CHURCH TECH
WORSHIP AUDIO ROUNDTABLE:
“DO NOT BE AFRAID; DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED” | Jeff Hawley
Drive-in church service draws large socially-distanced crowd. Photo credit: Tylene Robinson
One of the many aspects of daily life that
changed over the last six months is the
frequency of what I like to call ‘bearing checks’
around our understanding of where audio tech
is heading. Inquiries which used to occur
naturally through church visits and industry
conferences seem to happen much less
nowadays — if they happen at all. The casual
“are you seeing this protocol out there?” and
“what do you think about the longterm trend
around that tech?” haven’t been as regular
for me as the more immediate “are you ok
today?” and “I think we are all gonna make it!”
have been the norm.
To that point, let’s get a bit of a worship audio
‘State of the Union’ from the viewpoint of
three industry pros. Representing folks who
mix, consult, spec, purchase and install into
churches of all sizes, this all-star group should
give you a good sense on where things are
heading and what sorts of approaches have
worked for them as we all adjust to the
new ‘normal’.
[WM] What is the biggest thing you’ve seen
change related to church audio in the last
90 days?
[Judson Bartels] The biggest change we
are seeing is that churches are caring more
about broadcast audio. A lot of the churches
I have helped in the past didn’t place any
emphasis on the online mix before. Many mix
engineers that have a good house mix struggle
to get a decent sound for broadcast. Just like
live and studio are different skillsets, broadcast
audio is another beast that must be tamed.
[Jon Sauer] I think one of the most
challenging things we have seen as audio
engineers recently is how to keep people
engaged with worship music at home. It’s one
thing to feel a kick drum and rhythm section
in a large auditorium and it’s a whole other
thing to sit in your living room and have a
family get engaged and excited with worship
music playing off of their TV. I think church
audio has changed for the better overall in
the last 90 days because people have had to
step up to the plate and improve their skills/
craft. I think we will continue to see churches
pour resources into their livestreams moving
forward—which is great.
[Alex Peake] The biggest change we've
seen is the importance of streaming audio.
Before COVID, many of our clients weren't
nearly as concerned with their stream audio.
Did they want it to be clear? Yes. But it wasn't
to the level of wanting to do a digital split,
separate console, etc. While that's the biggest
change we've seen, we also have many clients
beefing up the video aspect as well. We've
sold more PTZ cameras in the past three
months than we have in the past three years.
[WM] How do you see audio network
protocols trending over the next couple
of years?
[Alex] We are firm believers in keeping it
simple. Many of our clientele prefer a good ol’
122 August 2020
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