Archive by Author

T-Mobile mytouch 4G Powerskin case

March 11, 2011 in Just for Fun with 4 Comments



Anyone who has owned an Android smartphone or knows an Android smartphone user, knows that they are not the greatest when it comes to battery life and power usage.  Android phones can use alot of data and power particularly if background sync is enabled.  Alot of times, I tell people who have issues with battery life that they may consider disabling some of their sync functions until they actually open the app or set the phone to sync certain apps less regularly.

Well, what happens when you’ve done that and you still have battery issues?  What if you use your phone alot because of work or you are simply an intense phone user?  Carrying around a charger gets old and almost defeats the purpose of having a smartphone.

This is the issue that I wound up having with my HTC Mytouch 4G shortly after I got it.  I use my phone alot for work especially when I am away from my computer.  I’m also new to the Washington DC area so I haven’t quite found my way around yet and need a little assistance from my GPS in my phone.  That’s pretty power intensive because it uses the GPS chip, the data network, the screen, the speaker also used for speaker phone as well as consistently using the CPU.  And of course, my car has a broken lighter so a car charger is out of the question for the time being.

So, I purchased a Powerskin made by XPal.  It is a rubber case with an extra battery built into the back of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basically, you take the case and put your phone in it connecting the phone to it by a small USB cable inside of the case

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.  That USB cable feeds the phone power while it is connected which charges the phone until the battery in the case is exhausted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the back of the case, it also has lights that indicate how much battery life is left in the case itself.  You can see the indicator by pressing the battery button on the back which activates the indicator.  Below is a picture of the case fully charged with four blue lights illuminated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been really impressed by the performance of the case.  It has seriously extended my battery life.  I have had it for the past few weeks and one day, I got up at 6:45am and grabbed my phone out of the charger then.  I used the GPS in it for probably about 3 hours that day as well as texting quite a bit and making phone calls.  The powerskin died sometime around 2 or 3 PM and the phone switched to its internal battery for the rest of the day.  I finally got back to my condo at about 10PM and still had about 25% internal battery life remaining.  That’s pretty impressive in my opinion.

The only downside for me is that it makes my phone pretty heavy.  I certainly wish it was a little lighter but I guess that’s the trade off.  There have been times that I have left my case to charge and taken the phone out of it and when the case was fully charged and ready, I’d put the phone back in the case and it would charge the internal battery of my phone while using it.  Here are a few pictures of my phone with and without the case so you can get an idea of how much thicker the phone with the case is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the phone is plugged into the case, the case charges the phone.  In the picture below, it displays the power charge LED on the mytouch because the phone is running off of the power from the battery in the case.

I’m pretty happy with the case over all

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.  If you check out amazon, you can get the case for about $40.  It’s not a bad deal.

If you have a mytouch are are struggling to get more usage and battery life out of it, the XPal Powerskin might be the solution for you.  Check it out!

Questions?  Comments?  Feel free to comment below or email me at jason@jasoncastellente.com.

When the production leader steps into the worship leader’s shoes

March 8, 2011 in Audio, Production, Tech Team with 0 Comments



This past Sunday, I lead worship at National Community Church’s Potomac Yard and Gala locations.  I was given the opportunity to do that because one of our staff worship leaders and campus pastors were sick.  As a result, I was given the opportunity to jump in a lead worship for a Sunday AM service as well as Sunday PM service and two different worship teams.

It was a great opportunity, but it was also a weird flip-flop of roles and responsibility.  I am on staff at National Community Church as the Production Coordinator and I oversee production at all six locations and I’m always the guy standing in the back of the room with the production crew.  Usually, I am only on stage when something is broken or not working!

My degree is in Music Performance from Valley Forge Christian College but about half way through my degree, I took a detour and went down a different path and started getting more and more into production

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It was a great thing for me because I was able to get perspective from the other side of the mic and better assess issues that need to be worked on or improved in the technical aspect of our services.  Also, there are things that I can tighten up with coordination of making sure technical gear is where it needs to be and is functioning properly.

