KEYS
NEW YEAR , NEW GEAR ? | David Pfaltzgraff
Photo by Jake Hill on Unsplash
If your church runs like most , every fall into Christmas-time there ’ s a bit of a scramble to figure out the budget for the next year . Worship teams often have this long-running list of things we all know have seen better days , but that have also not fit into the last five years ’ budgets either .
For me , that elusive line-item I never did get approved back in my days as a young worship leader was a new Nord keyboard . I think I requested it at least two or three years in a row before giving up and pursuing alternatives . Those denials actually ended up being pretty important to me . It ’ s how I discovered the software keys route in general .
Anyways , for the purposes of this article let ’ s assume that you got at least something approved as new budget for this new year . Whether reading this finds you on a shoestring , or excited to finally level-up some gear that ’ s long-overdue , as a keys player and gear-head I hope to share what have become guiding principles for me anytime I have the opportunity to make an investment in new equipment for a ministry , especially around the keyboard .
COFFEE FILTERS
When your band doesn ’ t sound as good as you would like , it ’ s only natural to think about the various parts of your band and how they can improve . Maybe a better drum set , a new pedal for the guitarist , or yes , that shiny new red keyboard .
I remember a time the worship leader I served as audio engineer for got a budget for an entirely new line of wireless microphones for the church . The stated reason for this upgrade was a distinct lack of vocal clarity in the room and the hope was that better mics would make a big difference . The mics were purchased and implemented , but after a couple Sundays with the new mics a consensus emerged that no real clarity had been gained . In trying to explain why , I explained that I ’ d also requested some new front of house equipment , specifically some new amplifiers to power the mains in the room , because I knew we were pushing the existing gear a lot harder than it was intended to be pushed , but that budget had been postponed for consideration the following year .
I share this story not because it ’ s one where ‘ I was right ’ but because it ’ s the clearest example I have in my mind of the coffee filter principle : you can buy the nicest , small-batch roasted , organic , fair-trade certified coffee beans there are , but if you filter them through a used coffee filter they ’ ll still produce bad coffee .
In my example above , even though the new mics purchased were exceptionally high quality , there were factors further down the signal path
78 January 2025 Subscribe for Free ...