Kings of Blackjack

So every once in a while Ben Crawshaw or Clay Scroggins over in Student Ministries ask me to do some music tracks for them. I do the music, they write a rap, and good times are had by all.

It’s usually a “sounds-like” or “inspired-by” type of project, and they’re a ton of fun to do, even if I end up doing it at Midnight with my gear spread out across my kitchen table…

So here’s a music video they made of one song recently for camp, featuring Ben and his buddy J-Mac. The theme of the camp was Vegas, hence the blackjack theme.

(Interesting… Maybe gambling with your future depending on the decisions you make? I don’t know, or ask. I just create the music, kids…)

Anyway, this track was inspired by a Flight of the Conchords track. Enjoy…

And put on some good headphones or turn up your subwoofer, ’cause here’s a link to the higher quality track, incase you’re interested. BUT NO STEALING!!!

…..

Sunday Summary - Music: June 29, 2008

Man, what a fun weekend. Jennie and I love it when Michael and Ashley come and stay with us for a few days. Although I think Ella loves it the most! She can’t get enough of those two. We’re certainly gonna have a good time when we all get together with Mom and Dad next week on vacation in Florida. Can’t wait!

So this was a no-frills Sunday. No opener. No closer. No worries, man.

Instead, we got lots of extra time for worship, and we were able to take the crowds to some great, deep places of worship that we don’t often get a chance to do. There can be a lot of power in just an extra, freeing minute or two at the end of a set to say a few words about worship, and follow it up with a few tags of intimate, personal worship. I know that’s a bit of the old Charismatic in me poking through, but it sure beats being song-regurgitating robots…

We also had double Michaels, and both were great.

East - Michael Olson

West - Mike Gleason

BUT!!!!! The week was not without controversy!!!

We started Andy’s series “Letters to the Next President” this past Sunday, and had penciled in Chris Tomlin’s “God of This City” as a closer. However, Andy indicated that the song wasn’t related to where he was ending the message, Eddie and I opted to stick it into the worship set as the 3rd and final tune.

But, we honestly didn’t think it through. Taking it from a worshippy-performancey closer to a full blown worship tune - never having done the song here at all before - was not the right call.

On Tuesday, when I was really listening and learning the song, it felt weird to me for us to be doing it as a worship tune, especially in the 3rd slot. It was lacking that personal, vertical conversation between us as worshippers and our Savior. Normally that doesn’t bug me - we do lots of songs about God. It just felt awkward, especially since we had never done it before. (We like to put new “slow” songs in the #2 slot, so that folks can still worship with a familiar tune in the #3 slot.)

Then on Wednesday, Todd and I got to talking about it, and he had been feeling the same way. Then when Michael Olson arrived, and we got talking about it, he had the same issues. We called Eddie, who was away, and he shared that he’d been feeling the same things.

And so, on Wednesday, just a couple hours before everyone was slated to arrive for rehearsal, we called an audible.

It was a bit of a pain, and a few guys had to shelve what they had been learning and do some last minute woodshedding, but in the end it was very much worth it.

We replaced it with the Starfield tune “Son of God” which Todd covered on our Louder Than Creation CD. It seemed to be a tune that got lost in the sea of tunes that have come out of that project, but it’s a really great song - and a VERY powerful and personal “vertical” song of worship to our God.

Great, great tune. And a real chance to sing personally to our Savior, especially if you freely tag the Bridge and Chorus at the end…

So you can imagine how elated I was when our big boss Julie came up and told Todd, Michael and I that she was glad we switched tunes.

Sometimes you’ve just got to follow your gut.

WORSHIP:

God Is With Us by Michael Olson

Let Me Sing by Todd Fields

Son Of God by Starfield

It was fun doing these 3 together, since Todd, Michael and I all played on these songs on Louder Than Creation .

And now, everyone’s favorite feature: Candid Stage Shots (during the Welcome from the West Auditorium)…

Danny Grady

Michael Olson tuning…

(or staring at his shoes. I don’t know…)

Todd Fields on Rhythm electric/BGV, Wayne Viar on drums, Richard Meeder on bass, Andy on the screen…

—-

East Band - Michael Olson, Todd Fields, Danny Grady, Wayne Viar, Richard Meeder, Me

West Band - Mike Gleason, Danny Howes, Daryl Lecroy, Chris Arias, Guy Strauss, Earl South, Rachael Gillis

—-

POD X3 Live count: 4

—-

Did you personally worship YOUR God this week?

