Worship Tech Tour | The Belonging Co. | Keys and Tracks

Welcome back to our continued Worship Tech Tour Series featuring The Belonging Co. 

This post covers all things keys and tracks within The Belonging Co.’s setup. For the fullest explanation of how all the hardware and software works together, it’s best to watch the video above of The Belonging Co.’s Music Director, Evan Fernald, walking through everything in detail. This is the too long; didn’t watch post. In other words, here’s a tight-packed list of The Belonging Co.’s setup as a quick-reference guide. 

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Do you want to improve your church’s ability to use tracks and keys to the best of your ability? Stewarding these tools can be hard. We want to help coach you and/or your keys players. Check out Worship Ministry School, where we have created courses on all things Ableton, MainStage, Keys, and more. We also offer one-on-one coaching. Let us help you today!

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 Who is The Belonging Co.?

PRESENCE OVER PRESENTATION. INTIMACY OVER INDUSTRY. PEOPLE OVER POSITION. ENCOUNTER OVER ENTERTAINMENT.

JESUS OVER EVERYTHING.

That is The Belonging Co.’s mantra. 

The church began with their lead pastors, Henry and Alex Seeley, opening up their home for worship in 2012 after taking a leap of faith and moving from their home of Melbourne, Australia to Nashville. Their hearts were drawn to those who didn’t have a church home because of the fluid schedule of so many whose lives revolved around a touring schedule. By the Lord’s grace, he drew a people together, and The Belonging Co. began. 

Now, The Belonging Co. holds services at two campuses along with its online ministry, has a thriving worship ministry, and even offers college degree programs for students.

Tracks Rig

Most churches have their keys player or drummer running their tracks. This is not the case for The Belonging Co. In fact, they have their own dedicated tracks setup and team to run the tracks. Obviously, most churches won’t have the volunteer or financial bandwidth to pull something like this off, but this setup can serve as inspiration as churches grow in their ability to run tracks effectively. 

Hardware

16 inch Macbook Pro running Ableton 10 Standard 

This is the central hub for all the tracks The Belonging Co. uses during their worship sets. It runs Ableton 10 standard as the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), and it generates all the sounds and click tempo that the church and the worship team hear.  

The track sessions themselves are built out in an interesting way. Every week begins with a file that holds a “master session” with every single song and every single stem (stems are like each instrument of a song) in one big, long session. From the master session, they then pull out all the songs not needed for a set and keep only the songs they do need. They may also keep a few upbeat songs in case the pastor requests to end on a high note. Then, midi controls are programmed to trigger all of the different elements of the software like starting, stopping, moving to the next song, etc.

Korg nanoKontrol 2

This is a very common midi controller device with faders and knobs that can be used to control many different elements of a rig. Notice below that the keys player has their own nanoKontrol as well. For the tracks rig, this nanoKontrol is used to adjust volumes and filters. 

OWC Thunderbolt 3 hub

It’s a thunderbolt hub. Not much to explain here. It allows everything to connect to the Mac.

Focusrite Clarett 8Pre

-       Run 10 outputs, 6 for the tracks

Whenever any sound needs to go from a computer to the mixer, an interface is needed. In this case, The Belonging Co. uses this device to send its sound across multiple channels for ultimate control. This is extreme. Most churches can get away with simple stereo outputs, but more inputs can be helpful for mixing, depending on the complexity. 

TouchOSC (on iPad) as a virtual midi controller

Traditional midi controllers like the KORG nonoKontrol help control various elements. However, it can be helpful to design an always-customizable interface to control things as well. This is the power of the app TouchOSC.

Boss DB-90

The Belonging Co. uses this basic metronome as a backup click in the case that the tracks software glitches or crashes. What’s more impressive is that the crew figured out a way to sample the click sound from Ableton and play it through the DB-90, so the band would have no idea that the click switched from Ableton to the DB-90. 

Keys Rig

Hardware

Korg nanoKontrol 2

See above

Focusrite Clarett 8Pre

See above

iConnect MIDI 4+

This device allows an ipad or other midi controller to communicate with multiple computers at the same time. 

Nord Stage 2 EX

The piano itself is the most important piece of gear in a keys rig. Nord has consistently provided reliable support with the most authentic feel. Even the sounds within the keyboard itself are used, Evan Fernald says, along with patches from the player’s library. 

iConnect mioXM

This is what the midi from the Nord Keyboard goes to, where the midi is sent to the broadcast room for ultimate control and editing.

Software 

TouchOSC (on iPad) as a virtual mini controller

See above. In addition to being a controller, notes for the music director and details about the flow of the songs are listed here as well.

Abelton and Mainstage

It turns out that about half of the keys players use Ableton while the other use Mainstage, and this decision is left up to the keys players themselves as they develop their own unique sounds. 

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We hope this list of gear and links can help point your church in the right direction as you build and improve your keys and tracks rigs! As always, know that the Churchfront team is ready to help with specific needs and training through our Worship Ministry School and other programs. Also, be sure to stay on top of our YouTube and other blog content. We’re here to serve your church.

DIY Video Wall For Churches

Churches don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on an LED wall to have a great-looking video background. In fact, with how bright and improved projectors are these days, there are better ways churches can spend their dollars than paying for an expensive video wall solution.  

For inspiration, this post will break down how Jake’s church, South Fellowship Church, designed and implemented their video wall for use on Sundays. This design is affordable, built with everyday materials, and very versatile. 

The Idea

The desire from South Fellowship and its leaders was for a design that could easily switch between a screen and a natural wood pallet look. For the screen, the church wanted to project some nice motion backgrounds, videos, or still images behind the band, using content from sites like Church Motion Graphics or Visual Church Media. These elements add color, dynamics, and energy to a worship set. But the wood pallet look also creates a great-looking stage and eliminates the white screen when it’s not needed.  

Obviously, building a separate screen and separate wood pallet set would quickly add up to a lot of work, not to mention a huge pain when switching the two. So, the solution was to build a series of triangular columns that could transition between the white screen material and wood pallet. The results are stunning, professional, and easy. 

The Structure

The stage is built of seven free-standing triangular pillars. Each structure is 4’x10’, so that makes the entire stage set 28 feet wide. 

The screen panel side is made with a material called EUCATILE. They come in 8 ft pieces, so for a 10 ft high wall, just add another 2 ft below. For the wood paneling, South Fellowship literally used a member’s left-over fencing from an old project. Any sort of fencing or pallet-like material will do. 

The insides of the columns are completely hollow. This space provides freedom for a third material of some sort or a space to mount lights or other tools. There is a lot of room for customization.

Eye hooks make it easy to move with a pole.

To move the triangles, South Fellowship added little eye hooks at the bottom of the columns, and a pole is used to position the correct sides accordingly. There are L brackets mounted to the floor that act as guides, so each column is aligned square to the rest of the stage. Just pivot the columns, and there’s the new look. 

The Projector

The projector in this setup is an Epson PowerLite short throw projector. Every church will have different needs, so be sure to look up a projector’s specifications and ensure the projector has the right throw distance and measurements.  

This projector is probably 10 to 12 feet away from the screen, and it's probably another 11 feet up in the ceiling right behind the curtain so it can’t be seen. This is an advantage, because band members can stand very close to the screen without blocking the light of the projector. 

The Software

For all their projection needs, South Fellowship uses ProPresenter linked up with midi cues to link up all their various projection needs. ProPresenter is typically what Churchfront would recommend for most churches using presentation software, and motion backgrounds look great with this setup.

That’s the setup! We hope this has served as inspiration for your own church context and can help your church to ultimately make Jesus greater.

We are always on mission to equip local churches to grow their ministries, so please check out our Worship Ministry School if this post has been helpful and you desire to grow your ministry further.  

Getting Started as a New Tech Director

What does it look like to transition into a new tech ministry role at a church and hit the ground running?

This post is going to cover just that.

Stepping into any position of ministry has its challenges. So what does it look like to do this well?

Meet Luke Jackson

All the knowledge and wisdom from this post is from Luke Jackson, the new production manager at Storyline Fellowship Church in Arvada, Colorado. Not only is Luke on staff at Storyline Fellowship, but he is also on staff at Churchfront as Client Success Manager. Luke also advises students in coaching calls and is deeply passionate about churches finding success in their worship ministries. 

As Luke begins his first days at Storyline Fellowship, he thought it would be helpful to share his experience and how he’s handling his mindset as he begins the work of stewarding this role. What follows, then, is derived from his thoughts, and you can hear Luke and see his church for yourself by viewing the Youtube video above. 

Let Luke and the Churchfront Team coach you!

If this content is helpful for your worship ministry, get this: our team will actually help you by providing a free strategy session call. We'll spend time walking through the steps you need to take in order to get the results you’re looking for in your ministry, and if you join Worship Ministry School, you will have total access to Luke and others on the Churchfront team. Don’t waste more time or resources trying to figure things out on your own. Let us fortify you and your church. We would love to talk with you. 

1. Have a Vision for the Long Haul

When first stepping into a new tech ministry role, it will quickly become clear how much there is to do. Maybe some equipment needs upgrading or maintenance. Maybe things are an organizational nightmare. Maybe the volunteer situation is rough. Rather than getting swept up into all the little tasks that need to happen, step back and take in the big picture. 

Rather than thinking about the sound, lights, or the live stream as individual mountains to climb, have a big-picture vision for how these pieces work together to create an environment for the church to engage in worship services. This is true whether a church’s services are in-person or online. 

Stepping back and seeing the big-picture vision that incorporates all these pieces and the roles they play provides better clarity for the actual steps one needs to take to accomplish specific tasks. This first step may sound simple, but those who get so excited and just start doing things without a plan, vision, and a big-picture perspective will suffer and remain in the weeds. 

2. Get Organized 

Getting organized means having a grip on all the physical and digital spaces.

First, let's talk about physical spaces.

Most churches have front-of-house spaces that need to be organized, channel strips to be labeled correctly, sound boards to be routed properly, broadcast stations to be managed, and more. All of these physical spaces can begin to feel daunting and can cause some sense of mental claustrophobia if left unorganized. 

So, one of the best ways to begin in a new tech leadership role is to clean those areas up, get rid of any unrelated items or clutter laying around, and organize things. 

The goal is to have things in an area where they will be visible and their function will be clearly understood at all times. Where are all the  microphones kept? Where are all the lavs kept? Where are the cables that are used every Sunday? Everyone should be able to find everything quickly and efficiently. 

Second, let’s talk about digital spaces. 

When working with technology, it is crucial to access digital content in an efficient manner. This means keeping these digital spaces tidy is of utmost importance, especially when inheriting a ministry others have previously controlled. It’s common for a volunteer to oversee these spaces, and because volunteers don’t have the bandwidth staff has, these inherited spaces often don’t lend themselves to the most effective workflow. 

So spend time in the ProPresenter libraries, in the scene files in the sound board, and lighting scenes. Take time to make sure templates are clear, graphics are easily located. Taking time to organize these details can feel tedious and potentially meaningless, but organizing these tools makes the job easy and effective week to week. It prevents the team from getting bogged down in the details. 

3. Ask for Feedback and Determine What Is and Is Not Important.

Here is a tip when beginning a new ministry position: ask for feedback on what is important to the team and what is not. Ask this of the leadership, and ask this of the volunteers or other staff. 

Feedback proves you are willing to listen and exhibits humility that you are willing to learn from and include others in your quest to better your ministry. Maybe the improving the broadcast mix is a greater priority to the leadership than you realized. Maybe the mix has historically sounded flat, and staff members made that obvious. These are helpful areas that can be focused on quickly that otherwise may not have gained attention. 

Not only will doing this help with blind spots, but it can also grow relational and leadership capital with a new team and leaders. Thinking about making a big change quickly but received feedback that pushed against that change? Maybe it’s good to pump the brakes for a while before making that big change. 

Ask questions about what the leaders want prioritized. Ask about expected timelines. These questions can help make the plate-spinning seem more doable. 

4. Make a Plan and Stick to It.

Sticking to a plan can be hard sometimes. And obviously, things happen in ministry, and plans have to be adjusted. But having a plan in place of any kind helps provide a reference point. It can act as a waypoint that doesn’t move even though everything else is moving around you. Again, just hacking away at tasks without a plan will prove very inefficient. It’s not good stewardship. 

Take all the action steps above and make a plan. Note what structures are in place, what equipment is in the inventory, what needs to be organized, what is working well, and what is not working well. Next, assess the calendar year, assess what needs to happen, and prioritize. Documenting these things provide clarity when things get busy and urgent tasks take up bandwidth. This helps provide a big-picture vision as you move through your ministry. 

Making a plan and sticking to it also provides a reference point to see where the ministry came from. It provides a metric for growth. 

Need help making that plan? Don’t know where to start? This is what Churchfront, and specifically, Worship Ministry School, is all about. In Worship Ministry School, we spend time clarifying these types of plans, and we help you prioritize, so that you're able to be efficient with your time, be effective in your ministry, and achieve proven results by referencing a proven plan. Reach out to us. 

