Tag: sound engineer

How Not to Waste Your Churches Money

Managing church finances is a huge deal. People have given their hard earned money to the church so that more people can hear the most amazing story ever told. So for those of us who manage those resources to best tell that story, it’s a huge deal that we get it right. It’s up to us to find the best way to tell the story effectively for the least amount of money possible which with tech is an insanely difficult balance.

So how do we know that we’re making the best decision?

Today we’re going to look at 2 measurements we can look at to help us make the best choices. 

Now before we dig into those it’s also worth mentioning that most production equipment should last at least 10 years (longer in some cases) so we need to be thinking about that kind of life span as we are considering things.

So first…

Only buy it once

Let’s look at video switchers from 2 companies.

Company A – $6000 – integrator warns about reliability issues, marketing makes it look like it’s used for pro events. Switcher and control panel 6 useable inputs

Company B – $8000 – brand is used for Pro events all over the world Switcher and control panel all in one 10 useable inputs

When you go with company A, there is a high risk that the equipment will fail quickly and you will have to purchase it again or that it will only have enough inputs for what you need right now. So as soon as it breaks or your pastor wants to add more function (this will happen) you have to go out and buy something different (or worst case get the same thing again). So now you’ve spent more money than if you had gone with the better solution to start with.

Second…

On the flip side we also have to look at a concept known as:

The law of diminishing returns

The law of diminishing returns refers to a point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested.

What does that mean?

Quality VS Expense 
On the vertical axis, we’re looking at the quality or effectiveness of the experience created, and on the horizontal axis, we’re looking at the cost.

Find the sweet spot

Some of you may look at how much can I afford and stop at that point. The problem is that may mean that you’re selling the story short. Instead of “How much can we afford?” The question should be “What do we need?” Followed by “What do we need to do to afford that?”

Sometimes, when the dollar amount for your current strategy just seems unreachable, you may have to ask yourself “Is this the best strategy, or do we need to look for a totally different way to accomplish our mission?”.

Others look at “What’s the biggest best thing on the market?” And it’s completely overkill for your needs. But it makes your ego feel good because you have the “best sound console in the lineup”.

So find that sweet spot where you get the most quality for each dollar and do your research so that you aren’t buying things multiple times. Talk to someone who has used whatever it is that you’re looking at. Ask them what they don’t like about it.

If you’re interested in talking through specific ways to effectively find the “sweet spot” send me a message, I’d be more than happy to talk with you. 

Written by Chris Eslinger. Chris is from Fairfield, OH where he’s married and has three kids. Chris is the Production and Technical Media Director at New Freedom Church. To learn more about Chris, read his blogs or talk more about how he can help you create quality experiences, visit his site.

Looking for a new position? Stop by MinistryJobs.com and have a look at the jobs that are available! Ministry jobs are hard to come by and job hunting is no fun. We help ministry job seekers find their ideal role in their next ministry – for free! More than 6 million search for a job every day. Be found! Looking to list a job or an open position? We help churches and organizations get job openings in front of potential candidates. We have several plans and packages available. Today is the day!

The Value of the Basics

When I first started out, all I wanted to do was run a console. I wanted to program the cool lights or push the faders up on the sound board and make it sound awesome. But the guys I worked with always sent me to clean and rebuild lights, or pull cable or setup microphones. At the time I was really annoyed but now that I look back on it, I’m extremely grateful. Throughout that time, I learned how to get things right where it really matters. I learned the ins and outs of how all the tools worked. I learned how a light works with all the lenses and focus points, I learned how to setup and pin a stage in a way that made sense and was clean and organized. 

Ultimately, the basics makeup the foundation of what we do and without getting it right at the foundational level, the building will crumble.

So spend time on the seemingly small things, focus on the basic techniques. 

When you start running through a sound check, it can be tempting to just start turning knobs but have you thought about moving the mic to ensure it’s getting the best sound at the source?

When trying to improve the quality of the video, have you looked at making sure the lighting is as good as it can be for the camera?

Did you make sure your gain structure was right so the band is able to balance out their personal mixers?

