Blog - Praise and Worship Music

05Aug 2014 by Ray No Comments

Sound Reinforcement Basics – Mixers

Welcome back to part two in our series on the basics of sound reinforcement. If you missed part one on setting up your PA, it's worth going back and taking a gander. I talk about what gear you need and how to set it up for different spaces and situations. In this post I'm going to talk about what to do with your mixer once you are set up and ready to make some noise. Plugging In Most mixers have predominantly XLR inputs which are grounded. Some have 1/4" line level inputs and then some have 1/4" TRS inputs which are grounded (two stripes on the plug). It's very important to have everything coming in to your mixer grounded. What does that mean? If you think about it like electrical…

02Aug 2014 by Ray No Comments

Pedal Demo: Boss RV 5 Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal

General, Tech

https://youtu.be/9d3dsi8d0bs I recently acquired this used Boss RV5 reverb effects pedal and was excited about trying it out. Here's a short demo I recorded for friends with an iPhone. What I like about the RV5 is using it to layer delays for that swirly synth pad type sound. I have digital spring reverb built in to my Bugera V5 that I play through, but I was looking for something that's easy to turn on and off when you want it and that would add that EHX Holy Grail type cathedral effect. The RV5 did not disappoint. My favorite setting is the Modulate function which sounds like the frequency is being changed as it decays. The Hall setting is pure & pretty, but as you can hear, modulate does something very…

08Apr 2014 by Ray No Comments

Pedal Shootout: Boss SD-1 Vs Modtone Dyno Drive

Tech

https://youtu.be/4J1uiPUP6vk I've been slowly upgrading and improving my electric guitar gear and happened to pickup the Modtone Dyno Drive on sale last week. I hadn't ever been in love with the Boss SD-1 although I've used it as a booster. It was better with the Tele, but didn't have much color when played with a Les Paul. I found a Modtone Speedbox at a pawn shop and was impressed with Modtone's construction. They are well built and have true bypass. This is a short video of the Dyno Drive vs the SD-1 and shows how they sound along with some of the other pedals I use in my setup at Holy Trinity where I play Sunday evenings. I'm playing a Fender Modern Player Telecaster through a Bugera V5 amp. I…

07Mar 2014 by Ray 2 Comments

Sound Reinforcement Basics – Setting Up PA

Music Ministry, Tech

This is the first in a series of posts about basics in setting up your PA or audio system to give you optimum sound reinforcement for a gig or worship event. I'm targeting this toward a temporary set up & tear down situation rather than a permanent install, but many of the basics still apply. The first thing to consider is what size venue you need to support and how much amplification you need. I have setup mobile systems in a lot of different spaces and the venue has a huge impact on how much reinforcement is needed. For small rooms with just a guitar and some vocals, 1 PA speaker and a mixer may be all that's necessary. A larger space and a full band might only require vocal…

24Feb 2014 by Ray No Comments

Blowing It – Guitar Amps & Fuses

Music Ministry, Tech

I learned a few things about guitar amps and fuses this weekend that I wanted to pass along. I picked up a used Bugera V5 guitar amp not too long ago that's been fantastic for playing in a worship service. My setup on electric guitar at Holy Trinity is very close to the congregation, so having great tube tone, but at a low stage volume is important. Before that, I was lugging around my heavy Fender Frontman 212r that I modified into a cabinet and was playing an Epiphone Valve Jr. through the custom speakers I'd installed. The problem was that while "Junior" was only a 5w tube head, I still ran it through a 2x12 which was more volume than we needed considering that we mic the cabinet and…

03Dec 2012 by Ray 5 Comments

How Do I Get Rid Of Annoying Buzz?

Music Ministry, Tech

There you are in an intimate prayer service. The room is full of people in prayer. You could hear a pin drop except your bass player brings up the volume on his guitar and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!! One of the biggest things that can distract from worship is bad sound. I realize that many churches are financially strapped and already aren't paying musicians, they're underpaying the worship leaders or music directors and now you're telling me they need to also have a sound guy on the payroll? Yep. For many of us we don't have the luxury of having a professional audio engineer in-house. You might be doing all of the set-up, tear down, and mixing yourself! Having good sound can take a worship service to another level, but no one should…

13Nov 2012 by Ray 2 Comments

Guitar Amp Review – Fender Frontman 212r

Tech

I have a love-hate relationship with the Fender Frontman 212r. I used to have a small Marshall practice amp that I ran my Boss ME-25 pedal through and mic'd it into the PA. The church I play electric guitar in seats about 1400, so it's important to have an amp with good tone that can run through the PA rather than just leaving it out of the mix. When the Marshall went out on me, I decided that I wanted something that could be an "all things" amp. When I've played at retreats in the past without a mic, the 25w Marshall couldn't keep up, so my thought was that if I got this 100w powerhouse, that I wouldn't need anything else. This was a good idea, but at the…

29Oct 2012 by Ray 5 Comments

Free Open Source Lyric Projection Software – Review

Music Ministry, Tech

I recently had an opportunity to be a guest worship leader for an XLT (adoration service) at an area church. It was a situation where there was about a day's notice and there wasn't much time to coordinate music so I needed to take care of planning and making sure that I had lyrics. I don't myself own MediaShout, ProPresenter or EasyWorship which are the industry standards. Planning Center has an option for projections too, but it's part of their subscription. I'm not sure that it's available independently and I've never used it. I have the most experience with MediaShout, but it's pricey and it takes up a lot of memory on a computer. You pretty much want a dedicated computer in your AV area…

21Sep 2012 by Ray 2 Comments

The Lord’s Prayer – New Music

Music Ministry, Original Music

Been awhile since I've posted, but I have a ton to share with you all! First off, I accepted a position as the new worship leader & praise band director at Valley View United Methodist Church in Overland Park, KS. We just launched a new praise & worship service at 10:30a Sunday mornings. Needless to say, I have a ton of experiences, music, and reviews about gear to write. [yendifplayer audio=3] Download Lead Sheet Today, I wanted to share an arrangement of The Lord's Prayer that I came up with earlier this week. We're going to try it out this Sunday. Our pastor asked my thoughts about singing the prayer and sent me a few links of versions that he liked found on YouTube. We both really liked, Matt Maher's,…

20Jun 2012 by Ray No Comments

Where To Find Praise & Worship Music

Music Ministry, Tech

I'm often asked where to get good praise & worship music to listen to. For me, the best way to learn new music is to listen to it a lot. There's a few main sources I go to for music in this genre. I buy a lot of my favorite songs on iTunes and listen to them on my iPod. I have a praise & worship faves playlist that I like to listen to when I run, clean the house, fold laundry, cook dinner, drive around in the car, etc. I'm listening to music all the time and let it soak in. I listen to K-Love. If you have a K-Love or similar contemporary christian radio station in your city, it's a great place to hear a lot of music…