Wrapping Up

We hope these tips are helpful in jump-starting (or refreshing) your ministry. Always reach out to the Churchfront team if you desire more guidance and help. We are here to cheer your church on for the Glory of God. 

How to Lead a Sound Check for Worship

Find this post helpful and want to further equip your church with excellent sound volunteers, check out our Mixing for Worship Course. This course provides the best strategies for live sound reinforcement, advanced mix engineering, and getting the most out of your mixing console.

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Before building anything, a solid foundation is always the first step.

Without a strong foundation, anything built will cause many problems. But get the foundation right, and the thing that is built will stand strong no matter what is thrown at it. 

A sound check is the act of setting the foundation for your church’s entire audio situation on a Sunday. Every church should have this down for the glory of God and the excellence of its worship. 

What is a Sound Check?

The most basic way to explain a sound check is this: it is a time to set solid gain structure and apply EQ and compression to each channel of audio. The idea is to have each singer or musician individually sing or play in order to specifically construct their sound to be pleasing to the ear using EQ and compression. 

With proper gain, EQ, and compression in place, the musicians can freely adjust their in-ear monitors, and the sound engineer can adjust other mixer parameters with no worries. 

What a Sound Check is NOT

Soundcheck is not the time to set up the soundboard scene. In other words, it is not a time to get things done that could have been done before the band, preacher, and others arrive. A proper sound check should also not take a long time.

It should be swift, efficient, and pleasant to work through. Consider how completing all the proper legwork ahead of time (like setting the scene, ensuring the routing is correct, etc.) will serve the team and the musicians. Think of ways you can value the time of all those involved. That way, when the musicians arrive, their time (and your own) is stewarded wisely and efficiently. And ultimately, this will provide a more locked-in worship service for your church.

Sound Check Heart Check

A sound check is so much more than just processing audio signals. Because the sound check is the first stage of preparation for everyone in the room on a Sunday, it is a time to set the tone for the entire team and for the entire day. This is the big moment where everything comes together and all the preparation the sound engineer has invested will pay off. 

1. Be prepared to receive the band physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

How can a sound engineer be prepared physically? Have the soundboard set up and all the routing done ahead of time. Again, this is wise stewardship of time that shows all involved that their time is valued. Also, be sure to arrive early. That way, everything is on and ready, and you are in the right mental headspace to receive everyone else with joy and low stress.

Mentally, know what's going to happen during the service (or throughout the entire day if there are multiple events). Know who is on the team for a given Sunday. Know their names and know their roles. 

Spiritually, be eager to lead your church in worship, and see your role as vital in making that happen. Maybe even take time to pray for the job, the team, and the service leaders, and that humility and excellence will be present. 

2. The audio engineer is the leader in this moment

Most leading on a Sunday is done by the teaching pastor or worship leader. Or if a church has a production team, a video director is leading. But in the moment of a sound check, the audio volunteer is the leader. Everyone is looking to him or her to know what to do next. So, this is a time of great stewardship and leadership. 

Also keep in mind that the tone of the day is set here, and we’re not talking about the audio tone. The attitude a sound check leader brings will inevitably affect all those he or she is interacting with. Enter the morning grumpy and tired, and imagine how this will impact others. But come in gentile, loving, respectful, and excited, and the results will be obvious. 

Interact with others. Tell them you’re excited to see what the Lord’s going to do through them today. Ask them about their family. After a sound check, tell the musicians how great they sounded and that you’re looking forward to the service. Be others-oriented. 

Again, this is not just a sound check. It is setting the tone for the day. 

So the heart is set, and the big picture is understood. How does a good sound check actually work, and what are some tips to make it even better? 

How to Actually Do It

Again, a sound check is setting the gain structure, EQ, and compression of each channel individually to lay a foundation for the audio engineer to work with during rehearsal and the services itself. For obvious reasons, this post won’t dive into how to set proper gain structure or EQ, but we have good news for you.

We can fully equip you and your audio team to set gain structure, EQ, and compression like a pro. We can also equip you even far beyond this with skills needed to be an all-around proficient and excellent audio volunteer for your church. This is done through Churchfront’s Worship Ministry School. Here, we pour all our best efforts into equipping churches for excellent worship ministries.

Generally, it’s best to begin the sound check by starting with the worship leader microphone. This way, the audio volunteer can know what’s happening on the stage and can hear from the leader first and quickly. From here, the sound check can go in really any order, working channel to channel, setting gain, compression, EQ, etc. with each channel.

Remember the importance of asking each instrument to play at their loudest. If a vocalist is timid and feels awkward at this so early in a morning, ask a stronger vocalist to sing along with them or maybe one musician to play along with them. 

That’s the general idea of a sound check itself! But remember, what makes a sound check effective is everything else this post has talked about, too. Anyone can conduct an okay sound check. Only healthy leaders who are servants conduct the best sound checks.  

A Few Tips

As we wrap up, here are a few pro-tips for running an effective sound-check.

1. Address people by their names when sound checking

This one might seem obvious, but it can be easy to not address people by their names. It’s easy to say, “Hey, guitarist. Can I have your tone?” or “Hey, singer. Can you start singing?" 

People have names, and this is a very personal and thoughtful way to connect with the band and set the tone for the day.

2. Use the talkback mic

If the tech booth is any distance away from the stage, whoever is leading the sound check will have to raise their voice constantly, and that can send the wrong message. Not only can the sound volunteer save their voice, but using a talkback mic can communicate with the band in a much more thoughtful and peaceful way. 

When starting off a sound check, it can be helpful to make sure everyone can hear the audio volunteer well. Ask everyone to raise their hands if they can hear you, and those who can’t will inevitably look around and wonder why everyone has their hands up. Then that will get the signal across that they need to get their in-ears adjusted so that they’re not left out.

3. Survey the room

Remember that not everyone in the room is sitting at the tech booth. So it is important to step out of the booth and walk around. If the sound console offers an iPad app, mix with the iPad as you walk around the room. 

4. Ensure there’s a clear hand-off to the worship leader

Make sure there's a clear handoff to the worship leader so that everyone knows who is now in charge of directing the musicians and conducting the rest of the rehearsal. 

The sound check is done, and the sound engineer is no longer the leader, so a clear hand off can help transition everyone smoothly and efficiently. 

Find this article helpful? 

Worship Tech Tour | The Belonging Co. | Vision, Building, and Strategy

Over the years, Churchfront has tasked itself with touring and interviewing some of the most influential churches of our age, giving our audience a behind-the-scenes look at how the technology of these churches enables their ministries. 

Now, it’s time to approach these tech tours with more space to breathe and think about why specific systems, philosophies, and approaches are adopted by churches. And we think the best way to do this is by breaking down tech tours into a series of episodes. So, this is post one of many to come in which we will break down the technology ministries of churches. 

In this series, we will be jumping into the life and ministry of The Belonging Co. in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Who is The Belonging Co.?

Presence over presentation. Intimacy over industry. People over position. Encounter over entertainment. Jesus over everything.

This is The Belonging Co.’s heartbeat. 

The church began with their lead pastors, Henry and Alex Seeley, opening up their home for worship in 2012 after taking a leap of faith and moving from their home of Melbourne, Australia to Nashville, Tennessee. Their hearts were drawn to those who didn’t have a church home because of the fluid schedule of so many whose lives revolved around a touring schedule. By the Lord’s grace, he drew a people together, and The Belonging Co. began. 

Now, The Belonging Co. holds services at two campuses along with its online ministry, has a thriving worship ministry, and even offers college degree programs for students. 

For the purposes of this blog, The Belonging Co. also prides itself with a unique approach to how they steward their technology uses. From their building design to their philosophies, their tech approach has paved the path for all of their other ministries to thrive.  

Who is Sean Loche?

Before diving in, meet Sean Loche. 

Sean is the Executive Creative Pastor at The Belonging Co., and his role is to oversee the worship, music, production, communication, and events to ensure each team is cared for and functioning at their highest capacities. 

Sean’s highest goal as he leads his team is to create space in the church for a clear and undistracted encounter with Jesus. This means intentionality and an attitude of constant heart-checking to ensure the focus is on Jesus instead of any person or thing.

Although much of the content of this post is re-written to be more readable, this content comes from an interview between Jake and Sean, and the entire interview can be watched above. 

The Vision

At the most basic level, the goal of The Belonging Co. is to foster an encounter with Jesus without distraction. It’s not about production for the sake of production, but what is produced is the result of intentionality and a Spirit-centered philosophy. 

The room doesn’t hold the highest-end tech gear across the board. Instead, the focus is on stewardship, intentionality, and efficiency. Some gear is entry-level. Some is not. But it’s not about the latest and greatest tech; it’s about helping people to encounter Jesus. 

The Building

Before acquiring the building The Belonging Co. currently uses, the space was used as a medical distribution center. After purchasing the space, The Belonging Co. brought in an integration company named Diversified, and they helped design the space in a way that would remove distractions and keep things minimalistic. 

The result of their work is staggering. 

Every element of the building is simple, yet artistically intentional. Loche likened the approach to that of church designs hundreds of years ago where stained glass windows, architecture, and other artistic elements of churches worshipped God and pointed to God through its art. 

Although technology has changed how art is portrayed, The Belonging Co. sought to embody a similar approach to its own design. One example is the way one specific back hallway of the church building was designed, a hallway that most will never even see. This hallway holds photographs taken by a church member that tell the story of Psalm 23 through photos. It’s subtle, yet intentional. 

The Architecture of the space itself is intentional, too, lending itself to fostering the dream scenario for a worship tech nerd. The production, worship and creative departments weren't an afterthought in the building and design process. Instead, it was a core part of their strategy. 

The floor plan is laid out with great care. The worship auditorium is right next to the post-production suite where the broadcast studio is held for mixing audio. There is also a separate studio for cutting the broadcast video. There are a few other offices, and one of them is even dedicated to editing photos and videos that for social media.

Strategy in Using Technology

The Belonging Co.’s strategy for using their technology in worship is to track absolutely everything. This means using multiple cameras and recording multi-tracks in Pro Tools for every single service. 

The reason for capturing everything in every service is so that, at any moment, the production team can choose a cut they like, mix it, and produce it. This is how every live album is made, like The Belonging Co.’s new “See the Light.” Capturing and producing this way eliminates any effort to manufacture true and authentic worship. Instead, the authentic worship is captured all the time, and the reactions and emotions are real. 

The Belonging Co. runs 8 cameras, all capturing in 4K, so that is a massive amount of data. In order to process and access the data quickly, they run Synology servers. This provides seamless integration. No importing required. All of the mixing is done in Pro Tools so that all of the processing can be done quickly without extra steps. 

All of this technology is integrated into the church building with great care, and it provides not just those in the room with an encounter with Jesus, but also with those viewing the services around the world. 

Wrapping up

This wraps up this first post in The Belonging Co. Worship Tech Tour series! Keep an eye out for future posts in this series, and remember to check out The Belonging Co. for yourself, including their newest live worship album, “See The Light.”

As always, we hope this post brings fruit to your worship tech ministry at your church and, ultimately, that Jesus is made big in your church because of it. 

The Ultimate Guide to Worship Keys in 2021

Technology moves fast. And the technology around a keyboard setup for worship in 2021 is no exception. This is why Churchfront teamed up with David Pfaltzgraff, the founder and lead designer of Sunday Sounds, to equip churches with the easiest, cleanest, and most excellent keyboard rig possible. 

This post covers two main areas of the keyboard rig: the hardware and the software. We’ll walk through all the equipment a church needs to purchase or upgrade, and this will be followed by a walkthrough of how David Pfaltzgraff’s Sunday Keys template provides the best keyboard solution for churches.

Who is David Pfaltzgraff?

David is the founder of sundaysounds.com. As a worship leader at his church, David wanted to equip his volunteers with the easiest keyboard solution possible. Specifically, he wanted his volunteers to run Mainstage by Apple, but the problem with Mainstage was that it is not easy to navigate out of the box. So David has worked over the last five years to create custom sounds tailored specifically for worship, and he’s created a full suite of templates to use within Mainstage that makes navigating keyboard sounds simple and easy. 

David is also one of Churchfront’s instructors within Worship Ministry School, where he walks through all the details of setting up a church’s keyboard rig. So if this post is helpful for you and your team, consider enrolling in Worship Ministry School Today! 

The Case for Using a Computer Instead of a Keyboard’s Built-in Sounds.

Churches are looking to software (using a computer) instead of a keyboard’s built-in options because the software option is the path of least resistance when it comes to duplicating the keyboard sounds of songs a church desires to cover. It can be cumbersome to try to recreate iconic keyboard sounds of the latest worship songs out there using a dated keyboard with limited options built-in. But rigging up a computer with software like Mainstage or Ableton allows a church to use their existing keyboard with relative simplicity. It can also demolish the learning curve needed for a volunteer to run the keyboard rig. 

Breakdown of Keyboard Rig

Simplicity is the key. With this in mind, there are only three essential components to a modern worship keyboard rig. 