I did, and that makes a world of difference…

Pay to worship?

Young worship leader and faithful reader Cam from Auckland, New Zealand sent in a very thought provoking question:

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“Do you think it is ethically right to pay for worship?

I’m not talking about paying the musicians or the speaker, which are issues in themselves, but I’m talking about copyright. Obviously you dont need to play copyrighted music to create effective worship, but for practical purposes this is often the case. My problem is, as an outsider, I see CCLI as charging my church, and almost every other, to worship.

Shouldn’t bands creating popular worship music take out a creative commons licence, meaning we can play their songs in our church free of charge?

It just doesnt seem fair, the way it is right now. My background, uh, I’m 19, a new worship leader at a small church called hillside in Auckland, New Zealand.

Any opinions, information, details, ANYTHING is appreciated, I just want to know more about what I’m talking about.

Keen to hear from you,

Cam”

—-

Cam - thanks for the question!

At first, the answer seemed easy: It is important to pay if you use someone else’s intellectual property.

But then, as Eddie, Michael and I began to discuss it yesterday, some deeper points arose.

What, essentially, does copyright do? Yeah, there’s a ton of legal mumbo jumbo associated with that term, but I think it exists so that someone cannot earn money from someone else’s work. That’s stealing.

That’s why one pays to buy CD’s or downloads from iTunes. That’s why one obtains and secures mechanical licenses to rerecord a song to put on their own project. That’s why one obtains and secures a synch license to put the song on a video (yep, even a worship tune under a youth camp highlight video…).

I only took Copyright 101 in University, and that was more than a decade ago (and forgot most of it) but I do know that one of the primary issues for the existence of copyright is to protect the creator (or copyright owner) of the intellectual property.

Intellectual property is a funny thing. It’s something someone has created, but is not tangible. You wouldn’t steal a loaf of bread from the store, or even a created work like a piece of art. You also wouldn’t steal a CD from the store, nor should you share files (MP3’s, etc.) that are covered by copyright protection.

But what about the heart of your question - playing the song yourself (not the original recording) in a church setting, leading a congregation in worship. Why do you have to pay for that?

This brings up some strong questions:

“Doesn’t the writer want us to lead others in worship with their songs? Don’t they have a heart for the Kingdom? Why are they so greedy? I don’t feel right about paying TO worship…”

There are some deeper issues that will hopefully resolve these questions for you…

After being involved in the Christian music industry for the last decade, I believe with all my heart that paying for what we use, especially worship music, is integral for the health of the Christian creative community.

99% of the people that create the content we rely on for the health and furthering of our churches are not rich or greedy. They’re just trying to survive in this crazy world, yet still being faithful to the creative passions they have been entrusted with by God. They have kids, mortgages, bills, and life to deal with. Many of them rely on live gigs and bookings for their day-to-day livelihood, and pray for residual income to help carry them through the rest of life.

CCLI exists to help make sure that happens. So that churches can perform songs in a live environment, while still honoring the individuals who have used their long-developed skills and abilities to assist us in facilitating great worship through their songs.

Without their songs, the church as we know it would be up a creek without a paddle.

Truth is, CCLI is a brilliant, easy and effective way to distribute royalties to the copyright owners. CCLI charges fees based on the size of a church and global region, collects reports from all churches, and distributes those fees - now royalties - based on a song’s activity. The more popular a song, the higher a percentage of the collected fees it earns. Pretty simple. I’d really advise everyone to spend some time at www.CCLI.com . They’ve got a TON of great info there.

In conclusion, Cam, it’s not wrong for you to question this topic (or any, for that matter). You really make a great argument for “Why do we have to pay to worship”.

My answer is that it ultimately honors God by honoring those that created it, allowing them a realistic livelihood, and the furthering of creativity in the Christian community for the future.

But that’s just my first instinct - what do the rest of you think?

(PS - I just read this to Michael, and he dug it. He mentioned that what we need to do is get a few of us in a room and record our discussions on these type of topics. That’d be cool. Well, there’s always the future….)

…

Music Dept. Roles…

Les, at one of our international partner churches, is doing some hiring, and asked about job descriptions for Music staff.

You might be interested in my answer… (Or not - I don’t know!)

—

Les,

I’m not aware of any of those descriptions off the top of my head, but I’ll look around…

We’ve actually taken the route of molding jobs (at least within music) to the strengths of our team members. It’s also based on folks outside schedules (3 of our team members are part-time).

