Sunday Summary – Music: March 29, 2008

First, a big shout out to our Long Island guests! (You know who you are… )

Sunday was a fun day. Sometimes the mood on stage and off is just a little brighter and perkier than others – this was one of those days.

No real reason why, other than the fact that everyone was glad that 5 straight days of rain was over.

That, and the fact that we did some fun tunes…

Sunday was our “Strategic Service” day – the day we honor our existing volunteers, and push for new ones.

So we opened with a highlight video – a montage of photos from every area that volunteers serve, underscored by each side’s live band doing Jack Johnson’s “Better Together“.

It’s a happy little tune, just like most of Jack’s repertoire. Danny Dukes sang it on East and Eddie Kirkland did it on West.

And I got to use a vibraphone patch, so that alone made my day… .

Worship was, at least for me, more fun than usual. I played on East with Chrystina Fincher leading. If you don’t know Chrys, she’s a firecracker rock-chick. I mean, this is the mother of 3 that sang Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” at DRIVE and Catalyst conferences!

So a win for Chrys is a set of “up” tunes that have a lot of energy and really allow her to show off her dynamic personalty and lead a crowd in worship.

Plus, Eddie was leading on the West, and he can sing the phone book, so no worries!

We started with Chris Tomlin’s “Let God Arise“. Now if you don’t dig this tune for worship, chances are you’ve not heard the right person lead it.

Tomlin’s recorded version lacks something, and you don’t realize what that is until you hear someone with a stronger, more aggressive voice sing it. It’s a great tune, but a smooth, tender voice like Tomlin’s doesn’t do the song justice. But when you put someone on it that has some grit, the song takes on a whole new persona!

Next was Marvelous Light, a fave by Charlie Hall, but one that is nearing it’s last days and will soon be put out to pasture. So enjoy it while it’s still around!

We concluded worship with a new song by Todd Fields that he co-wrote with Eddie called “Jesus Reigns“. It’s got a great mid-tempo groove ad is a blast to play. The verse is a little wordy and with some odd syncopation, but it certainly learnable over time. The chorus, however, is fantastic – a great hook that’s super easy to pick up and repeats a bunch.

We’ll be singing this one for a while! It’ll be on Todd’s new project due in May.

There you go!

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East Band – Chrystina Fincher, Danny Dukes, Ryan Stuart, Steve Thomason, Ben Snider, Ashley Appling, Richard Meeder, Me

West Band – Eddie Kirkland, Danny Grady, Brad Avery, Jennifer Young, Mike Bielenberg, Pat Malone, Wayne Viar

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Ellasode: New Car for my Birthday?

Today is my birthday, which apparently is of great concern to Ella.

Ella (in the backseat, with worry in her voice): “Daddy, you’re going to have to get a new car!

Me: “Really? Why?”

Ella: “Because when you have your Birthday you get bigger, and your head will bump the top of your car!”

I think she’s right…

… and this Mercedes SLR McLaren Roadster is a sensible choice at only $495,000.

It’s reliable and safe, with 0-60 mph acceleration of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 206 mph.

And it’d be great for my growing head, thanks to its fully retractable top. The SLR Roadster offers open-air driving pleasure that’s practical for everyday use. Even with the top down, conversation is still possible at speeds well over 120 mph, thanks to its superior aeroacoustics.

So I could get Ella to school in a fraction of the time, and still have meaningful conversation…

Blogger Down!

Sorry kids – I’ve been down for the last couple days with a lovely bug.

Jennie and Ella had it last week, and now it’s my turn….

I’d love you tell you more about it, but this is a family show

Be back shortly…

I’m an Uncle!!

My sister Ashley and brother-in-law Michael (Olson) had their baby and I’m an Uncle for the first time (other than Leah’s dog, which honestly doesn’t count…)

Ella is so excited to finally have a cousin, and Cooper is, well, probably off breaking something right now…

Here’s Brody Michael Olson

Born: March 19, 2009

Weight: 6 lbs, 6.2 ozs

Length: 19″

Way to go, Sis!

Royalty Free Music

Fun Seeker Jon writes:

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“Hey Reid,

I’m assuming you guys compose your own music for bumper videos. But I’m on a volunteer creative team similar to the entire SP Dept. at NPM. Do you know of resources that would have some quality royalty free music that would be good for sermon bumpers?   

Thanks, Jon”

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Dear Jon

(Sorry, I didn’t think I’d ever write a Dear Jon letter. Insert wild laughter here…)

Here are a few links to what our Media guys have used / are using…

Blue Fuse Music

Firstcom Music

Royalty Free Music.com

iStockAudio

bbm.net

StudioCutz

Crank City

However, your assumption is only partially right. In fact, maybe only about 10-20 % right. We actually use royalty free music for the vast majority of our video segments and just over half of our Title Packages.

First, let me explain the differences between the two…

If you’ve attended North Point anytime over the last couple years, you’ve probably see “The 10B4″ (the ten before…). It’s a series of video announcements, aka “commercials”, as well as a few fun pieces, complete with a video host shot on a green screen.

The vignettes are usually under a minute in length, and are branded very specifically to the particular ministry or series. AND it changes each week. Sometimes the 10B4 is short (only a video or two) and other times it’s a full 10 minutes, complete with host.

Check out www.northpoint.org/home and click the “News & Announcements / 10B4″ button to see it. Remember – this changes almost every week, so check it often!

   

ANYHOO… Most of these are done with royalty free music, while the odd one is a custom project done in-house, usually by yours truely…

Title Packages are the video “bumper” that are about 60-90 seconds in length that happen right before the message. It’s a chance to do a set change (get the band stuff off stage), bring out the speaker’s table and stool, and a chance for the speaker to get to center stage.

The TP sets a mood, both visually and audibly, that corresponds with the theme or vibe of the current message series. It’s also a chance to title both the series and that week’s individual sermon title.

Here are a few of the ones that we created in-house that you can check out at www.northpoint.org/site/messages

(NOTE: PLEASE listen through something better than your laptop speakers!!! These have low notes, too!!)

Listen And Learn:

I created this one using a bunch of quirky old-school synth plug-ins using Pro Tools, such as TimewARP 2600 Lite and Analog Factory SE, as well as Xpand and Reason.

Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith:

This soundtrack was created in just over an hour – a total rarity. I used Stylus RMX for the drum / percussive stuff and Structure’s Pizzicato and Legato strings for the, well, strings!

Footnote:

This was a joint venture between Eddie Kirkland and I. Eddie used Reason 4.0 for the beginning and end pieces, while I used Pro Tools with Structure, Stylus and Xpand for the middle historical sections.

He’s Still Got The Whole World In His Hands:

We did a song called “Storm” the first week of this series. I actually took the Wednesday night rehearsal multi-track and used the bass, drums and guitars of the song to carry over the vibe to the Title Pack. I used Xpand for the haunting pianos, pads and triplet pulse synth, and Stylus for some of the sound FX.

Most of the rest of the Title Packages currently on the site are from royalty free libraries.

Ok, there you go….