It also takes the things I say to another level.  For example, as a production tech, I would ask the worship leader and worship team to trust the production crew and trust that what they were doing was for their benefit.  Now, as the worship leader behind the mic, I had to trust that my production guys were doing the right thing.  That was not a time for me to try to coach them through production, it was a time for me to firmly put my trust in them and back them on their decisions and their methods for making everything happen.  If I had decided to coach the production crew through everything while still in the worship leader role, I would have been sending a bad vibe for how a worship leader should treat the production crew.  While everyone does need to work together, there is a level of trust that needs to happen.  So, this was my time to practice what I had been preaching.

Our job every Sunday morning, whether it is on the production team or the worship team is to create beautiful music and also an atmosphere of worship.  As a worship leader, I felt like it was helpful to the production team to ask them for suggestions in what I could do differently.  Sometimes, it can be awkward for a production tech to ask the worship leader to do something different publicly because he is afraid that maybe his request isn’t important enough or isn’t a big enough deal.  Opening that door of communication on both sides is a great way to help improve both the production team as well as the worship team and the relationships between each other

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So, for you church media guys out there, I guess my point with this whole post, is practice what you preach.  Don’t say anything you can’t back up.  If you want to make the rules a certain way, then you are going to have to play by those same rules too if the tables get turned.

Potomac Yard Location:



Behringer reinvents the Aviom – The New Behringer P16 Personal Monitor System

March 5, 2011 in Audio, Production with 37 Comments



Check out my website at www.jasoncastellente.com.

Well, maybe not quite.  But Behringer has been in the business of taking successful items from other manufacturers and making something very similar to it at a much lower price tag.  Behringer has also been trying to bump up their quality.  In fact, now so long ago, “The Music Group” which is the company that owns Behringer (CEO is Uli Behringer) purchased Midas and Klark Technik

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.  That was a huge deal because Midas and Klark Technik are two highly respected companies in the audio industry and…well…Behringer, not so much

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Just recently, Behringer announced their new lines of products for 2011 and it included a new version of their “Powerplay” series.  Up until now, the model powerplay had been associated with a knock around headphone amp used for budget studios or ones that were on a tight budget and were only used as a quick reference headphone amp because they introduced so much noise into the signal.  Now, it is a personal in ear monitor mixing system similar to what Aviom introduced years ago.

First, lets compare how they look:

Aviom A-16II

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behringer P-16


 

 

 

 

There is a striking resemblance isn’t there?  Very similar to what Behringer has done in the past with their pedals, mixers and amplifiers that has resulted in numerous lawsuits.  I’m not saying that there will be a lawsuit over this, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

Let’s compare the two interfaces.  They have very similar buttons on the bottom that are used to select the channels and they even have two lights on them probably one for selection and one to indicate if the channel is muted or not.  In some videos I have seen, the button lights potentially may blink with signal being sent to them but I don’t see any solid documentation of that anywhere.

Behringer’s setup buttons are the first thing on the top left while Aviom’s are closer to the actual buttons.  Behringer does have the option to link buttons together in the case of things like stereo inputs that are patched into two mono inputs and two P-16 buttons. Although, both units feature groups which to me seems like it will do the same thing as linking them on Behringer’s model.  Maybe it has a different function that we don’t yet know about.

I am intrigued by the fact that Behringer has included not only a mid EQ control but also a sweepable frequency control to go with it.  Amateur musicians may not understand exactly how that works but I think you can figure it out once you play with it.  That flex room in the middle of the tonal range of the mix is pretty key in my opinion.  It is an option that has been lacking on the Avioms for years and I think it’s a great addition to personal monitor mix set up.