Also remember that we have 2 stages (East and West) happening simultaneously. That’s 2 Worship Leaders and at least 10 musicians and at least 2 BGV’s each week. So over the course of a month we book 8 WL slots, about 40 band slots and around 8 BGV’s.

But here’s a brief overview:

Music Director - Eddie Kirkland:

Responsible for overall health and vision of Music Department, overseeing team members, booking Worship Leaders, overseeing song selection, Department budget, assist SPD in service planning, floating live Music Producer

Eddie is also one of our main Worship Leaders and leads 1 or 2 X per month as part of his job duties (meaning he’s not paid extra).

Associate Music Director - Reid Greven:

Responsible for booking all musicians, floating live Music Producer, music technology creation (loops, tracks, programming, etc.) and maintenance, oversee rhythm chart creation, instrument maintenance, liaison to SPD tech teams, assist in song planning, assist in SPD service planning, oversee North Point Music content creation, and all the other stuff…

I also book myself on stage 1 or 2 X per month as a job duty (meaning I’m not paid extra).

Music Assistant / Vocals Director - Karyn List (Part-Time):

Responsible for compiling lyrics and copyright, entering lyrics into Pro Presenter, booking and working with Background Vocalists and special vocals, floating live vocals Producer, rehearsal CD duplication, assist with song planning, benevolence and celebration items for musicians and singers (cards, gifts, etc.), assorted duties as needed…

Music Assistant - Jared Hamilton (Part-Time):

Assist with Rhythm chart creation and music technology, assorted departmental administration duties (check requests, etc.), assorted North Point Music creation and maintenance needs.

Head Worship Leader - Todd Fields (Part-Time):

This is a unique position created to take advantage of Todd’s natural strengths, and would probably not exist without Todd.

Lead Worship at least 2 X per month (as part of his job duties, meaning he’s not paid extra), assist in song selection, North Point Music guidance and steering committee, album project guidance and steering committee.

Todd also has a unique gift as a Pastor / Shepherd to our Worship Leaders, and spends significant time pouring into their lives.

Again, each of these roles have evolved over time to each person’s unique abilities and passions.

In staffing, we’ve seen success in a two step process:

1 - Identify your organization’s / department’s weakness and need.

2 - Identify the individual who, through their own existing day-to-day life, naturally fills that role.

Allowing people to do what comes naturally to them redefines the workplace experience. I tell people that even though my role is not the most glamorous, it’s what flows out me naturally.

Only then do I get to say that “this is not what I have to do, but what I get to do!”

Hope that helps!

…

True Music Fans Only…

Saw this on a Middle School small group room.

You’ll only find this amusing if you’re a true classic rock fan…

Sure, the spelling’s off a tad, but it’s still funny…

And for those of you who don’t have a sweet clue as to what I’m talking about, here’s a cute pic of Cooper getting a bath at Yaya and Papa’s for your enjoyment…

…

Sunday Summary - Music: June 22, 2008

In our evaluation meeting this morning, we had a rare consensus:

Everyone thought that, even in its simplicity, that it was a great service - top to bottom.

That’s rare, considering the 10 strong opinions around the table.

We found this kind of odd, since this was essentially a “filler” service. It was a one-off by Andy before he starts his “Letters To The Next President” series next week. There weren’t any special elements. In fact - we were running so short that we were given the (wonderfully exciting!!!) task of picking a great, engaging opener - just for the heck of it!

Actually, this is a great chance to talk about the role of the elements of the service. The first thing we want to happen is to ENGAGE the audience. To grab their attention and set them up for the rest of the service. Sometimes that’s a great song performed very well, or just an effective, engaging communicator to welcome folks, give 2 or 3 key announcements, and set them up for worship.

OK kids, today’s word is ENGAGE. Can you say that with me? ENGAGE.

I knew you could

OPENER:

Stop and Stare by OneRepublic

Since we were short on time and didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, we chose a tune that Eddie (who was leading in East) had already done. It turned out that he’d done that tune last month at the ORANGE Conference - and with 4 of the 6 guys who were going to be on East! Sweet!

And Eddie and the boys did an amazing job. And I’m not just saying that. It was fantastic. Really proud of them on that one.

WORSHIP:

We chose to do worship a little different, starting out with a really familiar song that set up a worshipful attitude, then introduce a great new tune, and finish the set with a big song of celebration. So we did:

Holy Is The Lord

Hands of the Healer by Eddie Kirkland

- This is a great tune that the bands really dug and the crowds really seemed to latch on to. We edited the arrangement from the original to eliminate some of the instrumental parts in order to make it a little more corporate-worship-friendly. We’ll do it a few more times over the next month and continue the arrangement refinements, but it’ll definitely a new fave.