1.     A computer that can run the software and create the actual audio

2.     A keyboard that can send data to a computer

3.     An interface that can send the computer’s sound to the sound board

Component 1) A Computer That Can Run the Software and Create the Actual Audio 

To run Mainstage, a mac is required. Don’t own a Mac and concerned about the price? Here’s the good news: Macs with enough power to run Mainstage have never been more affordable. David has noted that, even one year ago, the macs he suggested churches purchase cost twice the cost as ones that can handle the work now. A Macbook Air with an M1 chip and 16gb of RAM for around $1,200 should be fine. The Mainstage software itself is only $30, so the bulk of a church’s budget will be put toward a computer to run this software. 

PC users, don’t fear. Although Mainstage is only for Macs, Ableton Live is cross-platform and runs well on PCs. What’s more, David and his team has Ableton-ready templates for PC users. 

Component 2) A Keyboard That Can Send Data to a Computer

Once the computer is ready to go with software like Mainstage or Ableton, the computer needs to be told what the keyboard player wants it to do. It’s needs to be “controlled.” So for that, it needs a midi controller. Here’s the great news. Probably 99% of churches out there already have a midi controller – the keyboard. Any modern keyboard that has build-in sounds can probably send midi data to a computer. So rather than using the built-in sounds in the keyboard itself, the keyboard is functioning as a controller and telling the computer, “hey, play these notes for this long at this certain volume.” 

Component 3) An Interface That Can Send the Computer’s Sound to the Sound Board

Now it’s time to connect the computer to the sound console. Churches can use the headphone jack to get started and test things out, but ultimately, David recommends purchasing an audio interface. What’s an audio interface? Essentially, it’s a device that sends audio audio out of the computer with a clean signal and provides multiple outputs that can be sent to the sound console. 

There are several interface options. The simplest is to purchase Radial USB Pro. It provides two stereo outputs and is simple to hook up and use. Another more professional option is to use a USB to AES50 converter to get multiple channels of audio being sent over a digital audio protocol. 

Bonus Keyboard Rig Accessory

Navigating keyboard software can still be hard. The idea is to be able to use the software as an extension of the keyboard instrument itself. So a great way to aid the keyboard player when using this setup is to provide them with an extra controller that can modify the software while the keyboard is being played. David suggests investing in the Korg NanoKONTROL 2. It’s $75 on Amazon. Essentially, it’s just a bunch of knobs and faders, but this paired with Sunday Sounds’ custom-designed decal that can overlay the device gives the keyboard volunteer a ton of visual reference as they play. Using a controller like this creates a learning standard that any player can implement on any keyboard. 

How Sunday Keys Works 

Mainstage is a powerful musical tool designed to make the most out of the keyboard. However, Mainstage wasn’t created for Worship music. Some sounds that come with Mainstage are great, but there are many that are pointless and a church will never use as well. To top it off, it could take many, many hours for someone to learn the software from scratch. It’s not easy for someone who doesn’t dabble in music software to understand the process quickly. 

This is where David and his team have saved churches all those hours of figuring our Mainstage and have created the Sunday Keys template.

Opening up Sunday Keys for the first time reveals that this template was designed specifically for worship ministry, and all the color coding matches the Sunday Sounds NanoKONTROL skin. Sunday Keys comes with a big library of patches that can be layered on top of one another, and this is where the NanoKONTROL can be used well. 

The workflow is easy to follow. All the confusion and headache of learing new software is removed, and each volunteer can be empowered to use the same software for every song and set. 

And, most importantly, all the patches (the different sounds) are tailor-made for worship music. David even went to his mom’s house and recorded her old piano that had a unique upright-piano sound for worship. The Sunday Sounds team has spared nothing to bring churches the best sounds for their worship. 

So much more could be said in explaining the value of Sunday sounds and Churchfront’s recommendations for it. But at this point, the best use of your time is to watch the second half of Jake’s interview with David himself as David walks through a live demonstration of the Sunday Keys template. Check out the YouTube Video above. 

Wrapping Up

So that’s a quick walkthrough on how to setup the easiest keyboard rig for 2021. Again, if this was helpful for you and you desire to equip your church and worship team with even more tools, consider enrolling in Churchfront’s Worship Ministry School where David and a host of other instructors guide worship leaders and volunteers through the process of leading worship well.

Best Frame Rates for Church Live Streaming

What frame rate should churches use to live stream worship? 

This is a quick-reference post that will break down Churchfront’s recommendation for live stream frame rates. Desire more thorough instruction for live streaming? Enroll in Churchfront’s Beginner Live Streaming Course.

Unlike those Pinterest recipes that you wish would just cut to the chase and skip all the fluff, let’s jump in. 

The answer: Use 24 frames per second (fps) or 30 fps for live streaming.

Why two options, and what is the difference between them? The answer has to do with motion blur. 

What is motion blur?

In many cases, amateur videographers look at their camera settings and they think, "higher means better, so I'm going to set my camera frame rate to the highest number at 60 frames per second." The reason you don't want to do this is because of a phenomenon called motion blur.

Stop reading and wave your hand in front of your face. By doing this, notice that your eye actually can’t track your hand. There is a natural “blur” happening. In other words, the eye is not “capturing” fast enough in order to see the hand move with no blur. Controlling the frame rate helps replicate that natural human-eye blur. That’s why 24 fps and 30 fps work best. They mimic the eye. But change the frame rate to 60 fps, and there will be no blur. The image will look unnatural. 

So Churchfront, which option should our church use?

We recommend using 24 fps, as it is the cinematic standard, and it especially accentuates the worship music. However, 30 fps can be more pleasing for the preaching portion of a service. 30 fps will look like broadcast TV, while 24 fps will look more like a movie. Both have pros and cons, but both are frame rates that will work well.

What in the world is 23.98 or 29.97 fps? 

Don’t worry about this. If these frame rates are the options the camera offers, consider them the same as 24 fps and 30 fps. There are plenty of YouTube videos to explain, but churches don’t need to understand the difference between 23.98 and 24 fps to live stream their services. 

What about 60 fps?

Use 60 fps if your church wants to get into applying slow-motion effect into the live stream. For one method on how to apply 60 fps to your church’s live stream, view the video above! 

That’s it! 

It’s pretty simple. Choose 24 fps or 30 fps, and be sure to keep these settings consistent among all the church’s hardware. Happy streaming!

How to Upgrade Video Quality for Church Live Streaming

Check out these two live stream screenshots. 

What makes the difference between these two shots? 

Although video quality has nothing to say about the content of the message being preached, the excellence of image quality of a church’s live stream matters. Dialing in a clear and compelling live stream image will help a church engage with its audience, and ultimately, bring the message of the gospel more clearly, devoid of distraction. 

This post is going to help explain what makes the difference between the two shots above. It answers the simple question, “How do we make our live stream look better?”

Improving a church’s live stream look comes down to four areas.

1. Choosing the right video camera

2. Practicing good lighting techniques

3. Understanding exposure and framing fundamentals

4. Knowing the importance of encoding

Before digging in, Churchfront wants to provide your church with greater, deeper resources for your church’s worship ministry. Here are two resources. 

First, download our FREE Worship Ministry Toolkit. This post is going to cover a number of tools for worship ministry, and the world of worship tech is growing all the time. Churchfront makes it easy to weed through all the options, giving you the best in every category of worship ministry. Download it now. 

Second, check out Churchfront’s bread and butter, Worship Ministry School. Here, we put all our heart into coaching and leading churches to be truly gospel-centered and tech-savvy. We offer one-on-one coaching, a vault of training videos, and more. Posts like these are the tip of the iceberg. If you want the whole iceberg for your church, apply for Worship Ministry School today. 

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The Big Picture

Before walking through steps to improve a livestream, here is the big picture of how livestreaming works. For an in-depth view of how Churchfront recommends a church set up their live streams in 2021, check out this video.

At a glance, we recommend connecting cameras to an ATEM Mini Pro and using ProPresenter as the streaming software. From there, the stream can be sent to a multi-streaming platform like Resi or Restream. 

This will help provide the context for the steps listed in this post. Of course, there are more advanced setups out there, and Churchfront has consulted churches who desire a more robust system. But for many churches, this system is a great and easy way to have a reliable setup. 

Step One: Choose the Right Video Camera

Choosing the right camera is such an important step in order to achieve better video quality. 

Cutting right to the chase, Churchfront recommends the Sony A6400 camera body. Why the Sony A6400? It has an APS-C sensor that's going to let in more light with less noise and higher image quality. It works great with Sony E-Mount lenses. It gives more depth to the images, and the price range is budget-friendly. 

But what if a church wants to purchase a different camera than the Sony A6400? That’s totally great, as long as the sensor type is sufficient. 

Understanding Sensors

A quick word on sensors. The sensor is a very important aspect of the camera and has a huge impact on the quality of a captured image, especially in low light situations. The important thing to know is that bigger sensors allow more light in the image. The image will look clear, and color accuracy will improve. 

Check out the diagram above. The left side displays full frame sensors. These are the largest sensors. Moving left, there is APS-C. This is the sensor on that Sony camera recommended above. Next to that is a four-thirds sensor. We do not recommend purchasing any camera with a camera smaller than four-thirds. 

Unfortunately, many churches out there purchase camcorders or PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) cameras that have very small sensors. The problem is that most churches don’t provide a ton of light on stage, so the image with these cameras end up being really grainy. This is likely the case with the live stream on the left from the intro. 

Invest in Good Lenses

The lens directs the light onto the camera sensor. As stated earlier, we recommend looking into the Sony E-Mount lenses. 

When investing in camera gear, the best jump in image quality can be achieved with putting more dollars into lenses. Churches don’t really need camera bodies that cost more than a $1,000 to $2,000 because a body like the Sony A4600 we recommend can do all the work a camera body needs to do. Instead, buy lenses that create a lot of depth and let in a lot of light. 

Step Two: Practice Good Lighting Techniques

A church can have the most professional camera in the world, but poor lighting can produce poor overall results in a live stream.

So here are our lighting tips. 

LED Lighting

1. Keep the front lighting or your key light consistent. This is going to be the light that shines on the front of your subjects on stage. Throughout the stream, keep the brightness and temperature consistent. This is because all the livestream cameras should be in manual mode. Put the cameras in automatic mode, and it will look terrible and change the settings on its own throughout the stream. Don’t use colored LED washes as front lights, either. Use ellipsoidal fixtures or Fresnels. 

2. Use LED washes as back or side lighting to add color. But don’t overdo it. Provide enough light to highlight the hair and add color to the image. But keep it subtle. You don’t want your worship leader looking like a Smurf. 

Front Lighting Example

Step Three: Understand Exposure and Framing Fundamentals

Exposure is how much light your camera is capturing. These are the controls that are manipulated within the camera itself to adjust things like aperture, shutter speed, and sensor sensitivity (or ISO).

Sound intimidating? Here’s great news: anybody can learn about exposure. Churches don’t need a professional videographer or someone who went to school in videography to understand these ideas.

Walking through and understanding each exposure element will provide any church with the knowledge they need to create a healthy-looking picture. Work on these concepts during rehearsal, and the look of the live stream will be improved in no time! And remember: These are achieved through using manual mode on the camera. No more automatic.

This is the exposure triangle of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Save this image, paste it with your camera operators, and memorize it. This is how cameras process exposure.

Aperture is how large the ring is in the lens that lets in light to hit the sensor. It not only lets in more light, but it can actually add more depth to an image, giving a nice blurry background behind the subject.

Shutter speed is how fast the shutter is opening and closing on the camera, letting in light to the sensor. The faster the shutter speed, the less light comes in. The slower the shutter speed, the more light is going to pass through. 

Lastly, ISO or gain is the camera's way of artificially boosting light after it hits the sensor.

Shutter speed and aperture are important to get right because these settings affect the light before it hits the camera sensor. After that ISO is usually the last setting to touch if the light needs to be boosted more. But be careful with ISO, because boosting it too much produces a grainy image.

Framing

Many churches make mistakes with framing. Framing is the placement of the subject within a camera shot.

Take a look at these two shots. In these frames, Craig Groeschel is the subject, and he is framed properly within the shots.

Let's talk about some of the differences and concepts here.

The first concept is considering the amount of headroom. The best way to create proper headroom above the subject is to leave about a hand’s width of distance between the top of the head and the top of the frame.

Why is this the best framing for a waist-up shot? It’s simply pleasing to the human eye. It creates the best idea that the subject is not too far away or too close-up on top of you as you view the live stream.

The same principle applies with a wider shot like the frame on the right above. Wider shots capture more of the stage, so they require more headroom and proper spacing underneath the subject, too. Use these framing images as a template for framing shots in your own live stream.  

Step Four: Know the Importance of Encoding

What is encoding? Encoding is a process of converting a given video input into a digital format that is compatible with most types of web players in mobile devices. In other words, encoding makes a file smaller for fast and reliable delivery while, at the same time, retaining quality.

There are various ways to encode video. One way is to encode within streaming software. The other way is to purchase a dedicated hardware encoding device. 