Next up, the Behringer P-16 features a Limiter control that the Aviom A-16 does not.  Whether this is useful or not depends on what it actually does and what it actually controls.  If it is simply a hard limiter, then it is basically worthless because it will basically do the same thing as if you were to just turn the volume down.  But, I would assume it works more like a compressor and the “limiter” control is effectively a compressor threshold which is tied to a preset internal ratio, attack, and release setting.  This could potentially be helpful or a hinderance depending on how it works.  The only way I could be sure of something like that is if I tried it myself.

The second row of controls for the most part mirrors the Aviom controls with solo, mute, pan and channel volume controls.

Now, for the most important part that everyone is probably wondering about: price point.  The Behringer P-16 has yet to be released to the American market yet so there are no definite prices but there were list prices announced at NAMM that I’ll use here.

Aviom AN-16/i Input module List price: $1285

Behringer P-16i Input module List price: $199

Aviom A-16D A-Net Distribution Hub List Price: $505

Behringer Powerplay 16 Distribution Hub P16-D List Price: $149

Aviom A-16II List Price: $675

Behringer P-16 List Price $249

So, if you have a worship band, what are the two price comparisons here.  Let’s figure it out.  First, before you read this, I decided to use the list prices for both since the official street prices of the Behringer series has not be released for the US.  If I do a list price comparison, that will at least be a fair comparison.

If you want a whole Aviom system with 8 monitor mixes, you are looking at spending $7,190 LIST.  With the Behringer setup, you are looking at spending $2390 LIST.

Okay, so what does this mean for the end user.  Well, especially for church media, it will be very interesting to see how many churches decide to make the jump to the Behringer Powerplay system because of price point.  Avioms can be pricey for some churches and I’ve talked to alot of churches who would love it, but simply can’t afford it.  If this system works well, then maybe that is their ticket into personal monitor mixing.

But, the downside is that Behringer gear is notorious for not being dependable and for introducing noise into signal chains.  So, if that is a major issue, then maybe it won’t be worth it.  Although, considering that the list price of an Aviom system is 3 times more then the Behringer, I’d certainly say, its worth a shot.  We’ll see how well they work when they are released to the American market.

Check out some of my other reviews:

Presonus StudioLive 24.4.2 Digital Mixing Console

Audio Technica AT4080 Active Ribbon Mic

Audio Technica ATM650 Dynamic Mic

One of my articles featured on www.musicgearreview.com

Questions?  Comments?  Feel free to make YOUR voice heard.  Comment below or email me at jason@jasoncastellente.com.

My new website

March 2, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments



Just thought I’d let all my blog subscribers know that my new website is up and running

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National Community Church – All Church Celebration

March 2, 2011 in Audio, Production, Tech Team with 3 Comments



Last night, National Community Church held their All Church Celebration in the Lincoln Theater in Washington, DC.  It was a great time of joining a church that meets in 6 different locations, during 9 different service times, all together as one body and one church

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As for the tech sides of things, we used Big Sky Audio who we rented the audio system from.  Performance systems provided the screen for us and we ran our typical Mac mini video set up through the Lincoln Theater house projection system.

Our audio system consisted of a Midas Venice at the FOH with Avioms for onstage IEM mixing.  The mains were 2 Meyer Sound MSL-4’s per side with 2 Meyer Sound 650-P’s on each side as well.  The EQ was a Klark Technic DN370 which had some of the sweetest EQ filters I’ve ever hear.  Unfortunately, I figured out very quickly that the sound company had underestimated the amount of sub power that we needed for the theater so we were out of luck there.  There was no way the subs could keep up with the low frequency content of my mix.

Overall, the main reason that we do what we do is to communicate the gospel and to draw the church together in unity and in love for one another.  This event was also intended to get our whole congregation up to speed on everything that God has been doing with NCC over the past year or so and where the church as a whole is going.

