GMA’s 2008 Group of the Year

Casting Crowns

When youth pastor Mark Hall started the band that eventually became Casting Crowns, he couldn’t have known that some nine years later, the band would earn props as the as the fastest selling debut artist in Christian music history.

True to their roots, several band members still work as ministers for Eagles Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia.  Shure’s Nashville Artist Relations envoy, Ryan Smith, checked in with the band after their incredible collection of GAM Dove Award wins.

First of all, congratulations on your stunning wins at this year’s Dove Awards – six nominations and four trophies. How does it feel to be “Group of the Year”?  Were you surprised?

Yes, that was not even on my radar. When we finished recording our first record, I was like, well that’s it, I don’t have any more songs. But God just keeps singing songs to us, and we keep putting them out. I'm so thankful just to get to be part of the songs. The thing I like about the Doves is that these are your peers, those people that do what you do recognizing you, telling you, 'hey, you're doing a good job, keep it up.' To me, that's pretty cool. 

The band is now headquartered in Atlanta and many of the band members work as youth ministers at Eagles Landing First Baptist Church. With four CDs and the band’s phenomenal success, how do you manage to stay grounded?

The group tours only Thursday through Saturday to make sure the band is present for Sunday and Wednesday church services. Everybody is doing what they were doing, and I think we’re even more involved than we were. It can be demanding, but it’s what God has called us to do. 

There’s an interesting story behind The Altar and The Door, your 2007 release, that’s associated with Facebook, of all things.  Can you talk a little bit about that?

Before I wrote the music for our last album, a friend urged me to go to MySpace and Facebook to check out the kids in my youth group. What was there turned our entire album and title into a message about living between "The Altar and The Door" — where Christians deal with issues about values, God, truth and the life that hits them as soon as they're on their own.

Social networking sites are places where kids can experiment with who they're becoming. They post their favorite band, and a song they like will play when their page opens up. The song announces, "This is how I feel and what I want you to know about me."

Now that you’re playing in arenas, how big is your touring crew? Who handles sound for the band?

We had 67 people on this last tour but we only travel with around 15 during the summer months when we play festivals and fairs. Carter Hassebroek from Blackhawk Audio runs FOH and Darren Hughes, who has been with us from the beginning, does monitors.

Any advice for youth ministers out there with dreams of following your path?  What do you think has been the key to the band’s success?

Casting Crowns started out as a youth worship band and music was our tool to share the awesome love of God with students. That is still our passion. Our commitment to youth ministry and the local church keeps us in tune with the heartbeat of God and what He’s doing in churches today.  It’s our priority, and we tour around those responsibilities. 

Got a favorite Shure mic?

That depends.  The right mic exists for any application.  When in doubt, put a 57 on it.  And Shure KSM series mics are great.

Our thanks to the band and Ryan Smith for finding time to talk during a busy season. For videos, blogs and tour dates, visit the band’s website.

Casting Crowns FOH Engineer

Q & A with Carter Hassebroek

Does the band perform regularly at Eagles Landing? Are you involved with the sound crew at the church?

Four of the guys are part of one of the two Sunday morning worship teams. There is a traditional and a contemporary service each Sunday.   

Darren, our monitor engineer and production manager, also mixes monitors at Eagles Landing when we are home.  Michael, our tour monitor tech, and summer patch guy/backline tech, mixes FOH for that service.   

How difficult is it for the band to scale back from arena shows to playing in smaller venues?  How does the set-up differ?

It is more difficult for our Lighting Director.  Audio doesn't scale back much.   

PA is dependent on the venue.  What they have?  Are we carrying any?  Mics, consoles, backline is all the same.  The biggest difference for me is stage volume and mic proximity.  On arena tours our guitar amps are under the stage, so there is less interaction between them and the vocal mics. Placement of those amps, when they must be on stage, is critical, not only at FOH, but for their monitors as well.  A new amp screaming in your face might change that great mix a little. 

What advice you have for small churches with small budgets?  Where are good places to spend limited dollars?

PA first.  Even coverage is a must for a church.  No one should have to struggle to hear the Word.  Although a new PA is probably not in most churches’ budgets each year, having a professional tune and align the PA system is money well spent.   
 

Second is vocal mics, for the pastor and worship leader.  Same principle, it must be coherent. 

What about you?  How did you get into the business?

I first got behind a console at Taipei International Church while I was in high school there.  We had a portable PA - talk about a small church! We met

in the cafeteria at school until we got big enough for the auditorium.  I was recruited to help set up the system. 

Formal education?

I was in Belmont University’s Music Business program and pretty much lived in the studio. 

Helpful advice for sound newbies?

The most important thing to know is signal flow.  Although digital audio is doing away with some of the cabling, it still starts in one place and comes out another.  If you can't figure out how to get it there to begin with, you won't be able to fix it when you have a problem.