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Playing in Church.


Sardonicus

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Well that worked well - kids giving out flowers during mercy road so queue a bit of a slap bass, wah guitar and drum jam - it's relatively rare to get a moment to jam properly in a service!

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  • 2 weeks later...

...and it's happened - IEMs for all this weekend - although the worship leader doesn't want a "faff", so whether the sound guys can get them to work before he makes us go back to the monitors is another matter!

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Due to circumstances beyond my control I will be on camera/livestream duties for the foreseeable future and possibly not playing bass until June.

I can only conclude that some junior angels have been listening in on my recent attempts and asked for intervention!

 

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...and that was a disaster - seems cheap IEMs sound OK for one or two instruments but can't cope when everyone starts to play - just distorted and kept cutting out. Although the electric guitarist and drummer kept theirs, I went back to my wedge and amp, as did the worship leader. We never quite got the mix right so are meeting early on Sunday to hope we can get it to work.

 

The other learning point is that you need a mic on the acoustic drum kit to at least capture the kick and snare for the IEM feed as otherwise even sitting next to the drums you need to take an ear piece out. I struggled to get the sound guys to understand I was only wanting the feed for the IEM and not the front of house - "but the drums are loud enough"... "yes but I can't hear them clearly with an ear piece in!"

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1 hour ago, SimonK said:

I struggled to get the sound guys to understand I was only wanting the feed for the IEM and not the front of house - "but the drums are loud enough"..

:facepalm: But all too typical with volunteer teams. Our team would occasionally ask me while setting FoH “Do you want it a bit louder or quieter?” I’d say to them, “Nothing to do with me. Front of house is entirely between you, the pastor and the worship leader.” We had one of those set ups where we could each set out monitor mix from our iPad.

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We had such inconsistency with the sound team, that the Worship Leader came up with a solution that did not involve the sound guys.

 

Channels that are sound activated, a second mixing desk on the stage (and later, personal mixing desks so we could each set our own monitor mix.

 

Still waiting for the whole band to buy in-ears  - I don't want to be the only one.  However the leader is yet to send out advice to the whole band on what to look for, so if he isn't bothered, nor am I. 

 

I even shared a link with him, following a recommendation from basschat: "look at these. Highly recommended.  Do you want to share it with the rest of the group?".  

 

 

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Very interesting thanks for sharing. Usually the whole point of IEM is he reduce the level of sound from the stage monitors. Before we moved to IEM the stage volume, was so high, the front of house PA was almost pointless!!

 

Moving to IEM Has dramatically reduced the stage volume and we also now benefit from a click track. Maybe the OP drama is very light touch because I have no difficulty hearing any of the drum kit, even with my IEM in 😂😂 

 

all that said, the real beauty for the musicians is that we each control our own IEM through iPads and an MD can cue where we’re going - “to the bridge” !!

 

The worship leader, who also plays acoustic generally prefers not to use IEM realise on a wedge monitor.

 

It all took quite a bit of time to get used to, and luckily I’ve also managed to retain my Bass head and speaker which allows you to “feel” the Bass😂 as well - a bit like having one of those floor pad thingies!

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Following a few further Whatsapp messages overnight I'm going to try to download an app to control my own monitor mix as the sound chaps were clearly unable to cope with both the FOH and four IEM mixes. I think in the past, using wedges, we've got things to sound OK on stage with our own amps and mainly only having just the worship leader & his guitar/keyboard through the wedges - so minimum intellectual input by the guys running the desk. Suddenly when we had four/five people actually wanting specific mixes on different channels the whole thing fell apart. I have no doubt that using IEMs well make the FOH sound better/easier to mix, but if the band can't hear anything it is net loss.

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7 minutes ago, SimonK said:

Following a few further Whatsapp messages overnight I'm going to try to download an app to control my own monitor mix as the sound chaps were clearly unable to cope with both the FOH and four IEM mixes. I think in the past, using wedges, we've got things to sound OK on stage with our own amps and mainly only having just the worship leader & his guitar/keyboard through the wedges - so minimum intellectual input by the guys running the desk. Suddenly when we had four/five people actually wanting specific mixes on different channels the whole thing fell apart. I have no doubt that using IEMs well make the FOH sound better/easier to mix, but if the band can't hear anything it is net loss.

Which is kinda expected - FOH plus lots of monitor mixes, which on IEM I think you end up being way more specific on is just too much for one person in a rush. 
my 2p is if you can always do your own mix - mainly as you can trust yourself, if on the Qu-you app check for any master eq or compression left on your mix too. 