One thing that Pastor Mark said that really grabbed me was something along the lines of this: “God doesn’t call us to things that we are ready to do

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. He calls us to things that require us to fall on our knees in raw dependence of Him.”  It’s a basic statement that all of us know, but need to seriously learn how to live out in our every day lives.  Something else that Pastor Mark mentioned this past weekend that our frustration spiritually comes from the rhythm of our spiritual lives.  We have daily rhythms that we do such as waking up, brushing our teeth, taking a shower and things of that nature.  But, most of us believers are frustrated spiritually because we have a weekly rhythm instead of a daily rhythm.  In order to live a live dedicated to God and following his ways, we need to always make sure we focus on getting the basic things right before we try to build on it to go higher or farther into our spiritual journey.

Anyway, that’s what impacted me spiritually last night.

I just want to throw up some pictures that I took with my mytouch so everyone could can get an idea of what we did last night.



Folgers 2011 Jingle

February 28, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments



So, as I’m sitting here relaxing a little before I go to the gym tonight, I’m sipping a cup of coffee.  I love coffee and I’ve blogged about it before but it just so happens that two things I love are combined.

Music has always been a passion of mine and I love creativity in music.

Anyway, a worship leader at National Community Church, Kurtis Parks, and his sister Bethany Parks are entering a Folgers coffee jingle contest.  They dreamed up their own jingle and put their creative spin on it.  Dave Schmidgall, one of the NCC campus pastors took it to the next level by filming a music video which they have submitted to Folgers as their contest entry.  It was filmed after the service at one of NCC’s locations; the Gala Hispanic Theatre.

You can check it out on YouTube here:

I have been able to mix for both Kurtis and Bethany at various NCC and Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse events

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.  They are both super talented and I’m looking forward to seeing what music they release in the near future

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Bethany is currently working on a new studio release.

Kurtis will be leading worship on a live worship CD that NCC will be recording in September.

In the next few days, I will be writing a review of Kurtis Parks latest CD “Light Will Shine”

So, check out the video and check back for more later.

Blog survey

February 28, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments


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Church Audio – Killing Feedback

February 27, 2011 in Audio, Production, Tech Team with 3 Comments



As I thought more about my last post which talked about Church Audio Problems, I thought I’d continue my church audio blogging by talking about a problem that has plagued churches across the country regardless of denomination or beliefs.

If you have run sound for any length of time, you have probably heard feedback

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.  And if you haven’t, I’m sure you will in the future.  It can come in the form of a low rumble, a mid range “yaaaaa” sound, or a hit whistle that makes everyone want to duck for cover.  (Believe me, I’ve seen it!)  Feedback can be difficult to find and control because it can take different forms and be caused by different problems.

First things first, we need to understand what exactly feedback is and by doing so, we can figure out what causes it.

Feedback is the result of sound being cycled and recycled through the sound system.  Let me explain what I mean.  What happens during feedback, is that a microphone receives and amplifies sound that has come out of the speakers.  The microphone sends that sound back through the mixing console to be once again amplified by the speakers creating what is known as a “feedback loop”.  This can increase exponentially and instantaneously resulting in and undesirable sound we know as feedback.

Now that we know what feedback is, we can dive into how it happens and figure out how to prevent it.  The best way to prevent feedback is to stop it before it starts.  Sometimes, it can be from a vocalist cupping a microphone, letting the mic hang at their sides, pointing the microphone towards a speaker or monitor or from improper gain structure, EQ, or processing.  Let’s talk through some steps to prevent these issues.

STEP NUMBER 1: PROPERLY EQ YOUR SYSTEM

First and foremost, your sound system must have a graphic system equalizer.  If you don’t have one, you should probably consider investing in one.  What this allows you to do is equalize, or tune your sound system by using a series of frequency filters to adjust the intensity level of different frequencies.  Spikes in specific frequencies can be caused by speaker positioning, room acoustics, or various other factors so I would seriously recommend hiring a trained professional to take care EQ’ing your system for you.  That way you can be sure you’ve got everything set properly and know nothing will be damaged due to improper system setup.  However, it is possible for you to do this yourself using a spectrum analyzer connected to an RTA mic.  A spectrum analyzer can play reference audio through your system and the RTA mic will sense which frequencies are louder or softer then others and display them on the screen of the spectrum analyzer.  This will tell you what frequencies you need to boost or cut (increase or decrease) on your system graphic equalizer.  Once you get your system equalized, it will give you a good starting place and a “clean plate” to start working with.

