Self-Remixed: Coming Soon!

Philippians 1:6 - "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

The Lord Jesus is mixing it up again; He's still at the center and is the master DJ...Stay tuned for details!

Name That Injury - CONTEST!

OK, I'm usually really good at coming up with fun names (word-jams) for things/events/circumstances/etc. But today, I am stumped and need your help.

For those of us who work in or around audio-world, there's a crazy phenomena that happens when one is striking the stage after an event wherein a microphone stand is getting prepared for storage. Usually due to weariness, multitasking, trying to get done in a hurry, or just plain ignorance, the audio tech decides to collapse the stand using only one hand to loosen the collar on the vertical shaft, causing the center pole to drop, resulting in a pinching of the web of skin between the thumb and index finger (or on one the under-side of the exposed skin on one of the fingers). OOOOUUUUCCHHH!!! Hello nasty blood blister...

Because of the frequency and wide-spread occurrences of this wound, I believe this type of blood-blister deserves a unique name; something that would be recognized an "Industry Standard."

"Hey Bill, check out this nasty "____" I got at last night's gig."

An exercise could even be taught as part of practical curriculum in Roadie School.
"How fast can you move your hand away from the collapsing mic stand before you get a "____"?

Bonus Question = Would the reverse of the headache remedy work if I rub my temples?

Sharpen your noodles, friends, and chime in with your best suggestion.
Prize = TBD.

Also, if this happens to a sound-tech for Christian ministry, is this what Paul is referring to in Colossians 1:24 -
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,"?

Cross Training

The Christmas Season is well-over, and in Worship Ministry World, that means time to be thinking and preparing heavily for the next big season of Good Friday and Easter. The Incarnation has been celebrated and we now move on to Propitiation and Resurrection.

In an effort to not get swept away with all the details of service plans and miss reveling in the work of Christ, I'm doing some extra heart-preparation with some focused reading on the Cross. One particularly good book is a recent Crossway compilation edited by Nancy Guthrie called "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter." It's a small book of 25 short essays, devotions, and sermon passages by a list of who's who of authors, pastors, and preachers, past and present: from John Piper to Augustine; from C.J. Mahaney to Francis Schaeffer; John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Martin Luther, Joni Eareckson Tada, and so on.
The chapters are quick but rich in thought toward the work of Christ throughout Holy Week.

From R.C. Sproul, "Cursed" - "When Christ was hanging on the cross, the Father, as it were, turned his back on Christ. He removed his face. He turned out the lights. He cut off his Son. There was Jesus, who in human nature had been in a perfect, blessed relationship with God throughout his life. There was Jesus, the Son in whom the Father was well pleased. Now he hung in darkness, isolated from the Father, cut off from fellowship - fully receiving in himself the curse of God - not for his own sin but for the sin he willingly bore by imputation for our sake."

That's what it's all about, friend! Jesus Christ, the 2nd person of the Trinity, God's only Son, was sent to die for you and me. Doubtful you or I have ever sacrificed as much...(Romans 5:6-11)
If then we have recognized our sinful nature and have acknowledged Christ's atoning work, let us likewise understand His being raised from the dead to claim victory over death, a victory celebration to which he also calls us!

From Stephen Olford, "Crucified With Christ" - "As I heard those words, God set me free. I saw the truth that Christ died for me; I died with him. He went to the grave, and so did I. On the basis of that death and burial, I can claim resurrection life! If you want to know Christ's resurrection power released in you, then sincerely pray, 'Lord, I am dead, but alive in you. Resurrection power, fill me this hour. Jesus, be Jesus in me.' This is the termination of the self-life."

So yet while I live in this life I will increasingly choose to remember what Jesus Christ has done for me, both in his death and resurrected life, and to daily realize, through His gift of salvation, the fullness of my joint participation in his death and resurrection and what that means for my life which is now His! (Galatians 2:20)

I'm looking forward to Jesus using this book to keep me very near the Cross throughout the year and not just in the few early spring months. Highly recommended!

Keepin' It Reel

Recently a friend and colleague of mine acquired an old reel of analog tape and asked me if I knew how to go about "digitizing" it. This particular spool contained original music recordings from the 1970s by his father. For those of you who don't know, analog tape for several decades had been the top choice for a physical medium on which to capture, play back, and preserve audio. However, with the advent of home recording, ease and affordability won out over this archaic archival process. (Analog tape is the equivalent of film for cameras.) As such, devices on which to hear these tapes are becoming more scarce. My friend's dilemma was rooted in the tension of the inherent value he placed in the content embedded on the reel, excitement to finally hear it (he didn't know exactly what it contained), and the concern that finding a way to transfer it could be a difficult process at best.