All Because Of Jesus by Fee

SPANISH:

This was also the 3rd and final week of our Spanish Service pilot services. It actually was pretty good, as the team has refined some of the different rehearsal and service elements.

We also welcomed Seth Condrey who lead the Spanish worship for us. Seth’s great, and actually even won a Dove award for his Spanish-language album. Very Cool!

Well, thar she blows. Now, some pictures…

Eddie and the East band being fed to the West:

East:

Julio Gonzalez doing the welcome for the Spanish service:

—-

East Band - Eddie Kirkland, Steve Thomason, Scott Meeder, Danny Grady, Pat Malone, Mike Bielenberg, Karyn List

West Band - Todd Fields, Seth Condrey, Joe Lee, Earl South, Trammell Starks, Mike Hines, Daryl Lecroy, Jennifer Young.

—-

What led YOU to worship this week?

…

Traditional Rock God

Yes, this is one of those “take this personality test - it’s cool!” applications on Facebook…

My buddy David “invited” me to do it ages ago and I had been putting it off.

But if you’re a musician, or think you are ( ), this one’s kind of fun….

It’s the “What Kind of Rock God Are You?” quiz.

Turns out it’s pretty accurate - here’s my result:

Yep - I’d say that’d be me. Strat or a Les Paul, Marshall Plexi stack…

Now all I have to do is learn more than my current 6 chords on the guitar…

Sunday Summary - Music: June 08, 2008

Father’s Day…

Dudes - If you’ve got kids, you’ve GOT to get a copy of John Woodall’s sermon from this past week called “Fathering On Purpose”.

He outlines 3 key points to parenting: TEACH, MODEL, PRAY.

Oh wow, it was good.

We also had week 2 of our 3 week Spanish Service pilot series.

And, because lots of other stuff is going on in life today, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of this past Sunday…

WORSHIP:

East - Mike Gleason

West English - Eddie Kirkland

West Spanish - Duane Nisly

Salvation Is Here

Everlasting God

From The Inside Out (our own custom 4:30 edit)

Great, familiar tunes - and again, reaching back a bit as to assist with the translation burden for the Spanish service. Hillsong has already translated their songs into Spanish, so we have been taking advantage of that, and slowly doing some North Point - based songs along the way.

From The Inside Out is still kind of new (we’ve only done it about 5 times), but the crowd has picked it up really quick! Very surprising… That Joel Houston - he writes some guuud tunes…

CLOSER:

The closer was certainly the high point of the day - at least musically. It was the perfect punctuation to John’s incredible message, and I’m really glad we did it:

Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman

Yeah, it’s a little dated, and has a bit of that “Butterfly Kisses” vibe - but GOSH!!

As a father of a little girl, I was a mess. All Tuesday afternoon while transcribing and programming the strings and tracks, I kept breaking into sobs. It was embarrassing.

And I was replacing the lyrics with: “And I will dance with my little Ella“.

Emotional torture… Good thing no one was around…

And then when we finally saw the silhouette video on Sunday morning, we were all a wreck. Mike Gleason, who sang the tune, opted to not view the video at all, just to be able to keep his composure during the performance.

He still hasn’t seen the video…

But I can’t rave enough at how great Mike was doing this tune. Sure, 4 or 5 of our other guys could have sung it as well, but he’s the only one who could deliver the song with such a convincing parental authority. He actually has raised 5 kids to adulthood, and so the performance was not only musically excellent, but from a place of authenticity.

Bottom line: message delivered, and not a dry eye in the house.

At least that’s what it looked like through the strange water that mysteriously filled my eyes…

Okie Dokie - I’ve got to go give Ella a giant hug…

—–

East Band - Mike Gleason, Danny Howes, Brad Long, Scott Meeder, Earl South, Jared Hamilton, Rachel Gillis

West Band - Eddie Kirkland, Duane Nisly, Danny Grady, Jeremy Moyers, Ashley Appling, Brad Gage, Keith Thomas, Rebecca Iraheta

—

What touched YOU this week?

…

(P.S. - POD X3 Live count - 4)

Dreamer - live 1974

Supertramp is my favorite band of all time. Others come close, but Rick Davies, Roger Hodgson and the boys take the cake.

