AUDIO
RESOURCE ROUNDUP | Jeff Hawley
I ’ m a creature of habit . Every Saturday morning starts with a brew of a fancy cup of coffee from the Chemex and whatever bag of beans I ’ ve most recently received as a gift from friends and family . Every other Thursday night the recycling bin needs to go out . Most importantly , once a month for the last five years and eight months — an email from the editor of Worship Musician asking about the plan for my regular Church Tech & Recording article .
From my first series on Audinate ’ s Dante in Worship ( March 2019 ) to my most recent series Primer on Live Sound Pitch Correction ( October 2024 ), I ’ ve done my best to strike a balance between more technical topics and general ‘ think pieces ’ dealing with the trials and tribulations of audio technicians in the worship environment . As I ’ ve completed dozens and dozens of articles over the years , I thought this month it might be fun to gather a sort of ‘ best of ’ compilation to serve as a go-to reference and perhaps fill in some gaps on articles you might have missed . I hope you find some new content that is of value or have a chance to revisit older articles from a new vantage point that might help your Sunday mix bump up a level or two .
TECH PRIMERS : The core of the WM articles that I ’ ve written deal with the ‘ Audio 101 ’ technical bits that we all should have at our fingertips . Whether you are mixing a solo vocalist with a simple acoustic guitar accompaniment or a full rockin ’ praise band , you ’ ll need a good grasp on topics like EQ and compression and reverb . If we think about our job as audio techs as being part art and part science — or perhaps part art and part craft — you ’ ll need to know these basics for sure . It ’ ll be much more difficult to apply an artful reverb without some sense of how reverb works and how it applies to different instruments and applications . The same goes for EQ and compression .
As regular readers of my column may know , I am in the middle of a PhD research degree at York St . John University . One of the academic exercises that I find helpful is called an annotated bibliography . This exercise involves reading an article or book for review and then writing up a short and informative summary for easy future reference . Let ’ s put that tool to work here and review some of the key tech primer articles from my series over the years ! ( click titles to read ).
WHICH COMPRESSOR SOUNDS BEST ? From way back in December 2019 , this article delves into the distinction between different compressor types and how to approach selecting each type according to their sound or particular sonic profile . Rather than simply try to describe the different types based on sound terminology like ‘ warm ’ or ‘ smooth ’, I add in the sort of cereal that best aligns with each compressor type . Find out why LA-2A style leveling amplifiers are like Cheerios while a dbx 160 is like Cocoa Puffs !
USING DELAY IN YOUR WORSHIP MIX When is delay the right effect to reach for in your mix ? What is the difference between Mix and Feedback in a delay unit ? What sort of delay time is right to achieve a ‘ slapback ’ effect or a long tail on a snare during a lush ballad ? This article has the answers !
USING REVERB IN YOUR WORSHIP MIX : ALTERING TIME AND SPACE Yes , you read that right — alter space and time by simply turning a knob ! Who knew we had that sort of power at our disposal ? This article covers the basics of reverb application in worship and hones in on a more advanced
98 November 2024 Subscribe for Free ...