KEYS
KEYS GEAR : WHERE TO SPEND YOUR BUDGET | David Pfaltzgraff
Ah , worship ministry budgets : a never-ending bounty allowing the worship leader to regularly and easily broaden the horizons of what ’ s technologically and musically possible for their near limitless number of readily available volunteers .
Or , worship ministry budgets : enough to buy a few new cables and one large pizza every month .
I ’ ll go ahead and assume your particular ministry budget falls somewhere between the two extremes above which lays the context for today ’ s conversation . With a limited amount of funds how can you maximize your return on investment when putting that budget towards improving the worship keys position at your church ? Let ’ s talk about it .
FOCUS ONE : DOES IT WORK ?
As creatives it ’ s tempting to put the majority of our budget into the more creative and noticeable components of the keys rig . Perhaps that fancy new plugin or that industry redefining keyboard with polyphonic after-touch and light up keys ?
But it ’ s important to first consider the practical , especially where live performance is concerned . I ’ d posit that focusing first on onstage reliability and usability should be the rule when thinking towards future budget allocation .
If that ’ s a hardware keyboard rig , consider things like whether the power supply is of high quality , whether the keyboard stand is rocksolid , and how likely the all-important sustain pedal is to fail during one of the next year ’ s services ?
If you have a software keyboard rig all of the above are applicable along with considering whether the computer and software you ’ re currently trusting to output your audio is powerful enough to handle everything asked of it weekend after weekend . I ’ d much rather you invest in a new computer that ’ s powerful enough to never crash during a live performance than get that fancy new plugin your existing , outdated computer won ’ t be able to use live without teetering on the brink of collapse .
FOCUS TWO : DOES IT SOUND GOOD ?
This is probably where many of us go first thing when we think about spending money on the keys position . Whether it ’ s a fancy new hardware keyboard or the latest , cutting edge synthesizer plugin we ’ re always chasing a new and better sound if we ’ re not careful .
While that is indeed sometimes worthy of some budget allocation I ’ d also contend that this focus should also be lent to the gear a bit further down the chain . Specifically consider how you ’ re outputting the audio from your keyboard or computer to the sound system . Sometimes an investment into new , reliable cabling , an upgraded audio-interface , or a direct box to fix that pesky ground loop can have as much or more of an impact on your