Check out this video of “Dreamer” from 1974. And it’s Live!

That Whirly gets a heck of a workout in this tune…

Awesome.

Sunday Summary - Music: June 8, 2008

Bienvenido!

This was no ordinary Sunday. This was a marathon. And it started last Wednesday night.

Yesterday was the first of a three week pilot series for North Point en Espaniol - a Spanish language service at North Point.

Here’s the short version:

We normally have 3 services in the East Auditorium (9:00, 11:00, 12:45), but only 2 services in the West. So the idea, at least for this pilot series, is for a traditional North Point style service to take place in the West Auditorium at 12:45 (the 3rd service time).

So how does that happen?

It started months ago with choosing an older series that Andy preached about a year ago and had it professionally overdubbed in L.A. And not some hack interpreter, but someone literally “acting” the voice of Andy - inflections, pauses, idiosyncrasies. Just imagine Andy speaking Spanish, plus a little extra “machismo”…

It also started with a grassroots base of Latinos and Spanish speaking folks within the church to partner with Host Team to be greeters, information tables, etc.

As for the music, we did the same worship songs as the first two English services - but in Spanish! How’s that for a brain twist!

Casey Darnell led the English, and newbie Duane Nisley led the Spanish, while Rosie Iraheta sang BGV for BOTH languages! Rehearsals were almost comical, as the band just played the same worship tunes over and over as we rehearsed both languages.

Throw in a closer for the English services AND a different closer for the Spanish, and you’ve got one crazy week on your hands.

In all, everyone was a real trooper, enduring long rehearsals on Wednesday night and Sunday morning as we all adjusted to the learning curve.

We learned a lot from week 1 of the Spanish pilot, and have since adjusted rehearsal schedules, call times, off-stage production personnel, Host Team strategies - you name it.

Fortunately, due to our typical over-preparation and trying to solve every little problem before it happens, the needed tweaks and adjustments are minor. So that’s good news.

It’s great to be surrounded with other folks that agree that foresee and fix issues even before they happen.

WORSHIP:

East - Todd Fields

West English - Casey Darnell

West Spansih - Duane Nisley

- Salvation’s Chorus

- Mighty To Save

- How Great Is Our God

- How He Loves (English closer) **also be sure to check out THIS version!!!!!

- My Savior My God (Spanish closer)

We’re revisiting a few older, more familiar tunes over these 3 weeks to aid the Spanish service - doing a few songs that have already been translated (to cut down the translation workload) and that our Spanish Worship Leaders Duane and Seth are already comfortable with - again, to reduce the learning curve for them.

—-

East Band - Todd Fields, Ashley Appling, Pat Malone, Steve Thomason, Danny Grady, Chris Arias, Jen Carrozza.

Yep - a band so good so good, it’ll make you slap yo mamma…

West Band - Casey Darnell, Duane Nisley, Scott Meeder, Richard Meeder, Bill DeLoach, Mike Hines, Jeremy Moyers, Rosie Iraheta

Yep - a rhythm section so good, it’ll make yo mamma slap you back…

—

POD X3 LIVE count: 5

All 4 electrics plus Todd’s acoustic.

—

What challenged YOU this week?

…

Planning Center and Legal Downloads

Darin asks:

“Hey Reid,
I hope your doing great. I have a NP / Planning Center question I was hoping you could help me with. Do you have your Planning Center preferences set to allow downloads or playback from the Planning Center player only. Our musicians really like Planning Center but….they don’t like the fact that they can’t put the songs on their ipods/cd’s. They have to practice the songs at a computer. I would greatly appreciate your insights on the subject.

Thanks,
Darin

Well Darin, I’ve got good news and bad news.

The bad news is what you’re already experiencing - the curse of legal downloads and file sharing.

It is actually illegal to share copyrighted files (like MP3’s via email), but it IS legal to stream the content, such as the playback only option from Planning Center.

There are, however, two exceptions:

1 - If you are given direct permission by the copyright owner to distribute a certain quantity of songs, like a song you or a colleague has written and permission has been granted. An example for us is anything that Todd Fields has written, he has given us permission to distribute to North Point Ministries players.

NOTE: That only applies to the 3 NPM campuses. Everyone else needs to pay for them so Todd can feed his family, and give them clothing and shelter.

2 - If you have signed up as an Organizational Member of North Point Music you may distribute that material according to your user license.