Generally, a dedicated hardware encoding device like the RAY Encoder by Resi will provide better results than using streaming software. That’s because a hardware encoder is allocating more CPU power to compress a video down, but it's not going to compress it down so much that it's going to look all distorted and grainy. Hardware encoders like the RAY Encoder will also free up processing power for your presentation computer. Using a computer that is processing all the encoding and other functions may slow it down and create problems. 

Wrapping up

Remember to refer to the big picture above when considering these tips. There are so many other aspects to improving a livestream, like improving the broadcast mix, that aren’t covered here. Be sure to check out our other resources on Churchfront’s YouTube channel, but most of all, download our Worship Ministry Toolkit and enroll in Worship Ministry School to be the most equipped for your church’s worship ministry. 

How to Setup Vocal Mics | Best Microphone, Gain, EQ, Compression, and Effects

When thinking about leading Worship, there is literally no leading happening without vocalists being heard clearly. Although it may seem the solution is to plug in any old mic and turn up the gain, there is more to it than that. Churches who want to improve their vocal microphone setup should dig into this post and the video above. 

This post is going to provide a walkthrough of Jake’s vocal microphone setup he is using at his church. Here’s the roadmap. 

Hardware

Microphone: Telefunken M80

Mixer: Behringer WING 

How to Process Vocal Mics

Step 1: Gain

Step 2: Low Cut/High Pass Filter

Step 3: EQ

Step 4: Compressor

Step 5: Pitch Fix Plugin

Step 6: Effects (Reverb and Delay)

It’s also worth noting that there are so many great demonstrations of these steps that you can view through the YouTube video above. So, to see any of these steps in action, check out the video. 

Before we begin, check out our Beginner’s Guide to Church Sound online course. It’s a step-by-step guide that’s great for helping new sound techs in a church. We’ll instruct you on the anatomy of a sound system, how all the gear works, microphone types, etc. We also cover the essentials of processing audio so you can understand all the concepts in this post. You and your team will gain instant access through enrolling, and your worship ministry is guaranteed to be improved. 

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Hardware

Vocal Microphones

With a vocal microphone, it’s important to have a handheld dynamic microphone. It could be wireless, but wireless mics will cost more, especially for a quality one. Jake is a fan of good old-fashioned wired mics. For years, he’s been using the Shure SM58 or Beta58.

The Shure mics work well. They're great standard microphones and, when processed correctly, they'll sound great every time. 

But recently Jake wanted to make an upgrade, so that’s when he picked up a Telefunken M80 dynamic microphone. It comes in at around $250, and it's not super expensive like a Neumann condenser microphone. It’s a great middle of the road option that provides a bump in quality while keeping a reasonable cost. 

Behringer WING

Finding the right microphone is important, but if a church doesn’t have a great mixing console to process the audio, then buying a good microphone is pointless. It would be like buying great off-road tires and putting them on a minivan. In order to get the most out of a vocal mic, get a mixing console that can process its audio well. 

That’s where the Behringer WING comes in, which is one of Churchfront’s recommended consoles. For the rest of this post, the audio processing will be done on a WING. 

How to Process  Vocal Mics

Routing the Mic to the Mixer

Once the sound waves from the voice enter the microphone, it goes through an XLR cable straight into the stage box, which is on stage. Jake’s church has an S16 Behringer stage box. The signal from that box goes to the mixing console over AES-50. 

Step 1: Gain

The foundational concern of processing vocal audio is adequate signal coming into the channel on the sound console. Apply too much gain, and there will be too much noise with overcompensation happening in other areas. Too quiet, and there obviously won’t be enough of a signal to work with. 

For vocal mics, a sweet spot is to meter around -12 db. This depends on many factors, but it’s a helpful rule of thumb.

One of those factors that could change the gain setting is mic placement in relation to the PA speakers. Ideally, the mic should be behind the speakers. In Jake’s setup, his microphones are right next to the speakers, which isn’t ideal. He’s able to make up for that gain with digital trim, however.

step 2: Low Cut/High Pass Filter

Adding a low cut or high pass filter (HPF) removes the lower end frequencies of the vocal audio. Jake likes to cut out the low end up to around 290 Hertz. This means that any frequencies under 290 Hz will be cut out, causing the vocal audio to “cut” through the whole mix better. In other words, Jake explains that worship vocals shouldn’t sound like a radio host or Joe Rogan. Removing the low end sounds nice, pleasing, and it makes everyone happy.

For a demonstration, be sure to check out the YouTube video above. 

step 3: Equalizing (EQ)

Equalizing tunes the vocal audio to sound pleasing within the entire frequency spectrum. On any digital sound console, navigate to the EQ settings, and the HPF should already show itself as active. The art of EQing any instrument or voice is one that takes practice and skill. It’s far too big of a feat to explain how to EQ well in this post, so check out Churchfront’s Beginner’s Guide to Church Sound. For those who understand EQ, here’s the snapshot for for how Jake sets up his voice EQ. Jake cut his voice by 6 db at 576 hz, cut 3 db out of 3k hz, and boosted the 10k hz frequency by 1.5 db. 

EQing vocal audio this way gets rid of the low junk, the mid box-y sound, adds some sparkle to it, and takes away the harshness. This is a crucial step.

step 4: Compressor

Now that EQ is done, it’s compressor time. 

In a nutshell, the compressor makes the loud parts quiet and the quiet parts louder. It’s so important to not distract the church with inaudible or over-the-top singing, so compressors eliminate those potential distractions. 

Here’s how Jake compresses his voice. 

The first setting is the ratio. Jake chooses a 5:1 ratio. Next, is the threshold, which is at minus 29 decibels. Next is the makeup gain, which is important because if a voice is being compressed by five decibels, it’s important to make up for that at five decibels to smooth out the sound.

Jake’s attack is set around 10 seconds so that his voice can cut through the mix but not cut through the too much before the compressor comes down. 

It’s best to put the compression after the EQ so that the signal that’s being compressed is the actual and desired EQ-d voice.

Pitch Correction

On consoles like the WING, pitch correction is available as a plugin. This is so much easier than attaching a computer and tuning voices through a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) like Ableton Live. Don’t have a newer console that has this feature included? Be sure to check out Waves’ autotune software and watch our How-To video on how to use it. 

For churches with consoles like the WING, using pitch correction helps eliminate distraction. Don’t think T-Pain in the worship service. These corrections are small and subtle, but when used well, a plugin like this can do wonders for the vocal mix. 

Reverb

Reverb gives voices a sense of space, even in smaller venues where the effect of a larger venue just isn’t possible. In other words, adding a reverb effect helps people feel like they're in a bigger space. It sounds pleasing.

Jake is using a plate reverb with 2.6 of decay and pre-delay at 65 milliseconds. It’s good to have the pre-delay setting a little higher so the reverb doesn’t make the voice muddy. That way, the reverb is kicking in 65 milliseconds later, causing some helpful separation.

Delay

Lastly, delay can be helpful when used sparingly. Too much, and it gets really distracting and frustrating. The best way to enable delay is to have the tap tempo assigned to an assignable button on the console and assign the delay (and reverb, too) to a DCA or custom-assignmable fader so the audio volunteer can simply push up the delay and the voice keeps going. To hear how this works out, check out Jake’s demonstration in the YouTube video above. 

Wrapping Up

This concludes how Jake sets up his vocal mic, and we hope this knowledge can bless your own church’s audio mix and worship ministry, overall. 

Remember to check out Churchfront’s Beginner’s Guide to Church Sound in order to be fully equipped to run a church’s audio well, especially if any of this post was overwhelming or unfamiliar. This is an in-depth course that works through all the fundamentals of mixing audio. Check it out. 

5 Broadcast Mixing Accessories for Church Live Streaming

One of the most important elements of worship ministry today is the broadcast mix. Through a church’s broadcast mix, the gospel is shared, God’s Word is preached, and the church is made accessible. But building, running, and accessorizing a broadcast mix station isn’t easy, so that’s where Churchfront is here to help! 

In this post, we’re going to pitch five solid and helpful broadcast mix accessories that will be sure to improve your worship ministry. But if you want in-depth training on how to build and operate your church’s broadcast mix with excellence, check out our Broadcast Mix Mastery course. From Ableton, to using plugins, to running a livestream, we cover it all. So check it out!

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First Accessory: Klark Teknik DN9630

A computer running an Ableton broadcast mix needs audio from the mixer, right? Well, running audio over USB more than probably 5 to 10 feet is a bad idea. USB cables start creating issues when they run really long.

Introducing the Klark Teknik DN9630. 

Newcomers to Churchfront will learn quickly that we advocate using a Dante network over AES50 protocol to route audio throughout the room. However, this tool can act as a great stand-in for those who maybe can’t order or access a Dante card at this time. If a church owns a mixer like the Behringer WING, then this is where the three AES50 ethernet ports on the back come in handy. Use the A and B ports for stage audio, and then use the C port for the broadcast mix. Running audio over CAT-5 can span hundreds of feet without connectivity issues.

Second Accessory: The Optogate PB-05

Talkback mics are important. They help volunteers in the back interact with the worship leaders at the front. But isn’t it annoying to hit the talk back button every time you need to talk? 

This is a cool little tool. The Optogate is a noise gate that only opens up via infrared. So put your mouth up to the mic and the infrared red sensor is triggered that opens the gate. Just start talking! Never worry about toggling a button again. 

Third Accessory: touchAble Pro App

This is an accessory for controlling an Ableton broadcast template with an iPad. Purchase it for $15 on the app store, connect it over USB or Wi-Fi to the computer using Ableton, download the desktop app, and touchable will automatically sync with the computer, giving complete control through the iPad.

Screenshot of touchAble Pro on iPad

The visual feedback for the faders is great, even better than the feedback Ableton provides. TouchAble provides audio metering, it matches the color-coding, and you can record and solo channels. It does it all, and it’s always connected. 

Fourth Accessory: Alclair In-Ear Monitors

Jake getting his ears molded for his Spire Six Drivers

A recent video highlighted Jake upgrading his headphones when he stopped by Alclair. Jake ordered six driver headphones, the Spire Six Drivers, to be exact. They go for $849 here on Alcair's website. Jake was blown away by the difference from his RSM Quad Drivers to these headphones. He could hear the highs and lows so much better. 

The RSM Quad Drivers are great. But if you have the money, we would recommend these Six Drivers over the Four Drivers. The difference is significant, especially when comparing between two custom sets. These are very important tools for a Broadcast Mix because hearing everything that’s going on is crucial. The mix also has to be very isolated, excluding any room noise bleeding in to the mix. This is where the Six Drivers shine.

Fifth Accessory: Elgato Stream Deck

The magic of a Stream Deck is that settings can be changed within different applications at different stations with just the push of a button. It uses MIDI commands through a native Stream Deck app and toggles functions of other apps/devices. Whether it’s muting/unmuting, mimicking keyboard commands, or other commands, the Stream Deck removes the pain of pointing your cursor to click on things. It saves time. It makes things simple.

It has things clearly labeled, and it provides great visual feedback. Most of all, the amount of errors that a tech team could make.

There you have it!

We hope these accessories can be a blessing and improvement to your worship ministry and broadcast mix. Again, be sure to check out our Broadcast Mix Mastery Course if you or your team desire more training in all things broadcast mix and live-streaming. Happy mixing!

How to Build a Worship Drum Kit | feat. Noah DeBolt

What this post covers

Churchfront has some quality content up for grabs when it comes to drum sets for worship. In this post, we’re going to walk you through the different building blocks of creating a great sounding drum set. This is specifically for worship leaders out there who want to provide an excellent tool for their drummers. Be it volunteer or contract drummers, we want to make sure that they are set up for success.

We want to be clear at the top of this post that the type of drum set a church builds really depends on budget that's available. Also, the drum set could depend on the specific genre or style a church is going for. The genre we're focusing on today is the typical modern worship rock genre.

This post is jam-packed with tons of valuable info on how to build a great drum set for worship, so here’s the road map to make navigating this post easier.

Who is Noah DeBolt?
Choosing a Kick and Toms
Snare Drum
Drum Heads
Tuning
Hardware
Cymbals
How to Mic Drums

Want the exact same gear seen here and other recommendations for your Worship Ministry? Download Churchfront’s Worship Ministry Toolkit. It’s free, and all the best Worship hardware and software is conveniently curated in one spot.

Who is Noah Debolt?

Noah is based in California, and he attends Vineyard Anaheim Church, where he plays drums every single Sunday alongside Jeremy Riddle. He's a worship leader you may or may not have heard of. 

Noah has a ton of experience under his belt. He tours with Jeremy and the rest of the team regularly when they're able to tour in non-pandemic situations. But he's been able to dedicate a lot more time recently to his YouTube channel as well as his online membership platform for worship drummers. Follow him and subscribe to his channel if you want to continue to receive some great quality content around worship drumming. 

Choosing a Kick and Toms

The following post is an edited transcript from an interview between Jake Gosselin and Noah DeBolt. The full interview (including demonstrations) can be viewed using the YouTube video above.

