Sunday Review (Easter 4/4/10)

Wow!  What a great weekend at ECC and it couldn’t have been done without all of our multi-talented volunteers who put in a lot of hours and extra effort to make our concert on Saturday and services on Sunday excellent.

Saturday, the Evergreen Concert Series hosted the annual Blues concert and a crowd of over 200 came out to enjoy a great arrangement of a variety of songs.  Thanks to Mitch Kuns for organizing the volunteer team of ushers, tickets takers and all of the other volunteers that help us set the stage for our events.  He also pulled double duty and operated the audio system so big props to him!

Also, a big thanks to the band who came out at noon for our rehearsal and then put on a great performance for the audience.  Once again, Greg Stevens is always a huge help in putting together the charts and leading as only this very talented musician can!  Big applause to Gary Liden, Steve Roseborough, Kevin Allen, Tracey Hooker, John Beach & Buck England for their great playing as well.

Sunday

Easter Sunday was a great day and all of the gatherings went very well.  We had a new platform setup in the main auditorium with the big change being the main subwoofers moved down to the platform.  The sound was great and so far I haven’t received any complaints.  (Hopefully the haters won’t read this blog.)

Audio

Everything seemed to go great.  Uplink rehearsal was a bit rough.  The mix seemed to be struggling.  Audio Techs, remember that you should run rehearsal like you would the gathering.  Even though most of us are using In-Ears the monitor mix can still be effected, especially if you’re running the subs really hot, as was the case on Sunday during rehearsal.

Video

I had some complaints about the audio quality of the opening video in the Bridge gatherings.  I was told it was loud and really tinny sounding.  Not sure about this as it sounded fine in my ears.  It did sound poor in Uplink as it sounded like none of the audio was in the subs.  We’ll do a better job audio checking the videos during the week but also make sure we do a proper sound check of all videos during the rehearsal time.  It would be great if these audio checks happened at the very beginning of rehearsals while the band is getting setup so it doesn’t cause the band to have to stop their rehearsal.

Again, thanks for all of your hard work and I look forward to great things to come in the upcoming months!

P. Seth

Sunday Review (3/14)

Forgive me for not updating last week.  I spent the majority of the week in Seattle and the blog was one of the casualties of the “to-do” list.  Here are a few things from this past Sunday:

Audio

There was a problem with feedback during one of the Bridge gatherings about two minutes into the message.  It couldn’t be addressed because the Audio Tech was not in the booth.  I understand that sometimes we need to stretch, use the bathroom or grab a quick beverage but we need to stay in the booth as much as possible.  We should definitely wait five minutes into the message to make sure the levels are set well.  It takes about that long for the speaker to begin to hit their vocal stride which was probably why the mic was feeding back.

I want to make sure we are also working on balance issues.  Whoever is leading a specific song at any given time needs to be loudest.  By this, I mean that the primary vocalist should be at 100% and the back up vocalists should be between 50-75% depending on the dynamic level of the song (soft verses 50%, loud choruses/bridges 75%).  This is another reason why all of the tech people should be familiar with the audio recordings of the music so they have an idea of the vocal and band structure.  The same thing is to be said if we have multiple guitars on the stage.  The worship leader (myself for example) does not always need to be the loudest instrument.  Depending on the orchestration of the song they might need to be the most quite.  Just a reminder that mixing sound is a constant work flow and we should never be satisfied with a mix and leave it.

Video

It seems that someone during the week either messed with the cables underneath the video desk or accidentally kicked them around (serious long legs) while they were sitting at the console as the right projector was disconnected from the distributor box on Sunday morning.  If one of the projectors isn’t working that is always a great place to start looking to see if the VGA cables are connected.

Lighting

Big thanks to Pat M. for filling in on the lighting console and serving as the Stage Director.  This man has no end to his many talents.

Overall, it was a good Sunday with only a few minor hiccups.  Let’s make sure to stay on our A game so we can be as effective as possible in our task of building the Church and spreading the Gospel.

I appreciate all of the time and effort you put in!

Much Love,

P.Seth

Sunday Review (2/28)

Sunday Review

Pastor Dale, as his last day serving as the Lead Pastor of ECC, gave insights from our past and wisdom for our future. Following the services we had a sendoff for the Oquist family to celebrate their ministry here at ECC and prayed for their future ministry endeavors at People’s Church in Fresno, California.

