Its like Christmas in March

Because the fiscal year at Topeka Bible Church starts in March, that is the month that all the new gear that has been on our wish lists gets bought. We've been blessed to be able to upgrade to a Roland TD20x drum module, improve some of the components of our Aviom personal monitoring system, and pick up a smattering of other less noteworthy, but still fun, pieces of gear. But the real treat (and challenge) will arrive in about two weeks when our new lighting rig is delivered. Here's the low down:

1 ETC Smartfade ML

2 Elation Professional Platinum 5R Spot/Wash

8 Elation Opti Tri Par 64 LED Cans

200 feet of DMX cabling

1 MacMini w/ ETC SmartSoft

The proliferation of LED lighting and more inexpensive control options is definitely a game changer for small and medium sized churches, allowing them to enter an arena once reserved for the mega-church in the next town. This is going to be quite a change for TBC, a church that has never really been equipped for emotional and creative lighting design. But purchasing and installing the gear is just the tip of the iceberg. It will be an exciting journey as volunteers learn to wield this powerful new tool.

The Elation 5Rs were at the top of my list from the beginning because of their insane versatility and low power draw. Its full motion, 22 gobos, motorized focus/iris, and small footprint make it perfect for our needs.

The Elation Opti Tri Par also have a low power draw, full RGB mixing, and three watt/TriColor LEDs. They are crazy bright, which is what we needed.

Finally, the ETC Smartfade ML. I looked at Jands and Lepricon and Elation and Martin and Freestyler and on and on. Basically we need rock solid reliability, easy control of conventionals and movers, and a tactile control surface for volunteers. For the price you can't beat the SFML. The Jands software-only system comes close but adding control surfaces gets pricey fast. So thats where we ended up. We really are not to the point of needing the control capabilities of a Hog or a full Jands console. Even if we do get to that level in a few years, the SFML is so affordable, I won't feel bad replacing it.

We hope to have the system up and running to unveil for Easter Sunday so there is definitely a lot of work coming our way!

What We've Done in 2010...Continued

In the previous post, I discussed some changes and improvements that we've made to gear and workflow in the Tech Arts department at TBC in the past few months. But, although a lot has changed and its always exciting to get new gear, its even more exciting to see the volunteers at TBC succeed and grow in their roles. As we've added new gear and streamlined processes, we've also seen growth on our team. Volunteers have expanded their skills and many have branched out and learned to serve in new technical areas. We've also been blessed to add several competent and motivated members to our Tech Arts family. This is exciting to me since, in the end, its not at all about the gear anyway. Its about serving our church body and helping people to worship, learn, and grow, both in our congregation and in our tech team. The gear is simply a tool we use to minister and it important to keep our priorities in order. Investing in people is our number one goal and the gear should never hinder or distract from that.

As technical artists in the church, it is often tempting to check out of the service and focus on our roles. To be fair, it is important that we pay careful attention to our jobs and do an excellent job. However, we often miss out on opportunities to worship and learn during a service. As members of the tech team, we can be just as engaged in worship and learning, as those in congregation. When musicians are leading worship, we assume that they are worshiping God, despite the fact that they play a complex instrument. The key is that they are so familiar and comfortable with their instruments, that the instruments and the music become secondary and instinctive. The same applies to the technical arts. When we grow confidence and understanding of our roles, it frees us to worship God, even while we serve. Will we always be able to have the same experience that those we are serving in the congregation will? No, probably not. But don't miss out on the opportunity to enjoy spiritual growth and renewal. In our line of work, technical growth can clear the way for spiritual growth.

What We've Done in 2010...

Well now that 2011 is well under way, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at what we've done in the Tech Arts Department at TBC this past year.

The biggest and most obvious thing we've done is replace our aging Yamaha GA32/12 FOH console with an AVID Venue SC48 digital console. This brought a huge improvement in the house sound and opened up a range of sonic options and tools that were never available to our volunteers before. The clarity of sound has increased and our techs have been able to increase their knowledge of live sound techniques and sound reinforcement technology. Another huge advantage of our SC48 is its direct integration with ProTools. This allows us to track our band by individual channel and then play back the tracks later as if the band was on stage. This is a huge training opportunity that cannot be overstated. This allows volunteers to come in at any time during the week and practice mixing in a real life situation. This is immensely beneficial when I'm training volunteers and really helps boost their confidence going into a weekend service.