So next time you feel like your stuck doing a basic task, remember, getting the basics right is what makes the “fun” tasks turn out well.

if you like to have a conversation about what basics can impact your experience, send me a message and let’s have a conversation about it.

Written by Chris Eslinger. Chris is from Fairfield, OH where he’s married and has three kids. Chris is the Production and Technical Media Director at New Freedom Church. To learn more about Chris, read his blogs or talk more about how he can help you create quality experiences, visit his site.

Looking for a new position? Stop by MinistryJobs.com and have a look at the jobs that are available! Ministry jobs are hard to come by and job hunting is no fun. We help ministry job seekers find their ideal role in their next ministry – for free! More than 6 million search for a job every day. Be found! Looking to list a job or an open position? We help churches and organizations get job openings in front of potential candidates. We have several plans and packages available. Today is the day!

Creating Quality Experiences

“Create quality experiences that help people engage with Jesus”. What does that mean? And how do we do that? This is my “why”, its the driving vision behind what I do. Historically the Church was the primary driving force behind art. The Church is where the best artists, musicians, and craftsman spent their lives creating beauty and telling the story of Jesus. Unfortunately in some cases the opposite is true today, The church has become the place where “we get by” because the people involved “have a good heart”. Thats all well and good, but the problem is the Church is called to reach the lost. We live in a world where there is so much other noise and often times when content is presented below a certain standard, people just shut down and or swipe away because it can be difficult to consume. 

Create

In Genesis we see that God created all things and that he created man in his image. It is in our nature to create things. Creativity looks different from person to person, but it is in all of us. For some, it’s painting a beautiful picture, for others its using a camera to capture a moment, and for others creativity is coming up with a solution to the problem in front of them. Creativity isn’t some far out abstract idea, creativity is simply fixing a problem. 

Quality

Quality means a standard of excellence. That means that there is a measurable expectation for the quality level of something. Often times you may hear the word excellence thrown around by itself. Excellence means to do the best you can with what you have. Thats all well and good until it gets flipped and becomes an excuse. “This is what we have , so this is the best we can do.” This can lead to an attitude of “its not even worth trying”. It is also easier to know you have attained a goal when it is measurable. When there is a standard, it’s very easy to know whether or not the goal has been reached, either you’ve hit all the marks, or you haven’t. In the case of the latter you also know what you need to work on for next time. 

Experience

An experience is a specific event that leads to a significant change in someones life. If the event only served as entertainment then it was all for nothing. We need to strive to create events that leave such an impact on peoples lives that it leads to life change. 

People

It’s all about the people. The equipment is cool and the projects are fun, but at the end of the day it’s the people around us that matter and their relationship with Jesus. Don’t move so quickly from task to task that you miss the people around you. 

Engage

To engage with means to join in together. Engaging is working toward a common goal together. For churches with the great commission in mind, this usually means: serving, growing, and giving. These are the things that fuel churches to reach those who don’t yet know Jesus. 

If you’d like to talk more specifically about what it could mean for your church to create quality experiences that help people engage with Jesus, send me a message, I’d love to talk with you. 

Written by Chris Eslinger. Chris is from Fairfield, OH where he’s married and has three kids. Chris is the Production and Technical Media Director at New Freedom Church. To learn more about Chris, read his blogs or talk more about how he can help you create quality experiences, visit his site.

Looking for a new position? Stop by MinistryJobs.com and have a look at the jobs that are available! Ministry jobs are hard to come by and job hunting is no fun. We help ministry job seekers find their ideal role in their next ministry – for free! More than 6 million search for a job every day. Be found! Looking to list a job or an open position? We help churches and organizations get job openings in front of potential candidates. We have several plans and packages available. Today is the day!

It’s Too Loud

Many Churches have begun reopening and getting back to live services. People no longer have a personal volume control which will inevitably lead back into volume complaints. While there is no sure-fire way to eliminate them, there are some factors that may be contributing to the comfort level of your audience. Most importantly, there are probably some things you can do about it that don’t involve earplugs. 

Disclaimer: I’m not going to address SPL (Sound Pressure Level) in this post but rather the factors that an SPL meter can’t tell you. I’m going to assume that you are running at a reasonable SPL and still receiving complaints. 