STEP NUMBER 2: PROPERLY SET UP YOUR STAGE

When setting up your stage, make sure that your monitors are positioned correctly and that your microphones are set up far enough away from the main speakers that they won’t cause issues when you begin mixing.  Also, talking to your worship team, worship leader, pastor, or anyone else using microphones, and instructing them on proper usage is always very helpful.  Make sure that singers hold microphones close to their mouths when they are singing.  If they are not singing, ask them to hold the microphone, facing upward, in the middle of their chest or stomach

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.  That way, it will keep the microphone pointed generally in the correct direction.  Politely ask them not to let it hang at their sides or face any stage monitors that are set up in front of them.  If they forget, and chances are, they will, politely and humbly remind them how to properly hold a mic.  Patience and humility is key here.  No one likes a bossy or nagging sound tech.  You have their best interests in mind; communicate it that way! 🙂

STEP NUMBER 3: UNDERSTANDING THE MIXER CONTROLS

Make sure that you understand the correlation between gain, EQ, your auxes, and your fader level.  Always start your sound check with your gain knob turned all the way to the left (counterclockwise position), your EQ filters at 12 o’clock, your auxes turned all the way to the right, and your fader all the way down.  If the mic requires phantom power, this would be a good time to turn it on.  After that, unmute your channel strip and bring the fader up to unity gain or the 0 area on the fader strip.  Then, while a vocalist is either talking or singing into the mic, increase your pre amp gain until you reach your desired loudness.  Using your EQ and ear, EQ the input until it sounds good.  If you hear feedback, determine how high or low it is and then, using your EQ filter and your sweepable control, determine where the exact frequency is and cut it until it stops or goes away.  If you experience reoccurring issues with feedback, you may need to assess mic placement or maybe even the type of mic.  If you have the wrong mic for the job, or the mic is placed too far away, you won’t be getting optimal signal from it and it can cause problems in your mix.  In addition, don’t be afraid to use your mute button.  If a mic is not being used, turn it off.  Open microphones and channels can cause excess noise in the mix and system so remember, if it’s not in use, it shouldn’t be on.

STEP NUMBER 4: GEAR

There is also outboard gear that can help with controlling mics and volume as well.  If you are struggling with maintaining consistent volume of individual mics or inputs, you may need a compressor to limit the dynamic range.  A compressor can usually be inserted into a signal chain at various points on the mixing console whether it is on the channel strip, audio group, mains, or even on an aux.  You can also get a gate, which essentially turns a channel off when the signal drops below a certain threshold and turns back on when signal comes through.  This is especially helpful in isolating individual drums when they are miced in close proximity.

In any case, if you have serious, uncontrolled feedback on a reoccurring basis, you may consider seeking help from a trained professional to see if they can track down what the problem is.  That way, you aren’t spending money on gear that you don’t really need and it can help you pin point the problem so that it can be assessed either by the professional or by a church sound tech.

It’s important to make sure that feedback isn’t part of your worship service.  Don’t let feedback become a distraction to worship or what God is trying to do in your congregation during any given service.  Running sound is a huge part of making sure the message of Jesus Christ is communicated clearly and effectively.  Do the best you can to improve your skills so that you can serve God with all the talents he has blessed you with and continue to invest them back into the furtherance of the Kingdom of God.

Questions?  Comments?  Feel free to comment below or email me at jason@jasoncastellente.com

If my blogs are helpful to you or your church, feel free to link back to my blog, or post links on facebook or twitter.  I’d love to hear back from those of your who are reading my blogs.

