Amp Wars: A New Hope

I am part of an online community for sharing knowledge and resources about music and media in churches (see www.churchmedia.net).

What has troubled me lately is the number of posts about uncooperative guitarists and bassists and drummers and stuff who have to be 'louder than everything else' in order to be heard. On one level, this is a spiritual problem -a problem of humility and servant-heartedness that must be dealt with pastorally. On another level, there are ways around this problem which negate the temptation to sin.

Monitor Mix

Make sure your onstage monitor mix is relatively quiet. You should be able to talk over it. If not, you need to review your setup. Try and get a monitor setup that projects directly a each band member. This allows you to lower the volume to a level where they are not in competition with it.

Drummers

Need their own monitor. Beyond this, cost effective options are to angle the kit so it doesn't point straight out at the pews and for your drummer to use the lightest stick he can get away with. Drum screens and mic'ed setups are the perfect solution, but they cost a kidney.

Bassists

Most bassists will be happy going through a DI to the desk. Give them a little compression if your desk has that option, or if you have outboard effects. If they have an amp, like me, the best way is to go into a DI and split one send to the amp and the other to the desk. The amp is then turned up to be heard from out front, and the desk sends a monitor signal for the bass player to hear himself. Bass has some funky frequencies: very low frequencies take distance to form, so the bass player often can't hear how loud he is standing next to his amp. The sound will be great 20m away, so rather use that sound and give the bass a monitor mix. The bass amp is also probably better suited to producing and projecting these frequencies, so best use it and give your system a break. A thing to note is that lower frequencies have greater spread than higher ones, so you don't really have to worry too much about balancing around the room, and if there are problems you can always use the signal from the desk to even things out.

Guitarists

These guys can be the worst. I know cause I'm one too. Try these three hints: (1.) For any church setup, your guitar amp shouldn't be more than 50W, with a 1x12 or maybe a 2x12 cab. This allows the amp to be run at the sweet-spot, whilst giving good tonal rang and not blowing down the sanctuary. (2.) Aim the amp up at the guitarist, not at the pews. This way the guitarist will turn up his amp so he can hear it directly, instead of turning up the spill he hears from an amp pointing at the pews. I use an 80W Marshall in a church of about 100 people, and it is inaudible from the pews if it isn't pointing at them. (3.) Mic the amp. This is the only way to get good sound. A guitar into the desk will sound really pants for a number of reasons, and even your fancy speakers and amp and stuff won't reproduce a good guitar sound, because it isn't designed to. If this is impractical (feedback, etc.) then I suggest you get a Red Box DI from Hughes and Kettner (see your local music store or the HandK website) Used on countless recordings, it allows the amp to be routed to the desk for management and balancing through a speaker-emulated DI without the hassles of feedback, etc.

And above all, bear with each other in love. This isn't a time for you to jam, it is an opportunity to serve. Always ask the question, "Is what I'm doing really helping someone worship God sincerely?"

Making the Most of Rehearsals

Hey guys. It's been a while since the last post (no, not that last post - musical joke). I'm going to try and give some hints and ideas to make rehearsal times more productive.

Rehearsals are usually that limited time before the service, sometimes during the preceding week, sometimes right before the service, where the goal is to be 'ready' for the service. But what does it mean to be ready?

Being ready can really be broken down into two facets: being musically ready and being spiritually ready. Musical readiness is fairly simple. You will want to know how the songs go and what your part is, so that you can effectively lead the congregation. Spiritual readiness is more complex, but includes having the right attitude, the right focus of heart, the right love for those we serve and those we serve with, and a desire for God's glory.

This seems an awful lot to accomplish in an hour or hour and-a-half, but it is possible. Rehearsal time is more about quality than it is about quantity. Here are some bullet-points to help you have quality rehearsals.

Be Committed. No rehearsal is going to be worth it if everyone is not committed to being there, spending the time in hard work. Encourage your team to be regular and punctual.

Bible. It's always a good habit to let God have first word when Christians meet together, for whatever reason. Perhaps just a verse from the passage that the pastor is preaching on during the service, or maybe a text that one of the songs is based on. It's a great way to disarm all those other ideas and attitudes we come to rehearsal with.

Pray. This ministry only happens with God's help, so we should spend time before we begin and after we have finished. We should never forget that we are not just gathering to rehearse for a gig where we play the dots on the page and then we're done. Rather, we are Christians gathering to prepare our service to God. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

Fellowship. Build Christian relationships, so that you may minister more effectively. If music is all you have in common, it will quickly become the focus of your time together. If Jesus is what you have in common, the same follows.

Reflect. Talk and think about the songs you are rehearsing. What are they saying? What Bible texts are reflected in the lyrics? How does the song challenge your relationship with Jesus? Are you able to mean what you sing?

Prepare. Come to the rehearsal having warmed-up (this may mean arriving earlier). Having the song titles before the rehearsal enables the team to anticipate the rehearsal and be more engaging. Personally prepare your heart by praying before the rehearsal. If you are leading the rehearsal, come with a rough idea of how you want each song to run -starts, finishes, instruments, dynamics, etc. This gives a skeleton which can be finalised during the rehearsal. It avoids the, "How should we do this?" question that often wastes time.

Set-up. If you need to set up your gear (drummers, guitarists - you know what I mean), do it before the rehearsal. Same goes for sound system. "Go ahead and I'll catch up when I'm ready" is bad ministry.

Starts and finishes. The most important thing in leading songs is showing the congregation where to come in, and where they should stop singing. For this reason, if you can get your starts and finishes tight as a cyclist's shorts the middle of the songs often take care of themselves. By all means practice songs all the way through, but then spend time just doing the intro and outro of each song to get it spot-on.

Melody. Make absolutely sure that the singers know how the song goes. Singers who are confident with the melody will make them better leaders, and the band will be able to play to their lead and be more effective in supporting their lead. If they need tightening up, get your pianist to play the just melody slowly while the singers sing it. This will help them to hear exactly how it goes, and they will be able to hear immediately if they depart from it.

Music. Have the packs of the correct music ready, in the right key, ready to go straight into the hands of the musos and singers at the start of the rehearsal. The rehearsal time will be wasted scratching around in files and trying to decide on the best key for a song.

Sound Operator. Have your sound operator present at your rehearsals. This gives him time to set up the sound ready for the service in an unpressured environment, and avoids wasting rehearsal time with the leader running to the back to adjust your drummer's monitor mix after each song. Ensure that you include them in your times of fellowship and prayer so that you can all minister as a team.

Service Leader. If you have someone leading the service from the pulpit, encourage them to join the rehearsal. This will help them and the music team connect with each other, and lead the service better together. The service leader will know the songs and how they go, and the music team will get to know the guy whose directions they need to follow. It always helps a service to be more focussed if everyone involved has met together.

Lots of stuff, but if you get this right you will have more productive rehearsals.