OK - so other than that, what are our options? Well, there are two legal options:

1 - iTunes:

I got this idea from the Willow Creek guys (see - we don’t just think of everything ourselves!). They presented the brilliant idea of giving their musicians iTunes Gift Cards.

They started giving $25 Gift Cards - not as a thank you, but to purchase songs from iTunes over the coming months as needed. These are for songs that will be performed in church that the musicians need to learn.

Plus, after a short time, individual musician’s libraries would grow to the point that most (if not all) of that week’s songs were already part of their library (which obviously includes their iPods and/or their burning it to a CD for the car, etc…)

Remember - The initial startup can be high and a bit hard to swallow, but think of how long those cards will last:

I thought about it, and there’s probably only 20-30 songs that you are CURRENTLY performing at church on a regular basis - but they already know those. So let’s deal with the NEW songs (since that’s the root of this problem).

We add a new song an average of once a month. Plus we do a special song (opener of closer) about twice a month. That’s a total of about 36 “new” tunes a year - or $36 per musician.

I’d say that’s a good deal.

For most churches that’s a financial commitment of under $1000.00 per year. If that’s too high, you may choose to cast vision to your musicians and ask them to commit to buying their own songs, which averages to less than $1.00 per week.

Either way, they then own the songs and have the rights to transfer it to an iPod and/or burn it to a CD for their own personal, private use.

Plus, I wouldn’t trust a musician without iTunes capability. I mean the software is a FREE download for both Windows and Mac!

2 - Distribute CD’s:

This is how we used to do it, but it’s a total logistical hassle, requires significant pre-planning, and strains flexibility.

It’s the old - and still valid - method of choosing a month’s worth of content, burning it to a master CD, duplicating the master for the number of musicians you have, ensuring the labels have all the required copyright mumbo-jumbo about the disc being illegal at the end of one month, buying CD sleeves, packing envelopes, addressing them, postage, and mailing them. Oh, and having the man-power to perform all those tasks.

Plus, you still need to report all those songs to their respective copyright collecting agencies (ASCAP, BMI, etc.) and pay the copyright fees.

And the musician is only allowed to listen to the song using the physical CD, and only for one month. It’s actually illegal for them to import the CD and keep the file beyond the one month limit.

And then what happens if you add a song the musicians need to hear after the CD has been mailed? Huh??

See? Like I said: It’s a total logistical hassle, requires significant pre-planning, and strains flexibility. But it’s legal.

.

.

Um, I’ll take the iTunes Gift Cards, thank you very much.

And remember - they’re not “gifts” or “payment” - it’s a tool that assists the musician - or Front Of House mixer - to do the job you’re asking them to do.

Keyboard Korner - Soft Synths: The Hookup

OK, consider this Part 2 of what I stared here.

I realized that after going on and on about using stand-alone keyboards for live performance, that I missed answering Cris’ main point - Using a keyboard to control a computer (laptop) soft synth for live performance.

I did mention in Part 1 that I have done this. It’s not my favorite, but is sometimes the most logical answer depending on one or more of the following:

- Your financial resources

- Your gear transportation ability (or willingness…)

- Your gear storage ability

- Your computer and software

- Exactly what you want to accomplish in a live setting

- Your current stand-alone keyboard’s abilities

Now let’s first start at the basics, as this was part of Cris’ question:

“How do you hook up a keyboard to a computer?”

Here’s the problem: That’s an easy question with a lot of answers. Most of the answers vary depending on the abilities of your keyboard, computer and software synth.

Let’s start with the 2 physical keyboard-to-computer connection types:

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MIDI

Chances are that you have a keyboard with MIDI ports. If it’s a decent keyboard made in the last 20 years, it’s got one or more MIDI ports on the back - OUT, IN and THRU. All you need to worry about is the OUT port.

The OUT port does just that - sends MIDI information OUT of your keyboard. So each time you hit a key, it transmits that information out of your keyboard and IN to another MIDI-capable unit, and eventually your computer.

Now if you don’t have MIDI ports on your keyboard, you’re out of luck. MIDI is the lowest common denominator in this realm, and if your keyboard doesn’t have them, unfortunately your keyboard is not going to work for hooking up to a computer.

OK, so you’ve attached a MIDI cable to the OUT port of your keyboard. No where’s it go? There are no MIDI ports on my computer!

Well the signal then needs to be translated into a physical form that will hook up to your computer. Fortunately there’s any easy and cheap way to do that via the USB connectors on your computer. Simple, inexpensive products like THIS MIDI to USB converter do everything you need to make that happen.

