It’s that time of year again—the season that comes around with clockwork precision, yet somehow always feels like it sneaks up on us. For those of us in church production, the question looms: are we ready? Does the thought of another Christmas season conjure up the...
audio connections
LEA Professional Brings Audio Clarity to Stanford Baptist Church
Stanford, Kentucky, is a small yet charming city in the southernmost part of the Bluegrass region. Founded in 1775, Stanford is one of the oldest settlements in the state and boasts a rich history with landmarks like the William Whitley House, the first brick house...
Virtual Soundcheck: Band You’re Dismissed, I’ll Take It From Here.
If you ask a church audio team what would help them the most, the answer is usually more time. I covered this in a previous article on the ever-shrinking soundcheck time churches are willing to allot. To be fair, some engineers pushed back, arguing that their churches...
Whatever Happened to Acoustic Guitars in Worship?
Over the last several years, there’s been a noticeable shift in the role of acoustic guitars in modern worship music. In many churches, the acoustic guitar has been sidelined or even muted entirely in the mix. This trend has even become the subject of jokes among some...
A Staffer, a Contractor, and a Volunteer Walk Into a Bar
Church audio engineering is both an art and a science, requiring a blend of technical skill, musical intuition, and a deep understanding of the worship experience. However, the approach to managing this critical aspect of worship varies widely among churches. Some...
Fiji’s World Harvest Centre Upgrades with Martin Audio
Christian Mission Fellowship International (CMFI) is a rapidly growing church headquartered in Suva, Fiji. Established in 1990, its 30,000 members and missionaries serve in 120 countries across 5,000 churches worldwide. CMFI is headquartered in Suva at The World...
DiGiCo Launches Compact Quantum326 Console at PLASA
When the DiGiCo Quantum338 made its official 3:38pm launch at the 2020 NAMM Show, the crowd that was there to witness the console’s unveiling was unprecedented, with hundreds of curious onlookers gathered around the company’s booth. Since then, that product has gone...
What Audio Engineers Need Singers to Understand
As a follow-up to my previous feature, What Audio Engineers Need Drummers to Understand, I would be remiss if I didn’t address an even more important topic: vocals. As audio engineers, we obsess over creating great sounds – the perfect snare, full, wide mixes, just...
Lavalier (Lapel) vs Headset Microphones
Ok, hopefully that question got your attention. However, when deciding between a lavalier (lav) (lapel) or headset (headworn) microphone the better question to ask is, "Which mic is best for the application?" If you were to ask me or most pro audio sales engineers on...
Does Your Broadcast Mix Pass the iPhone Test?
In my early days in the recording industry, we used a practice called the car-test. Simply put, to hear how your mix translated to the most likely listening environment, you’d make a copy of your mix (typically on cassette back then), pile into the Chevy Nova with the...
The Dangers of “Design by Facebook”
In the world of church AVL, it’s easy to turn to social media for quick answers and advice. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are full of enthusiastic tech directors and well-intentioned volunteers, eager to share their latest gear recommendations and DIY...
Rose Hill Church Debuts First K-array Mugello KH3P I Concert System in the US
Rose Hill Church In Baton Rouge, LA, recently relocated to a spacious 46,000 square foot facility to accommodate its growing congregation. After extensive renovations, the impressive new sanctuary features 50-foot vaulted ceilings and can seat up to 1,000 guests, a...
My Love-Hate Relationship with Lobby Audio
Most modern churches invest substantially in creating welcoming lobby or foyer environments. Spacious layouts, lots of seating options, coffee bars, or cafes are all designed to make guests and regular attenders feel at home. This has almost become the standard over...
Do Musicians Make Better Audio Engineers?
“Old drummers never die, they just become audio engineers,that mix really loud.”-Anonymous. I grew up in an environment almost predestined to produce a musician with a passion for audio engineering and production. My mother was a self-taught musician with a beautiful...
What Audio Engineers Need Drummers to Understand
For good or bad, audio engineers typically judge each other based on their drum sounds. It just comes with the territory. When I'm at an event I rarely think to myself, “Wow, that guy is really bringing the thunder with that mandolin tone.” If I find myself having to...
Benjamin Brown Graham Memorial Chapel in St. Louis Undergoes an Audio Renovation
The Benjamin Brown Graham Memorial Chapel at Washington University in St. Louis, MO has undergone an extensive audio transformation, marking a significant milestone in its rich history. Spearheaded by project manager Jeff Allen and executed over a meticulous 18-month...
When Cable Failure Is Not An Option
Welcome back to Worship Production Talk! This month's question comes from Gary in New Hartford, NY, who asks. " How can I keep my XLR Cables from being damaged?" He adds, "Recently I lost signal to our single podium microphone, it was a new cable that already seemed...
Does Your PA Need a Tune-Up?
Not long ago, I had a conversation with a young church Tech Director. He said their auditorium had some audio issues, mostly dead spots in the coverage, so they scheduled a contractor to re-tune the PA and remedy the issue. This brief discussion reminded me that there...
Best Practices When Using In-Ear Monitors(IEMs)
When it comes to using in-ear monitors, there are two camps of thought -- those who like them and those who don't. Either way, many musicians will be confronted with the prospect of having to use in-ear monitors (IEMs) at some point. For example, a venue that requires...
KLANG and DiGiCo Assure No Limits on Church Unlimited’s Monitoring
“Pretty much any time the church staff calls me up and asks if we can do this or can we do that, the answer I can always give them is, ‘Yes!’” says Parker Gann, System Engineer at MessengerAVL, the Conyers, Georgia-based integration firm that designed and installed a...
When Church Audio Engineers Make a Scene
Recently I polled a number of church production forums with the question: Who uses the scene function on your digital audio consoles, versus those who mix their entire service manually? For the uninitiated, scenes, (also called snapshots by some manufacturers) are...