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Monday, June 03, 2013
Gary Zandstra 06/03/13 06:50 PM,Good church sound often crescendos or crashes at the mixing board. A new whiz-bang mixing console will not improve the quality of sound one bit if your sound system is flawed in design, doesn’t have enough amplification, delivers uneven coverage, or has poor system processing. But even if all of that is in sync, the board can still fail to orchestrate good sound if a sound engineer isn’t operating it properly. A Complex Board I’ve trained sound technicians in church… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Consoles • Engineer • Mixer • Monitoring • Sound Reinforcement • Technician -
Friday, May 24, 2013
Gary Zandstra 05/24/13 05:11 PM,What is it about sound engineers and musicians getting along? In my experience, getting these two groups in sync is like putting angry cats in a room full of dogs. Sometimes there’s enough tension that it feels as though a fight is going to break out. While commissioning a sound system in another state, my friend Jeff saw the cats and dogs ready to brawl, and also picked up some new lingo that I’d like to share with you here.… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Business • Education • Engineer • Monitoring • Sound Reinforcement • Technician -
Monday, May 13, 2013
Gary Zandstra 05/13/13 03:07 PM,Having the luxury of visiting and mixing in many different church sound booths I’ve seen almost everything, from an 8-channel powered mixer sitting (precariously, I might add) on a chair to a fully loaded DiGiCo mixing board/workstation in a 20- by 40-foot decked-out production booth However, the most indelible impression that sticks with me about each and every booth that I have been in is the organization—or the lack thereof. Mama always said. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.’ I don’t… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Consoles • Engineer • Installation • Sound Reinforcement • Technician -
Monday, May 06, 2013
Gary Zandstra 05/06/13 01:50 PM,Over the years that I’ve worked with churches, the problems I find often have foundation in basic communication, organization and administrative skills - or lack thereof. Quite often I will visit with a church that is complaining of a lack of consistency in the technical aream and the explanation goes something like: “When Jim is here everything works, but when he’s not, it’s a disaster.” I know at that point that while Jim may be a great tech operator and… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Education • Engineer • Interconnect • Sound Reinforcement • System • Technician -
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Gary Zandstra 04/03/13 11:55 AM,With the rise of personal monitor mixers, the Sunday morning sound tech has had to worry less and less about the monitor mix for the musicians. However, there are still a large number of churches which either do not have personal monitor mixers on stage. Or, only some musicians have personal mixers and some musicians like the vocalist still have their monitors controlled at front of house. One very compelling reason to keep control of vocalist monitor mixes at the… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Engineer • Mixer • Monitoring • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • Stage • Technician -
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Gary Zandstra 03/27/13 01:53 PM,I can’t believe that I’m writing about such a simple thing. It’s something that should be a given, a natural for every sound person to do for every gig. Yet I find novices as well as seasoned pros not doing it—and then paying the price. What is it? Simply checking every input before the service or event starts. By checking every input, I mean either using headphones or turning up each input one at a time and listening to see… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Consoles • Education • Engineer • Microphone • Mixer • Technician -
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Gary Zandstra 03/07/13 02:44 PM,I’ve had a couple of interesting Saturdays recently. For two weeks in a row, I spent those days dealing with digital console failures. With the first one, a friend called with the news that not one, but two of his digital consoles had stopped working. Both the house and monitor desk had crashed within 30 minutes of each other, the last one just a half-hour before service time. He was able to facilitate moving the Saturday service into the youth… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Consoles • Digital • Interconnect • Mixer • Networking • Software -
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Gary Zandstra 02/20/13 04:18 PM,A client of mine recently called asking for advice on controlling the stage volume (and in this case overall room volume). She told me that even with a shield around the drums, it was just too loud. She went on to say she was considering using a “drum cave”. Immediately she had my attention, as I had never heard of a drum cave. In my mind I could picture what one might look like, complete with the caveman on the… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Monitoring • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • Stage • System -
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Gary Zandstra 02/06/13 06:22 PM,With the plethora of new (and affordable) digital mixers on the market, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with features, options and pricing. So how do you determine the right board for your situation? I use the same criteria as purchasing an analog console with just a few additional twists. When purchasing an analog console, there are five primary aspects that I suggest looking at. (Well, six if you include price.) 1) Quality. I’m a big fan of “touching and feeling”… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Analog • Consoles • Digital • Mixer • Software • Sound Reinforcement -
Friday, January 25, 2013
Gary Zandstra 01/25/13 09:01 AM,A colleague of mine recently shared a term that took me by surprise. The term was “fader rider,” which my colleague had given to one of his sound operators. He went on to describe a particular operator that would show up and run the sound board only using faders. It didn’t matter what the board was set up for, this person would just use what was there and if something was not patched or the monitors were not right, too… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Production • Audio • Digital • Education • Mixer • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • System
Articles Tagged Gary Zandstra
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