TEch - Visuals
During worship
I noticed Jonathan and Mark talking things over before the sermon. Great job on both their parts, especially since Mark was a guest and we had not done one or two of the songs before. Thanks to Jonathan for being on time and ready to go after a long week out of town.
Two small things... I noticed at least one typo in the hymn that we sang. Please remember to read through all the slides before the service starts so we can catch these! The other is that we need to make sure to turn on the projector a tiny bit sooner :-) We were saved by Mark's awareness that there weren't any words on the wall, so he didn't start singing until he saw them go up.
During the sermon
More than a few errors on my part for sure. I wasn't following Tim as well as I thought I would during the beginning of his sermon. Instead of using the list of definitions, I used the individual slides and then realized that he was doing the last two in quick succession and did want all three up at the same time. I also neglected to make a slide that he thought was made up--hence the delay and inconsistency in the first GOD visual. Tim and I did go over the visuals several times before Sunday, but somehow it fell through the cracks. Not sure that there was really anything we could have done about that.
Our work each Sunday morning does make an impact! Tim heard from many people that the GOD visual was very helpful. I certainly can't take credit for this as it was his idea.
TEch - Visuals
Thanks again to Adam for running sound this week.
The last few weeks that I've been sitting in the congregation during worship I've been able to notice the inconsistencies in the sound in our room. It's hard to know whether what I'm hearing is a result of the mix or a result of the room, so I'm learning that if I suggest something and it doesn't fix it, it's probably the room. I was having a hard time hearing the piano during the first song so I suggested to Adam that he push the piano a bit, but it didn't really seem to solve the problem. Chalk it up to the room. Mark's vocal levels were great as far as I could tell.
Congregational mic cues were spot on. Excellent job.
A reminder that during ministry time, the instrument being played in the background needs to come down pretty significantly volume-wise. It's not as drastic of a change on the board with the guitar as it is for the piano. Rather than pushing the volume on the congregational mic (especially if it's in a normal range), keep backing off the instrument volume.
That about does it. If anyone has any thoughts, let us know!
3 comments:
Since this was my first time in the congregation since we've been doing this, I'm actually going to offer something of a slightly different perspective than you, Brooke. I thought that the level of the piano during the ministry time was PERFECT. We don't want it to be so background that it fades in and out, we want it to be present because it does make an impact on people when the person who's playing is sensitive to what's being said and can build and soften along with the themes. Adam, I personally thought it was great.
Jonathan - I noticed you and Mark making eye contact. He seemed to want the slides up earlier than we usually put them up. And that's probably a good thing. It's great if people can have the stuff up there before the song/verse begins so that they know right off the bat what's coming. So, I think I might agree with what seemed to be Mark's preference on this one. And Jonathan - great job of following his body language cues.
Thanks all.
tw
Yo. Thanks for your comments Regarding the piano during the ministry time, I did come way down on the slide-about -4 or -5 from 0 which is lower than I have put any instrument during any period during a service. Is it possible that we were battling Mark who was just making adjustments to counter my efforts to devoluminize (word?) him?
I don't know, I'm glad you liked it Tim. Brooke was there at the board and told me to turn him down, which I did but I felt there were limits at to how far I could push the slide down. It seemed like the adjustments I was making were making no difference and I feared that if I pushed it down any further I would get my adjustments all at once thereby silencing the piano. Bottom line I lost faith in the board to do what is designed to do.
In addition, Tim M. approached me before the service, literally less than 5 minutes before the service began, to register the complaint that several congregants have approached him regarding the overall volume of the music during the service. They don't have a problem with the musical style just the volume. My first reaction was to lower the Main volume but I remembered that John had told me that because our board is not that great that adjusting the Main can throw off the overall balance. So I lowered the piano and voice individually. Brooke than approached me stating she needed more piano so I pumped up the volume on the piano. Mark then offered some spoken word praise which was difficult to hear, I saw Doug Ripley turn around and look at me, so I pumped up his volume as well. Basically both levels were returned to their pre-adjustment levels by this point. I did mess around with the Main throughout the service, this was not that big of a deal as there were only two elements to keep balanced. I dont know if this helped the congregants or not but may have been a factor in Brooke not hearing the piano as she liked. Brooke thanks for noticing my cues. I was very happy I didnt miss any for once!
So anyway just wanted to throw that out there. Anyone else heard that the music is too loud? What can we do about this going forward?This will be a bigger deal on Sunday when we will have the full complement of musicians again. How low can we go?
BTW Brooke my Google reader doesnt pick up when there are comments to original posts. Is there a setting I can adjust to make this happen for me?
I just typed out a reply and then blogger went and had an "error" and lost it. *sigh* maybe I'll try again later to remember the genius that was my comment.
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