A question commonly asked when picking microphones is "Which microphone has the best reach?" The problem is that a microphone doesn't reach for anything. A microphone responds to sound waves that travel to its location. The microphone measures variations in air pressure and ... Read More
Recording On A Shoestring Budget
Recording a church sermon (or the entire service) is part of our job. Recording hardware is no longer limited to cassette tapes...and isn't always cheap. Check out how recording can be done with a budget in mind. a. Reel-to-Reel. This is a technology we don't see ... Read More
The Right Fire Extinguisher For Your Sound Booth
The first time I ever experienced a fire was in my mother's car. There was an aftermarket tape deck that shorted out as we left a parking lot. I was in elementary school at the time. Over the last 30-something years, I've watched a few local buildings burn down and even had ... Read More
How to Protect Your Electronics
The very first computer I bought came with a power strip. "You don't want to fry your computer during a storm," said my friend. However, electrical protection is more that just ye ol power strip. What happens when there is a voltage drop? What if the electrical ... Read More
The Case for Equipment Cases
The number of portable churches is increasing. I'm talking about churches that rent building space for their services. Ten years ago, I worked at such a church and our equipment cases were huge plastic tubs and the case for the mixing unit. Plastic containers are wrong for gear storage for a ... Read More
The PreSonus StudioLive: The Perfect Digital Mixer?
Virtual sound check enabled; check. Parametric EQ set for guitar; check. Small frequency band notched to bring out clarity of singer; check. Reverb added; check. Saved as a preset for next Sunday; check. Easy-as-pie to do all of this; CHECK! Moving into the digital realm of mixing can be ... Read More
Fix Your Phasing Issues Using the Radial Phazer
The best mic'ing techniques can produce a terrible sound if you have phase problems. Phase problems can occur when you double-mic the toms, have vocal microphones that pick up instruments or amps, or for other reasons as well. Correcting for phase issues can come in a number of ways, from digital ... Read More
Knowing How Equipment Fails
Your worship leader has been knocked to the floor as his floor wedge suddenly explodes with a huge volume increase. The church service ends and you've got thirty minutes until the next service to find the problem and fix it. Where do you start? A very similar scenario happened to a friend of ... Read More