1. “I want to hear myself and the people around me sing”
There is power in corporate worship when the people of God sing His praises together. It serves as a way of reminding each other of who God is and what he has done. 

2. “I want to sing loudly and not worry about others around me hearing how bad I sound.”
There is also a personal side to worship as we each individually praise God for the things he has done in our life or cry out to him for the things we need. 

But They’re Still Coming….

Once you’ve reached a decision and adjusted accordingly. There are some further considerations to make as to why you may be receiving volume complaints.

Often it is a quality of sound and not a quantity of sound issue. Meaning there isn’t too much level but how it sounds is abrasive no matter the volume level. If things are out of balance or hard to distinguish from one another it can be hard to listen to. The average person doesn’t have (and doesn’t care to have) the knowledge to differentiate between abrasiveness and volume so they will simply say ” it’s too loud”. This is even more true in cases where an individual’s ability to differentiate between sounds diminishes like in cases of hearing loss where medical devices are required for the individual to hear. 

In my experience, there are 3 primary reasons people perceive it as being “too loud” (not including if it is extremely loud).

1.Room Issues

There’s an old audio joke that goes something like “In the beginning, God made perfect sound, then man built walls”. While you could easily poke holes in the jokes realism, it gets the point across that reflective surfaces add complexity to the sounds around us that then have to be differentiated by our ears. For the most part in normal circumstances, our ears are very good at doing this and we don’t even have to think about it. Think about when you’re in a crowded space where there are a lot of people talking. It’s usually reasonably easy to hear and focus on the person you are having a conversation with. With music, however, it can be a different story. Drums especially can create additional challenges for intelligibility. When a highly percussive sound bounces off everything and all the new sounds hit the ear at varying times, it makes it hard to understand what you are hearing.

It is also important to note that when this happens our natural inclination is to try and increase the volume level of the “main source” (usually the sound system). To address these issues (once the room already exists), you need to work with a professional. Acoustics is an exact science and requires specialized knowledge to get right. Guessing on solutions can be very costly. The way we have come to listen to music is very clean and processed and when you mix this clean processed sound with a raw acoustic source in the same space, it can greatly affect the intelligibility of the sound if they are not working together properly; which leads to the second factor.

2.System Issues

When a sound system isn’t correctly designed for or installed in a space or isn’t working properly it can create significant discrepancies between zones within that space. A good system should deliver consistent and even sound across every part of the room. When it’s uneven, people can have good or bad experiences based on where they are sitting and how it sounds there in comparison to what it sounds like at the soundboard (where the mix decisions are being made). This is a recipe for bad sound in certain parts of the room and good sound in others which can create additional frustration. This is not something the average person thinks about but instead, they would express that “things are inconsistent sounding from week to week (if they move seats regularly)”. Or they may say “ the bass is overwhelming” when it’s balanced from the mix position. If you are experiencing this, you want to see what can be done to better balance out your room. If you don’t have experience doing this, you may need to call in a professional to help. This is another area where guessing gets expensive. (How Not to Waste Your Churches Money)

3.Mix Issues

Now that we have either Identified a challenge that needs addressed or ruled the hard things out, it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. What’s the quality of the mix? At the end of the day, it comes down to the person behind the board. Do they know how to mix in such a way that things are balanced well and intelligible or is it harsh and overwhelming? Does it sound like music or noise? (You Don’t Need More Gear) To remedy this, you can either hire a professional to mix every week or get training for your volunteers.

Unfortunately there is no quick and easy fix for sound complaints, so take the pressure off. You don’t have to fix everything overnight. Break it down. Discover where the problems actually lie, then develop solid solutions that move you closer to your goal. (How not to waste your churches Money)

If you are experiencing any (or multiple) of these challenges and want to talk further about specifics of fixing them in your context, send me a message

Written by Chris Eslinger. Chris is from Fairfield, OH where he’s married and has three kids. Chris is the Production and Technical Media Director at New Freedom Church. To learn more about Chris, read his blogs or talk more about how he can help you create quality experiences, visit his site.

