I have an important update for you all...

The choir now gets mic'd, ALWAYS. Its really simple, but gives you twice as much work to do. :P

"Choir is to be mic'd for all musical segments, even when congregation is singing too. Choir should also be mic'd for unison prayers and statements. Any time the choir is standing, the suspended mic's should be on."

Now, that's really simple, the mic's are always on anyway. The sound is just not being sent into the sanctuary. So, to do this, I have employed a new idea, SUBGROUPS! Don't panic, its all preset. Towards the right side of the mixer board is 4 extra, white, faders. Those faders are subgroups. Just like the channels in the main area of the board. They are used to group multiple channels together and control them all simultaneously. So now the chancel suspended mic's are grouped into Subgroup One, and controlled (only for the sanctuary) via that fader and mute. Its really simple, trust me.

I will try and be there to show you how to do all this, but it really is just one button.

With all this new stuff, comes something old but even more necessary. We NEED to keep unused mic's, un-muted mic's, to a minimum. Don't trust anyone to turn off a mic for you. Don't leave a mic on without REALLY good reason. These suspended mic's do a really good job of picking up sound, they will pick up the chancel monitor speakers (there for the choir to hear Jim) and cause feedback very easily. So, if a mic isn't used, turn it off! :)

Again, I hope to see you all over the next 2 months to go over things with you and generally touch base. But aside from the changes, everything is really good! I showed a new person how to run the sound today. Ken Brasier has some experience with technical equipment and sound systems. He sings in the choir, so he won't easily fit into our rotation, but he will help to fill vacancies and at non-choir services. He has expressed interest in being at 8am services to help with the sound, so you may run into him up in the loft before your scheduled 10am service.

One last thought, I have FINALLY put a yellow writing pad in the loft to note things from your day. I have talked before about keeping a log and I hope that's what this becomes. I need a way to know what's going on, even when things are good, write that short statement down for me so I know. It also is good for you guys to know what everyone else is doing. I have made a good first entry in the log, some of which is in this email, but I don't expect you all to do the same. I am just writing some things for myself, service notes, and some things for you guys to look at. So write in it, read it, use it!