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.