As mentioned elsewhere, I was professionally trained in recording world at the dawn of the digital revolution. So, I had the benefit of having a foot in both old-school analog world and the new wave of digital technology. When Matt sent me this photo and asked how he could hear it, a flood of memories and questions immediately occupied our conversation. I had the fun privilege of using and working with analog tape as a recording format: 2", 1/2", 1/4", threading the tape on machines, calibrating the electronics, splicing takes together with a razor blade, etc. My reverence and understanding of this medium allowed me to share the concerns he had for handling the tape. "What size was it? How many tracks across the tape width? Is it a 2-mix or multitrack? How old did you say it was?" As there was no documentation included in the box, we started kicking around ideas about good transfer houses. My next suggestion was that he get the reel "baked." 'What do you mean 'Baked"?' he asked. "I mean exactly as you think! Bake it! As in stick it in the oven at 125 deg. F for several hours." Analog tape is pretty straightforward: metal oxide particles are glued to a mylar backing... Over time, however, the glue gets weak, and if the old tape is played on a machine prior to baking, the metal particles run against the tape head and shed right off the plastic tape backing. Baking the tape melds these components back together and is recommended just prior to transferring the contents to a different medium, and repeated plays on the original tape are not recommended. So, off to the mastering house Matt's reel goes, and it'll be interesting to hear the results.

Back in the studio days, maybe a couple times each year, we dealt with clients who needed to get their tapes baked . One particular instance stuck with me when the artist wanted to do more than just transfer an old reel. In 1999, we were working on the 2nd Willow Creek "Preludes" CD, and producer John Carlson asked us to transfer music from a 2" reel of an old recording by fellow musician/composer Russ Daughtry. The original song, "Jesus," from 1981 contained acoustic guitar and voice. Russ had been a part of the Willow Creek music community, and prior to making this CD he was diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease. John's intention was to honor his friend by including an updated version of the song by transferring the tracks to a newer format and overdubing saxophone and synth to fill it out. Of course, the original tape was old and needed to be baked. Though I could understand the intent, I was more interested in the process than the content. Would the tape hold up? Would the creative recording machine roll forward? This was all before I became a follower of Jesus Christ, so the motive of giving glory to God through music and worship was not really a motivator for me. John & Russ's desire was that their savior would be worshiped despite circumstances. I was fixated on making the client happy. Clearly our Creator can still use pagans in these moments for His purposes without us even knowing it.

More recently, I've come to revere God's Word as the primary instruction for knowing Him and living a life pleasing to Him. Daniel Wallace, Professor of NT Studies at DTS, is also executive director for The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. This organization is committed to the preservation and translation of ancient bible documents into modern and more user-friendly digital formats. Though the process is fascinating, it's the God of the content who commands the attention of such endeavors. I would encourage you to browse their website to learn about their work.

In 2 Kings 22, we read of King Josiah repairing the temple and Hilkiah the high priest finding God's Book.

v 8-13: "And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

Oh that we'd be a people who increasingly revere our Creator!
Oh that we'd be a people who are growing in our love for His Word and desire to live by it!

In John 14:21, Jesus says, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

E.U. to Impose Volume Sanctions on MP3 Players

Much like a "governor switch" that limits maximum car speed, the European Union is encouraging makers of MP3 players to implement output-volume limits in their devices.

A.P. released the story today...

