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I guess less IS more!
- Thread starter stringthrough
- Start date
s0c9
Supporting Member
Someone couldn't get on the staff at The Onion with their anti church shtick, so they started their own blog.
I played bass on the worship team at a Calvary Chapel from 1983 until 2002. I did sound there too, so I had all the control of my bass in the room.
I've been on the worship team at a large EV Free church for the past 6 years. The article was a great parody of what my situation has been at that church. The sound techs, from older members who have been doing it for years, to college educated, trained techs. There may be 6 or more sound techs. None seem to understand what the bass does, how it's supposed to sound, and how to balance the bass with the rest of the group.
I "gently" give suggestions, and sometimes, for a Sunday or two, the bass can be heard. In 6 years the bass has never once been too loud, but most Sundays it's barely discernible in the mix. I stopped using pedals or my fretless, because no one will hear them.
I appreciated the article/parody and could really relate. It used to be frustrating, but I know who I am playing for, and do my best to play skillfully and in full support of the rest of the band. I do know the other musicians run my signal quite high in their in-ears. (We used to use Aviom monitor systems but have switched to Behringer.
I didn't find the article offensive or off color at all.
I've been on the worship team at a large EV Free church for the past 6 years. The article was a great parody of what my situation has been at that church. The sound techs, from older members who have been doing it for years, to college educated, trained techs. There may be 6 or more sound techs. None seem to understand what the bass does, how it's supposed to sound, and how to balance the bass with the rest of the group.
I "gently" give suggestions, and sometimes, for a Sunday or two, the bass can be heard. In 6 years the bass has never once been too loud, but most Sundays it's barely discernible in the mix. I stopped using pedals or my fretless, because no one will hear them.
I appreciated the article/parody and could really relate. It used to be frustrating, but I know who I am playing for, and do my best to play skillfully and in full support of the rest of the band. I do know the other musicians run my signal quite high in their in-ears. (We used to use Aviom monitor systems but have switched to Behringer.
I didn't find the article offensive or off color at all.
Hmmm. How unaware and inept would you have to be to not notice? In twenty years?
Maybe it was for the best.
Finding your space, playing for the music and getting rid of the ego are some of the lessons learned from church gigs.
Fun link!
Fun link!
I play bass at our church and am in charge of the sound. I took over sound shortly after I started because the lead sound tech would only be there once every couple months or so, and his helper wouldnt even touch the red knob on the top of the channel strip because bad things would happen. When I finally got the go ahead, I started going thru the system that was nice back in 85. I tried to eq the room for a couple of problem frequencies when I noticed that the 31 band eq that NO ONE was allowed to touch wasn't even routed thru the system. The limiter ( that" didnt work") wasn't hooked up either.
One year later and new digital board installed. The helpers know what a gain knob does ( I keep a tablet on my mic stand just in case).
One year later and new digital board installed. The helpers know what a gain knob does ( I keep a tablet on my mic stand just in case).
Hilarious. And quite often spot on. If someone can't take that kind of inside humor, then there are other sites to read instead.
I tried moving around the stage at a new church I was playing bass at for at least a year. Nothing worked. Too loud. Too soft. Too boomy. The FOH guys really were trying. Finally one of the dozen FOH guys from the 'mother church' up the road came over and one said right away "put all of your equipment out in the hallway and point it at the stage." Well, that worked. My rather loud rig is off the stage but pointed through a cloth curtain back out onto the stage. All my bass rig levels are just being heard on stage. The FOH now has complete control in raising or lowering my volume to suit the room and size of the crowd. I'm still amazed how good my set-up is sounding since I moved it all into another room. Go figure indeed!!!
Ha. No, just a nice small country church vs my Corvette $$ and GK 550 head going into a GK 212 NEO cab. Which is a good setup for Metallica. My rig is just too loud for that building but it's all I have.
That's probably the ONE thing that is a pain with the GK 550 amp. Turn it as low as it goes and it's still too loud! Really - it's a beast. An independent lab several years rated it's output power at 780 watts at 4 ohm, 560 at 8 ohm. I just love the rest of the amp and don't want to swap it for something smaller as I do play in other venues, mainly Blues and Country. I need that power then. But now that you've brought that up - I may just turn the volume all the way off this week and just use a floor monitor. I've tried that with several other amps and it wasn't good. I'll try it with this one and post something next week.
I was reading this thread on April One and just tried to remember if April One has the same relevance in the US as in Europe. Then I saw, that the article if from march. Now I'm confused...