The next change that we've made is directly related to the our new console. We used to run two simultaneous bands, linked via click track, in our Main Auditorium and our Lower Auditorium. However, as you can imagine, this required a lot of coordination, rehearsal time, and tech support. Also, due to room limitations in our Lower Auditorium, it was very difficult to get a good mix of the live band in that space. Because of the routing options available to us, we have been able to route a "band mix minus the vocals" from the Main Auditorium to the Lower Auditorium. There is still a team of vocalists leading the worship, accompanied by the mix from upstairs. The engineer in the Lower Auditorium can tweak EQ on the band feed to fit the room and then mix in the localized vocalists. We've found this to be an excellent solution in our situation, resulting in a satisfactory mix and much less headache for musicians and staff.

The third change is also related to the new SC48. (I see a trend here...) We used to have a separate broadcast mix studio that fed the CD recorder and the Video Booth recordings. Because we run a silent stage, our house mixes are not as, shall we say, lopsided as board mixes in rooms with hotter stages. Furthermore, since we only distribute the teaching portions of our services, even if our band mixes were awful, it wouldn't matter. But the reality is that the FOH board mixes are actually quite good. So in conclusion, it didn't make sense to tie up an audio tech for nearly six hours every Sunday morning for no reason. This also frees up those techs to serve in other locations Sunday mornings. Win, win, win.

Another great change has been our adoption of ProPresenter as our presentation software. We were running Media Shout 3.5 on a dying PC desktop and it had gotten so bad that our techs had to time their slide advancements to account for the 2 second delay in the software. Video playback was jerky, editing lyrics was difficult, and the GUI was not intuitive for volunteers. We were able to upgrade to a iMac running ProPresenter 4 and it has been a great change. Editing lyrics is a breeze, motion backs are smooth, and the Stage Display feature has been very nice for our musicians.

Thats four of the top things we've done in 2010, but there are lots more things we could mention. Moving the Lighting position to the FOH booth, retuning the PA, retuning the Lower Auditorium system, improving our video signal path, updating some of our outdated CC TVs, reconfiguring our two of our tech booths, and numerous other fun, techy things. And there's lots more planned for 2011, but we'll have to wait and see how all that goes.

Its all about the vocals...

Lets be real. The hardest part of live sound is the vocals. Sure, drums can be tricky and so can acoustic pianos. Really any instrument could decide to be difficult for a day but vocals are a consistent challenge. Maybe the difficulty arrises from the fact that the human voice is infinitely more complex than a kick drum. (I know we are all chasing that perfect kick drum tone, but be honest.)

In church sound, vocals become even more important because the message that is being communicated is entirely in what is being said or sung. If the vocals are bad or unintelligible, we are not doing our job as audio engineers in a church setting. Here's my process for taking on this challenge.

Choosing the right mic is important. The classic SM58 can be made to work for many situations, but there are many excellent options out there, so don't limit yourself to your trusty 58 (or whatever mic you might like). I prefer super cardioids for most situations, as they help tame the proximity effect found with cardioids. Hyper cardioids tend to be too precise in their off axis rejection for all but the most experienced vocalists, so super cardioid it is, mostly. Proximity effect may be just what you need to warm a vocal or extreme off axis rejection may help you with your stage volume. The point is, try different things. Personally, I have far fewer mic options available in my stash than I would like, but that is something that I'm working on. Condenser vs. dynamic will also be a question for you to wrestle with. Here is my rule of thumb on the matter: Condensers are usually more transparent, so if you have a great singer, the condenser will let them shine. But if you have a no-so-great or average singer, the condenser will just reveal their imperfections more clearly. So, as always, use your ears.

Remember the high pass filter. It is your friend, especially with cardioid mics suffering from the proximity effect. Don't be afraid to high pass pretty aggressively on vocals. Some voices can be high passed as high as 130Hz. Sometimes I'll high pass up to 120Hz and then use a low frequency shelf to knock down 120Hz to about 400Hz down a few dB as well.  This really gets rid of mud, plosives etc. I never mix vocals without the high pass engaged.

When using EQ on a vocal, try to stick to subtractive EQ. It sounds more natural and is usually all you need. The 200-400 Hz range and the 800-1000Hz range are common problem areas. The nasal quality of the voice is in the 800-1000Hz range. Boosting gently from 2k-5kHz can add presence and clarity but, again, use your ears because this can also sound too harsh. I generally find myself making a few precise cuts and few if any boosts.

Related to EQ is De-Essing. The harsh sibilance or "S" sound in vocals in usually around 7kHz. I really hate cutting that band out with EQ because if also takes out some clarity. You may be in a different situation, but the PA that I am working with tends to get rather harsh in the upper mid-range, only making the sibilance problem worse, sometimes painful. So for me, de-essers are a lifesaver. I use them on all vocals and they really clean up the upper mids by suppressing that sibilance before it gets out of hand. You may not have such a serious problem with sibilance in your situation, but its something to be mindful of.

