Saturday, July 30, 2005

Be In Prayer for These Families & Shure

On Thursday, July 14, 2005, Shure lost three of its own in a tragic automobile accident: Michael Dahlquist, John Glick, and Douglas Meis.

“This is a terrible loss for all of us,” says Sandy LaMantia, President and CEO. “These young men were all very special people who touched so many lives. This has had a profound impact on many of us here at Shure and to many thousands of people who were fans of their music. Michael, John and Doug were not just co-workers, they were friends, and we will miss them.”


Shure Mourns the Loss of Three Associates

Plantronics Acquires Altec Lansing

I was catching up on some e-newsletters when I ran across an article from Sound & Video Contractor about the acquisition of Altec Lansing by Plantronics. Being in the communications field and working in sound these are two companies that I know. This is one of those mergers that will help both companies reach new horizons in creative innovation. In this day and age of convergence this new combination of a professional communication company and a leader in professional and consumer audio products just makes sense.
Check out this article "Acquisition of Altec Lansing Allows Plantronics to Offer Complete Audio Solutions"

Thursday, July 28, 2005

This Caught My Attention -- Furman's High-Performance AR-15 Voltage Regulator

This summer has been especially hard on electronic equipment in my day job area of radio. Our towers sometimes are struck by lightning between 80 - 100 times during any particular storm. We had another such storm today. In the radio business you account for those surges with proper grounding, phase monitoring, AC arrestors and other protection. We still have equipment that is damaged by lightning.

Unfortunately in churches not much thought is given to over current protection, lightning arresting and filtering. Many churches use a series of cheap, so-called surge protectors that are usually nothing more than outlet splitters. I cringe at the potential problems we have with not properly powering and protecting our equipment. Also the lack of filtering or proper grounding can sometimes lead to the dreaded hum in your sound system.

The problems that I see could be remedied by equipment such as Furman's High-Performance AR-15 Voltage Regulator. I currently use one voltage regulator in our main sanctuary but could use two more. We have no protection on sound systems in our other venues. That is why this new product caught my attention.

The first two paragraphs of product description had me wanting to try this product.



The 15 amp AR-15 II delivers a stable 120 volts of AC power to protect equipment from problems caused by AC line voltage irregularities such as sags, brownouts, or overvoltages - all of which can cause sensitive electronic equipment to malfunction or sustain damage. AR-15 II accepts any input voltage from 97V to 141V and transforms it to a constant 120V, ±5V. Voltages beyond that range may also be converted to usable levels, depending on the range variance.

Additionally, the AR-15 II is the only regulator that filters and purifies AC power, reducing line noise and ensuring optimum performance. Not only will your equipment perform better with FurmanÂ’s advanced filtering technology, but it will also be fully protected by our exclusive Series Multi-Stage Protection Plus circuitry (SMP+), which features Linear Filter Technology (LiFT) and Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) with high current TVZ-MOV. This circuit provides the highest level of power protection available.


Sounds like it would work for me. Am I endorsing this product? No, I would never endorse a product that I have not used or at least tried. I just hope to elevate the thinking about an issue that is often overlooked in our sound systems. We invest a lot of money in mixers, amps, speakers and signal processing, etc. We should also make the same investment in protecting that equipment.

As always I'm open to recommendations, suggestions, tips and tricks.

Check out the rest of Furman's power products at Furman Sound Inc.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Media & Technology in the Church

Ed Young Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church, wrote an article that was a Leadership Uncensored newsletter distributed by Creative Pastors on the subject of using media and technology in the church. Ed Young Jr.'s tips are excellent and even better is Anthony Coppedge expounding on those tips from a technical viewpoint. Check it out here.

Monday, July 25, 2005

What a Difference a Week Makes

I took a vacation from my day job last week. It wasn't your normal vacation though. I spent two days on yard work and pressure washing decks and siding. A day at a local amusement park with my family and one day preparing for Sunday morning services.
I spent two and half days at the church trying to remedy the fiasco of last Sunday(see Planning, Preparation, Practice) by ordering replacement cables, connectors, adapters etc. And the big item of stage snake. I cleaned, organized and took an inventory of all the audio equipment. All that work plus planning and preparation made a big difference for the concert we had last night.