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USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is now an industry standard platform that connects all kinds of computing components - printers, hard drives, your computer mouse and keyboard, etc.

Fortunately for us in music, manufacturers have included these types of connectors on just about every electronic keyboard in the last 5 years. And (this part’s cool) as music production software and software synths have grown in popularity, so have USB Controller Keyboards.

A USB controller keyboard is pretty much like it sounds. It’s nothing but an input device - one that controls your computer’s soft synth. And they hook up via one simple USB cable - no MIDI to worry about.

These are still transmitting MIDI data, but without the bulk of MIDI cables or ports, and no external converters required.

Most of these devices are inexpensive since they don’t have any internal stand-alone capabilities. There are no internal sounds. They also range in price due to size (number of keys, ranging from just one octave, all the way to 88 weighted keys), and quantity of controllers. Some are just a basic keyboard, while others have stuff like multiple sliders, knobs and pads. These are all used to manipulate soft synths via transmitted MIDI data.

It seems we, the consumers, are the beneficiaries from multiple companies competing for our business in this growing market. 4 years ago I got a 49 key model that I used on my desk. Last year I got a new one with twice as many features for half the price…

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PREFERENCES

OK, so your keyboard is physically attached to your computer. Now the hard part -controlling your software…

Every soft synth is different and how they use controllers can even differ from patch to patch. Some software programs are super easy, while others have a seriously high learning curve.

GarageBand, Reason and Pro Tools, for example, are pretty easy. Finale, however, is just plain nasty…

Once you’ve got your keyboard or controller attached to your computer (via the USB port), it’s time to tell your software what device you want to control it.

That’s usually done in the Preferences menu of your software. Here are a couple examples:

GarageBand:

As you can see, it automatically detects my USB controller keyboard:

Reason:

You can have it auto detect both keyboards and other control inputs. It stores them

Other times it can be determined by individual MIDI channels:

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Finale:

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Pro Tools:

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Make sure you Record Enable the desired MIDI track…

And that it’s triggering the desired plug-in. Here I’ve chosen A.I.R.’s “Xpand!” plug-in, which I have as an insert in a stereo audio track. NOTE: Xpand! is made by A.I.R., a subsidiary of Digidesign, and is available for FREE to registered Pro Tools users. So that’s cool!

It’s their take on the sound palate of a basic workstation. A wide variety of sound and instrument genres, most of which sound great - especially the sonic textures. It also has a lot of features like syched arpeggiators, verbs, delays etc. within the plug-in, and it’s not a CPU hog.

And it’s free. So you can’t beat that!

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OK, next time we’ll look at setting a few of these programs up for live performance…

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Keyboard Basics - Videos

WARNING: These are 4 of the most boring videos ever!

These are not for the mere mortals - they are for keyboard players…

I put together a few short videos discussing navigation sounds for live performance, as well as an overview of B3 organ basics and how to effectively use it in modern rock and worship.

They’re pretty elementary, but at least the B3 stuff is info that I would have liked to have known when I was starting out.

Let me know what you think…

Synth Rig

Hammond B3 - Basics

Roland X8 - Storing Favorites for Live Performance

Korg Triton - Navigation Sounds for Live Performance

See! I told you they were boring…

Guitar Magazines

Saturday - 10:00 AM…

So I’m (finally) getting my car’s Radio/AC controls fixed. It’s a long story, but the dealer wanted $1000 to fix the circuit board that controls the two units, so I held off.

BUT - I just found a mom and pop electronics repair shop that will fix the circuit board AND the broken CD player for less than half that price. And in Atlanta, the ability to adjust your AC in the summer is, shall we say, one of life’s necessities. I went 4 years without AC in my old car, and I’m not ready to that again. Ever.

So that finds me sitting in a Barnes and Noble bookstore 40 miles from my house, on the other side of the city, while I wait for my car to be fixed. 5 hours from now…

BUT this place has NO power outlets! Customers can basically stay here either read books or use their computer (like me) until the precious battery cacks.

So, knowing that, I just spent a long hour going through different “music production industry” magazines. Stuff like Electronic Musician, MusicTech, Virtual Instrument Magazine. You know - riveting reading. Well, at least for me…

And I’m actually going to buy some of these. (And expense it, of course…)

My ultimate goal, after inhaling these myself, is to put an assortment of music instrument magazines in our Green Room for the guys to browse through when they’re hanging out in there. We average about 5-6 hours a week of pure “hang” time over the course of Wednesday rehearsals and Sunday mornings, and music gear, technology and gear is often a popular subject.