Jake
Noah, let's go ahead and dive into the first step when it comes to selecting the shells for our drum kit. What should we be thinking about as we're shopping for a shell pack for our drum kit? 

Noah
For shells, we're going to be mostly looking at the kind of wood you want to be using, sizes, drumheads, and all that stuff. But we'll start with just the wood. 

The first wood we’ll look at is from a Gretsch Catalina Club, which is a mahogany drum set. For me, in the worship world, mahogany and maple are the main two kits you want to be looking at. This is because maple has even highs, even mids, and really pronounced lows, which is what we want. You want there to be a lot of low-end in the shells that you're picking. 

Honestly, mahogany is my favorite because it has muted highs. That means there’s not too much attack coming out of the drums. And then there are the even mids and really warm, rich lows. That’s why I love mahogany. Especially with worship, it just helps to have drum shells that can breathe really deeply in those lower spaces in the frequency range. 

Maple is your all-around kit, like If you're using it at church for a youth group or Sunday service. It can do everything. Mahogany, in my opinion, is specifically for better high-end kits for church. 

There are other kits out there like poplar kits or birch kits. They're not bad, but they're not my favorite just because they tend to have more attack on the drums. The high end of the frequency is going to be outrageous. I tend to stay with drums that favor the low range in the frequency range. So, that's why I like maple, mahogany, etc.

Jake
Is that because the genre of a lot of worship songs lend themselves to that for modern worship having a darker tone?

Noah
Yeah. 

Jake
Why those darker tones?

Noah
It’s a rock trend in general. When you think of jazz drumming, jazz kits will typically be birch or poplar kits because they want to cut through the mix a little more. Instead, with a bass drum, floor tom, rack tom, etc., you want them to sit near the mid and low frequencies. That's just where they find their groove.

Jake
Then when you go about shopping for a shell kit, do you want to even be concerned about a snare shell at this point or do you just want to focus on the kits? I know when you're looking at different online retailers, there are three piece and four piece kits out there. Are most drummers getting a kick and toms together and then getting a snare separately like the setup we have here? What's the trend you're seeing? 

Noah
Yeah, I would say that would be the most popular thing. Get a kick, floor tom, rack tom, and then get the snare drum separately. Usually, the snare drum that will come with a shell pack will be the same wood. For example, with a mahogany snare, we don't really want a warm tone with the snare drum. We want that to contrast the warm tones of the rest of the kit. We want the snare drum to be a bit brighter and a little more in your face. I would suggest buying the shell pack separate from the snare drum.

Jake
On this kit we have a kick, high tom, floor tom, and sometimes I've seen an additional floor tom on worship drum sets.

Why would one want to have an additional floor tom? 

Noah
Yeah, I think that's just more of an accessory than it is a necessary piece. I think it helps when you're getting into more floor tom sounds, like if you're playing more Bethel sets or things like that. Their songs tend to favor the floor tom a lot more. Having more versatility and a deeper floor tom adds a ton more low-end to the overall sound of the drum kit. It's definitely not necessarily, but it is an added bonus if you can get that.

Jake
Now let's talk about sizes of these different shells. What are the pros and cons of going with a larger kick vs. smaller kick? What about toms? Can you talk us through that?

Noah
Yeah. I think in terms of bass drum size (I think we have a 20 here) I'm in favor of bigger sizes, up to 24 being possibly the max. Again, it just gets you a ton more low-end in the mix. 

The 24s are great, and you get a lot of low end. But you can start to miss out on some of the punchiness. If you're doing a two mic setup in the kick, then you can make up for the punchiness by having a kick in mic. But if you don't have that option, then a 22 kick is probably a better idea because you can still get a lot of the punch and still get a lot of low end out of it without having to sacrifice that.

For rack and floor tom sizes, I think this is a 12/14. I typically would do like a 13 by 9 on the rack tom and a 16 by 16 on the floor tom. Those tend to be just classic rock sizes in the way they blend really well together. Especially with the rack tom and floor tom, you want them to be working with each other versus against each other. The sizes can matter there. 

For me, if we have a 12 and a 14 like we have here, it's hard to get much pitch differentiation between them. If you have a 13 by 9 and a 16 by 16, 16 by 16 will be really low. Then 13 by 9 can be still in the medium to low range, in terms of frequency. But they will still sound much different than the floor tom.

Snare Drum

Jake
We've covered kick, the high tom, the floor tom, what about the snare? The snare you brought is actually your own and did not come with this drum kit. Tell us about the snare you have here.

Noah
I have a Ludwig Black Beauty 14 by 6 1/2 and a half. This thing is my baby. It's literally the best. It’s an all-brass snare drum. Because the rest of the kit is low, warm, and rich, like mahogany or maple, you want the snare drum to contrast that really well. 

Typically, you want a metal snare drum, and that’s typically what I go for. You can do brass, aluminum, titanium, have your pick. But for me, I love brass. It has an even amount of highs, mids, and lows. It can cover the whole spectrum and it can really do anything.

This size is 14 by 6 ½, and I can tune it up, I can tune it down. It can do anything. It's the workhorse of snare drum sizes. I've also seen a lot of worship drummers have 14 by 8 size snare drums, so that means it's just a lot deeper of a snare drum. I'm not opposed to it, but I'm also not a fan of it.  The 14 by 8 is a one trick pony. It can do the fat snare drum thing really well, but that's all it does really well. Whereas, for me, a 14 by 6 1/2 can do the fat snare drum thing really well too. 

Jake
What's the cost for a snare like that? 

Noah
This one is around $700 to $800, which is definitely the top end of the spectrum. But there's a bunch of offshoots of this very snare drum like a Pork Pie Bob. Ludwig makes the Black Beauty into a black magic, too, I think. There's a ton of offshoots that have a brass shell and that are similar to this. But for me, this one gets the cake.

Jake
In terms of investing in a drum kit and the shells, I know this Catalina Club kit was around $700 to $800 for just the toms, the kick, and the snare that came with it. Then this snare is about $700-ish just itself. Are snare drums something that's worth investing a bit more money into in themselves for a bit more of that quality sound?

Noah
Totally, yeah. Honestly, the snare drum and kick drum are the two things in rock and in worship that you're physically hitting the most often. You want them to probably be the best, you know what I mean? For a snare drum, it's definitely an investment there. But if you get a well-crafted snare drum, it'll last you for years if you just take care of it. Then the other pretty big investment would be cymbals as well, because you're also hitting those a ton.

Drum Heads

Jake
We've covered all the shells. Let's talk about the heads and any additional accessories you have on the heads of the shells to influence the sound.

Noah
Starting with the kick, you definitely want a two-ply kick drumhead. You want this at least on the batter side just because you're going to be kicking the crud out of it. You want something that's going to be really durable and punchy for you. On the resonant side, I’m not too particular about that. Maybe just get something black so it looks good. 

For the floor tom, I think we're running an Emperor Vintage Coated on this. I love the Emperor line from Remo just because it's a two-ply head. I basically love two-ply on every drum. It's really durable and it's a bit more dead than some of the other drumheads that Remo makes. I definitely like these because when we're playing rock, we don't want ringing floor toms. That just doesn't really make sense in terms of the sound spectrum.

Jake
So the coating on these heads helps dampen and mute the tone a little bit?  

Noah
Honestly, for coating vs. not coated, I don't have too much of a preference. I don't really know how big of a difference that makes. I'm sure some people think it makes a big difference, but I don't think it makes that big of a difference, just from my experience. But the two-ply definitely makes the biggest difference in terms of how much a drum will resonate. 

Moving on to the rack tom, we have an Emperor Vintage Coated. I typically like to match heads here on the toms. It’s a two-ply, deader drum head. This helps us even out a lot of frequencies there. 

For the snare drum, this one is definitely really important. I've gone through the whole gamut of snare drumheads and I've found that the Remo Powerstroke P4 Coated is probably the best one that we use. It literally does everything you want. But honestly, it's like a really dead sound. For finding a big fat snare drum sound, it's perfect in my opinion. 

For resonant heads for the toms, I would just get a one-ply like the Remo Ambassador, typically clear. I don't know if a coated will make the difference on the bottom head. But for me, clear does it. For the snare drum resonant head, I just have a Remo snare side on the bottom head, and that works great.

Jake
Then you have a few things on the actual tops of the heads here too. I see some gels and a ring around the top of this. What are those doing?

Noah
Yeah, so those are basically just dampening any unwanted frequencies that you want. Basically, sticking something on the drumhead will just help stop the drumhead from vibrating as much as you want it to. 

If you get a Moongel and stick it towards the center of the drum, you're going to find it really deadens the drum because there are less frequencies that are rumbling through the head. If you stick it further toward the outside of the drum, you'll get a lot more openness and a lot more frequencies ringing out. You can experiment. Honestly, you can use anything from duct tape to toilet paper to mimic the Moongels we have here. Anything that will dampen it.

Typically, you want some dampening on the drums. This is because, as they stand, they won't mute out all the overtones that you want. Especially if it's not tuned right, you'll get a lot of wonky things happening. You almost always need the Moongels or something to help kill those overtones.

For the snare drum, in addition to having a Moongel on it, I also stick a Remo Richie Ring around it. That literally does the same thing we've been saying. It just mutes all the overtones. Especially with the snare drum, I don't like it to be wide-open and ringing a ton. I like it to be pretty dead and just have one note. I just think that makes the most sense in the terms of the soundscape of worship music.

Jake
Can you give us a quick before and after of how dampening works?

Yeah, absolutely. I think the snare drum is the most drastic one, so I'll start there. No dampening at all, just a wide-open snare drum. 

Now, I have it tuned well, so you don't hear any crazy frequencies fighting with each other. But there's still some ring in there. But with the Remo Richie Ring and the Moongel on it. It's pretty dead. 

The snare wires are also really important on the snare drum because you want a lot of snare response. We really want this snare drum to stand out in the mix. I typically run a 42-strand on the bottom and I think what is standard is a 20-strand. There's a pretty big difference there. With a 20-strand, you're just not going to get as much snare response, there's not going to be as much rattle on the bottom of the snare drum. 

I think anything above 20-strand is really ideal in getting that fat snare drum sound. Especially when you tune the drums lower, there’s typically less snare drum response because there are less frequencies rattling the snare drums. You definitely want to have the bigger snare drum wires on the bottom. Similar with muffling rack toms, floor toms, with Moongels and stuff. 

It's honestly really good to be putting a pillow or a blanket inside of the bass drumhead in order to dampen a lot of the overtones of the bass drum because there are a lot of overtones there. Depending on where you place it, you can place it to where it touches both sides of the bass drum or touches the batter and the Resonant head. Which will give you a pretty punchy sound. Or you can let the Resonant head just ring out by not placing it against that. But that's also a really important thing. 

Tuning

Jake
My next question is about the importance of being able to tune a kit properly. I would consider this kit to be a beginner to intermediate shell pack that we have here. But it seems like a lot of the tone comes from the drummer's ability to actually tune these heads. Can you speak to that a little?

Noah
Yeah. Source tone is so important. It is literally everything because you can have the best gear and it could still sound really bad because we just don't know how to tune it.

Jake
Imagine if you had like a $6,000 Taylor Gibson guitar and it's not tuned properly. It's like the same exact thing. But we don't think of it that way because drumheads aren't often associated with pitch and tuning in an intuitive way. I think for worship leaders who are listening, it's just as important to tune your drum set properly as it is to tune your guitar properly.

Noah
Yeah, absolutely. Because if you're planning a jazz gig or something, your drums are going to be tuned significantly different than if you're playing rock or worship. It's really imperative that the drummer knows and learns how to tune the drums. Honestly, there's a ton of YouTube videos on it and everybody has their own way of doing it.

But I think the best way to tune for me is by using this device called a tune bot, which literally tells you what frequency each drumhead is resonating at. Actually, it tells you what each lug is resonating at, which is even better. This is because you want each drum by itself to be in tune with itself. You want each lug to be in tune with all the other lugs, resonating at the same frequency. 

Hardware

Jake
Let’s move on to hardware. What is hardware and how does someone get the right hardware for a drum kit?

Hardware is basically the things that hold up all the other things. So, it's the cymbal stands, the floor tom legs, the snare drum stand, the bass drum pedal, and the hi-hat stand. It's really important that we don't go too cheap in this area. You want to get good quality standards because they will last you a really long time. 

You just want a lot of good things that keep your gear out of harm's way, basically.

The most important thing, out of all the hardware, would be the kick drum pedal. I definitely think that's an area where you want to spend $200 to $400 on a really good kick drum pedal. This is because that's one of the things that the drummer is going to be hitting the most often. So you want it to be something that's really solid and really sturdy and is going to hold up the test of time. 

Jake
Here we have the DW 3000 series hardware. I think it's a good middle of the road. It's not the cheapest, but it's not the most expensive. 

What's the pedal you use in your kit?

I use a DW 5000, which is just a step above this one. For me, that one is the layman's professional drum pedal. It's really good. It's not as classy as the DW 9000, but it's got all the gimmicks. It's honestly just feels really good. The DW 3000 is also really incredible. I think it's got a few less features than the 5000, but it honestly is still a great pedal.