I started off in the wrong frame of mind because after spending a chunk of change on preparing for an outdoor concert the decision was made to bring it indoors because of the intense heat. My natural reaction is to resist change. So naturally I was a little testy with the musicians and singers but a good friend of mine recognized my anguish and calmed my brewing storm. After all, the musicians and singers showed up when I had told them to show up and were set up and ready to do a sound check right on time. Plus we had a lot less set up by being indoors where we are mostly set up already. We were able to conduct a text book sound check, work out some bugs, mix the house sound and give the band a near perfect monitor mix. The lead guitarist and the worship leader were both pleased with the monitor mix at the same time. All of this using two stage wedges. The Lord was definitely at work here.

This was really my first solo somewhat large scale mix. I had a blast and learned a great deal. I experimented with drum micing and it turned out pretty well. I only used two mics. I had originally placed two Shure SM94s but when I was tearing down I noticed that one of the 94s had been replaced by a SM57. Don't know who or why but I guess they thought they knew best. I know SM57s is recommended for toms/snare but I received a much better response from the SM94 on the tom side. Maybe it had something to do with the acoustically live room we were in. I just don't know. I wish I had mic for the bass drum though and I think overall if I could've done a XY configuration with my mics it would have been better too. I see a purchase of some versatile mic stands in my future. As you can see I have a lot to learn about micing drum sets and I hope to learn the best mics and configurations soon. Hint: enter your comments please ;>)

The hour and a half concert was awesome. We had the biggest crowd for a Sunday night that I had ever seen since I have been at this church. Seeing a bunch of Southern Baptist erupt in praise and worship was something to behold too. The young and the old alike enjoyed the experience. Oh, there was free homemade ice cream too.

It was a great day yesterday at FBC. There was planning, preparation and practice, not only for the concert last night but also for our morning worship services. We strived for excellence and everything was darn near perfect for all services and the concert.

How fitting that the sermon yesterday for the morning services was titled "The Purpose of God's Gifts for Us". Read Ephesians 4:7-16. All glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He gave His everything and we gave back and we were all blessed yesterday. I thank the Lord for the gifts that He has given so many in our church and I pray that we always offer those gifts back to Him!

Monday, July 18, 2005

Planning, Preparation, Practice

Planning, Preparation, Practice! These are the 3 Ps that I have been preaching when it comes to media ministry.

You have to plan your services and special events. I don't just mean setting a date, theme etc. I mean thinking of every minute detail and what needs to be implemented to make a service or special event flawless or appear to be anyway.

Next comes preparation. This is where you get everything ready. You make sure that you have all that you need. When it comes to sound you must have all the right cables, with the right connectors going to the right connections. You must have the correct number of mics and then some. You must have all the right components to make good sound. With video presentation you must have all the slides in perfect order with correctly spelled text and the correct lyrics to songs. You must have the correct format video and the right video you are asked to show placed into your program. These are just a few examples of preparation.

Next comes practice. Also known as rehearsal or sound check. This is where after all of your planning and preparation you make sure that nothing was missed and that all is functioning correctly and in order. This is where you discover bad cables, adapters etc. This where you adjust your levels. This is where you adjust video and audio together. This is where you make sure everything you programmed looks good on the big screen. Then you will know that everything is ready to have a flawless service or special event.

Having known all of this I did not practice what I preach this past week and Sunday night's concert laid it all bare. I was not in on the planning of this concert. I knew a band was coming but was not made aware that they needed sound until Friday afternoon. A return phone call earlier in the week would have been nice but that would have not made a difference come Sunday. The band did not show up until almost start time either but that also would not have made a difference either. Why? Because I had not planned or prepared so therefore no practice was even possible.

I knew when I got off the phone with the band leader on Friday that I was going to have to scramble. First of all I had to find a stage snake to borrow. Thank God for my brother, who's place I took a few years ago, because he came through for me with a snake. Unfortunately that was the least of my problems. When I came in Sunday afternoon to set up I began to realize that everything I had used last summer for outdoor concerts didn't seem to be in the place I had left it. Three hours quickly passed by and we were not remotely ready to put on a concert. At start time I was in a room soldering 1/4" connectors on speaker cable. After several attempts to get a full sound system with monitoring I had to face the inevitable. As they say, the worship concert must go on. We started a concert with only half our mains producing sound, no monitors and no sound check. When the first song started is when my level adjusting started and it took me about 3 songs to get it decent and I found out that not all the mics were working. I certainly didn't have time to mic a drum kit so it could not be heard. And on and on... When I finally hurried back to the main mixer I kept my head down and didn't look at the crowd. I just wanted to bury myself.

The band was excellent though. I could tell they were slightly out of time because they couldn't hear. But they took it all in stride and they thanked me for the effort afterwards. They said that they had a great time because they don't do concerts very often. I hope I get another chance to do sound for them because I think they would be awesome.

