Chris understands the typical church audio volunteer has a servant heart but was drafted into that role without any prior experience. Nothing is left to chance as he takes each subject and breaks it down into the process sections that make up that chapter. It goes from theory to practical application.
For example, here are the components for the chapter entitled Setting Up The Stage:
—Cables
—Direct Input Boxes
—Microphones
—Amplifiers and Isolation Cabinets
—Monitors
—Safety
—On-Stage Communication
—Optimal Channel Strategy
See what I mean? Because this book is written for the church audience there’s a lot of stuff specific for the church that you won’t find in general audio books. The book I previously recommended, The Yamaha Guide to Sound Reinforcement, is great, but for novices in particular, it’is a tough read.
The first half of the book is all about sound theory and the last half gets to sound reinforcement strategies. It’s great if you’re planning on sound reinforcement being your career but it won’t be your best buddy if you’re the only one trying to set up the mixer.
On the other hand, Audio Essentials For Church Sound can serve as a constant companion and reference guide at the sound booth. You literally can use this book as a audio novice and walk through each chapter to set up church sound equipment with little experience, and still get a solid sound the first time.
Each chapter is laid out in the same fashion. Another very useful aspect is that Chris provides a page of assignments (think of it as homework) that reinforces the learning of the given topic. And he adds a quiz page to test knowledge of the topic. What a great concept! And because this book is for the church audience, Chris interjects a church-oriented approach to sound reinforcement, along with helpful chapters on how to deal with the various people in the church.
As previously mentioned, along with the purchase of the e-book you get scads of extra reference content like mp3 file samples for EQ’ing and compression, along with probably another 30 pages of reference charts such as frequency charts and a drum mixing e-book.
The way I’d recommend a beginning sound tech use the book is this way: First, set aside a weekend to read through the entire book. Then go chapter by chapter and go through the assignments and quizzes. Next, print out the book and bring it into the sound booth and use it as a reference guide to learn each process.
After that, I’d leave it in the sound booth, handy any time there are questions or issues. Because of the way it”s broken down you can go to a specific section and find the answers quickly.
Audio Essentials For Church Audio gets a 5-star rating from me. I’m recommending this book every time I train church audio teams.
Next, the app. Quiztones is an app written by another friend of mine, Dan Comerchero, that’s available at the App Store (here) as well as at the Mac App Store (here) and at Google Play (here).
What this app does is to train your ears to recognize audio characteristics. The Android version costs $1.99, the iPhone/iPad version is $4.99, and the Mac version costs $9.99.
Why the difference? Here’s why:
As you can see, the Mac app includes a few more quizzes, while the iPhone/iPad version has the expert-level and gain level comparison quizzes as in-app purchase options. I recommend getting them as you’ll end up wanting them to round out your training. There is a demo available from the www.quiztones.net website.
Here’s the way I recommend you using the app. Hook up your Mac or iPhone/iPad to your church sound system. Might as well use the system that you’re going to use on Sunday to train with!
Then start with the quizzes. Do it as a group if you want to have fun with some friendly competition. This way you can also tell whose ears are better! It’s also an easy way to do a quick hearing test too.