We are installing a complete Live Recording - Tracking studio for Christ Life Church in Tacoma, WA. They are upgrading their existing live sound system to accommodate live audio recording and live video recording.

This church is blessed with remarkable musical talent. They have produced and recorded their own CD's (in a recording studio) already and now they what to capture their live performance.

What are the pros using for live recording (bands)?

Things have changed rapidly in the way that we record live. We used to use a separate mixer and get a feed from the direct outs of the FOH mixer to record the performance. That practice for a long time only changed slightly when digital multi-track recorders became available. Pro-Tools has become the digital recording program of choice for many years, only because it established a foot hold early. Now things have got real interesting as far as new things to come along.

Digidesign has released the live/recording consoles (The Venue Series) which give Pro-Tools users a real good way to mix and record live, of course this would be at the high end.

Are you having issues with muddy sound from your subs?

Here is a tip:

If possible wire up your subwoofers from a post fader aux send on the board to a graphic EQ then to the subs. See diagram below:

Quantify whether you have the ability to do a rear projection system.

If you can do a rear projection system anything above 2000 lumens will work. Provided the space behind the projector is enclosed and ambient light can be controlled in that enclosure.

What to look for in a projector:

I recently when to a church service where they had a new McCauley M Series system installed. The configuration consisted of  7 x M-90 modules, 1 x M-120,  2 x MS1 and 1 x AC355 per side. The sanctuary is a 80' x 80' x 26' (WxDxH) with a balcony.

The 2 MS1 cabinets where flown in a separate array next to the main array. I noticed some interesting things (no mids) with lots of sizzle in the high end. They had an acoustic guitar player as well as an electric guitar and you couldn't hear either one. The vocals where not very clear either. Because they did almost 90 degrees of vertical coverage they had some slap back and early reflections in the seating area.

I recently had to check the speakers on a pair of Mackie SWA1801 subs for blown speakers. Once I got the front cover off (many bolts) to get access to the speaker......

There is a reason why that switch is there on sub-woofers.

1. The pastor better be a pastor, someone who loves people, a people person.

2. Grounded in the word

3. Have a great sound system

The last one may sound funny, but it is very, very true. If the congregation can't hear the word, or the vocal intelligibility is poor, the church will not grow. I have a good case in point. A baptist pastor called one day and asked if they could improve the vocal intelligibility of their system because the older members were having a hard time understanding the pastor's preaching.

Churches have migrated from the bullhorn and soapbox to fairly large complex sound systems. Most church buildings today are not designed for sound, so even the smallest  church building needs a good sound system. Why do churches go through at least  2 sound systems before they get one that really works?