Luke has an extensive recording and live mixing background and specializes in immersive audio technologies . He began his career in the music industry in Nashville , both recording and touring , before he stepped into the role of Audio Director at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham , AL . After serving on staff at Highlands for 17 years , Luke transitioned into a marketplace role at Fulcrum Acoustic , where he has the ability to serve churches all over the country with audio design , technical consultation , and support . He now lives in Charlotte , NC , with his wife , Katie , and their two young children .
[ WM ] Tell us about how you got started in the audio side of church ?
[ Luke Vogel ] I think it all started with my love for music . From a young age , I loved listening to worship music with my Dad . Growing up , I played several instruments and sang in church and choirs . From a young age , I was already dissecting and analyzing music . When I was 12 , I started helping with sound in my home church . We only had some handheld microphones , acoustic guitar , and a piano . In high school , a friend and I started recording on his PC in his garage . Nothing fancy , just a mic we borrowed from church , plugged into the 1 / 8in jack in the back of the computer . In college , I had more opportunities to serve with church audio teams where they had a full band .
[ WM ] Who were your main sound mentors ?
[ Luke ] There are so many great engineers I ’ ve learned from over the years . Here are just a few . Jayme Braun , Garrett Hestla , Nathan Dantzler , Andrew Stone , Drew Bollman , JR McNeely and Jesse Ralph .
[ WM ] You were on staff as the audio director / lead audio engineer for 17 years at Church of the Highlands in Alabama . That is a large church with lots of production going on . Tell us about your time there ?
[ Luke ] In 2005 , I moved away from Nashville and transitioned from touring and studio work to heading up audio for Highlands . At that time , the church was portable and meeting in a high school auditorium . When I moved away , in 2022 , Highlands had grown to 23 campuses across Alabama and Georgia . While at Highlands , I had the privilege of being a part of designing and specifying portable and permanent audio systems for campuses and events , helping lead a wonderful team of volunteers and staff , and engineering and producing live and studio worship projects . Oh , and lots of mixing . Mixing FOH , monitors , and broadcast .
[ WM ] What was the church ’ s approach there to training up volunteers on your tech teams ?
[ Luke ] Our processes were fluid and changed over the years , but we always had a multi-step process that was primarily built on mentorship . For audio mixing , it was – Shadow the mixer . The seasoned mixer ’ s responsibility , while mixing , is to verbally communicate what he or she is doing and why . Mix with the mixer . New mixer mixes band , seasoned mixer mixes
Teaching a conference session .
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