PADS
SMOOTH OUT SONG-TO-SONG TRANSITIONS | Mike Graff
Dead silence.
It’s a simple solution, really. All you need are go to the next song, fade out the pad as the
some great sounding pads and an app that will next song begins (or, if the keys are clashing,
We’ve all been there. You finish leading a allow you to “crossfade” from one pad to the fade it out earlier so it goes completely silent
worship song, and the entire church is electric. next (Pads Live is a great app, as well as many at the same moment you start the next song).
The presence of God is palpable. But suddenly, others). as you get ready for the next song, it happens. If you already have pads playing during your
Dead silence. song, and you want them to continue playing
when that song is done in order to transition
You certainly need time to flip chord charts,
change capo positions, turn effects pedals
on and off, and so on. But it can’t magically
happen in the blink of an eye; you need time.
And so, the clock begins. It almost feels like a
pit-crew at a race-car event, “What’s the least
amount of time we can make this pit-stop
last?” Granted, a pit-crew is a group of trained
professionals who knows how to execute in
that situation with ease. But if you’re a normal
human being like me, needing to get ready for
the next song might take more than a split-
second.
So what would be an easy solution to create
the time you need and to kill the dreaded dead-
silence? There are multiple ways to do so, of
course. But if you want a quick solution that
sounds great and takes very little effort to
implement, I’d suggest adding pads to your
...the clock
well, good news for you: you don’t have to do
anything else to smooth out your transition! If
begins. It almost
the pad is already adding a nice layer in your
worship song, then allow it to continue to
play when the song is done, and you’ll have a
feels like a
musical safety net to let you prep for the next
song. Then when it’s time to start the next
pit-crew at a
song, gently crossfade the old pad sound/key
out, and the new pad sound/key in. Again, it’s a
race-car event,
“What’s the least
amount of time
we can make this
pit-stop last?”
worship sound in between songs.
wise decision to choose an app that does all of
this for you seamlessly and easily.
And just like that, you’ve bought enough time to
do whatever you need to do in between songs
to prep for the remainder of your worship set!
As
a
bonus,
pads
as
in-between-song
transitions also allow you to have time to pray,
read Scripture, spontaneously sing, and/or
gently play your instrument over the pad. You
now have the bandwidth to do whatever you’d
like in between songs.
Pads (or pad loops) are that ambient, If you don’t have pads playing during your It’s amazing to have a pad as a subtle yet
atmospheric sound in the root key of any given song but want to use them to smooth out the beautiful musical bed playing underneath you to
song, and they float underneath the rest of your in-between-song transition, simply turn on a make you feel like you’re no longer responsible
worship team’s sound. And while I’m a massive pad (which, again, floats nicely in the root key to make sure dead-silence disappears
advocate for using pads during just about any of whatever song you’re doing) about fifteen to song to add depth and atmosphere (and to thirty seconds before the song is done. Make make your life easier as a worship leader), I sure the pad is present in your mix, but not think one of the biggest payoffs of using pads overpowering. Once you’re done with the song, is killing dead-silence in between songs and the pad will continue to play in the root key, giving you, as a worship leader the chance to allowing you to do what you need to do during breathe. Breathe. that transition time. Then when you’re ready to
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September 2018
Mike Graff
Worship musician/leader for over 20 years. Chief
Creative of Coresound Pads
CoreSoundPads.com
WorshipMusician.com