ChurchIT – Supporting ministry with IT

My M-Audio MobilePre has done sterling work over the years. Barely perceptable latency has made recording in music software easy (or at least limited only by my skill) and as an external box it’s easy to access all the sockets.

Only I changed the sample rate, for no sane reason, and then discovered that I couldn’t turn it back again. That wouldn’t have been a problem apart from the fact it did something unpleasant to the sound output.

Every time I opened the control panel the latency and sample rate options were greyed out. Thankfully I found a solution from the M-Audio forums here, though if you keep reading I’ll explain for Windows 7 (should work on Vista as well).

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In this final part of my series on projectors, we’ll take a look at the final step of setting up a projector system for your church. With the projector and screen in place, you’ll need something to show the words and pictures during services.

The obvious contenders are PowerPoint, the Mac equivalent Keynote, and the open source OpenOffice.org Impress (available for both Windows and Mac from www.openoffice.org). They are familiar, have some great transitions (but go easy on them please) and most computers can be persuaded to open the files. Microsoft has a standalone Powerpoint viewer that can be downloaded from www.computeractive.co.uk/2140854.

Unfortunately these presentation programs were designed for business briefings that move smoothly from one slide to the next. The problem with using them in church is that you never know where the Spirit might lead. Repeating the last chorus isn’t so bad, but what about a song from the beginning of the service?

The problem is not that there are no programs that can do this, but the wide choice available, and the reasonable investment that many require. There are too many to cover here so first I’ll look at a couple that I’ve had experience with. A comprehensive list of programs can be found www.ebibleteacher.com/reviewworship.html.

I’ve used OpenSong (www.opensong.org) for several years. As an open source program there’s no price tag so it’s ideal when starting out or if you are still borrowing equipment. It’s easy to add songs and they can be copied easily between computers.

There are some drawbacks. The project is maintained by volunteers so there isn’t the same level of support as commercial software. The biggest problem is that there are no modern Bible translations. Still the dual screen control panel is very good and I’ve always felt in control, even if verses and choruses are repeated out of order.

At the other end of the scale is Media Shout, one of two products from DM Music (hopefully you remember them from last time). It is more complex and expensive but a lot more capable. It can import PowerPoint documents as well as play video and music files. There are 54 Bible translations included as well as 2300 songs already in the library. There’s more information at www.mediashout.com or www.dmmusic.com.

As with any software purchase it is vitally important to know what you want before parting with any money. Do you just want to show song words or can your pastor or vicar add Powerpoint to their sermons? There is a demo version available for Media Shout so you can (or rather should) give both of these programs a go before making a decision. And make sure you involve the whole team of people likely to be using it, not just the enthusiastic techie (that’s me if you hadn’t guessed!)

First published on The Sheep Dip,  a Christian-run website offering quality material for church newsletter and magazine editors to use for a small fee.

So, you’ve borrowed or hired a projector, found someone enthusiastic enough to operate it and decided that it will improve the worship and teaching in your church. Next stop the local Curry’s (or AV shop if you’re feeling posh) to buy the first projector you find? Best stop a while and think. Buying a projector for a church is very different to one for a home cinema.

Firstly a word of thanks to Steve Rushton from DM Music for a very informative chat, which was very helfpul, especially with regards to the proper placement of a projector. Continue Reading

Taking part in a church service can quickly become juggling act of books, bibles and bits of paper. At our local Anglican church this has become worse since the introduction of Common Worship. It’s a fantastic resource of different liturgy but makes it hard to follow the service, especially if you are a newcomer.

One solution is to do away with paper altogether and use a projector connected to a computer (well maybe not completely, there’s still a need to have some large print paper copies on hand for anyone who might have difficulty seeing the screen).

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It really shouldn’t have taken me quite so long to get to grips with Aux channels on our mixer. After all they are responsible for 48 of the knobs (in two different colours) so it’s not as if they are easy to miss.

Well perhaps I’m being unfair on myself. I did use them when recording the carol service last year, but it’s taken my until now to think about using them properly.

Two of the four channels have always been in use, one for the all important induction loop and the other so that people in the vestry have some idea what is going on in the service. The other two have now been drafted in for recording purposes.

Simply put they allow the willing soundperson to create an entirely separate mix for recording, independently of the levels for front of house. The spur for me was our keyboard. Normally it is set so loud the challenge on the desk is not to make it heard, but stop it from spilling into other mics.

That wasn’t too hard with some careful mic placement. The problem was then when I wanted to start recording services. With virtually no keyboard through the main output, the tape output was nigh on useless.

The solution: Aux channels. I can run as much or as little through each without affecting the main mix.

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In fact, even that needed some tweaking, due to the very different levels between speech and the worship group. In the end I recorded the radio mics on one channel and the music on another. At some point I will have a go at mixing them together.

There’s one reason why I miss the tape recorder in own sound desk. It’s the sole reason, but still important. It was really simple to use. You popped a tape in and pressed the large record button. And it was simple to check. Just look for the depressed button, the tape spindles moving and maybe some activity on the level monitor.

My MP3 player – an MSI Megastick 528 – fantastic little device with a line in socket – takes up a fraction of the space, records for longer than a briefcase of tapes (ok just a guess) and runs for hours off a single AAA battery. So it’s better surely?

Well no, not really. There’s no way to check levels without playing a track back, and there’s rarely time for that before a service. It’s also a little slow to respond to button presses; once it’s going it’s fine but sometimes getting there can be a pain.

Now, this is one thing for me, I’m reasonably comfortable at messing around with technology and can normally get it to work without raising my blood pressure too much, but there’s no way I can recommend it in a situation with people who are less happy with playing around this way. What we need is something with that familiar red button, preferably large and easy to see when active.

The trouble is, most electronic devices are just a variation on my MP3 player. We used to use an M-Audio portable recorder for podcasts and even I managed to fluff up recordings by not pressing the right combination of buttons. It’s not that the device didn’t work, just it wasn’t as simple as a tape deck.

I asked this question at the Worship conference held at Crawley Baptist last month as we had a seminar dedicated to sound and pa. They recommended the iKey Plus as offering the right balance of functionality and ease of use, and it certainly looks that way from a quick read of the manual.

Interestingly as I was mulling this post, an entry appeared from Musicians Tools for this rack mounted recording device for iPods. We’ve already got an iPod Nano for day to day background music in the church, I’m sure one more iPod won’t hurt.