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Playing in Church.


Sardonicus

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When see the videos of worship music in the USA, bands playing with Gospel choirs with vocalists that can belt it out like Aretha, and I think back to my church which occasionally had an acoustic guitar jangling along to 'Make me a channel of your Peace'...

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On 28/05/2021 at 15:48, Richard R said:

Your assuming the heating works. This is not always the case in UK churches, particularly the Norman ones 😉 

Yes, a cold church, rapidly heated, really seems to mess with the tuning of a bass guitar.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

On Monday, I played at church in the most difficult service that I can imagine.  We recorded four songs for my own mother's funeral ceremony. 

I am pleased with the results, and am happy to share them with the congregation on the day - we were able to personalise some of the songs, by selecting verses that were more relevant to my mum.  That makes them all the more powerful.

So far, everyone who listened to the recordings has cried.  Me included. 

 

 

     

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1 hour ago, bass_dinger said:

On Monday, I played at church in the most difficult service that I can imagine.  We recorded four songs for my own mother's funeral ceremony. 

I am pleased with the results, and am happy to share them with the congregation on the day - we were able to personalise some of the songs, by selecting verses that were more relevant to my mum.  That makes them all the more powerful.

So far, everyone who listened to the recordings has cried.  Me included. 

 

 

     

The toughest gig. Respect is due. 

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2 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

On Monday, I played at church in the most difficult service that I can imagine.  We recorded four songs for my own mother's funeral ceremony. 

I am pleased with the results, and am happy to share them with the congregation on the day - we were able to personalise some of the songs, by selecting verses that were more relevant to my mum.  That makes them all the more powerful.

So far, everyone who listened to the recordings has cried.  Me included. 

 

 

     

Sorry for your loss.  

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" - Matthew 5:4

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It is odd playing in church at the moment with a "socially distant", stripped down band and a silent congregation.  We play a song and the congregation stand in silence and sway along to it!

Our church is blessed with a self contained outside grass area and we do a song or two at the end, in the open air, where masks can be removed and everyone can sing together, with acoustic guitar accompaniment.  I long for the day we can get back to normal and share proper fellowship together.

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On Sunday I finally got to play in church 😃🎸, the congregation couldn’t sing due to the existing restrictions but hopefully that’ll end very soon.  I was on acoustic guitar but I’m back on bass (God’s instrument) next week.  Here’s a couple of pics from pre-service warmup.

“My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭28:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

FE384BBD-4D5D-4EAE-9CE3-05CD230EF5F9.png

DD28F4C4-AC04-4545-925B-A7B5E418691C.png

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13 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

Thank you for clarifying that it was not "I am going to shoot the sound guy"!

Nah, I was completely inaudible on the YouTube as the bottom end of the acoustic was so booming. oh well. 
Everyone is outside for worship where they can sing and it's streamed down... the song after the preach though everyone knew the bass was there! I even used chorus for the first time!  

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yesterday was the last `Silent Sunday', from today congregations can sing out loud, roll on next Sunday.

I've been on acoustic guitar for the past couple of weeks and I unleashed my backing vocals yesterday, nobody told me to stop singing so I count that as a success LOL.

 

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On 28/06/2021 at 15:57, LukeFRC said:

Nah, I was completely inaudible on the YouTube

I was disappointed when I got home, and listened to my first church band ‘live’ outing on the streamed YouTube, as the bass was non-existent, even if I pumped it through my bass amp.

The next week I got the sound man to listen to the streamed output during rehearsal rather than the stage mix, which convinced him to wind the bass (and drums, too) up significantly.  Still a bit tinny on laptop or tablet, but nice through the soundbar or bass amp!

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I agree, but it is possible to improve it, if you know how it sounds at source.  (I think I was wrong above, it couldn’t have been at rehearsal, it must have been during the live stream.  Either way, it’s better now than it was initially.)

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2 hours ago, Big Rich said:

@Baxlin The struggle is real, the YouTube livestream from our church never sounds as good as it does in church.

By the time everything's been compressed etc, it gets changed so much.

Our sound team used to mix for live broadcasts. Now, they mix for for YouTube - that is to say, they listen to what we are live-linking on YouTube, and adjust the mix so that it sounds good on YouTube.   

This article covers live worship (notably there is very little on the technical side, reminding us not to worry about YouTube)  5 Things We Learned From Streaming Worship — (worshipcentral.org) 

Other more general articles here All Resources — (worshipcentral.org)  

 

For me, I never sound as good on a recording, because I was not very good when I was playing live!

 

   

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Trying to get the broadcast sound as good as the live sound is very hard work. Ideally you have a completely independent mix to the PA mix. A good second option is to have the entire band on IEM using electric instruments DI'd so that there is no stage spill,  then you mix for the broadcast and the PA is just a big amp. The hardest version is band on stage with a mix of electric and acoustic instruments and foldback. Then you naturally have to mix for the congregation and balance that with the stage. What goes into the PA isn't anything like what people hear and isn't great for YT.

I've done a couple of services with a trio of acoustic guitar, piano, and a real beginner on bass ( one note per bar). Very easy. Next one I am on is a full band plus cahon, flute, and  couple more vocalists, half on wedges half on IEM. I will probably try two separate mixes. I will probaby mess up.

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All about the matrix mix!

If you have something like Dante on your Raj and Dante virtual sound card, you could subscribe to the channels on your desk via a laptop and a Ethernet cable, take it into your favourite DAW and mix somewhere more quiet.

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4 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

All about the matrix mix!

If you have something like Dante on your Raj and Dante virtual sound card, you could subscribe to the channels on your desk via a laptop and a Ethernet cable, take it into your favourite DAW and mix somewhere more quiet.

in our casena headphone long cable and a iPad on the same wifi would do it too! 

Edited by LukeFRC
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