worship tech

Yes, I know December seems far away, and you might not be ready to start earnestly thinking about Christmas – but a little thought and planning now could make any upcoming Christmas tech plans go much smoother. You can start benefiting from this preparation right now! Here are seven tips to help you get started readying your worship technology for the upcoming Christmas season:

Building (or even keeping) a media ministry team in the church is a challenge. For 11 years, I wore many hats in my small church in Kentucky. I was the youth minister for seven years and lead pastor for four. I changed light bulbs, and cleaned bathrooms and floors, all while leading, counseling, and planning. Been there? I know I'm not alone. I was in a paid ministry role at the church. Many of you aren’t. You’re full-time teachers, factory workers, doctors, accountants, parents, and grandparents. You're a volunteer doing everything you can to balance work and home life while serving your local church.

There is perhaps no better parameter for adjusting the quality of your sound than the equalizer. And it doesn’t have to be a complicated affair. Mastering your use of the EQ for live sound will take some practice though. And it is imperative that you train your ears what to listen for. (See the helpful chart and tips at the end of this post.) Why EQ? What’s the big deal about EQ, anyway?

When it comes to video production equipment, it seems the technology has a short shelf life and is constantly being updated. It can be daunting to decide what camera to purchase knowing that whatever you sink a large chunk of change into today could very well be an oversized paper weight tomorrow. I guess that could be a bit extreme, however, there is one piece of equipment that if you get right, can hold its value better than gold.

Feedback! Yeah, it can be a problem. Even for a seasoned sound tech. So, how do we stop it? And how can we prevent it from happening in the first place? First, let’s define exactly what it is we’re talking about. What is Feedback? Feedback is the result of sound looping between an audio input and an audio output.

Mixing sound is as much an art as it is a craft. And like any art or craft, it requires a commitment to learning and practice in order to stay proficient and mix with excellence on a regular basis. That’s all well and good to say, but what does it really mean to “practice sound?” How can church sound techs practice and get better? Are there tools that can help measure that advancement in knowledge and skill? I hate to break it to you like this, but if you want to get better at mixing sound then you’ll need to do more than just show up at mid-week worship rehearsal, shadow the lead mix engineer on Sunday, and “think about running sound.” Fortunately, there are some great resources to help you get started (if you're an audio rookie), and tools to help you continue your education (even if you’re a live sound veteran).

Before we jump into the topic of hiring your first technical leader, let me explain why I feel confident to speak as an authority on the issue. First, I'm the former product manager for the LifeChurch.tv Digerati Team (YouVersion, Church Online, Open, ChurchMetrics, et al...) and I've hired over 100 technical folks in all sorts of roles.