PADS
WORSHIP PADS: DEMYSTIFIED | Brian Fuller
What’s the big deal about pads? Will they really For me, pads are a huge part of the soundtrack an atmosphere of anticipation and intentionality
change my life? Short answer, it’s a huge deal of my life. They have a certain je ne sais quoi. in a specific musical key. Frequently used in
and yes, they will! Long answer… read on! According to vocabulary.com, if you say transitional moments between songs, they fill-
something has a certain je ne sais quoi, you'll in awkward silences while creating breathing
For some, pads are the familiar sonic glue that sound fancy instead of inarticulate. In French, je room, with little to no effort. Typically done with
holds their songs and sets together. For others, ne sais quoi literally means "I don't know what” a synthesizer.”
pads are like a mysterious unicorn in some far- and for many of us, this concept of pads is hard off magical forest that is often misunderstood to put into words as well. While it may be hard to Although pads may seem like a new thing, the
and surrounded by myths and misnomers about explain them, you can certainly recognize their truth is they’ve been around in various forms for
how they work and what they do. Regardless of awesomeness when you hear it. For those of us centuries. In modern context, a pad is simply a
which side of the fence you are on, I’m hoping who have been using pads for any amount of musical sound that has an ambient quality that
that the next five minutes of your life will help time, they have certainly impacted our worship acts as a glue that holds chord progressions
shed some light on this often misunderstood experiences and hopefully you will consider together or fill space in transitional times where
and potentially intimidating topic! adding them to your music arsenal as well! there is no music being played. In Classical and
World music, a pad would be referred to as a
‘drone’…
Psalm 100 says, “Make a joyful noise unto You don’t have to hang around ‘the worship the L ord , all ye lands.” As a worship leader, circle’ long before you hear the term pads used. my passion is to lead folks into the truth of this Pads are the ultimate secret (or not so secret) “Drone - A harmonic or monophonic effect
scripture and to truly help them make a joyful weapon in the arsenal of the worship leader. or accompaniment where a note or chord is
noise. I believe that part of the way God has They can assist in building an atmosphere of continuously sounded throughout most or all of
wired me is to make sure that the noise is not focus, creativity and inspiration when used a piece. Such as a bagpipe, the pedal point in
just joyful but also pleasant musically! So as a subtly, or create an epic sense of anticipation if an organ, or the lowest course of a lute.”
musician, I want to use any tools necessary used more aggressively.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(music)
to make sure the worship experience that I
am leading is as distraction free and sonically
soothing as possible so that folks can focus
on Jesus, the center of our worship. I create,
use, and teach on pads because they are a
tool that countless worship teams across the
globe use time and time again to create great
worship environments with little training and
tremendous ease.
As a benefit of my background in music
production and sound design, I’ve been
incorporating pads in some form or another While there are several families of pads such as While these sounds are far from what we
into my music productions and worship synth pads, bright pads and aggressive pads would use to create an ambient and intimate
celebrations for a few decades now. But for (see any current Yamaha keyboard patch list), worship experience, in theory they are the very
a lot of musicians and leaders out there, pads the scope of this article will focus on what I refer beginning of what has evolved into warm pads.
are a new thing and it’s hard to find solid to as ‘warm pads’ or ‘ambient pads’. Since When I am creating pads, I always think about
information. My hope is that this article will shed there is no official definition for these types of what I can do to make them easy to use so they
some light on that subject and help you realize pads I’m going to make one up myself… can tastefully fill up as much space as possible,
while allowing for musical freedom – all at the
the opportunity you have to add pads to your
worship services and musical endeavors.
140
“Pads - A consistent, subtle, and often ambient same time. This is the magic of pads! Sound
drone-like musical layer of sound used to create too good to be true? You be the judge…
February 2019
Subscribe for Free...