Cymbals

Jake
Moving on, we're going to talk about a very important part of the drum set, and that is cymbals.

Noah
Yes, cymbals are one of the most important parts of the drum set because, honestly, you're just hitting them a ton and they have a lot of resonance. They carry a lot of weight within the drum set. You definitely don't want to skimp on this area. Basically, what you're wanting to go for is typically bigger, thinner, washier cymbals.

This is different than a lot of other music. A lot of other music features pingy, articulate, or heavy, thick cymbals. Instead, for worship, the way I think of it in my head is like you want the cymbals almost blending with like the electric guitars in the frequency range. 

Size is very important here. For the ride cymbal, I typically go 24-inch ride. I typically won't go below 22 inches. But wherever you go with the ride cymbal kind of dictates the rest of the cymbals you're going to buy. This is because you want them to all be evenly matched and even in temperament.

If I'm getting a 24-inch ride, that typically means my left crash over here is going to be 22 inches. But if you're getting a 22-inch ride, you're probably going to want a 20-inch crash. Then for hi-hats, if I'm getting a 24-inch ride, I'll typically have 17 inch hi-hats. I know that's huge. Those are like almost crashed cymbals, but they really blend really well in the grand scheme of things here. 

Jake
Having that darker tone to your cymbals, the washier tone, also helps prevent an overwhelming number of cymbals in the mix that you often hear. It's a headache for a lot of worship bands and churches. For example, if you have a 65-year-old grandma saying, "Oh, the drums are too loud," she's probably right. It's because maybe the cymbals are just super bright and that's what's really harsh for people.

These are Heartbeat cymbals. Why do you prefer Heartbeat versus some other brands that are out there?

Noah
Yeah, Heartbeat is awesome. They make really church-specific cymbals, which is great. They have the best customer relations. 

Their cymbals are just really well tailored for worship. They're exactly what I was describing earlier: washy, dark, very mellow, and they make bigger cymbals that serve worship drummers really, really well. There are definitely other good cymbals out there. There's Dream, Meinl, or Zildjian. Even a cymbal company like Istanbul is a great company, but their price point is almost outrageous. I used to use Istanbul's and when I cracked them, I was like, "Okay, I can't spend $500, $600 on a ride again." 

For me, the Heartbeats are priced at like such a good price point. Like this 24-inch ride is like $365. It's pretty affordable for churches. It definitely checks all the boxes, it fits the church budget, and it works really well with worship music. 

For sticks, I use Vic Firths. I use Peter Erskine signature ride sticks. Peter Erskine is a jazz drummer. I did jazz band in high school and started using these drumsticks, and I’ve just loved them. When I started playing more rock and stuff, I was like, "I'll probably change drumsticks." But these honestly work still. They're not thicker drumsticks. They're in between like a 7A and a 5A. But they last longer than any other drumstick I've used, and I hit pretty hard. So, they work really well. 

How to Mic Drums

Jake
Let’s talk about micing a drum set. Now, more than ever, as more of our churches are coming online, we're having to create some great broadcast mixes out there. Micing a drum set, sound reinforcement on drum set, is really important. It's really important to get great source tone. 

But talk us through things to be considering as you mic a drum kit. This one in particular is the Audix drum kit. We're going to link all this stuff down below the video for you guys to check out. We have an Audix kit with an SM57 on the snare. It's pretty simple setup. 

What do we need to keep in mind in terms of the types of mics we're using and placement?

Noah
I love Audix microphones. We use those primarily when we travel. The SM57 on snare drum is classic. It can do anything. 

The main thing is mic placement on the kick drum. You want to be really careful that you're not too far away from the kick drum but not too inside of the kick drum. Obviously, this depends on if you're micing inside the kick, outside the kick, or both. 

But I think probably the biggest thing with drums is phasing. Granted, I'm somewhat new to recording drums, so phasing has been something I've been learning. But you want the overhead mics equidistant to the center of the snare drum because the center of the snare drum is the loudest, most vibrant thing of the drum set. 

You just want to make sure that these frequencies that are getting picked up in these microphones aren't canceling each other out. Mic placement is really important there. The same principle is important for snare drum mics too. You want the bottom snare mic and the top snare mic to be in phase with each other. This is because, you don't want to have them canceling each other out. It really just defeats the point of view miking them in the first place.

Jake
I do want to walk you guys specifically through the exact miking setup we have here, in case you want to replicate this at home. 

We have the Audix drum kit. On the kick drum, we've got that kick drum mic in there. It's actually common practice to have a secondary mic on a kick drum. That's the Shure mic, right?

Noah
Yeah. It's a Shure 91A and goes inside the kick drum. It's a flat microphone that you'd put on the pillow or the blanket that's inside of the bass drum. Then you basically get to mess around with the mix between the kick out and the kick in. The kick in is going to get a lot of attack and the kick out is just going to get all the low-end warmth.

Jake
Then next we have the tom microphones. Again, these are the Audix ones that come in a kit. These are D2s here. It's convenient because they come with the clips to clip right on the rims and the shells here. You don't have to have additional mic stands. 

Then, as you already said on the snare, we have two microphones. We have the top microphone, which is the Shure SM57, then the bottom one is another Audix microphone that came with a kit. 

Why would you want a bottom snare and a top snare mic?

Noah
Similar to the kick drum, you want a kick in and kick out. In other words, you get the low end on the outside and the punch on the inside. With the snare, you really want a lot of snare response. That's what makes the snare drum a snare drum. The top mic will typically not pick up too much of the snare wires. It typically picks up more of the low mids and all that goodness. Having a snare bottom mic will just pick up solely all of that high end snare wire sound.

Jake
The overheads are condenser mics. I believe with condenser mics, they're just going to be more sensitive and clearer with a lot of the detail with the cymbals on the higher end of the frequency spectrum. 

The other microphones are all dynamic microphones, meaning that these microphones are intended to be placed really close to the source of the instrument. They're not going to pick up a bunch of sound everywhere else, because these mics typically have noise gates on them.

Wrapping Up

There you have it. We've walked you through how to go about building a worship drum set. Remember that it’s not necessary to get exactly what was covered here. A lot of principles come into play, like budget. But hopefully this can help point churches in the right direction.

Noah teaches private lessons and also runs an academy with a bunch of online pre-recorded video courses for modern worship drummers, so subscribe to Noah’s YouTube channel for more drum resources. And don’t forget to download the Worship Ministry Toolkit to access all of the gear listed here.  

Happy drumming!

Seven Tips to Improve Your Worship Broadcast Mix

Be sure to check out Churchfront’s Broadcast Mix Mastery online course if you desire a better live stream mix for your church. This is a great course for beginners who are new to mixing in a digital audio workstation like Ableton Live.

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Looking to achieve a professional broadcast mix for your worship ministry? This post will cover strategies that make the most significant improvements in the sound of any worship band, even if a church has a modest budget. 

Here are seven ways to improve the audio mix of any church live stream. 

Before we get going

So much of the proof of this post is packed into the YouTube video above, where Jake walks through each step with helpful in-depth examples, so do not finish this post without watching these tips in action! 

Let's dive in.

Tip #1: Reduce Cymbal Bleed

This first tip has nothing to do with mixing on a console or processing audio. Instead, it has to do with stage volume and getting a clean signal in the first place. One of the biggest challenges of multi-track recording and streaming a worship band is dealing with lots of stage volume. The most common issue is cymbals from the drum set bleeding into vocal microphones. Next time there’s a chance to listen back to a multi-track recording of the worship band, solo the vocal mics and listen for how much cymbals are bleeding into the lead vocals. Often, the high-hat is the worst culprit of all the cymbals. For example, when a vocal mic picks up the cymbals, EQ and compression only make the cymbals more pronounced. The result is that it’s nearly impossible to fix this problem in post-production. 

There are multiple solutions for reducing cymbal bleed. First, tell the drummer to stop hitting the high hat and cymbals so dang hard. That's a way to solve this problem without having to purchase any additional gear. Next, consider purchasing some plexiglass drum baffles or full-on shields. Another option is to implement full drum isolation to completely eliminate the problem of cymbal bleed. 

This problem is so common in small to midsize churches because their stages are so small. Churches with larger stages often get away with no drum shield or baffles because bleed won't be that much of a problem.

Tip #2: Get the Gain Staging Right

Make sure the gain is set up properly on the mixing console or stage box preamps. This is an important principle to follow for any situation, be it a live or broadcast mix. Mixing in a DAW like Ableton Live provides the flexibility to boost or cut gain, but this has no effect on the actual pre-amp. It's merely a digital trend being applied within the DAW. The best rule of thumb is to have gain metering around a -12 on average, and then peaking no higher than -6 decibels. If there’s not enough gain, the result is to crank up the digital gain in Ableton, and that will introduce noise. And if the gain is too high, it's going to clip and distort.

For a demonstration, watch the video above.

Tip #3: Use a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to mix your live stream

Churchfront’s favorite digital audio workstation is Ableton Live. It's cross-platform, CPU-efficient, runs any third-party plugins, and it can also be used for a variety of other purposes in your worship ministry like a keyboard or a tracks rig.

Many churches purchase a second mixing console for their broadcast mix. Do not make that expensive mistake. This route costs way more than mixing in a DAW, and it rarely sounds better. A DAW like Abeleton live can be scaled to the size of any worship ministry, and a DAW never runs out of tracks. Plus, DAWs provide way more processing and plugins to create an amazing mix.

To get up and running with a DAW, it is as easy as grabbing a USB cable, purchasing a DAW like Ableton Live (Pro Tools or Logic are great choices, too), installing that DAW on a computer (which is probably in the tech booth already), and connecting the mixing console to the DAW. From here, the audio volunteer can mix the audio through Ableton and send that final mix to streaming software or a video switcher. This also opens a worship ministry up to multi-track recording, which allows easy mixing in post-production. 

Tip #4: Use Vocal Tuning

For worship leaders in the room: Ever cringe listening back to recordings of yourself leading worship? It's probably because you didn't use live vocal tuning. 

Churchfront’s recommended plugin for this is Waves Tune Real-Time. It's less than $100 for this plugin and you can install it in Ableton Live within minutes. 

Here’s how this plugin works. Drop the plugin on an individual vocal track, and in real time it will make adjustments to the singer’s pitch to ensure their voice is tuned perfectly. Of course, this plugin really only works for bringing vocals that are 97% in tune to 100% in tune. It can’t fix bad singing. Vocalists still need to know what they're doing and they still need to have a good in-ear mix. But even notes that are slightly out of tune will make a church cringe and distract from worship, so this is an easy, helpful step. Vocal tuning can eliminate distraction.

For a demonstration, watch the video above.

Tip #5: Drum Replacement

Of all the instruments, acoustic drums are the hardest to perfectly process for a church’s mix. That's where the drum replacement hack comes in handy. 

The plugin Churchfront recommends is Trigger 2 by Steven Slate. It's another third-party plugin that provides massive value for the price of $149. This plugin removes so much room for error when it comes to dialing in a consistent and pristine drum sound. 

Most worship ministries don't have acoustic kicks that sound amazing on their own, and it's hard to mic and tune these drums. Just use drum replacement. It's going to sound amazing instantly.

For a demonstration, watch the video above.

Tip #6: More Reverb

While reverb can definitely be overdone in a broadcast mix, most people tend to underutilize it. If reverb isn’t used, vocals, drums, or acoustic guitars end up sounding very dry and those listening online has no sense of space. So don't be afraid to apply more reverb than what the church is used to in the live mix. 

Remember that people inside the church building are hearing the natural reverberations of the room. Hence, there’s no need to apply as much verb in a live context. 

For a demonstration, watch the video above.

Tip #7: Compression

Just like reverb, compression can be overdone. But in most cases, church live streams hardly utilize any compression at all. Not using compression causes vocals and other instruments to have a wide dynamic range, resulting in a sound that’s not smooth at all. When singers are quiet, like when they trail off at the end of a phrase, they’re barely heard. And when they sing  loud, their voices overpower everything else. Compression works wonders on vocals.

For a demonstration, watch the video above.

This completes our list of seven tips to enhance worship broadcast mixes. We hope your worship ministry will be served by it! 

Don’t forget to check out Churchfront’s Broadcast Mix Mastery online course. This course is great for absolute beginners who are new to mixing in a DAW like Ableton Live. It's comprehensive and covers every crucial step for getting started. 

Wireless Headset Comms for Worship Tech Teams | Eartec UltraLITE Review

Want a full list of recommended gear and software for worship ministry? Download our FREE Worship Ministry Toolkit!

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There are countless churches out there that are looking for a discrete communication system between just a few tech team members. For most, there is often a need for a video director to give direction to a camera operator up front, or maybe there’s need for communication between the audio engineer in the tech booth and a broadcast mix engineer in another room. 

One option is to invest thousands of dollars into a high-end system using Clear-Com infrastructure. But for most churches, this option is overkill and a bit too expensive. 

