Time for some 'sound' decisions

This past week was a whirlwind of events at our parish. A good friend of mine, Tom Booth (OCP, spiritandsong) came to St. Ann’s to lead our parish mission. He arrived on Friday, spoke at 8 masses over the weekend, and led mission nights on Monday and Tuesday. The whole thing culminated in an amazing concert with his band on Wednesday night.  We had record attendance…almost a full house every night…and Tom’s words, insight, and prayer were inspiring. He is truly a gift to the church, and his music continues to inspire us all. (Tom, bring more “Best of Tom Booth” CD’s next time!)  If you’re looking for a powerful parish mission experience, for your parish give him a ring!  (contact OCP)

To cap off the week, the Life Teen spring retreat began on Friday and lasted through Sunday.  We brought the whole band and led music on Friday night and all through Saturday, returning Sunday to lead music at the Palm Sunday Masses!  Tired am I.

Stepping it up

Our AV team is really challenging itself to ‘raise the bar’ this year with everything we are doing. Last week was a prime example of the challenges of ‘setting the tone’ for a liturgy or an event like a mission or retreat.  In everything from lighting to cameras, we are making a concerted effort to ‘step up’ the production aspects of our events. It means more work for us, but if the end result is that people have a better, more positive experience, I’m all for it. We are just in the early stages of production meetings to discuss camera angles and operators, spotlight colors, sound, etc. It’s a lot of detail that hopefully creates a better visual experience for the gathered assembly.

How much sound is ‘too much?’

Question: How much is too much?

Answer: When a lot of people tell you they won’t be coming to the next concert because it was too loud.

One of the biggest challenges always seems to be with regard to sound. We’ve been blessed to have some great musicians and bands in concert at Saint Ann’s. Some have brought their own PA; for others we’ve hired professional companies to provide it. The end result always seemed to be that it was just simply ‘too loud!’  The musicianship was amazing; the singing incredible. But…it was either that you couldn’t hear the vocals over the band, or everything was blasting!  The bottom line is that the sound guys who brought all of that gear were not used to providing sound for our assembly.  They are not used to our ‘room,’ or ‘venue’ as they might refer to it. They’re not used to hearing what we hear on Sundays with a full church.

Talk to your parishioners

Last year we surveyed the parish about our past concerts. We really wanted to get their opinions on what we were doing…on what we were presenting. It is, after all, for the parish.  The resounding comment was that it was just too loud. It wasn’t presenting the music well.  So, for the next big concert…Tom Booth and his band…I wanted to try something different. We used our house PA and brought in a professional sound man to mix ‘front of house.’  He and I had a good discussion about the goals for the night. I explained that we didn’t want to emulate a rock concert, but rather create as full a sound as possible that was still enjoyable and musical.  I stressed this over and over.

Of course, it was a concert, not a Mass.  We could push the envelope a little. It could be louder, edgier…but still enjoyable. 

The result was good. The band was great. Tom was awesome.  Everyone enjoyed it…and it wasn’t blasting!  It was a little louder than a usual Mass with a full band, but that’s good. It set it apart as something different.

It’s still all about the music…

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that the musicians were exceptional. They knew how to play musically. They knew how to leave space in the music so it wasn’t always a loud, unrelenting wall of sound.  

It was a great experience overall, and a lot of what we learned can carry over into our liturgies. There is ‘production’ there, too, you know.  We use lighting, video (screens, ‘live’ cameras for baptisms, processions, etc.) and sound. So ask the questions:

Is our music too loud at mass? 

Is it it time to bring in a professional to set some levels and get it right? 

Are we making people NOT want to come back because we're blasting them with sound?

Are we making music, or just creating a lot of volume?

Take some time and assess these things. It'll be worth the effort.

 

I hope we all have a blessed Triduum.

Okay, back to work I go!