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.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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.
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.
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