Church Audio Problems

February 23, 2011 in Audio, Production, Tech Team with 2 Comments



 

As many of you know, I am on staff full time at National Community Church in Washington DC as their Production Coordinator.  Part of my job is to help improve production at each of our six locations and help maintain quality across those venues.  I noticed one of the hardest areas to train people in and also an areas that is really hard to “get good at” is in mixing audio.  I’m grateful for all the volunteers that work hard week in and week out at NCC.  They are great and make it happen every week and I appreciate each and every one of them.

Mixing audio is a difficult volunteer position for a number of reasons.  There is alot of organization that goes into making a system work right and making sure that each instrument sounds good.  Having a musical ear is very helpful in situations like this but everyone has to start somewhere.  How do you begin?

Well, if you are reading this, chances are you have already made the plunge and volunteered at your local church and have the opportunity to run sound on at least a fairly regular basis.  Maybe there are issues that you wish you could fix, but struggle with.  Maybe there are problems that you hear, but don’t have the know how to solve.  I am going to go over a few things that you can do step by step to try to improve the audio in your church and more effectively communicate the gospel through technology.

Here are a few common issues that I have seen at various churches over the past few years:

#1 – STAGE VOLUME

Okay, so most churches have a worship band

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.  The members of that band vary but almost always include drums, bass, guitars (acoustic and electric), keyboards, and of course vocals.  There are certain instruments that are simply louder then others.  For example, drums, electric guitar amps, bass guitar amps and instruments of that nature tend to create what we call high amounts of stage volume.  The problem with this is that when there is alot of stage volume present, it will compete with the sound coming out of the main speakers in frequency response and also time delay which causes phasing.  This forces the audio engineer to attempt to mix the sound from the stage volume with the sound from the speakers.  That becomes impossible when time delay phasing becomes a factor.  If the sound is coming from the back of the stage and from the speakers at the same time, it will reach the listener at two different points in time causing phasing.  This is almost impossible for an audio engineer to fix and creates a muddy and unclear sound.  Guitar amps should be kept to a minimum or moved far enough away so as not to cause issues.  Drummers, in a small room, should play conservatively and the church should consider purchasing a drum cage to contain the volume.  Another issue stage volume causes is high levels of sound from some instruments make it difficult for other people to hear what they need to.  They can’t hear what they need to because they are hearing too much of everything else.  So, be respectful to everyone and think before you crank!

Another issue that can cause stage volume is from stage monitors.  When you run your stage monitors at levels that are too loud, you risk having the sound bounce around on stage and ultimately out in to the audience causing the same muddy and time delay issues that a loud instrument causes.  Many musicians on stage think that in order to hear something specifically in their mix, that they need the audio engineer to turn it up more.  In some cases that is true, but you, as a musician, may want to listen more closely to your monitor before asking for something to be turned up.  Is there one or two instruments that are much louder in contrast to the others?  If so, you may want to ask the audio engineer to turn those down before asking him to turn other things up.  Try it!  It works!

#2 – MICROPHONE TECHNIQUE

First, you need the right microphone for the job.  There are a wide array of microphones out there.  But you need the right tool for the job.  Check out the make and model number of your microphone and look it up online.  You don’t need to understand what all the technical jargon means, just understand what the microphone’s intended purpose was and how it should be used.

Once you understand the microphone’s application, then you need to set it up and position it in the right way.  Way to often, I see a Shure SM57 hanging over the top of a guitar amp dangling over speaker.  First of all, that mic is positioned completely wrong and is micing the floor rather then the guitar amp.  You are micing indirect soundwaves which is probably introducing some type of phasing into your mix as well.

Vocalists who cup mics and sing incorrectly to them are also extremely difficult for audio engineers to compensate for.  When you sing, you should never cup the windscreen.  This prevents frequency rejection which the mic was designed to do.  It can also cause more mic pops and other breath related noises that can ruin a good sound.

