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.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, December 14, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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.
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.
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