If a dodge ball, traveling at 40 miles per hour, hits a fountain drink cup sitting on the ledge of the sound booth, what are the odds the tech director will soon be charged for murder?  read more »

"If you build it, they will come."  That's great for drawing in baseball fans but not so good for recruiting volunteers.  Just because you have a sound booth everyone can see, it doesn't mean volunteers are going to run up and ask to join the team.  Here's how you can recruit the volunteers you need.  read more »

I think the closest person we have to a modern day MacGyver is the live sound guy (or gal).  It's up to us, no matter how bad the circumstances, to keep the church service running. 

What Was Your Best MacGyver Moment at Church? Or Another Audio Event?  read more »

This morning, I awoke to the weather forecast; "another inch of snow is expected for Saturday."  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  I LOVE snow but this winter has lasted so long that even I (mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet) have become moody and crabby.  And I'm not the only one with this malady.  read more »

Around The Globe News includes;
Three-part Series On an IEM Shootout
Do You Trust me?
Avoiding the Pitfall of Pride
and More Than One Way to Mic a Cat  read more »

Moving an amp offstage into an isolation booth can help reducing stage noise, increasing room on the stage, and improving the sound of the amp through the house speakers.  Leave it to Radial to help electric guitarists work with isolation booths.  read more »

I nearly rear-ended another car this morning.  I was driving on the interstate and cruising along in the left lane of a three-lane section of road.  The sun hadn't come up and therefore, I could easily see the dash-mounted GPS on the car in front of me.  In about 100 yards, the interstate would split.  Suddenly, the driver (the one with the GPS) slammed on his breaks as he tried to find room to move into the middle lane for the split.  read more »

What are the hardest concepts to teach new tech team volunteers?  Do they have problems with certain terminology?  Do you find they are usually confused on the same topics?

I'd love to know your thoughts and what you've done to get over such learning hurdles.

For me, it's volume control of instruments in contrast to vocals.  Most push instruments so vocals don't come out strong.  When the congregation knows the song, it's not to bad.  When it's a new song, vocal level is crucial for teaching the congregation.  I'm working on that hurdle now.  read more »

I'll start with a confession; I enjoy listening to Nick Jonas.  Now be honest, if you are my age then you grew up on 80's pop - which is essentially bubble gum music.  The Jonas Brothers make bubble gum pop.  Recently, his band sounded like a garage band.  read more »

Talk of microphones usually revolves around the type (condenser or dynamic) and the polar pattern (cardioid, omni-directional, etc.), but there is more to a microphone.  The "more" is the microphone's Frequency Response.  read more »