Also, when you sing, you should maintain a consistent distance from your mouth to the mic.  Vocalists who are far away for one song and then totally eat the mic on the next are a nightmare for an audio engineer to keep up with.  It doesn’t matter how good of a mic you have, it doesn’t matter how good your compressors are, it doesn’t matter how good your preamps are, it’s still going to sound terrible if the vocalist doesn’t know how to properly use a mic.  Sometimes, vocalists will sound check right up on the mic and then move back when they perform because they are nervous.  And then they complain they can’t hear anything.  Consistency is key here.  My biggest suggestion for audio engineers is to humbly and graciously educate your vocalists on how to use a microphone and also patiently remind them when they forget because chances are, your band will forget.  Just keep reminding them without being annoying.  We’re all still learning after all anyway right? 🙂

#3 – PROPER GAIN STRUCTURE

When you mix sound check, you must properly set gain structure for each and every input.  You should start with the fader all the way down where the small infinity sign is.  After making sure the gain or trim fader is turned all the way to the left, unmute the channel and bring the fader up to 0 dB.  Then, gradually bring the gain knob up to the desired loudness.  Then, EQ the channel and mix your monitors.

#4 – HOUSE VOLUME

Yes, I know I am treading on an age old delicate topic in some churches.  If your mix is too loud, it is counter productive

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.  In a worship situation, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as well as the leadership that is running the event.  Just because you are the audio engineer doesn’t mean you should always run it the way you think it should be run.  Run sound to the best of your ability but also be willing to do whatever the event leadership wants you to do.  You also need to think about what is best in communicating the gospel and mix for your target audience.  If it’s younger people, they probably won’t mind it pretty loud.  But, if it’s a senior citizen event, chances are that they won’t like subs pounding the room! 🙂  Be respectful, and be sensitive.  Volume that is too loud can ruin the mood and can hurt the spirit of worship.

In contrast, if it’s not loud enough, it can be a problem too.  While I was in college, I toured as an audio engineer for two years with a school sponsored worship band to churches and youth camps.  I experimented alot with volume levels while I was on tour and it really does effect the worship environment.  If the volume is not loud enough, the worship service can lack enthusiasm and energy.  Like I mentioned above, be sensitive to the environment, the leadership, the people in attendance, and to the type of music.

#5 – HOUSE EQ AND CROSSOVER

If for some reason, after you have tried everything and have done your best with mic positioning and setup, you still have issues with poor sound or feedback, your system equalizer may not be set properly for the room or your speakers.  There are ways for the common person to rectify this, but I would highly suggest bringing in a professional.  That way you can be sure that no system components will be misused or damaged.

#6 – SOUNDTECH

Sometimes, the biggest issue is just the tech running the system.  This is not meant to bash anyone or put anyone’s efforts down.  Training helps, practice improves the sound, technique creates better mixes, but if you don’t have at least a basic technical understand and a somewhat musical ear, then maybe this isn’t the best area for you to serve. Also, a great sound tech must have a teachable and humble attitude.  An attitude of servanthood will be a great asset to have behind a mixing console when accompanied by a good technical skill set.  I believe audio techs in churches should be auditioned and someone should assess their skill set before they are turned loose.  God has gifted each of us differently and uniquely.  We are one body with many parts.  If everyone was an eye, where would the sense of smell be?  If everyone was a sound tech, there would be no worship band, no greeters, no pastors or teachers or small group leaders.  So, be honest with yourself.  Do you have the skills to do this?  Or should you be serving somewhere else?  It’s all about effectively communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Find the area where you are strong and pursue it with all your heart.

Feel free to comment and voice your opinion and ideas or email me directly at jason@jasoncastellente.com

Star Wars for Audio Engineers

February 19, 2011 in Production, Tech Team with 0 Comments



I just happened to see this link on Twitter to a website called “Behind The Mixer” which had a post (it’s about two years old) that compared church sound tech’s characters to characters in Star Wars

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.  Check it out and let me know what you think!!

 

http://www.behindthemixer.com/content/luke-i-am-your-fathers-sound-guy

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