How "Click Tracks" Are Destroying Church Music
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- This video discusses how stems and click tracks impact church music. Are they helping or hurting? Watch to find out more...
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The moment the “congregation” becomes an “audience” in our thought process and vocabulary we’re in the wrong place, period.
so true!
AMEN!!!!
This comment appears on every post on this topic.
Anyway. How often does it really happen? And if it does happen often, does it get people in the building to hear the message?
And what does that have to do with the decision to use, or not use, tracks? If a team have the wrong motivation, tracks or no-tracks isn't going to change that.
Revisiting this video and I gotta say...an audience is a group of people gathered to hear something. A congregation is just a gathering. I get that there is such a thing as cultural significance in these terms, but we get awfully riled up over some truly inane concepts.
I think my son said it best, “Backing tracks raise the floor, but they also lower the ceiling.”
Clever lad
Please 🙏🙏 Preach
Wow well said
@shawnsmith-yy1mr sounds like a fun thing to say… however- we’re hard pressed to find 4 musicians who can make a larger sound than 3 with backing tracks… especially with volunteers at churches… modern worship is built on a “wall of sound.” And it’s so hard to compete, believe me, I was the last person who thought I’d use tracks … now I make my own arrangements , and record parts and tones that I prefer… which makes the songs “take off” in a different way and sound way more massive than if I try to just pull it off with volunteers…
It’s because yall don’t take the time to become experts at running ableton and how to make them be flexible.
“If you aren’t using these tools, your church is probably outdated.”
Thankfully, my church is outdated. The music is great.
I Guess Jesus is outdated. Whew.
what did they even mean by that??
amen
Love this !!!
I love what you’ve said. I certainly can embrace the analogy
The fact you called them “audience members” highlights the root of the problem. Church is not a performance for an audience. It is a community worshiping together. Cultivate musicianship by REMOVING the things that we hide behind. Keep it simple is where authenticity is born.
You’re absolutely right! Simple is best and it lets the people participate in worship and not be entertained! They are not at a concert. They’re at church coming with real baggage and problems wanting to release them at the feet of Jesus. Ministry is about Him!
Truth 👏🏻
If music isn’t meant for entertainment, then the church should just abandon it altogether. I mean it is used in the church context as a complete manipulation, whether it’s the droning “I wanna see your face Jesus” over and over and over and over again, or it’s your sacred pipe organ music that uses theological opinings of 16th century people. It’s all meant to evoke feelings. And I would argue all artificially. So if you want to “remove” things people hide behind then music of any kind has to go. But just be careful with that, because without that people just might to start to ask more questions and lead to further exposure of how religion is all man made.
@@thegougeman - so your church has no paid staff then? Should not the preacher-man preach Jesus - only sacrificing his talents and worship to god?
@@thegougeman right my guy. So your staff should not get paid, they should be offering a sacrifice and worship without getting money for doing so.
I drum for our worship team and we PURPOSE TO NOT use tracks or clicks. We learn the tunes on our own time and rehearse. I am so blessed to be a part of a team that remains focused on organic worship. Every service...it shows.
Lucky you lol I have played with SO many people who struggle to stay on beat, understand complicated transitions, or songs that have unique feels. It’s not really an enjoyable experience for anyone when people are struggling with a song
Unfortunately I think you are possibly part of a minority group there. Perhaps a lack of dedication the craft of music is the problem that needs to be addressed rather than arguing over whether or not to use tracks?
@@Chancho3232 I play drums for my church worship team and we use clicks and tracks and I honestly hate it for that reason. It’s even worse that our Worship Leader doesn’t consistently sing on time with the click. She’s an amazing singer but with a click it’s tough cause as a drummer I can’t fix it when someone else gets off time.
@@jdc_2000 If it’s any comfort, it’s not on you if somebody can’t or won’t learn how to sing in time, it’s on them. Being in time honestly isn’t rocket science and isn’t that hard to develop; unless you’re lazy. Frustrating though for everyone else.
A drummer that can't keep time/tempo is as bad as a guitarist playing with a not well tuned guitar. So less stems during service/worship i get, but musicians complaining that a simple click track is annoying.... it's confronting thats what you meant to say. Cause it won't lie to show you that you have to practice your rhythm/pockets and all
Great video. Been a worship pastor for 18 years. I’ve made the tracks and highly programmed the services. 10 years ago I gave it up completely because I realized that the musicians were “playing alone together”. No one was listening to each. Everyone was playing their part to a click. For that last decade I’ve been teaching people how to make music together with other people and their musicianship has gone through the roof. It’s more work, but it’s worth it!
