the Science of Sound 101

This is the first episode in our series, “The Science of Sound”. We DID cut this episode short. It was running a little long and though we want to provide you with the maximum amount of information, it is our goal to keep every video under 15 minutes. This ensures that you get quality information without taking up your whole day!

As we talk about in the video, Audacity is a freeware multi-track recording program. It is a great start for those that want to record church services or even personal projects. You can download audacity at http://www.audacity.sourceforge.net.

Check out our website at http://www.modernmediaministry.wordpress.com

Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/modernmediaministry

We use a Blue Nessie! Check them out at http://www.bluemic.com

the Science of Sound

Starting next Tuesday, we will be introducing a new series – the Science of Sound! The first episode will be on the Fundamentals of Sound so be sure to check in, watch and learn!

Interviewing Ryan Jackson

Ryan Jackson is the Associate Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, Decatur IL. In this episode of MMM, I interview him and get his take on Media in Ministry.

Worship PRODUCTION Mindset

In This episode we talk about treating your services with the professionalism and techincal expertise of a large production. We also talk about why to do it and how to do it!

The spotlight this episode is on http://www.planningcenteronline.com. Their smallest package is 15/mo and I promise you that no matter what size your church is, it is well worth the 15 bucks! They have do have a 30-day trial – give this web-application a chance! You won’t turn back.

Back to Basics – MMM Ep 02

Well ya’ll, this is episode 2 of MMM – the video blog portion of Modern Media Ministry. In this episode we are talking about the basics of media in our churches. Why do we use? How should we use it? Lastly, we top it off with a spotlight on the Web Tool www.prezi.com. Make sure that you check that out. It is a great tool for your Pastors and Education Staff! Any questions and comments?? Feel free to post here on the site or on youtube.com and we will respond back to you!

– Z & C

MMM Video Blog – Episode 1!!!

This is the first episode of MMM – the video blog portion of http://www.modernmediaministry.wordpress.org. Our goal is to post these videos twice a week with a focus on media in the church. We are posting these unedited, no cutting, no splicing, just raw video.

As promised in this episode – you can check out openLP at http://www.openlp.org!

We apologize for the buzzing in this episode. We are using a Blue Nessie and a Nikon D7000. We hope to work out the kinks and provide you crystal clear audio next episode!

Feel free to leave us your questions and comments below!

– Z & C

Perspectives & Communication

Flawless.  That is what this Sunday morning was – at least from my perspective. The sound was great, the band did an amazing job and it was apparent that the Lord was moving through our congregation.

Little did I know that my lyrics and lighting volunteer was experiencing a different kind of Sunday. On her end, Planning Center Online was acting up, there were issues with the slides and she was trying to fix it all while trying to keep up with the light changes. Same church, same service, same team – different experiences.

Which brings me to this statement – it is imperative to talk to your team each week. Not just talk but also listen! They see different things during the service than you will. Unless you communicate consistently with your team and ask pertinent questions, you will never know how you can improve the systems you have in place. Never assume that your knowledge, experience or position guarantees that your assessments of your services are accurate. Talk to your team and listen to what they have to say.

Remember – If your systems are flawed or broken, they can become distractions for your team. If your team is distracted, they will not be able to assist the congregation in focusing on God in worship.

Friday Five – Free Resources for Church Media (VOL I)

Are you scared to update your media systems because it is too costly? Stop worrying! Here is a short list of free software to fill the gaps in your media toolkit.

1. OpenLP.

– If you are still using PowerPoint, you’re wrong. Especially when there are free resources like OpenLP out there. It can import songs from ccli/songselect, has better integration tools for audio/video and in my opinion is the best free tool for lyric presentation. Download it here.

2. Livestream

– Do you want to stream your service to the web live but are certain that it will require complex software and systems? If so, you’re wrong again! Livestream keeps it simple – for free! Hook up a USB camera to your computer and start recording! You can download it here.

3. Soundcloud

– Is your congregation listening to sermons via a cd every week? Worse yet, are they reading the sermon script via mass emails? Upload your recordings on Souncloud each week and post the link on you social media accounts. www.soundcloud.com

4. Audacity

– Remember that recording that you just posted to Soundcloud? Don’t you want it to sound as best as it possibly can? Take the time to make a few quick fixes with the audio editor, Audacity. You can download this one here.

5. Prezi

– Is your pastor boring your congregation to death by PowerPoint? Encourage them to make the switch to Prezi. Gone are the days of flipping through slides. Instead Prezi moves through a map of information. It flows in a way that interacts with the message while minimizing distractions. Test out the difference – www.prezi.com

Lyric Video – The Digital Age

How often do you find yourself singing a long with a song but have to replace the lyrics with random humming because you don’t quite know all of the lyrics? In the age of digital downloads, we no longer have the cassette or cd booklets with the lyrics printed in them to help us learn the songs. A new trend that has quickly grown in popularity amongst bands is to create a lyric video. Unlike a typical music video, these videos simply find creative ways to put the lyrics on the screen along with the music.

This is a great way to put new music out to your congregations. You can find a lyric video for almost any worship song on YouTube. Get the set lists that your praise band is going to play each week and post the lyric videos on your church’s Facebook page. Or if your band has original content, create a lyric video for them. It doesn’t have to be extremely elaborate and it will help your congregations learn the songs. My favorite praise band, Vertical Church Band, just posted a new lyric video for their song Worthy, Worthy. They even went as far as to put the chords up with the lyrics so Praise Leaders can play along!

One of the best lyric videos that I have seen so far is by The Digital Age for their song Break Every Chain. It is pretty stellar – check it out below!

Gremlins

So what do you do on those Sundays when it seems that everything goes wrong? You have a phantom buzz that is eluding you, your microphones seem to want to squeal at you just because they can and your lapel mics decide they want to take momentary breaks throughout the sermon. After 5 cups of coffee, the problem is still there and now your too buzzed to throw your hands up and quit.

That was my day today.

I’ve spent the rest of my day going through my head trying to figure out what went wrong. Where did these gremlins come from? I’ve gone through all of the checklists in my head and could not find anything missing. Fresh batteries – check. Keep mics away from monitors – check. Remove electrical interference – check. Lift all grounds – check. Pray before service – che…. Oops.

The sad thing is that it has taken me all day to realize that we forgot to pray this morning. Why is this the last thing on my checklist? Sometimes it is way too easy to get wrapped up in the technical aspects of our services that we forget the reason that we are there to begin with. God desires our attention – Today he got mine through faulty equipment and needless to say, I’ll be redesigning my checklist.