Pursuit of the Dream

This weekend i had the blessing to fulfill what for me in high school was a dream of mine. I got to mix FOH for Michael W. Smith. It's hard for me to think of another person who i didn't know personally who had a greater impact on my life during my high school years.

We only found out a couple of weeks ago that Smitty would be coming to Willow and it made me pull out my old cd's. I ripped them into my ipod and started scanning thru the songs on The Big Picture. I always remembered that this record had a huge impact on me but as I listened to the songs i forgot how huge that impact really was. I grew up in a very legalistic religious environment and i was ready to give up on the whole God thing until i discovered Christian rock and artists like Michael. The Big Picture was released as i was finishing the 8th grade and ended up being the soundtrack for my life in highschool. It got me thru a lot of struggles as well as made me dream about what God's plan was for my life.

As i entered college and pursued the audio side of things the specific dream of mixing for Michael faded but i still always wanted to use my audio skills and passion for Christ. Eventually that came to full fruition when i came on staff at Willow. Now to have had Smitty on our stage and to get to mix him it made me think of how cool God is and how he does care about our dreams. Sure it took over 20 years but he still took the dream of a 15 year old and made it come true.

Nashville Trip

I just completed a whirlwind 1 day trip to Nashville, TN. I was asked to take part in Yamaha Commercial Audio's Audioversity held at Nashville's famed Soundcheck Studios. This event was part training part trade show featuring Yamaha and Nexo products. There was a big line array demo out in the back lot featuring the 4 Nexo Geo Systems line arrays as well as their line of Cardioid Subs complete with a stage and live band.

The most amazing thing about the demo to me was the cardioid subs. Even though we have the Meyer M1d's at Willow they are 30 ft in the air so this was the first time I've been able to walk thru the subs from front to back. The rear rejection of every model was stunning. Monitor world was setup directly behind the CD12's and you were able to carry on a conversation standing right next to them.

The training aspect of the Audioversity included abrieviated versions of their M7CL training classes as well as Yamaha's mixing tips for worship. The panel discussion I was asked to be part of was "Using Yamaha Consoles in Houses of Worship." There were 5 of us on the panel. Mark Hengstenberg. from The Peoples Church in Franklin, TN, Matt Warren from Crosspoint.tv in Nashville, Josh Nelms from Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover, AL, and Bryan Guy from Nashville. It seemed to be a good mix of guys from different styles and sizes of churches. Yamaha's Mike Eiseman moderated the discussion and it included topics from what consoles we used to how we setup and use them. Also we talked about spl levels and how the quality of the mix is more important then actual spl, as well as recruiting and building up volunteers.

It was great to see old friends from Yamaha like Jeff Wilson and Randy Weitsel as well as meet new ones. Also one of the best takeaways for me was meeting the other panelists. Also Nexo has a new product coming out that looks very interesting. They didn't have the actual product out there but i saw a little animation sequence about it and it's very interesting. Can't wait to see the real thing.

Part 2 of this day was still taking shape as i was making my way down to Nashville. Even as i was driving to the airport i was putting 2 and 2 together and realizing that Tom Petty was going to be playing that night in Nashville. Since we've been friends with Robert Scovill now for a few years and since i missed seeing them when they were here in Chicago i sent messages off to Robert before i had to turn my phone off for the plane ride.

Sure enough when i landed i had a message waiting from Robert and I was in for Tom Petty that night. I also learned that Dave Stagel from Northpoint Church in Atlanta was also there with a couple of his volunteers so it was shaping up to be a great night.

I arrived at the arena right around dinnertime about 1.5hrs before the show. I missed all the system tuning and soundcheck fun and actually didn't get to talk to Robert that much because of the hour but i still had a blast hanging out with the Northpoint guys and just absorbing all that was happening. It was fun watching Robert mix and being able to watch the console and see what he was doing. I really walked away from the show with a whole new appreciation not only for what Robert does but for who he is. There was a bunch of guests of Robert hanging around FOH including engineers from a total of 3 churches. It's not often that you have someone who is considered one of the best at something who is so willing to share so much of what he has learned over the years. Very Inspiring.

The show? It sounded great. The mix was very much like what i try to accomplish whe

n i'm mixing. For instance, guitar solos were just right. I'm never a fan of jacking up the level of the guitar when it's time for a solo and having make the rest of the band disappear. Also vocals were just where i like them. Just on top but not too much.

After the show we said goodbye and Dave, Vance, and I went out for dinner. A great time. Eventually i made it back to my hotel and flew back to Chicago the next morning very tired.

Yamaha Commercial Audio's Audioversity

Tomorrow i will be flying down to Nashville to take part in Yamaha's Audioversity. I will be participating in a panel discussion on Yamaha consoles in Houses of Worship. It's being hosted at the facilities of Soundcheck Nashville. Should be a good time.

Invisible iem

For this mornings first session of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit (#wcagls) we performed a piece called "Be Here Now" written by Blaine Hogan. It's an amazing work of video projection in the background with text while Blain is walking around to different points on the stage so the video crew can frame a shot of him with the words in the background.

There is a music bed playing and a cue track of the words that appear on the screen. Blaine needed to hear the cue track but did not want to have to wear iem's since that would look a little goofy on video.

The solution was to bobby pin a pair of Shure E3's right inside the collar of his shirt on the back of his neck. I actually didn't think this would be loud enough for him to hear his cues over the pa but it worked well.

This Video is Brilliant

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Easter Services have begun

PA all lit up.

Trying to repair our new toy!

Sent from my iPhone

PSM-900

Recently i had the opportunity to use Shure's new PSM-900 wireless in ear system. I used the system as my cue pack while mixing monitors for our weekend services with shure e3 earphones fitted with custom molded slipons. After using it for the weekend here are my main impressions.

1: The low end response is much better than what i've heard in a wireless iem before.

2: The mid highs translate much better with this system. The vocal range felt much smoother with the psm-900 than i'm used to. my ears weren't so tired after the weekend. Also things like hi-hat and cymbals sounded much smoother and cleaner than before.

3: Stereo imaging is also much better. clearly a lot of work has gone into this unit to improve the audio performance greatly.

Honestly when i was done i wanted to compare this system with a wired belt pack. It felt that good.

Catalyst One Day - Chicago

I'm mixing FOH for the Catalys One Day event here in the Chicago area today. There's been great worship with Todd Fields, Eddie Kirkland, and the rest of the gang for Northpoint Church in Atlanta.

Test driving Shure's new PSM-900 this weekend.