practicum post. Come tomorrow I will have completed my second full week as an intern at Rockharbor church! For this portion of my internship I have chosen to be a part of the production ministry. Basically, my internship consists of learning how to operate lyrics, mix sound, record podcasts, operate lighting rigs, operate cameras, and be a stage coordinator for services. I chose this production internship because, as a musician and worship leader, I'm very familiar with what happens on stage and the preparations that need to be made. However, I've always felt that I lacked in understanding what takes place to make what I do on stage possible. During this portion of my internship, however long it may be, I hope to understand how the production end of ministry works; and with this knowledge, I hope to be a better equipped and well-rounded musician and ministry leader.

These past two weeks of my internship have been very introductory. Alex Magaro, the production director and my mentor, showed me around the different "stations" that make up the production ministry and briefly explained the responsibilities of each. My first night there, I simply sat in a chair, in the production booth, in the back of the sanctuary, and watched the behind-the-scenes chaos unfurl. I was both surprised and excited to see how fast of a pace the production team worked. Everyone communicated through headsets. Commands for the lights to dim and the video to play could be heard among occasional jokes and bantering. But aside from all the stress and light-heartedness, every person there had a heart to serve and a motivation to do their job excellently.

Aside from having me take in the whole experience of being on the production team, Alex also got me started on learning how to mix sound. In Rockharbor's broadcast room, there is a sound board that receives a direct feed from the main board in the sanctuary. Because of this, I have the opportunity to learn how to mix with live music. For my first night there, Alex had me mix the volumes of each channel to see how I interpret the sound. He would have me mix, walk out into the sanctuary and listen, then go back and mix again. After a few times, Alex came to the conclusion that my perception of the drums was not entirely accurate. What I thought was mostly coming from the drum set itself was actually coming from the microphones that were placed on it.

Last Sunday I learned about on-board EQ's and how they work in developing sound. I was given the same task, but this time I was allowed to adjust the EQ controls. According to Alex, this was my first step in learning how to create and manipulate the "sonic landscape." I learned that every instrument has its "pocket" or strongest frequencies on this landscape. These frequencies can be harnessed in such a way that as different instruments are mixed together, each of them can be heard clearly and will not be crowded out by any other. This is a key element in creating a clear, full mix.

Finally, on Wednesday night I sat in with the lyrics operator for a worship night that Rockharbor periodically holds. This night is heavily based on the music and has a reputation for being "spirit-lead" and ever-changing in structure and song order. Luckily, the multimedia program that Rockharbor uses is extremely useful for these settings - not to mention that it is also extremely user/volunteer-friendly! The program, called Easyworship, incorporates Powerpoint slide shows, song lyric databases, and Bible software into one easy interface. With the clicking of a few buttons and the dragging of a few items, entire services can be constructed and ready to go within a few minutes. What makes this program really impressive, though, is that it has a search engine that recognizes song phrases, titles, and authors as well as Scriptures. So, if a worship leader begins to sing a song that was not originally planned (which happened a lot on Wednesday night), the lyrics operator simply needs to search for the title or phrase, drag it into the cue, and click on the appropriate line to show on the sanctuary screens. Worship has never been so easy...
With all of that being said, I have greatly enjoyed my first two weeks as a Rockharbor intern. I am excited about what this church is doing, and my respect for the leadership here and how they do their jobs continues to grow. I am looking forward to the rest of this internship.