I heard the crowd enjoyed themselves regardless and they thought it sound pretty decent. After all it wasn't about me or the sound system or the band. It was about God. It was about Jesus Christ and offering up our praises to Him. That is what we did.

Lesson learned is to practice what you preach. Next Sunday night is another concert. I have planned all I could in one day. I have been making preparations all day and will continue tomorrow. Practice is coming...
I know that I must strive for excellence because I believe that is what God wants from us. Not because He will love us any more or any less but because as one praise and worship song states "...because He gave His everything." That's why we praise Him and that is why we should give our everything for Him.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

The Cost of MP3s

There has been a lot of talk lately about MP3s. Who should be recording them? Who should be offering them? Why they are not offering them. Where they are being used. And what to charge.
I always like FREE! I also know that is not always feasible. What is really puzzling to me is the disparity of pricing on MP3s by different ministries.

I was perusing my favorite preachers and teachers the other day on OnePlace.com so I thought I would just see what the standard was for charging for MP3s. Here is what I found:

A New Beginning w/ Greg Laurie -- FREE w/registration
Living On the Edge w/ Chip Ingram -- $3.00
The Alternative w/ Dr. Tony Evans -- $4.50
Love Worth Finding w/ Adrian Rogers -- $2.50
The Connection w/ Pastor Skip Heitzig -- FREE w/registration
Ed Young Ministries -- $6.00
All of the Thru the Bible series w/ Dr. J. Vernon McGee -- FREE
Turning Point w/ Dr. David Jeremiah -- $3.50
Grace to You w/ John MacArthur -- $4.00
Walk in the Word w/ Dr. James MacDonald -- $3.00

These are just my favorites. There are many more available. I think the results are interesting. I was not surprised to find Dr. J. Vernon McGee was offered for free. He passed in 1988 I believe so all of this great material is archived for us to enjoy. I was surprised to see the jump up to $6.00 for Ed Young Ministries though. Not that he isn't worth it but that price is considerably higher on average than the others.

All in all I will be downloading Greg Laurie, Skip Heitzig and Dr. J. Vernon McGee on a regular basis. There are messages and series by the ministers listed above that I have bought before so they are not out of the question to download from time to time for the fee.

So, my question is, how do we determine to charge or not to charge for MP3s?
I know some churches are offering their messages for FREE
If you are currently offering MP3s what factors did you use to determine a price or not charge at all?

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Worship Leader Magazine: Technology Bonus Issue Part 2 "Welcome to the Blogsphere: The Postmodern Wittenberg Door"

The next article of interest in the latest technology bonus issue of Worship Leader magazine is titled "Welcome to the Blogsphere: The Postmodern Wittenberg Door" by Karen M. Ward. She is the abbot and lead curate of Church of the Apostles, an emerging, monastic, incarnational, Christian community in Seattle, WA.

First of all, what is an emerging, monastic, incarnational, Christian community? Sounds very New Age or Universalist if you know what I mean. I could be wrong though. After perusing her blog site I'm still not sure.

Anyway, back to the article. Karen Ward writes of the culture changing impact that Martin Luther had when he posted his 95 thesis on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. That document started the reformation.

Ms. Ward credits Martin Luther's ability to make a document such as the 95 thesis and also his ability to translate the Bible into German on the new technology of movable type printing process. This process was invented by Johann Gutenberg and revolutionized the distribution of information and therefore the culture of the day.

Ms. Ward then compares that culture changing phenomenon to today's blog. I would have to say that she is right. She list 4 things about blogs that are culture changing:

  1. Blogs personalize mass communications.
  2. Blogs eliminate the need for information middlemen...and the process of seeking outside permission to be heard.
  3. Blogs provide direct and immediate linkage between writers and readers. (fresh content)
  4. Blogs return the means of production to regular people, so the merits of what is being said are what matter, rather than needing money, power and privilege to find an audience and get a hearing.

Karen Ward continues with a breakout that states ministry uses for blogs such as church events, youth groups, building projects and pastor's sermon vault blogs. I know I'm considering a group blog for my ministry team.

Ms. Ward also list some blogging systems to use such as blogger.com, typepad.com, movabletype.org and livejournal.com


I like the idea of having my own site for mass communications and being able to put out whatever content allowable by law to whoever wants to come by and read what I'm thinking about at the moment. Plus they can immediately comment on what I'm thinking and it starts conversations, contacts and communities. Wow! What an awesome medium we have here to communicate with the world.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Taking Care of the Poor

My thoughts on Live8 pretty much mirror the thoughts in the post I'm going to provide a link to. I tell many Christians that is not the government's responsibility to take care of the poor. It is the church's; it is ours.