Next up, compression. The key here is DON'T OVER DO IT! Compression can be great but it can also kill your vocals. I once checked in on a volunteer who was complaining that he couldn't get the vocals where he wanted them in the mix. A quick survey of the signal chain revealed the problem. He was catching the vocals at -30dB and compressing them 4:1. Talk about taking the life out a performance. A quick explanation and a few adjustments got the vocals back to where they needed to be. So be cautious with compressors. With the advent of digital consoles and compressors for every channel, its might seem like a good idea to compress most everything. Its not, so don't. If a vocalist's singing volume wanders a bit, some compression will even the level out. Bussing choir mics to a group and compressing the group can unify their sound. But compression will not make a bad vocalist or a poor mic selection sound good. And more compression definitely does not equal better sound. Be discerning. Better to use no compression and ride the fader than use compression poorly.

I don't find myself needing vocal expander/gates much currently. However, there was a time when I mixed and muli-tracked in a venue with a lot of stage volume and gates helped eliminate some bleed into the vocal mics. Gates are also great for minimizing feedback when using a lot of open wedges. They'll save your life when that new singer inadvertently point the mic straight at the monitor.

Reverb can muddy a mix as quickly as it can open it up. If the song is fast paced with lots of instrumentation, very little reverb is needed. In fact, using a lot of reverb will just bury the vocal in the rest of the band and smear the clarity. Slower, simpler, more open arrangements are when reverb is really useful. It can take a powerful vocal performance and make it simply HUGE! But as with any effect, its easy to over do so just be tasteful. I like the ReVibe on my Venue but there are lots of good reverbs out there. Avoid harsh sounding cheap units.

With digital effects and consoles, there are a million reverbs available at one time to an engineer. Please resist the temptation to use a different reverb on every channel. The whole point of reverb is to place the performance in a specific acoustic space, not to place the drummer in a bathroom, the acoustic in a cathedral, and the vocals in the Grand Canyon.  Its important to be somewhat consistent in the feel or spaciousness of the reverbs used together within a song.

Personally I love the Echofarm plug in for the Venue. Its easy to use and has some great sounding delays. But be aware: delay is even easier to over use than reverb so be even more careful. Delay is one of those effect that you save for specific points in the performance. A good delay can do wonders for a song but you don't want to give away all your tricks up front or use them so much that they lose their effect. And please make sure your delay is timed properly for the tempo of the song. Please.

Well, thats about it. Its good for me to actually write out the process. To sum up, the two biggest keys to a good vocal mix is mic selection and EQ. You should be able to make it work with just those two. All the rest is just nifty icing on the cake and won't fix any problems that are left after the mic and the EQ. Vocal EQ is also one of the hardest things to get right so we sound engineers have our work cut out for us. Good vocal EQ comes with practice, study, and a lot of trial and error.

New Year's Resolutions: Getting a Better Mix

This is the time when everyone seems to be making plans and promises to do all the things they've been meaning to do and to stop all the things they've been meaning to stop. I'm sure that most of us in the church technical arts, particularly in the realm of audio, have a few New Year's resolutions of our own. At the top of many lists, including mine, is improving the mix. There always seems to be that elusive "perfect mix" where everything is tight and clear and in its place. If you're anything like me there are days when you walk away from a show and are just not quite satisfied with the end product. Well, here are a few things that I'm going to do this year to sharpen my skills

Listen carefully and analytically to a recording of the song(s) before rehearsal. Even if its a song you've done a hundred times, it never hurts to revisit a recording and listen carefully for the feel, how the instrumentation fits together, how the vocals blend, and maybe even where the solos are. If its a new song, then this exercise is indispensable. As I tell my volunteers, if you don't know what your aiming for, you won't know when you get there.

Experiment with new techniques. If there is a technique, feature, or effect you've never tried before, then try it out. If it doesn't work then fine, at least you know. But don't get stuck in a mixing rut. Try new routing, compressions, effects, panning, EQ, or even new snapshot uses (or scenes depending on your console). Personally, I'm going to experiment more with using the stereo plane to its fullest and work on tailoring vocals. Check out www.churchtecharts.org for some good tips on working in stereo.

Keep the big picture in mind. View the mix with the broad perspective of the audience. The average person doesn't walk away from a show humming the kick drum. (I must credit the great Robert Scovill with that one.) The point is, don't get bogged down in the intricacies of the individual instruments and loose sight of how the overall mix sounds. The bass may sound superb but if the people can't understand the vocals or are blown away by the lead guitar, no one will care. Focus more on EQing instruments and vocals to fit together well instead of EQing them to sound great by themselves. Check out this site for a helpful instrument frequency chart.

Lots of things can change in a year. I hope that my mix changes for the better by the time 2012 arrives, and I hope your's does too. It will just take a little bit of intentional effort.