The other option is to invest in the Eartec UltraLITE, and most churches should give these headsets a serious look.  

Good Stuff

• Very affordable for churches

• Simple to set up

• Doesn’t need a base station and/or belt pack 

• Simultaneous communication

Bad Stuff

• Build quality is “meh”

• Auto-mute could be frustrating (but manual mute is available)

The Eartec wireless headsets come in various package sizes. Purchasing options include a pair of headsets, or it’s possible to purchase up to seven. These headsets use full duplex wireless communication. That means all the devices on a network can communicate with each other simultaneously unlike a traditional walkie-talkie system that allows for one person to speak at a time.

To Mute or Not to Mute

The Eartec headsets use auto-mute technology to enable or disable a user's microphone when the mic is in the down position in front of the user's mouth. Auto-mute isn’t always the best in a live music venue because operators often hear room noise through the other user's mic. It can sound like a noise gate with the threshold set too low. But move the microphone into the upward position, and it will manually mute the signal. Most church tech teams will want their camera operators to do this so noise from the PA system or the band doesn't bleed through their microphone when they're not talking. There are also two choices for either a dual-ear headset and single-ear headsets. Dual-ear headsets would make sense for camera operators on stage who need better noise isolation.

Build Quality

The build quality of these headphones is decent at best. You get what you pay for. They are mostly made of plastic (probably entirely of plastic), so a church’s team members would need to be gentle with these headsets. No throwing them around or abusing them too much. 

Simple Setup

Aside from the low price, the best part about these headsets is there isn’t a need for a base station or belt packs if a church uses five headsets or less. And the system is expandable from five to seven headsets with the two-channel Eartec hub. All that’s needed to get up and running is to charge the removable batteries, put the batteries back in the headsets, fire up the headsets with the power button, and then the headsets will automatically sync to one another. The batteries last around six hours on one charge so they will last multiple Sunday mornings before needing recharging. It’s always wise to pick up some extra batteries so fresh ones are always handy in case one of the batteries dies unexpectedly.

What’s the Range?

Finally, let’s talk about the range of these systems. The Eartecs will work perfectly for the majority of worship venues. They have up to 1000 feet of line-of-sight range. Need to speak to someone in a different room? They should work fine so long as the headsets are not much farther than a couple hundred feet away. 

The Verdict

A church cannot go wrong with this setup for this price. If a church has, say, a team of three production members who need wireless hands-free communication, with the UltraLITE headsets they can make that happen for less than $600. That’s a great deal for a great product that will grow your worship ministry. 

Best Digital Mixing Consoles for Churches in 2021

Ready to upgrade your church’s mixing console in 2021? Building a new audio system from scratch? Churchfront is here to help. 

This post will cover Churchfront’s top two mixing console recommendations for churches in 2021, and by the end, you’ll find out which console takes the crown. 

It can feel overwhelming to pick the right gear for a church’s worship ministry. This post will cut through the noise and narrow the decision making down to two mixers that will work great for the vast majority of small to medium size churches. 

Need more help improving your church’s audio? Check out The Beginner's Guide to Church Sound, a step-by-step online course for worship tech teams. It's a concise introduction to mixing audio in a worship ministry environment, covering topics such as the anatomy of a sound system, signal processing, and navigating any modern day mixing console. 

How much will these cost?

For churches looking to buy a brand new mixing console in 2021, Churchfront has two recommendations. Both of these mixing consoles cost around $3,000. So, when you factor in the cost of a stage box, which is highly recommend, churches will be looking at less than $5,000 for a really robust setup.

Behringer WING

The first recommended church mixing console is the Behringer WING. Here's why it stands out among the pack. 

1. Massive value for the price 

   Ten years ago, Behringer disrupted the world of digital mixing consoles with the X32. They've done the same thing with the WING. For $3,000, the WING offers forty-eight stereo channels and twenty-eight stereo mix buses. This means churches have plenty of room to accommodate a growing worship ministry.
   
   

2.  Intuitive and highly customizable user interface

   It's so easy to navigate the routing, the processing, and the layout. It’s actually much more intuitive than the X32 or M32 (older models). And because the layout of the board is customizable, churches can set up the WING exactly for their needs for Sunday services or other events.
   
   

3. It’s easy to upgrade

   Because many churches own a Behringer console like the X32 or M32, they likely have stage boxes or personal monitoring devices (like the S32, S16, or P16) that support Behringer gear already. In most cases, these devices are automatically compatible with the WING. 

   The WING also has an expansion card slot for digital audio networking protocols like Dante. Behringer just announced the Dante expansion card in early 2021, and they will likely release a MADI in a waves sound grid card in the near future. A quick word of advice: Because the WING is a newer model, be patient with Behringer as they continue to release software updates to fix any bugs and add cool new features. The WING will likely become just as widely used as the X32 or M32 over the next few years as it matures and becomes more popular. 

Allen and Heath SQ-5,6, or 7

The second recommended church mixing console is the Allen and Heath SQ-5, SQ-6, or SQ-7. 

Allen and Heath makes very high-end mixing consoles found in large professional venues. With the SQ line of consoles, the same pro-level digital sound processing is packed into an affordable and portable form factor. The primary difference between the SQ-5, SQ-6, and SQ-7 is simply the size of the board itself. The features and processing power of the various models are identical.

Most churches should consider purchasing the smallest version, the SQ-5, and then invest the dollars saved towards more stage boxes. The Churchfront team does have an SQ-5 in the studio, and here’s what sets the SQ-5, 6, and 7 apart. 

1. High quality of preamps and processing

   The sonic quality of the preamps and processing in this console is incredible. It's subtle and hard to describe until it’s experienced firsthand. But if a church really cares about preamps, digital processing, and latency, they should seriously consider an SQ series console.
   

2.  High quality of hardware

   These mixers physically feel pro-level. The faders and knobs are very responsive, and it is evident that this mixer is made of high-quality hardware.
   

3. Great remote-control app

   Most remote-control companion apps on a phone or tablet seem like an afterthought of the manufacturer. The Behringer apps have always been less than impressive, but that's not the case with the SQ apps. These apps allow users to control the entire console with a tablet or monitor mix with their phone. 

A couple other points of note…

1. The SQ consoles have an expansion card slot for Dante, Waves or MADI. 

2. The touchscreen on the SQ mixing consoles is very responsive and the menus are very intuitive to navigate. It isn’t as intuitive as the WING, but it's still pretty good. 

Buying an Allen and Heath SQ console is a solid choice. Churches who use this console will benefit from pristine audio processing and ultra low latency. And, for audiophiles who really care about that stuff, this will be the console for them.

Who Wins?

When it comes to the most value for churches, our team gives the WING first place. The innovations listed above makes this console extremely likable. The WING also has a larger selection of plugins and effects that emulate some of the most popular plugins for EQ, compression and vocal tuning. The SQ console only provides basic channel strip processing and an eight-rack effects engine. The WING provides sixteen effects to work with.  

How to make the choice between the WING and SQ consoles

Here’s what it comes down to when making the choice between the WING or the SQ console.  

1. Already have Behringer gear like the stage boxes and P16 personal mixers monitors?

   It’s better to go with the WING. 

2. Desire more effects and plugin options?

   Go with the WING. 

3. Desire premium digital sound processing and a small form factor?

   Go with a SQ console. 

There's much more that could be said about the WING and the SQ sound consoles that could sway a church toward one console over the other. But here’s the bottom line: in the end, a church won’t go wrong with either console.

What about the consoles by PreSonus, Yamaha, Soundcraft, Mackie, etc.?

All of these manufacturers have great mixing solutions in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, but they’re simply not the top two consoles Churchfront recommends. However, these mixing consoles deserve an honorable mention. If a church’s heart is set on the Yamaha TF, PreSonus StudioLive, or Soundcraft Si Impact, and these mixers have all the essential features that church needs in a digital console, then it may not be a bad idea to consider these options. But as of the year 2021 that this post is written, the Churchfront team is recommending either the Behringer WING or the Allen and Heath SQ series consoles to the clients that we work with in Worship Ministry School.

The Benefit of Support

Although there are other great consoles out there, the WING and the SQ consoles are really taking off in churches who are upgrading their mixers. One of the benefits of owning one of these two consoles will be the community and the support that surrounds them.

A factor worth taking into consideration is how widely a product is adopted. The team here at Churchfront in the very near future will be developing complete walkthrough videos for these consoles. So definitely check out Worship Ministry School. We walk worship leaders and their team through how to set up these consoles step-by-step for the first time. And we really believe that these particular consoles are going to serve so many churches very, very well over the coming years.

Recommended Peripheral Gear

After acquiring one of these new mixing consoles, it’s important to purchase the right I/O (inputs/outputs) and adequate in-ear monitoring. Here are peripheral gear suggestions for both the WING and the SQ Series.

Setup for the Behringer WING

The Behringer WING has a ton of flexibility for audio inputs and outputs. Most churches will need an AES50 enabled stage box. Consider having at least 32 inputs and 16 outputs available on stage. 

Stage Box Options

The Behringer S32 would be a good purchase and is the most economical option. 

Want the same connectivity as the S32 but with Midas Pro preamps that offer slightly better sound quality? Buy the Midas DL32. 

Behringer S32

Midas DL32

Need stage boxes on each side of the stage? Try purchasing two Behringer S16s, placing them on different sides of the stage. If a church needs stage boxes that have inputs for both quarter-inch and XLR connection, it could pay a little bit more for the Behringer SD16 or SD8 stage boxes.

Monitoring Options

A few options are available for monitoring.

The easiest monitoring solution is likely to pull the in-ear monitor mix directly from the analog mix bus outputs from the stage box and connect them to a wireless transmitter. Another option is using the Midas DP48, which is incredibly powerful. A personal monitor like the Powerplay P16 is an option, too, but the P16 is limited to only 16 channels, so keep that in mind. And be remember that AES50 protocol is recommended if purchasing a personal mixer like the DP48 or P16.

Setup for the Allen and Heath SQ Series

Allen and Heath stage boxes are on the pricier side and come in at almost twice the cost of Behringer stage boxes. However, these stage boxes provide more premium preamps. 

Stagebox Options

Churchfront recommends picking up two of the DX168 boxes to provide 32 inputs and 16 outputs on the stage. 

Monitoring Options

For in-ear monitoring, consider routing the auxiliary mixes to the analog outputs on the stage boxes. The other option is to pick up an Allen and Heath personal monitoring system like the 16 channel ME-500 or the 40 channel ME-1. 

On a Budget?

Here are a few other ideas for churches who cannot put aside $3-5k for a mixing console and gear. Consider picking up a Behringer X32 or X32 compact. There may be a chance Behringer may not be making these consoles for too much longer. Because of this, the prices have recently dropped to less than $2,000. That is insane for what these consoles can do. 

Also consider picking up the Behringer XR18. They’re a bit older, but a church that has an even tighter budget and needs portability could give this console a look.

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Thanks for taking the time to learn about our recommended mixing consoles for 2021. A ton of gear was listed in this post. So remember to download Churchfront’s free Worship Ministry Toolkit and navigate to the mixing console tab, where all of the items and URLs are listed in one convenient place.

Also, check out the courses Churchfront offers, especially the Beginner's Guide to Church Sound. It's such a great starting place for worship leaders who want to learn more about building and navigating a robust sound system their church. It covers all the fundamentals of processing audio and mixing for worship. It demystifies all the terms like gain, EQ, compression, gates, effects, mixed buses, etc. So go ahead and enroll today. 

And be sure to subscribe to Churchfront’s YouTube channel where seemingly endless content can be found on how to help grow a worship ministry. 

How to Setup Live Streaming for Churches in 2021

In this article, you will be equipped to build a simple, yet professional, live streaming setup for your church. 

 Here’s what will be covered:

• The Big Picture

•  Video Capture | How to utilize up to four live action cameras 

• Audio Capture | How to capture a high-quality mix from a church’s sound console

• ProPresenter | How to overlay lyrics and graphics

• Multi-Streaming Services | How to send streams to Facebook, YouTube, Church Online, and a church’s website

• What to Budget

Before We Begin

A key counterpart to this post is the Worship Ministry Toolkit. Drop everything and download it now! Everything covered in this video is even devoted to a separate page, so the equipment recommended here is easily accessible. 

Need an in-depth and thorough guide to set up this entire live streaming system at your church? Enroll in our Beginner's Guide to Live Streaming for Churches online course. This course has already helped hundreds of churches build a cost effective yet professional live streaming setup. This course provides detailed guides for live streaming, copyright law, improving video setup, understanding ProPresenter to its fullest potential, and creating an amazing audio mix. All of this and more is covered, so enroll today! 

 The Big Picture

Here's the big picture of the system this article will cover. The Churchfront team has consulted with hundreds of churches over the past year, helping them build custom live streaming solutions for worship ministry. For the vast majority of churches, here are the essential elements needed to create a high-quality stream. 

First, acquire two to four live-action video cameras. 

Second, know how to capture a high-quality audio mix. 

