Sound System Problems

[chuckzee90]

Good stuff man.  I have said -nothing- to anyone about it until I've collected my thoughts... simply because yeah, they are volunteers, and brothers in christ... and I can't see myself going and openly criticizing them for any reason, so that was a struggle... and I try to be non-confrontational about things that aren't going well nowadays... a stark contrast to the days of old chuckzee90

[chuckzee90]

Okay... so this is what went down!

I talked to the sound guy, and gave him some of that advice.  The bass/basskick levels were much better.

I talked to the drummer... and said he might want to consider playing an all-acoustic or all-electric set, not both, and he got mad and told me to mind my own business.

I talked to our guitarist and tried to get him to turn down his amp, which was by far the loudest thing on the stage, to which he replied he needed it that loud. 

I talked to our worship leader about everything that went unresolved... the amp, the drumset, etc, and just gave my opinion to him as well.

I wanted to play without my cab and head... but this is what happened:  I'm DI'd in, and we had trouble for a while getting the levels to work right.  The drumset wouldn't come through (Which wouldn't have been a problem if it were all acoustic :| ) so we spent ten minutes trying to fix that.  My bass wasn't coming in either.  Some things came through, but it was really quiet.

We finally got it to work, but as I'm testing my levels in the monitor, I hear a "Phhhhhhhhhhhhhh" sound... like a fizzle.  I look over, and the monitor is flashing from the inside.  Electrical fire.  (My guess is some connection broke and it was arc'ing.)

So I we had to ditch the monitor.  Luckily, my cab and head were still there, since I hadn't brought them back yet, and I pulled that out, turned it down low, and used it as a monitor.  The drummer had to use his acoustic set since he had no monitor to use, and the electric set just made it difficult.  I pointed my amp towards the left side of the stage, so that it was only facing me. 

We found a little amp stand for the guitarist so his amp could be closer to him, and we tilted it toward him.  He turned it down significantly. 

And overall we had a decent worship set.  Instead of a piano, we had a rhythm guitarist come play, who is very talented.  He saw what I had been trying to do and he came over and told me I was doing a good job, and just stay optimistic.  Too bad he's interviewing to be a worship leader at another church!

  happy valentine's day

[CRBMoA]

Don't have a lot of slack time at the office today, BUT................

That is an encouraging work.

Remember, it took more than a weekend to get where you are today. It will take some time to get where you are going.

And sound system problems are like all other problems. You can accomplish a lot more in prayer than in meetings. God cares about what you care about. Because He gives you the desire for excellence.

[Eddy]

Well it sounds like you were able to get some of the action items implemented, even though you met with some resistance.

A) all acoustic drums (even though it took an equipment failure to get it)

B) the guitar player turned down after the amp was placed on the stand and aimed straight at him. I've been told you can get most guitar players to turn down even more if you hand them a sheet of music. 

It sounds like your overall experience was better, even with the equipment problems. That is indeed, encouraging.

I'm curious, were the drums mic'd? Did the guitar player end up with or without a mic on his amp?

[chuckzee90]

Yeah, the drums were mic'd.  I'm convinced if they were all-acoustic then we could get the entire stage turned down, but ... doubt that will happen.  We don't have a plexiglass cage for the drums, so I've been wondering why we've mic'd them at all...

[CRBMoA]

I have trouble understanding mic'ing the drums in a room that size.

We have a room that is at least 4x as big, and if we had to, we could do a set with the drum mics turned off, and HE IS IN A CAGE!

We are not doing hymns, either. (well, I mean, we can, but the repertoire is definitely more 'contemporary')

[chuckzee90]

I'm taking a break from worship this coming weekend and I am looking at a church in the next town over;  my supervisor at work (I am student full-time and have a part-time job in the IT department for the university) suggested I come check it out;  he really wants someone to come and maybe help the worship service.  They apparently have a full sound system and drumset not being put to use. 

I'm not officially -leaving- the church, but I'm looking at my options.  I even went so far as to make sure they have a bassist for this coming sunday.