In One Ear and Out the Other: The Challenges of Using In-Ear Monitors

This past weekend during worship service rehearsal I was confronted with an audio phenomenon that didn't fully compute. The setup was fairly normal: drums, bass, guitars, piano, a few extra line-drums, 3 vocalists. The team was well into the run-through when we were confronted with a short burst of feedback in a narrow band around 3-4kHz. Immediately I looked up from my board and toward the stage to get the visual confirmation (band and vocalists wincing in unison, looking back at us in the booth like we're idiots) that something in the system just ripped through the signal chain inducing said noise-burst directly into the ear canals of all the unlucky recipients. Fortunately we (band and techies) are a team and all collectively bore the brunt of the unruly squeal. Experience immediately told me that a vocal microphone was just pointed into a monitor wedge...Although there was just one little problem: THERE WAS NO STAGE MONITOR WEDGE IN USE!!! It was, however, a little different in that it was not as full in volume as a typical feedback burst would be, so I cataloged it as an anomaly and moved on. A few minutes later it happened again. Mystified, I started scanning through all my FOH gain settings, then moved over to take a look at the gain settings in monitorland. The vocalists were collectively singing louder at that point and a few of the input channels and IEM transmitters were living in the red-zone a bit too much. So I had the monitor board operator dial back a few of the things to leave some headroom for the actual service, but didn't equate any of the changes as being related to the main issue at hand. The feedback problem didn't happen again, but after about another half-hour of mulling it over it dawned on me what might be the source of the problem. There was a particular vocalist for that service who notoriously sings quietly, putting out very little acoustic energy, thus requiring significant reinforcement from the mic and speakers. She also has a very narrow tonal range, which complicates the matter. Still, I new the feedback was not coming from the house PA as I've been able to beat her EQ up regularly enough that it's not a problem for me (note: this after frequently and lovingly encouraging her to "sing out!") and the house doesn't characteristically ring in this range if at all. This lead me back to consider the monitor setup. It dawned on me that just as I needed to turn her up in FOH, so did the monitor guy. Then I realized that the vocalist was committing the unpardonable sin of using only one earpiece of her in-ear monitor setup but with the addition of her draping the unused earpiece on the front of her shirt, hanging a third of the way down her chest...just at the same location she decided to hold her microphone while not singing!!! Who woulda' thunk!?! Feedback issues with IEMs... Her vocal was SO cranked in her mix that when her microphone passed by the open earbud, catching it at just the right angle, it caused the system to spiral into unstable audio territory! Crazy... One for the books for sure.

This obviously got me thinking about the whole in-ear monitor scenario in general. I've had long debates in discussions about all aspects of the issue with band and technicians alike. The musicians and singers at our church are typically mixed in their usage with some using both earpieces and some using only one. The argument for usage of only one earpiece goes something like - "Well, I feel cut off from the audience, band, etc." which is understandable but fixable. The worse scenario is the defeatist mentality of "well, the mix doesn't sound great so I won't be a bother to the sound guy...really, it's fine." That, in my book, is completely unacceptable as an excuse.

I won't be exhaustive here about all the issues and how to fix them. There are a number of informative resources that address the process and challenges already. What I do want to do is pose a charge to both performers and technicians, especially as it relates to serving in the context of the Worship Ministry.

First of all, the sound team exists to serve the musicians and singers, who in turn serve the congregation by leading them in song-worship of the Living God. This all is then laid on top of the charge that we are "serving the Lord Christ." (Col. 3:23-24) As such, we can not with good conscience continue to wallow in a sea of indifference and mediocrity if we are to serve with excellence. There are some very tangible ways to get better at what we do, what we should expect, and how we develop our craft.

For those on the platform (band, singers, musicians) I ask you that you be honest in two areas:
1. Your hearing is important to us and it should be to you. Using only one ear puts you squarely on the fast track to long-term hearing damage. In a recent informative Mix article, Michael Santucci, noted audiologist and founder of Sensaphonics has this to say about using one earpiece vs. two:“When players take one out, their brain loses its ability to do binaural summation, where two ears together add up to a 6dB increase in your perception of loudness,” Santucci explains. “If you're hearing 90 dB in both ears, your brain thinks it's hearing 96 dB. If you take one ear away, then that one ear has to go from 90 to 96 to sound like 96. And now the other ear is open and getting bashed by the band, the P.A. and the crowd. So this loud sound coming into the open ear causes you to turn the other ear up even more. In terms of ear safety, using one earpiece is a dangerous practice — it could actually be worse than using none at all.”
2. You need to begin demanding better mixes from the technicians. Ask for a nice musical mix; something that's well balanced (with you on top of course), but something more inspiring than just plain-old functional, i.e. - "lots of my voice and maybe just a little piano and acoustic guitar." Get the right amount of stereo ambient or crowd mics into the equation to get a sense of spaciousness and you should be good to go.