Third, enable lower third lyrics and other graphics or media playback capability. 

And fourth, distribute the live stream to multiple social media platforms and the church's website simultaneously. 

If a church’s system meets these four criteria, that church will be on their way to creating a great experience for its congregation online.

Something to Consider

There are countless ways to accomplish the four steps listed here, but not all lead to a healthy live stream setup. There are so many options for cameras, video switchers, presentation software, streaming software, encoding and multi-streaming platform. It doesn’t take long to seem really overwhelming. Because of this, I've seen so many churches waste a ton of money on the wrong tools. They build a streaming solution that doesn't actually integrate well specifically for a worship ministry environment. Despite all the money they spend on gear or software, their live stream still sounds and looks like garbage. So the recommendations here will save you a ton of time and headache. There’s no need to make your own road. Follow this system. It works! 

Video Capture

The first key to a great livestream setup is to capture two to four angles of live-action video. A minimum of two angles provides a close follow shot for pastors or worship leaders while providing a wide shot to capture the entire stage or room. The second camera also provides a safe shot to switch to, if needed. A third or fourth camera could capture different perspectives from the stage, like a close up on a pianist or drummer. 

There are so many fantastic cameras available today. But in order to build a system at the cost of around $1,000 per camera and lens package, then the Sony A6400 and the Sony E-mount lenses are the cameras to purchase. In order to achieve high quality video, consider looking for a larger camera sensor and better lens optics than what can be found with most camcorders or PTZ cameras.

When it comes to camera sensors, it is best to look for cameras with sensors that have a micro four thirds sensor or an APS-C sensor. A camera with a 35-millimeter sensor or a full frame video camera produces the best results in low light. Since most churches operate in lower light settings, these options can be helpful. The Sony cameras have an APS-C sensor. They’re small, and they’re budget friendly.

For test footage of the Sony A6400 in action, check out the YouTube video above. Notice the lack of noise in the image. Sony cameras provide amazing auto focus tracking so the subject will always be sharp in the picture. They also perform great in wide-angle shots. And, important for live streaming, these cameras have a micro-HDMI port that sends a clean video signal to a video switcher, which is the next piece of recommended hardware.

The ATEM Mini Pro is the next recommended piece of video gear. The ATEM Mini has four HDMI inputs, so it can utilize up to four live-action cameras with this switcher. Plug the ATEM into a computer, and it will show up as a single camera source. Instead of managing four different video feeds in a computer, live-action video will be cut by the ATEM switcher down into one single video feed that will feed directly into the streaming software. This reduces the video processing load on the computer. The ATEM Mini Pro also has an HDMI multi-view output, allowing a preview all of the camera angles before switching cameras in a live stream.

To save a few bucks on a video switcher, it’s possible to use the base model ATEM Mini, but keep in mind that it does not have a multi-view output. This could pose a problem for churches with multiple cameras. If it’s not possible to preview the various cameras in the room, the quality of the live stream could suffer. 

Audio Capture

One of the most difficult hurdles for church live streaming is mixing down the worship band. The efficient way to capture and mix clear audio for a stream is to create a post-fader mix bus that will mimic the master mix that for the in-person congregation.

Here is what happens if a post-fader mix bus is created. If a channel is muted in the house mix, it'll be muted in a live stream. Likewise, if a fader is adjusted for the house mix, it's going to be adjusted for the live stream. If the mixer is in the same tech booth as the streaming computer, simply plug the mixer into the computer via a USB cable and it becomes an audio device for the computer. That live stream mix bus will then be routed to the desired USB output channel, where the audio can be captured in the live streaming software. 

For those who use an analog mixing console

Here is the best advice for churches still running an analog sound console: upgrade to digital as soon as possible. That should be the top priority for any tech upgrades a church makes. It's going to be the best bang for any church’s buck for both in-person and online audio. 

For a short-term solution, churches with analog consoles need to get an audio interface to convert the analog sound to digital for the live streaming software. To do this, pull an auxiliary stereo audio feed out of the back of the console and plug the quarter inch or XLR cables into a two-channel audio interface. This will plug into the streaming computer via USB.

Here are some tips to improve an audio mix for live stream.

1. Have a solid in-person mix built on proper gain staging and channel processing. 

   • Ninety-nine percent of the issues heard on live streams can usually be solved with proper sound reinforcement in getting a good source tone.

2. Boost or cut the levels of individual channels

   • Even though the live stream comes from a post-fader mix on the console, it’s still possible to boost or cut the levels of individual channels in the live stream independent of what's being sent to the house PA. Depending on the mixer design, find the sends page for the desired channel and adjust the levels accordingly. This provides the ability to boost or cut that channel's send to the live stream mix bus.

3. Add more reverb to the live stream mix than what is in the room.

   • People online will need to hear that additional sense of space since they're not hearing the natural reverb of the sanctuary or worship center. It's going to sound really dry and almost dead to viewers when they hear vocals or instruments when there is no sense of space along with them.

4. Apply a compressor to the live stream mix bus.

   • A compressor in this way helps the stream sound loud and consistent. 

5. If possible, consider sending multi-track audio from the digital mixer into a digital audio workstation or DAW like Ableton Live Pro Tools or Logic Pro.

   • This provides unlimited plugins and mastering tools to help a mix sound professional. This is the same method used by churches like Bethel and Life Church, and it's surprisingly easy to implement in smaller church environments. But keep in mind that it is a great practice for all churches to have a solid live stream mix bus set up on their consoles, even if they are usually mixing in a box. This provides a backup mix in case the DAW or software glitches. 

PROPRESENTER

When ProPresenter 7 came in early 2020, it brought so many amazing upgrades to the software that now ProPresenter 7 is Churchfront’s recommended presentation software for our clients in worship ministry school. 

Before ProPresenter released its streaming feature, streaming applications like Ecamm Live or vMix or OBS were needed tools. Graphics from ProPresenter went to streaming software like Ecamm, vMix or OBS, then those graphics would be laid on top of the live-action video. On top of that, audio feeds still had to be monitored. But now, live-action footage and audio can be sent directly into ProPresenter. Simply overlay lower thirds lyrics, scripture, and any other graphics directly into ProPresenter, and send the final live streaming video feed to social platforms or multi-streaming services directly from ProPresenter. 

To see a basic overview of how ProPresenter does this, check out the YouTube video above and be sure to enroll in our Beginners to Live Streaming for Churches course. 

Multi-Streaming Services

ProPresenter completes the final stages of bringing together video and audio sources, compressing them down into a final product that can be delivered to online audiences. But how should the final product be delivered? 

We recommend using a multi streaming service like Restream or Resi. Restream or Resi allows churches send live streams to multiple destinations at once. This a must-have feature to allow congregations to watch streams on their preferred platform, whether it's Facebook, YouTube or Church Online. 

Restream is the budget friendly, multi-streaming service costing around $40 per month. 

Resi plans start at $69 per month. But most churches will need the starter web plan at $139 per month. Resi is considered the premium route, offering a resilient streaming protocol. In a nutshell, this means that with Resi, a church’s stream will never experience buffering even with a momentary lapse in internet connection. A church using Resi could lose internet for multiple seconds or even up to a minute, yet their online audience won't notice any interruptions or buffering. This happens because Resi delays the stream in their cloud by about two minutes before distributing the video to the various social platforms.

Resi is going to cost more, but direct integration with ProPresenter and a resilient streaming protocol provides a tight, reliable stream. ProPresenter can easily stream to Restream via Restream's RTMP server. Once a Restream account is created, simply copy and paste the RTMP URL and key into ProPresenter, and the stream will be ready to go live. 

Once the live stream is online using one of these methods, consider using the free Church Online platform by Life Church.

Church Online is a free website builder that allows churches to host live streams with a better user experience, chat, and prayer functionality. The Church Online platform can provide a distraction free environment for a church's live stream. Social media platforms are designed to keep users scrolling through content and scrolling through the newsfeed. This can create short retention times from viewers on Facebook or YouTube.

Driving people to a platform like Church Online taps into the space where people are already hanging out while keeping them undistracted. It is a great way for new people to discover a church. That's why Churchfront recommends leveraging the Church Online platform as one more place to host a stream for people who do not have social media accounts yet desire to experience a church’s live stream.

Budget

Let's talk about budget. It's one of the most important determining factors for a church's live streaming setup. The system recommended in this post will cost just under $3,000 for two live-action cameras, a video switcher and all the accessories a church needs for the video capture portion. Most churches already use ProPresenter and a digital mixing console. If a church is using an analog console, an audio interface will cost $100. Finally, the multi-streaming services recommended will cost either $40 a month or a $140 a month, depending on the provider. 

That’s it, the ultimate guide to church live streaming for 2021! 

Remember to download the Worship Ministry Toolkit for a convenient list of all the gear and software mentioned in this article and enroll in the Beginner’s Guide to Live Streaming for Churches for more in-depth guidance. And don’t forget to subscribe to Churchfront’s YouTube channel to be equipped with all the latest content. 

Waves eMotion LV1 Mixing System | Worship Ministry Setup

In today’s post, we’ll be giving you a brief overview of our setup of the Waves eMotion LV1 mixing system.  Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What you need to get started

• Overview

• Building Templates and Soundcheck

What You Need to Get Started

Like with any mixing board, whether they’re digital or analog, you’ll need some gear to get started with Waves. 

• A host computer for the Waves eMotion LV1 software

• Physical inputs and outputs for instruments, mics, etc.

• Audio interfaces (probably one front of house and one on stage)

• Network cables for connectivity

• Touchscreens to take full advantage of Waves’ UI

• Additional recommended gear

  • Create a Waves account to get access to all of their plugins

  • A DAW for recording, playback, and further connectivity

This sounds like a lot, but keep in mind, a lot of these things you should already have if you use a mixing board.  All of the I/O’s work the same as they would for any other mixing board, so experienced sound techs shouldn’t have a problem getting setup.

Overview

Similarities to Other Mixing Boards

Because the Waves UI is set up exactly like other mixing boards, anyone with experience as a sound engineer or a tech should be very familiar with Waves.  If set up properly, we even think it could be more beginner-friendly for new volunteers than other tools. Since the UI is all virtual, and not analog like the Behringer X32, it can be completely customized to what your team needs, not being constrained by any physical buttons, switches, or sliders.

Going forward from here, you’ll see the real similarities to traditional mixing boards, but also the advantages of using a virtual one like Waves.

Setup Tab

On the setup tab, you can find the inventory page which allows you to view and choose which devices are being used.  There’s a place to define the network, sample rate, and see which computers are part of the system. Any mixer or user interface settings can also be changed on this page.

Patches

The patching page is going to be similar to other digital boards, so most functions will be familiar to you.  Like other boards, you’ll pick which inputs and outputs go to which inputs and outputs. The great thing about Waves is that you can choose whether a channel is mono or stereo, and still only take up one slider.  

Sessions and Scenes

Once you’ve set up your patches, you can start a session.  Within each session, you can have multiple ‘scenes’ where pre-set levels are recalled.  This is great for whole songs or even parts of songs where the tech needs to change multiple effects at once.  For further control and customization, you can make certain effects ‘safe,’ so that they won’t be change when switching through scenes.

Channel Setup and Customization

Like with other mixers, Waves allows you to flip through different layers to navigate through channels, groups, AUX’s, etc.  Additionally, Waves also allows you to create custom layers to essentially build any setup you want.

There are some obvious traits already in place in the UI, such as the master fader, which is always present on the right-most channel.  The left side of the virtual board is where you get some really great customization. You have a number of assignable buttons that can be tied to pretty much any effect or command you like, such as tap tempo, mute, or even recalling scenes.

Shifting through modes, you can flip through different screens to access dynamic EQ, AUX/effects, and routing.  Each of these modes gives you the ability to see what’s really happening under the hood, and enables you to customize each aspect of the software.

Channels and Effects

Within each individual channel, you’ll have access to basic effects like EQ and compression--just like any other board.  However, Waves allows you to add in up to eight compatible plugins. You’ll be able to change each effect and save your preferences for each channel, giving you a lot of flexibility when you’re building for a set or service.

Building Templates and Soundcheck

Templates

Like with other systems, Waves gives you the ability to create your own templates.  Depending on your week-to-week needs for the band and pastor, you can build and save a template so you don’t have to customize Waves for every service each Sunday.  Simply call up the template and you’re good to go.

Virtual Soundcheck

One of the great features of Waves is the ability to do a virtual soundcheck.  You can record and playback anything you want through your DAW, and any new volunteers can practice mixing and learning queues.  You don’t have to have your worship team on-site, or risk bad mixing during service in order to train new members of your team.

Conclusion

Overall, Waves is a great place to start if you want to build a Gospel-centered and tech-savvy worship ministry because it gives you the customizability, ease-of-use, and intuitiveness to craft a strong, seamless service. Check out our 10 tips for better church sound and tips for achieving better mix in worship to round out your experience.

If you want to learn more about how you can grow your worship ministry and work with us, let’s talk. Fill out this contact form and we’ll hop on a call to see what we can work out.