Video

The video team did a good job, especially Iain in the second Bridge gathering.  The slides were all very early which is a great help for the vocalists on the stage as well as for the people in the congregation for staying connected in their worship engagement.  A few things we’ll be working on:

- We need to make sure that at the end of day we are turning off all of the projectors (don’t forget the confidence monitors) and clearing the computers of all of the stuff we’ve downloaded to the desktop.  We shouldn’t be storing items on the computers from week to week since this slows them down.  All things should be stored on the server.  If you have problems accessing the server please let us know so we can work on this throughout the week.

- It’s time to update our backgrounds.  We’ll be going through each computer and putting a folder on each desktop for backgrounds we want to use.  Please use only these backgrounds and try to match them with the message of the song to help people engage in the worship experience.

Audio

Everything seemed to go really well on Sunday.  We need to make sure that we’re ready for the changeover from the 9a to the 10:45a gatherings.  Audio techs, please reference the diagrams in the audio booth, especially to where the monitors are and where they will be changing.  We have a very limited time for this changeover and sound check so we need to be as efficient as possible.  If there are other tools or new ideas how to implement this change better please let us know.

Camera

Nate did an outstanding job jumping in at the last-minute and doing the camera work.  McCleary feedback was great.  The volume to the camera was a bit hot so we turned it down for the recording of the Farewell Gathering but I have yet to check and see how it was.  We’ll keep working on this to dial it in.  We will also be reworking the camera platform and putting a chair on it since it’s quite uncomfortable to stand the entire service.  It would be great for us to record both of the Bridge worship parts of the service for review purposes.  This will be on a separate tape that we can switch out when the scripture is being read.  We need to use the on-camera mic for the worship portion and then switch to the feed off of the main FOH mixer for the teaching portion.

Band

Things seem to be going well for the new format for the bands for the Bridge and Uplink gatherings.  I would encourage everyone to take a few moments throughout the week to listen to the music (planning center) and go over your music.  Please make detailed notes on the music which will help you remember what we rehearse as well as prepare you for rehearsal, especially the limited time in the 9a and Uplink.  Vocalists, please remember to hold your microphone at a two finger space away from your mouth at ALL TIMES.  When you pull the microphone back and forth it is a nightmare for the audio techs to control.  This is another reason why all arts volunteers should be familiar with the music.

The better everyone knows the music for Sunday the better you’ll be prepared to run the video slides on time, mix the audio (who’s vocal leading or instrumental soloing & what is the dynamic shape of each song), and actually lead people out of confidence into a corporate worship environment.

Thanks everyone for all your efforts.  Looking forward to our continued progress and effectiveness for the Gospel.

P.Seth

Sunday Review (2/21)

Service Recap

Pastor Dale continued teaching out of Genesis explaining the covenant between God and Abraham.

Andrew Kallberg led in Bridge 1. Seth led in Bridge 2 and in Uplink.

Band/Orchestra

Good job to all our various volunteers for all of the effort and passion to lead our church well.  I thought all the gatherings went very well and that there was an engaging response from our people to enter into our corporate worship experience.

A couple of things that will continue our rise in excellence:

- Please be aware and follow the various schedules.  We have very little time to sound check/rehearse so punctuality vital.

-Bridge 1: 7:45a – Set you instruments/area up, 8:00a – Sound Check, 8:15a – Rehearsal, 8:45a – Prayer in Choir Room, 9:00a Start Service

-Bridge 2: 9:40a – Run Through in Choir Room, 10:15a – Setup Stage, 10:25a – Sound Check, 10:35a – Off Stage (choir room), 10:45a, Start Service

-Uplink: 11:15a – Stage Setup, 11:30a – Sound Check, 11:40a – Rehearsal, 12:05p – Meet behind stage for prayer, 12:15p – Start Service

Stage Team

Awesome job of the day goes to Pat McLaughlin, our stage director, who kept the chaos of our largest child dedications in all of our gatherings to a calm bliss.  What a smooth transition and time of effective ministry.  Thanks Pat for all your help and thanks to Lance Haver who is helping out and looking to get plugged in.  Excited for what the future holds for this much-needed area of ministry!

Camera

We did not record on Sunday since McCleary was without power (planned) and the fact that our new tripod isn’t in yet.  It will be in by this Sunday and we will be recording.  We are looking for Camera operators so if you know of anyone who needs to get plugged into ministry let us know so we can get them trained and operational.  We would like to start recording the worship for the both of the Bridge gatherings and we only record the message in the 1st Bridge.