My problem is, in my initial assessment, that there are no guitar-based magazines that are actually suitable to be laying around the Green Room! Most of the front covers and subsequent content advertise the death-metal slasher group of the month, complete with articles, advertisements and features that would make C.F. Martin role in his grave!!

So here’s my question for you, my beloved musicians:

What are some guitar/gear magazines SUITABLE for sitting on a table in a church?

Tough question, isn’t it?

I did find one called The Fretboard Journal, filled with great pictures of vintage guitars and luthier techniques. And bald dudes with grey goatees.

They probably wear Birkenstocks. (I’m just saying…!)

Anyhoo - let me know YOUR suggestions!

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Sunday Summary - Music: June 1, 2008

Murphy’s Law.

Or God laughing.

One of the two…

3 days after laying out in elaborate detail why we rehearse so much, preparation and excellence, we laid some giant eggs today.

Now every guy/gal has a little slip up here and there, but today seemed to have more than usual, by more than the usual number of folks. Myself included.

For example, I forgot to route the verbal count-off for the 3rd song to the proper channel. Lots of folks heard it in rehearsal, and assumed I would fix it. I, however, was on stage playing, and so I expected to hear it, so I didn’t know anything was wrong.

Until the 1st service when the monitor engineer had the audience mics up and I could hear my recorded voice coming through the main speakers saying a giant “1, 2, 3, 4″ for 3,000 people to hear…

Crap.

Crap crap.

Crap, crap, crap.

So that was, by far the biggest glaring mistake.

The rest came from the curse of muscle memory:

Toddy came in this morning with a weary voice, and asked to do 2 of the songs down a half-step. We obliged, and paid the price…

I’m not blaming Todd, but there’s a curse to take songs you’ve played a bunch of times in one key, and then to do it down a half-step. Open strings are no longer open, finger positions don’t work, voicings change, and the riffs you can play in your sleep all become digit spaghetti.

Most of us had mistakes (we call them “clams”), and I found myself fighting the music, then my mix, then being peeved at the dude in the front row with his arms crossed who just stared at us like we were zoo animals, like he’d rather watch paint dry.

Now I am sorry for letting Zoo-Boy get the better of me, but I guess this was one of those days you just pray that God looks at and honors your heart’s intention, and not your musical output, or attitude towards some ignorant yahoo.

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WORSHIP:

Other than the actual music, the worship aspect was actually good!

We had the once-in-a-blue-moon service: One with extra time! No opener or closer, no baptism, and Clay Scroggins was speaking, who usually runs about 5-10 minutes shorter than Andy.

That meant that we had a little longer time for worship, and opted to add some tags to the end of the 3rd song, and more freedom for the worship leaders to share and pray. In all, it was a rare (and WONDERFUL) 17 minutes.

(By the way - we use a countdown clock on the cue/lyrics monitor for the Worship Leaders to see. That’s how we end the East and West Auditorium worship sets at the same time. So a “17 minute clock” means the timer starts at 17:00 and counts down to 0:00. That’s when the WL’s need to be finished with their singing, talking, praying, and verbal transition to the offering.)

Ok, ok - songs…

God Is Alive - Eddie Kirkland and Steve Fee

This is still new and not yet available. Sorry!

Glorious One - Steve Fee

Now considered an “oldie but goodie”

Breathe On Me - Todd Fields , Nathan Nockles, Christie Nockles

Man, this song moves me, even if the Zoo-Boy still has his arms crossed…

After this, the WL on each side tagged the bridge to Glorious One with just vocal and guitar, and then into a couple out-choruses of Breathe On Me, adding some light, warm pads.

Very cool, free, open and worshipful. Very nice. I’d take those 2-3 tender minutes over another bashing song any day.

That’s it - time for a little more tenderness, I’m getting tired of epic ballads for today.

Geesh! I’m in a mood! Must be time to pull up the Light Classical channel on the ol’ Dish Network…

But first, some candid photos taken on East while Jon Williams (doing the welcome) was fed from West…

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East Band:

Todd Fields, Earl South, Joe Thibodeau, Jordan Watts, Matt Melton, Me

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West Band:

Mike Gleason, Pat Malone, David Norwood, Danny Grady, Mike Bielenberg, Dee Dee Mailian, and Mr. Motionhouse himself, Brad Bretz

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What moved YOU to worship this week?

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