Looking for a new position? Stop by MinistryJobs.com and have a look at the jobs that are available! Ministry jobs are hard to come by and job hunting is no fun. We help ministry job seekers find their ideal role in their next ministry – for free! More than 6 million search for a job every day. Be found! Looking to list a job or an open position? We help churches and organizations get job openings in front of potential candidates. We have several plans and packages available. Today is the day!

5 Reasons Live Sound Issues Are Not Your Sound Person’s Fault

 

 

 

Recently I was talking to a frustrated worship leader at a church I was helping with their live sound issues. He was talking about his (volunteer) sound guy: “Dude, it’s not like it’s my job to keep running back there and showing them how to do stuff.” I (maybe not very politely) responded, “Actually Fred (name changed to protect the guilty), it is. Let me explain the difference between paid staff and volunteers. Hopefully you’ll understand that you’re lucky to have any because if I came to church here, I’m not sure I’d work for you.”

Too harsh? In both my travels as a sound consultant, and my lifelong experience as a church brat, band member, worship leader, and pastor, I discover over and over that the stereotypes about sound guys exist for a reason. Yeah, a lot of them are grumpy, and many of them lack some needed skills, but if you’re willing to zoom out a little bit, it’s not hard to see why. So, in the spirit of an apology, and sort of explanation to my rudeness to Fred, here are 5 reasons it’s not the sound guys’ fault.

1.) You didn’t train them. 

So many good-natured, servant-hearted people are totally set up to fail in this role from day one. Some mechanic who once installed his own stereo system at home gets prodded by his wife during a call for volunteers, and the next thing you know he’s been locked in that booth for 5 years, with the current plan for him being to have a week off when Jesus comes back. His “training” consisted of a 5-minute run-through on a Sunday morning right before he ran his first service. Now he runs the main complaint station for every grumpy member of your congregation and mainly gets attention whenever something goes wrong. Seriously, you should only do this to people you hate. Is it any wonder he bites now? This is why often in my training events I offer time for repentance, and whenever speaking to groups of sound people I offer apologies on behalf of their church staff that “know not what they’re doing”.

2.) They don’t have the proper equipment to do their jobs. 

Many churches are running like the Millennium Falcon week to week. Turn stuff on, bang on it, and cross your fingers hoping you make it through the service. Having the right tools matters. Pastors, can you imagine having to prepare a sermon using only your least favorite Bible translation?

Worship leaders, imagine replacing your carefully curated pedal board with a bunch of random stuff from the guitar center closeout shelf. This is what many sound techs are facing week after week. When the microphone cuts out, everyone shoots a frustrated look at the sound booth. The sound person has been telling the staff that it needs to be looked at for months, but nothing gets done, and people assume the sound person sucks.

3.) No “win” has been clarified, therefore all anyone can do is lose.

Sound techs intuitively assume that their job is to offend no one since it is church and we’re supposed to be nice. When they receive complaints (from people that generally just don’t like rock music and are going to be unhappy no matter what), they feel personally responsible and begin to mix out of fear, trying their hardest to do what every pastor knows is impossible: please everyone in the church. Volume and mix preferences are wildly subjective, and no two people (including professional mix engineers) totally agree on what good is.

4.) They are volunteers.

In most churches (like Fred’s), these wonderful people are here only out of the kindness of their heart. They are among the first to arrive and last to leave on a day that for many people it’s their only day to sleep in.

In most churches I’ve seen, they serve more frequently ([fewer] Sundays off) than any other area in the church. And they carry a tremendous weight of responsibility. Is there any other volunteer position in the church where the pressure of the entire service is on someone? They’re not paid, and they’re there as long or longer than the staff?

And last but not least:

5.) You forgot to turn the mic on, bro.

The most common answer to “what’s wrong?” is “someone on stage did the wrong thing.”  Not that that’s going to stop anyone from blaming the sound person.

Now that you, I and Fred are on the journey of repentance together, maybe consider if that Starbucks gift card is really adequate to express your appreciation for the team this holiday season.

Article written for MinistryTech by Caleb Neff. Caleb is a producer, pastor, songwriter, worship leader, husband, and dad from Cape Coral, Florida. His passion is helping artists both inside and outside the church develop their full creative potential. Check out his website, http://www.juniperrecording.com