We love you musicians and desperately want you to use your gifts to lead us for years to come. God has given you talent to steward through your voice or hands, but he's also given you two ears to steward as well. As such, please do not take lightly the potential risks involved in compromising your monitoring situation. Your feelings are no match for the brutal reality found in empirically verifiable data on hearing loss due to poor listening practices.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Now, on to the technicians (myself included). The charges here are the similar as the ones I give to those on the platform:
1. Soundboard operators are responsible for providing safe listening levels in the house and on stage. We are joint-stewards of the hearing faculties of the people we serve, and so we need to be increasingly concerned about creating and promoting a safe environment for our worship leaders.
2. We need to exhibit an increasing proficiency in our craft. It's a poor excuse to say "Well I'm just a volunteer," or "I'm only on once a month; I don't do this for a living and you can't expect perfection." First of all the Lord Jesus (and hopefully those you serve with) see what you do as more than just being a volunteer. Friend, do you not realize this is an act of worship. We put forth our our time and skill and heart and preparation and prayer as an offering to God knowing that we're part of a larger movement to stir people into praise and change peoples lives. It is service and it does require a great degree of humility. Oh, and it definitely requires much grace, especially from the band as it pertains to expectations. We understand that most people who serve on the tech team don't exercise the same skill vocationally during the week. It would do everyone well to remember that the board operator can't pick up the big soundboard and take it home to practice much like a guitarist or vocalist can take their instrument with them. However, this is not a license to neglect the craft in between times we serve. I'm not saying we need to be perfect; we just need to be seeking ways to excel in our craft.
As it pertains to mixing monitors, there are so many ways to get better. Here are a few ideas:
A) Run sound in a different ministry that meets midweek. Sound is sound; any experience can be brought back to the weekend ministry context.
B) Communicate...A LOT! Don't just sit in the booth during the weekend. Go talk to the people you serve; after or in-between services is always good. We're on a team together, and team mates seek to build comfortable relationships where the craft can be discussed. Ask them what they like or don't like about the mix. If you get a simple answer like "It's fine..." News Flash!!! It's not fine. Be specific about something to start the dialog. Try something like "Hey, I tried to brighten up the piano to help the notes cut through a bit more. Did that help you?" This may prompt a response like "Well, I didn't notice that so much, but what I could use is a little more kick, snare, and hat to feel the rhythm better."
C) For IEMs, start improving the stereo mix. We have two ears to hear, which give us a sense of depth and spaciousness. Nothing short-circuits this sensation faster than listening to a mono mix. Often we use two mix channels for input to each wireless IEM transmitter. This means that the system is capable of a stereo mix to the receiver. I worked for years in a studio creating stereo monitor mixes for artists. It takes lots of practice, but it's worth it for them and you. Our singers and musicians should be asking us for a beautiful and inspiring stereo mix...everytime! When was the last time you listened to your iPod with only one ear in? I thought so...Pan out that drum kit, spread out those piano, synth, and keyboard channels, pan the guitars out a bit. Keep the vocal up the middle and prominent, and for good measure, bleed in some of the crowd mics and/or reverb fx to "wet it up."
D) Be listening to lots of music to get some perspective. If you don't love music, you probably shouldn't be serving in this area. Listen to both high quality reference music and sub-par stuff, too. I'm a firm believer in exposure to good and bad sounding stuff, otherwise you never have a guage on the sound quality of the stuff you're mixing. Additionally, be listening to stuff that the band and singers listen to; and not just the mp3 of the special for the weekend, but invest in a variety of CDs of the styles and artists whose songs we play.
E) Be immersing yourself in the wealth of resources outside of just prerecorded music. There are a host of trade publications, books, websites, video tutorials, etc. all available for free or close to nothing. Read multiple perspectives on how other people use the equipment and start experimenting and finding what works and doesn't.
F) Experiment with open channels. Most of the boards we use at Harvest are digital. As such, the ability to patch sound sources to multiple channels allows the operator to set the mix using preassigned channels, then also double-route inputs to open channels that nobody else but the operator hears. This creates the perfect environment to experiment with real live sound sources with which the tech person can then practice different EQ and compressor settings (or whatever else your heart desires) without the effects being heard by the musicians. As you find some useful settings begin to implement them as long as they don't create a distraction to the hearer.

Much more can be said about this, but enough talk; let's get to work. It's going to take a joint effort on the part of musicians/singers and the techies who serve them to improve in these areas.
Patience, grace, practice, ongoing dialog...Prayer, humility, did I mention patience?

"Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men." Proverbs 22:29

Obama Signs Government Bailout Plan for Failing Smooth Jazz Radio Station...NOT!

Well, I waited a little while to comment on this topic when I could find a moment to gather my thoughts. I've been a little busy with the new family addition. Anyway, here goes...