Audio

Brent Peeples did another great job running the FOH for both of the Bridge Gatherings.  We need to keep playing with the Aviom units to dial in a good sound.  Are the drums working having them sent off of a single Aux?  Do we feel like we need an audience mic?  The audience mic would be nice in Uplink.  I had to keep pulling out my left ear monitor to gauge whether the people were with us.  Your feedback would be great.

Video

The video team did a fine job not being distracting which is the best compliment I can think to give the tech team.  The words seemed to be early which is always a plus.  Video techs, remember that it’s better to have the words early than late.  If they are late the congregation is really late and we are unable to lead well.  I hope you’re enjoying having the detailed layout of the songs and I hope we haven’t strayed to far from these maps.  (Refer to the Planning Center printout if you don’t know of what I speak.)  We need to meet in the coming weeks as a team to discuss background slides for the singing.  I don’t know about you but I’m tremendously bored with the ultra moving backgrounds and think they belong back in the 90′s where we found them.  Maybe some of our creative friends can create some new backgrounds that are themed to the lyrics of our songs.  Ideas are welcome.

Lighting

CCI installed the loaner processor during the week and I didn’t notice any lighting problems which was a huge win!  Let’s keep a careful eye on the system to make sure we’ve solved the right problem.

We are hoping to have an A/V/L meeting here in the next few weeks to meet some new people we want to get on the team as well as brush up on some new training tips in our specific areas.  Keep a look out for the date and make every effort to be available.

Overall, a great Sunday at ECC.  Thanks team for giving it 100%.  If you have any ideas how to get us to 120% please let me know as I want to make sure you all feel inspired in your various roles of Kingdom participation.  Remember, God has given us the unique privilege to be the hands and feet of His Gospel message…what an opportunity!!!

For Jesus’ Glory,

P. Seth

Sunday Review (2/14)

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Here is our first Sunday review where we give a brief summary of what happened in our gatherings.  We want to use these opportunities to encourage each other and to give feedback that will help us be more effective in our efforts to offer the best environments possible for spiritual transformation.

Sunday

It was a very straight forward Sunday with Dale continuing his message on “Genesis”.

Band

The Bridge 1 band did a great job in leading.  Thanks to Ron for steering the ship.  Even though the songs used in this gathering will be more recognizable, I still would encourage you to listen to the mp3′s during the week to make sure the tempos and structures are familiar.  ”I Will Rise” never quite found the pocket like it should have and a quick listening probably would have resolved this.

The Bridge 2 band did a great job as well.  We introduced the song “Soon” which went well.  A quick reminder to all of our vocalists that since we now have a confidence monitor on the back wall there will be no use for vocal stands with music.  Even though we have the confidence monitor we should not use it as a crutch.  Please memorize the music as much as possible as this will help us LEAD worship and stay in tune to our audience.

I only made it down to Uplink for the final song but I haven’t heard any issues except that the multi-talented Justin Kallberg might be a tad bit rusty on the drums.  Thanks for jumping in Justin and serving.  I’m sure he’ll be back up to Carter Beauford status in a matter of no time.

Lighting

We have been dealing with a problem with our theatrical lighting for the past few weeks now and CCI came out on Sunday to see our problem live and in action.  They have determined that the system processor is failing, thinking that it is overheating and therefore starts shutting down lights which is causing the flickering.  They are sending in our processor for repair and ordering a replacement processor for the mean time until ours is fixed so we should be up and running normal for this Sunday.

Video

Everything seemed good on the video side.  We started recording the message again since we received our replacement camera.  The lighting problem was very evident on the camera so hopefully that will be resolved by this Sunday with the new processor.  I did notice, since we recorded the Bridge 2 worship set, that the audio from the board is not in time with the picture.  I wonder if this is happening during the teaching?  Anyone from McCleary have input?

Audio

The sound for both Bridge gatherings seemed to be really good.  Thanks Brent for being a master of the mix.  Remember that the Bridge 1 gathering (9:00am) should run a bit softer and the Bridge 2 (10:45am) will be a bit more driving.  The music styles alone should influence this but I would like to have a difference so people who have a hard time with the 90 decibel range can find a bit more refuge in the 9:00am (doubtful it will ever be less than 90 in that room as just having the system on reads at about 85!).

Please use these blog posts to add your 2 cents and especially to let us know of gear failures or explanations to why something happened the way it did so we can resolve these issues.  Thanks again for all of the time and effort you put in.  Without you our ability to proclaim the Gospel and strengthen believers would be minimal at best.

For Christ’s Glory,

P.Seth