We ' re seeing more fluency and familiarity from a lot of keys players now whereas maybe five years ago we had just started scraping the surface of topics like how to use pads or folks starting to explore the different types of piano sounds they could bring to the mix … like the difference between a grand and upright piano sound .
Now we see keys players who are very comfortable with these concepts , have really defined preferences for these sorts of things , and are now asking all sorts of new questions . Now it ’ s not just ‘ what ’ s the best kind of pad ’ but more ‘ how can I do something new with a pad sound and still play the role well in the mix ?’ The questions are getting more nuanced and that ’ s really fun to see .
[ WM ] It seems like you ’ re describing a pretty big shift in expectations and roles for keys players . How do you see that play out in worship teams ?
[ David ] One of the biggest ways we ' ve seen this play out is many worship bands have adapted to this exchange or trading of roles that has started to solidify over the last five years , where keys players and guitarists are finally starting to have a shared vocabulary in terms of audio affects , different playing styles , and how they can avoid stepping on each other ’ s toes and instead complement each other in the mix .
When keys players first started to hear new parts and sounds a lot of worship teams didn ' t overtly state what was shifting musically . Many teams didn ’ t discuss how any one member of the band might need to rethink their sonic space or playing style as new songs merited those changes .
Now that keys players have been bringing this stuff to the table for a while it ' s become more readily understood and comprehended by worship leaders and band members and we see a lot more collaboration in many worship teams to make sure that everyone is making space for everyone else .
[ WM ] I know that helping bands navigate these transitions is a big focus for Sunday Sounds . How does that focus influence what you do ?
[ David ] The biggest hurdle we hope to help the average church overcome is that it takes a lot of time , effort , and potential frustration to put a new standard in place for a worship team .
Whether that new standard is for attendance , a new way of rehearsing , the implementation of a click-track , in-ears , or in our case a new way of approaching the worship keys rig .
One of the reasons this is so difficult for many churches to overcome is that while worship leaders may have a genuine desire to empower their volunteers at the keys position , they don ' t necessarily have a lot of comfort or experience to be able to communicate the changes they ’ d like to make … let alone design the sounds needed in order to make them .
Most worship leaders and keys player aren ' t confident sound designers and while you can go into a software like MainStage or Ableton Live and get good results over time , the amount of effort and possible frustration can be prohibitive . This is where we see many churches give up on the software approach entirely .