Shure Notes: “Do you use wired or wireless personal monitors?”
MIKE: “Mostly wireless, but I think you always should ask yourself, “is it necessary?”
JEFF: - “Like Mike said, we have different bands every week and the positions are always different. The guitar players are moving around, and you have to ask yourself, ‘I have a piano player, a guitarist, a keyboard player who’s sitting on a stool every week — well then, we don’t necessarily need wireless on those guys. But a wired system will be great’.
“To this day, most of our pastors and teachers are still on a wired mic, mainly because in the 70s and 80s, wireless wasn’t affordable and if it was affordable, it wasn’t good. So the church used what it could afford. Everyone got used to wired mics and is still accustomed to them.
“If they do wear wireless, we have them, whenever possible, use two belt packs, two microphones, two receivers, and two channels on the audio. We have a backup on the person at all times— they’re both turned on and they’re both running. Yes, it’s tough on the person, but it’s a compromise. If you want to go wireless, well, as the audio engineer, I am going to ask you to wear two in case one goes out.”
Challenges and Solutions
Shure Notes: “What about frequency? Is that a problem?
MIKE: “It can be, but we’re far enough away from Chicago where it hasn’t been a bad problem. Wireless products need to be coordinated. It’s not a “turn it on and use it” application. In our room, we have wireless microphones for vocals, we have wireless mics for drama and some of our pastors. We have all of the wireless monitor systems, we have translation hearing assist systems, we have in-house walkie-talkie, and we have wireless intercom. The wireless intercom is actually right in the PSM range.”
Shure Notes: “Who manages all of that?”
MIKE: “It’s a group effort. We kind of have a master list of everything wireless in the building. At any given service we can have 40 or 45 channels of wireless in some sort of use.
Shure Notes: Are the wireless manufacturers helpful in recommending frequencies?”
MIKE: “The manufacturers are very helpful with our wireless transmitters, our handhelds and belt packs. We’ve started with whatever they recommend in our frequency for this area, but then we have many more units than they recommend. We still have problems, but we just try to work around them and when one mic is not working we try to change the frequency on that. We do a lot of things for a wireless set up. We often have to bring in extra units and power everything up. We’ll power all of the hand-held mics and see if they show up on the beltpack receivers. Then you shut all those down, turn all the beltpacks on and see if they show up on the handheld receivers. It’s trial and error.”
The Power of Communication
Shure Notes: The situation at Willow Creek is obviously unique. What advice do you have for the audio staff at smaller churches?
JEFF - “We were talking to a group at a conference we hold about building relationships with the music director or whoever is in charge of communications. This seemed pretty revolutionary to the group, but it is really very simple. You need to be able to say, ‘I know you feel isolated, but we’re here to help our congregation.’ We’re here to serve our musicians and while we want them to have an enjoyable experience, we have to remind them that there’s a bigger picture. Or we’ve said, ‘Try it, and if it doesn’t work out we’ll have a monitor there. It’s unplugged, turned off, whatever, so if it’s not working in rehearsal, we’ll switch you over and keep going.’”
Shure Notes: “It’s a learning experience. So many musicians play in small clubs and not many of them use personal monitors.
MIKE - “I would say that’s true for the general vocalist and musicians. There are some who have been using them a long time. My wife is one of them; she knows exactly what she wants in her mix because she has been using it for so long. This is what works for her. Other people are less comfortable because they’re less experienced. They don’t know what they want in their mix. Again that’s where having a relationship helps, checking in with them and saying, ‘Hey, how is it sounding? Can I add a little bit of this to your mix? I think it will help.’
“You’ve got to get to know the person and talk to them off the stage as well as on the stage. I just found that as you build a relationship with them, there is a lot more give and take and if you ask them to turn their amp down, they’re more likely to do it.”
Sound Advice
Shure Notes: What other tips do you have for getting a good sound in a church?
MIKE - “We’re trying things like isolating guitar cabinets back stage. The drum kits have drum shields in front which helps decrease some stage noise from the drums. The thing you have to be careful about with drum shields is if you’re up against a wall you actually create more volume. So in our situation we have drapes and curtains behind him and then some back stage space to buffer that. We’ve heard of churches who are using drums and putting shields up and it’s actually worse for them because the drummer is up against a brick wall.
JEFF - “Using curtains and drapes can help deaden the sound and reflect back into the audience. Also, just simple things like where your band is positioned. If you have a piano over here and then a guitar player over there, your band is spread out. By bringing them together they can hear themselves acoustically better. You can get the guitar amps to come down, and the drummer might play softer all just by moving them closer together.
SCOTT - “Another thing we could say from experience is that it’s important to buy the best equipment you can right off the bat, even if you have to buy fewer units. Our tools are kind of expensive, but it’s what we do and I think if you buy a good piece of equipment, it’s going to give you better mileage and give the musician and singer what they need.
“We’re at a point now that we’re trying to represent the audio world with the best tools we can find out there. That’s why we have Shure products. We’re trying to raise the bar in the church world. And, as we’ve discussed, preserve some of their hearing.
Shure Notes: Not every church has some of the luxuries that you have here at Willow. Do you have any advice for smaller congregations?
MIKE - “It’s easy to walk in here at Willow Creek and feel overwhelmed by the venue and the gear. But we started small and grew and so it can happen to any church and congregation. They all start small and hopefully all grow. We define excellence as doing the absolute best with what you have. So if you don’t have the best gear, well use it to every ounce of capability.
“The number one step to take right now is communication: where you can talk after services or something and start a dialogue: ‘How did things go? The stage levels are getting a little loud again. How do you think you can help solve that?’ When you get that relationship going, it will pay off down the road in so many ways.”
Shure Notes: What about the congregation? Do you take suggestions from them?
MIKE - “We take suggestions from them. I been trying to develop a team of half a dozen people who I know either really well or sort of know in the congregation who attend services regularly and sit in different places, who would give me critique or feedback.”
Shure Notes: What’s the best way for a smaller church to start building an audio ministry?
SCOTT - First of all it’s going to take some money and that’s just bottom line. And you’re going to have to identify people who know what they’re doing. Again I encourage anybody that is doing audio or wants to advance in this field to make phone calls, to get educated, and to hang around people who are doing it better.”
Shure Notes for Houses of Worship thanks Jeff, Scott and Mike for their generosity in granting this interview and giving our readers a chance to look behind the scenes . For those readers interested in learning more about Willow Creek, visit the Church’s website at www.willowcreek.org,
|
Also In This Issue: All About Monitors Asking Questions: In Pursuit of Excellence at Willow Creek Down Under & On Top: The Paul Colman Trio The Shure Calendar Product Spotlight Change My Preferences Privacy Policy |