I discovered the post "Weighing in on Live 8" by Rev Bill while reading Terry Storch today.

Also along the same lines there was an excellent broadcast of Focus on the Family about the church taking care of the homeless. The title is "Finding Jesus on the Streets" I was disappointed that I missed Part 1 yesterday. The great thing about technology today is that I can still listen to it in archive.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Worship Leader Magazine: Technology Bonus Issue Part 1

Our Worship Pastor recently passed on to me his Worship Leader Magazine bonus issue still wrapped in plastic. He said, "This is technical stuff so you can have it". I thought sure, why not. I enjoy reading anything about technology in churches. Now that I have read a few articles, when I'm finished I think I will recommend some for him to read.

This is not a magazine that I'm going to read on a regular basis so I think I will take a few posts to talk about some articles that I have read. I would link to an online version but I quickly found out that Worship Leader Magazine does not put the full article on their web site. They put excerpts (teaser) of articles with a link at the bottom to subscribe to the magazine.

The first article of note is "Ancient Psalms and Modern Technology" by Dr. Mark Roberts. Dr. Roberts is Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, CA. He has authored several books including "Dare to be True", "Jesus Revealed" and his newest "No Holds Barred" . Dr. Roberts is also a blogger.

His article is based on Psalm 150:1-6 in which we are instructed to praise God for His many attributes in many different ways with many different things. Dr. Roberts paraphrased Psalm 150 in this way:

Praise the LORD!
Praise Him with digital projectors and media display software.
Praise Him with portable audio systems and giant speaker clusters.
Praise Him with wireless microphones and workstation keyboards.
Praise Him with multi-effects, floor pedals and MIDI software.
Let everything that has electronic circuits praise the Lord.
Praise the LORD!

I love it! I know that I try to instill in my ministry team that just like musicians using instruments for worship we are also using a instrument to worship. The premise of the article is that we should use everything at our disposal to praise God including technology.

Dr. Roberts warns that when we do use technology we should ask ourselves if it is adding to God's praise or detracting from it? That is a fine line that we walk. We must constantly ask ourselves if our technology is drawing people to a deeper sense of worship or is it drawing attention to itself. Although I have come to discover that what is distracting to one person may not even be noticed by another. Nevertheless we should always strive to eliminate any distractions whatsoever. We know, for example, that audio feedback and the wrong lyrics on the screen are definitely a distraction to everyone. Also, as is the case in our church, you may have a portion of your congregation behind you so you should be mindful of your movements.

Dr. Roberts also instructs that we should know our congregation. Your congregation might not be ready for some of the technology that is being used today. I know that some churches use very creative lighting rigs and controllers that really set a mood. The sanctuary in my church was built in 1920 and I think some of our members were there for the dedication. They have a mood that lights are for seeing and not for creativity I have come to find out. Of course I also learned that the electrical wiring in our sanctuary is not conducive to high wattage lighting anyway.

In conclusion, Dr. Roberts and I agree if we desire that God be praised in all that we do then we will be led by the Holy Spirit to implement or not implement what technologies are right for our congregations.





Thank you again Dr. Roberts for your permission to use certain excerpt for this review.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Heartlight Magazine

I discovered a graphics resource this past week through Church Production Resources ministry links. That resource is Heartlight magazine. Their slogan is "Providing Positive Resources for Daily Christian Living" Heartlight magazine is a ministry that provides many other resources in addition to fine graphics. They provide devotions, articles, e-newsletters, graphics for computer and presentation and much more. The great thing is that except for their shopping area all the resources are FREE!!! But like I said before they are a ministry. They are supported by a couple of churches and are set up to receive donations online. Take time to check out the Heart Gallery with its many well designed, scripture based graphics.

Anthony Coppedge

I have discovered Anthony Coppedge! I don't remember exactly the first time that I heard or read about Anthony Coppedge. It seems that all of sudden I was seeing many links to his website, articles in magazines and this week FSR Inc. sent me a product highlight written by no other than Anthony Coppedge.

I have checked out his web site and blog which are both very well designed by mpaq digital concepts. I believe it is one the best websites, visually, that I have ever seen. The website is a wealth of information and resources as well.

But most of all this guy is speaking my language. Anthony Coppedge is very insightful, knowledgeable and uses language that everyone can understand. From what I have read in many of his articles he is able to articulate, much better than I, exactly what I'm thinking.

I look forward to learning a great deal about using media in ministry from Anthony Coppedge.