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No bass in church today, but there were donkeys! Our church did a combined Palm Sunday procession with the local Methodist church, singing accompanied by drum and mandocello. The songs were "Make Way", "Hosanna" and "You Are the King of Glory". 

 

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1 minute ago, Owen said:

Mandocello. That is a word you do not hear often!

 

Three times I tried to learn 6-string guitar, and after getting RSI on the final attempt I had to admit it just wasn't meant to be. Then someone suggested mandocello and it just suited me from day one. I have a traditional one, and a "guitar-bodied" one. But hoping to commission a fully electric one this summer in a Hagstrom H / Epiphone SG style. 

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Did hybrid IEMs and wedges in the end this morning. I downloaded the Yamaha Monitor Mix app with the hope of doing my own mix and trying IEMs again, but it seems the desk needs a firmware update before I can use it. I'm playing again next weekend (twice) so we will see what progress can be made - possibly see if I can get the app working first, and then move on to IEMs again. Mind you I thought it sounded pretty good in the room this morning and had some very positive comments - including from my son who told me I should bring the extension speaker next week so 8x10 rather than IEM!!

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5 hours ago, Rosie C said:

No bass in church today, but there were donkeys! Our church did a combined Palm Sunday procession with the local Methodist church, singing accompanied by drum and mandocello. The songs were "Make Way", "Hosanna" and "You Are the King of Glory". 

 

We had donkey disappointment today. There was supposed to be one, but it was a no-show. Humph!

 

 

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We had some good feedback last night.  A number of the youth (12 - 18), who go to their own sessions after the opening worship set, said it was the best opening set they'd heard at the service.  That could of course have meant we'd been really bad previously😁, but I chose to take it as meaning it was good.

 

I made sure I arrived early in case the keyboards were at the front of the dias so that I could move them back before the keyboard player arrived.  We've a problem with people on the front row looking like they don't want to be there / are bored / not looking like they are trying to engage the congregation.  So I wanted to try and tip the balance in the favour of an engaged looking front line.  The keyboards were on the front, they got moved back before the keyboard player arrived and replaced with my pedal board and mic stand with ipad holder fixed.  The keyboard player when she arrived and set-up was then distracted by sound issues she was having with her over-ear headphones.  So it worked out ok with the only explaining I had to do being to the sound tech who arrived at the same time as me and was on-board with it.  It might sound like a small thing (or something worse), but I think it's important that those in the worship band, particularly at the front of the dias are looking engaged - does anyone else have thoughts?    

Edited by Simon C
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4 hours ago, Nice Guy Rich said:

We have a smasher of a Sunday coming up, Easter Sunday and a baptism rolled into one.

 

Excellent!  So do we!  I think there are a couple of candidates this Sunday, off the back of Alpha last year.

 

1 hour ago, Simon C said:

I think it's important that those in the worship band, particularly at the front of the dias are looking engaged - does anyone else have thoughts?    

 

Yes, definitely. It makes a big difference if those up front look like they enjoy leading worship.

 

My wide often comments that I seldom smile when playing, and it's usually because I am concentrating rather than enjoying myself.  When I've got the song nailed I do smile and move more, but otherwise I just occupy the traditional bass player position in our church - next to the drums and hiding behind a large stone pillar.

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28 minutes ago, Richard R said:

 

Excellent!  So do we!  I think there are a couple of candidates this Sunday, off the back of Alpha last year.

 

 

Yes, definitely. It makes a big difference if those up front look like they enjoy leading worship.

 

My wide often comments that I seldom smile when playing, and it's usually because I am concentrating rather than enjoying myself.  When I've got the song nailed I do smile and move more, but otherwise I just occupy the traditional bass player position in our church - next to the drums and hiding behind a large stone pillar.

I'm in awe of the foresight shown by architects and stone masons who knew, often centuries before magnetic pick-ups were invented, that they needed to build large stone pillars in order to one day give an electric bass player something to hide behind 😁

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My stone pillar has been plastered a nice white colour and prevents me seeing the keyboard player at all - I feel very priviledged. It also holds up a balcony that ensures bass frequences are propagated around the back of the hall, rewarding all those who choose to sit on the backrow!

 

IMG_20240324_101601616_HDR.jpg.0082fdd27992056396a37275decee756.jpg

 

 

 

 

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