On the morning of Friday May 22, 2009, cubicles and elevators all around the Chicagoland area paused for 95 1/2 seconds of silence to remember a fallen radio station. OK, not really, but WNUA, the smooth jazz kingpin of the Chicago airwaves officially went off the air due to lagging financial support, replaced by Clear Channel's "Mega" Spanish-pop offering.

This is a big deal for three reasons:
1) On a large scale, it marks a certain facing-of-reality by the music sub-culture that is Smooth Jazz that maybe it really is not a sustainable art form after all. As more of an illegitimate child of '70s fusion-jazz, smooth jazz took off in the mid-1980s as it blended vocals and other pop-crossover stylings offering greater commercial appeal . Further toward the turn of the century, it grafted in slow-jam and funky groove elements, making it a hit among adult "urban" crowds.
2) The replacement format choice is a mega-win for commercial appeal in the region. Chicago has always been a diverse city, but this clearly marks an acknowledgment of the ethnic changes that have been bubbling over for some time. There are other Hispanic stations on the dial, but they play a more traditional south-of-the-border flavor. Mega 95.5 has a significantly more pop-crossover identity, which probably aligns more closely with the blending of Hispanic and American pop-music culture.
3) I can speak openly and frankly about the smooth jazz style as I was immersed in the making of it (which put a good chunk of my food on the table) between 1995 and 2003. For a number of reasons, Chicago became the petri dish for this music, and I just happened to end up working in the recording studio that churned out a great deal of its creative undertakings. I cut my teeth on a whole variety of music - gospel, contemporary Christian, pop, straight-ahead jazz, rock, commercial spots, etc. - but a good chunk of the calendar was filled recording and mixing what I would consider "pop instrumental" music. There where some diamonds in the rough; producers and musicians who brought a high-caliber of musical production values to the table, but those where few and far-between. Most of the time however they were banal, sub-par musical offerings whose ultimate hope was often to get just a hint of airplay on WNUA or its sister stations. "For what ultimate purpose, though?", I often asked. Well, not outloud to the artists, but internally of course. Most of these cats are hardworking musicians, though; many of whom I would still consider friends. As such, if "faithful are the wounds of a friend," then my hope that they would take these words and this new season as a time to get back to the toolshed for some fresh musical offerings.

OK, yes; music is subjective, but here are a few thoughts about music-making and its ability to stay viable over the long haul. First, a song or style's transcendence is directly tied to purity and creativity of the particular expression and its ability to connect with the masses. Write a good song that captures the emotion of the songwriter, which also resonates with the given culture, and deliver it on a fresh and palatable musical canvas, and you'll probably have a classic. Failure on any of these points will likely send you to the music graveyard. Second, Western music has a limited range; 12 notes to be exact. There's only so much one can do to reinvent those notes in a unique way. Now take away the vocal element, which is how the majority of humans connect emotionally with one another through song form, and which is exactly what most smooth jazz songs do, and replace it with an instrument that belongs in the background of pop productions (solos excepted) and make it try to speak like a vocal... Any rational music maker will see that there is no way that this type of creation can have lasting health without offering proper musical nourishment. As the childbirth class instructor for our first baby once said in reference to adequate feedings, "The proof is in the poop!" Finally, music is a gift from God. He gave it to us as an means to creatively express worship, to which He is rightly due. For thousands of years now, people have been singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs about His infinite worth, wonderful creation, and most of all, His awesome redemption found only through faith in Jesus Christ. Now that's a music style guaranteed to last forever.

Yes, there will still be the fond jokes & memories:
- "Some people take their mix out to the car to listen for reference, but we had a audio tielines from the control room pumped out to the elevator; real world reference, baby!"
- "How do you know when the smooth jazz mix is finished? The engineer is asleep at the board."
- "Steve, turn up the electric guitar already! This isn't smooth jazz, OK!?!"
- A particular friend who had a knack for programming all my car radio presets to 95.5...just because.
- Ah, and who can forget the classic "WNUA theme song" parody tracks by local musician and anti-smooth jazz zealot, Jim Dinou...

Where shall one now turn to hear Sade's "Smooth Operator" or Kenny G's "Songbird"? I guess satellite/internet radio or iTunes or wherever; but for now I count this as a great victory for the artistic purity of the music industry. Kinda' reminds me of the Apostle Peter's condemnation of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, where we see God purifying His church from those intentionally holding back their best from Him.