This blog examines, reviews and discusses how worship is being lived out in culture and in the church. We tackle everything from songwriting techniques in corporate worship, to interviewing worship leaders and pastors, to reviewing the last big rock concert.
Took a shot of my live setup with my iPhone this past Sunday. Thought it might be fun to diagram exactly what I play with.
Apple MacBook Pro (GR) - this is my workhorse. In addition to running Guitar Rig I use this for most all my personal work. It’s an older MBP but it gets the job done. 2.33 Ghz Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 120GB HD
Guitar Rig 3 - After leading worship and playing lead guitar in a lot of worship bands in smaller venues I was sick of dealing with stage volume issues. I was having to turn my amp down so low amp didn’t have the chance to get to the warm part of the tubes. Literally I was having to have my amp down at 1 so the FOH guys would stop complaining. So I was really limited in my tone and sound. All direct options whether software or multi effects had such poor quality and weren’t an option until I found Guitar Rig. I experimented with it on some recording projects, then tried it live and was very happy with the flexibility and sound quality. So this is my rig for small venues and I highly recommend it for congregations 300 or smaller.
Behringer FCB 1010 Midi Foot Controller - I don’t particularly like the foot controller that comes with Guitar Rig, so I just got the software edition and got my own midi foot controller. 2 foot pedals is a must, dedicated volume pedal then the other for trem speed, wah, what have you.
Presonus FireBox - “2 out of 3 musicians recommend Presonus for their firewire audio interface needs.” I’m one of the 2.
Apple Macbook Pro (Reason) -My newer machine. 2.4Ghz Intel Core Duo, 4GB Ram, 150GB HD
Reason 4 - I talked a bit about how this came to be in an earlier post. Slowly been integrating more synth tracks, live and recorded.
M-Audio Oxygen8 v2 - wanted something small and ultra portable with a decent amount of assignable controls and transport. This fit the bill. Great controller for Reason.
When playing recorded intros in Reason there’s something you don’t want to do, unless you intentionally want to screw up the song and distract the entire congregation. I of course didn’t intentionally do this yesterday, but unfortunately intentions mean jack squat in music. No there is not going to be any video going up on You Tube so you all can laugh at me. Below is a screen shot of the intro I used for Ready Now, see if you can spot the problem. Hint: this is just an “intro”.
I literally have nightmares about this. I play with 2 macs on stage so I guess my chances of this happening are double. Poor lil mac, I hope he woke up from his panic shutdown.
Helio Sequence will be at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix again. A bunch of us went to the last show they had at the Rhythm Room and I think my hearing should be fully restored by the time this next show comes up on June 11th. I won’t forget my ear plugs this time. I’m no sissy, but my face was about a foot away from the dude’s crash symbal.
Then 8 days later Death Cab for Cutie will be playing at the Mesa Amphitheatre. I finally get a chance to see Death Cab, just never worked out before. From what I hear the Mesa Amphitheatre is one of the best, if not the best, venues in AZ. As an added bonus after I got the tickets I see that Rogue Wave is opening, nice!
As always I’ll be reporting from the front lines of music and give you my full review after the shows.
It’s here folks! We will be selling tickets at the door if you’ve slacked and haven’t already bought your tickets. There are a few VIP tickets left, just a few. VIP Q&A session starts at 5pm, doors open at 6pm, concert starts at 7pm. Go here for full ticket information.
Mark and I attended a very interesting and entertaining concert last night, Bon Jovi with Chris Daughtry as the opening act. Mind you, we would never have purchased tickets for this show as I think Bon Jovi is one of the cheesiest rockers out there but we were not going to turn down free tickets and a suite with free food and drinks. We went with the mindset that it was probably going to be pretty bad but a chance for some great people watching and another opportunity to see what we can receive, redeem and reject from the experience. So with that being said here is some feedback on the show:
Daughtry’s music was good, not great, in the words of Randy Jackson, “it was just alright for me dog”. The songs were clean and rockin but I realized after each one of them ended I had no interest in hearing them ever again so that’s never a good sign. The thing I liked the most about them was their humility and their camaraderie as a band. It seemed like they were just a group of close friends getting to live out a dream playing in front of a packed crowd of 18,000 and loving every moment of it. They were fun to watch and their sound was tight so all in all I give their entertainment factor a C+.
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