A CANNON IN CHURCH?

Okay. I admit it. With my background, I can be a bit critical. A music degree from Miami University, experience as a composer/arranger, extensive training in audio engineering, and some 30+ years designing and installing audio systems for churches, universities, community colleges, theaters, bowling alleys, schools, and ballfields, as well as conducting seminars for training of audio engineers; have all contributed to my analytical (or critical) approach to things related to my background. Sometimes it can be overwhelming.

These past two weeks, my wife and I have visited two different church services as we explore our options here in West Virginia. In both cases, these churches have excellent praise and worship teams, tight vocals, talented, creative musicians on keyboard, electric and acoustic guitars, bass and drums. My wife, however, had to take two Tylenol today due to the repeated firing of a cannon during praise and worship!

Now, I know that the popular sound in pop music today leans toward heavy bass content that slaps you in the chest with the beat of the drum and bass, BUT ---- when the bass drum is EQ d and mixed in such a way that it completely obscures the bass line, the keyboard, the rhythm guitar, and the backup vocals; SOMETHING IS WRONG! I so wanted to go over to the engineer s booth and ask them to roll off some bandwidth around 100-250 hertz on the bass drum and perhaps add just a bit around 3k to give it some punch ; but I knew they d just ignore me as some lunatic, or perhaps give me a deer in the headlight stare because they had no clue what I was saying.

The Praise and Worship team should be a microcosmic representative of The Lord s Church: one body with many parts, each uniquely equipped to contribute its distinct and essential element to the whole of the song. Playing lead bass drum, or mixing it in such fashion accomplishes nothing toward the effective functioning of either the church body OR the worship team. It does, however detract from the uniqueness and inspiring interaction of the various instruments and vocals in the group.

Such performances also tend to diminish congregational participation in worship. Instead, we find ourselves in just another Christian concert in which the explosive presence of that bass drum prevents us from hearing our own voices well enough to attempt singing along. Really! Come on! My wife should NOT be forced to resort to Tylenol in order to survive a praise and worship session.

In both cases, the preaching/teaching was quite well done, but I'm not sure how I could subject my wife to another beating at the hands of another cannon mixed prominently into the audio mix of a praise and worship presentation. It may be that the audio engineer was mixing using headphones for the live feed broadcast instead of listening to the house sound. I've seen that on several occasions.

So, I make my plea: PLEASE! For the Love of God and His people; get proper training for your audio team and engineer. Teach them to listen CAREFULLY and CRITICALLY to the music mix they are producing! Train them to WALK around the room to see what the balance is in various locations. What you hear in the engineering booth often misrepresents what is being heard around the sanctuary or auditorium. Lastly, if your church can afford it, and staff it; PLEASE use TWO engineers! You will need one engineer devoting full attention to the house mix, while the other devotes full attention to the live feed for your broadcast. Anything less means that one or the other will suffer.

Tim Edwards, author

Just Who Is This God You Worship

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