Of course it's worth it. I've always had this sense of perfect timing and I hate playing to a click track because it's robotic. I understand in a big arena where their is latency. But in a medium to church setting I don't want to play to the radio. There is just way too much going on with a backing track, plus call outs and all. It makes music robotic. Keep doing what you do. They always think everything new is a blessing and it bothers me to the core. Peace & Blessing
And as musicians learn their craft from you, they can pay it forward as well and train others! Praise God!
I completely concur. "Those who worship me shall worship in spirit and in truth." In a group, if you are not in tune with the group (drummer listening to bass player etc.), then how can you be in tune with anyone else, let alone be in tune with the Spirit. I was told "don't close your eyes" when worship guitaring (I was worshipping) because you might miss the "signals" (you know those windmill hand movements that mean bridge, chorus and such like. When you use the click, you choose what you hear and that means you cut out all the other musicians you don't need in your earpiece.
Playing to backing tracks in a robotic manner goes completely contrary to the spirit of worship bands and performances. The soul of the musicians combining to make music is the whole purpose of gospel, and any worship music. Good on you for going back to basics and showing the youth how to play _together!_
The second that I got rid of backing tracks and the click track at the church. All of the musicians started practicing more.
I told the pastor, we’re going to sound worse for a little while and then it’s going to sound a lot better . That’s exactly what happened.
Don’t be afraid to lose the backing tracks.
Great point
This is exactly what happened for us as well! Pads and synths can be tools that add without being full tracks. Utilize your resources but don't let perfection overtake authenticity
Sadly there's not enough musicians in my church.
PRACTICE!!!! this is a lost art everywhere. No one wants to practice anymore.
Very cool 🎉!
Backing tracks and a click track are two different issues. Regarding click tracks, they are a significant help to quality group sound and creativity. If you are in a band with the same members week after week with lots of rehearsals, a click track may not be necessary. But our church purposely depends on volunteers, and different volunteers each week, joining the music director and his assistant. The click track allows me to be creative because I am hearing the click as a reference so I can be free to play the music focusing on worship and continuity with the group rather than timing. In addition, it allows us to rehearse once a month, Sunday before church, and incorporate amateur church members in the ministry. It is not a matter of being lazy, but the click track allows talented musicians with jobs and families to participate and sound good for the honor of God and to serve the people.
Well said, agree with this 100%!!!
Facts!
Completely agree. I would also add that having a click subdivided too much makes it more difficult for the musicians to create space between the notes.
This is how I feel about it. I practice a lot in order to get my parts right on Sundays, but I am just not a great musician. The click track allows me to better translate what I've been practicing into the live setting. My church usually has a mix of songs with and without click tracks too, so it's not all the same feel. Regardless, I always spend some time praying before each service that whatever we do would lead people to worship God. I think if the worship team keeps a mindset of servitude, then God will use us either way.
@@philipreiner9689You make an excellent point. Your comment and many others like it completely counter Terence’s hyperbolic statements about using click tracks.
People should not be going to church for the music and entertainment.
People should be going to church for one reason only, Jesus.
There’s nothing wrong with having high production worship or not having it.
What’s important to God is people’s hearts towards Him.
Try to explain that to this chimpanzee.
sadly going to church for Jesus is also outdated. it's all about the concert, coffee and hearing sermons that tell us what we want to hear. We are not lifting our hands to Jesus, we lift them because that's now what you do in worship, it's learned and taught.
Back in the day, church hymns was to prepare the congregation to be filled with the spirit of God and to prepare themselves to Praise and Worship JESUS. Which is what we were created for.
Now, it has turned into a performance with dimmed sanctuarys and a lit up stage. Glorifying the musicians rather than Jesus.
@@Hugh_Manitee I remember those days and miss them more
Was keyboardist/director of worship department at church for 20 years. We'd go off script when the Spirit moved. The backing tracks/in ears thing of today is nothing short of karaoke Sunday.
I love those moments
Still easy to do, tracks don't limit that ability. Rather, the lack of interest in learning the software creates that hinder.
@AugustJ.k.Nilsen Programmed spontaneity? You're right, total lack of interest as I'm just an old geezer playing real live music for longer than you software kids been alive. I spend enough time with my computer at work to have it be my music partner. AI will make your whole generation obsolete......
Nothing wrong with using in ears without the click tracks. In ears are useful for communicating amongst each other as musicians and great for hearing ourselves on our instruments. Especially us keyboard players
@@AugustJ.k.Nilsen i would say to stop all major light and sound studio production and see if the people stay. if they do you might have something, if they leave for the next show you had nothing to begin with.
idk at this point i think music content creators are just thinking of controversial click bait video titles and then framing an entire video around it almost like they’re on the high school debate team
we shouldn’t blame the tool when it’s the USER using the tool incorrectly. it’s not tracks that are “destroying” church music. it’s users that are misusing the tool that are “destroying” church music
this entire concept is based on a misunderstanding of what tracks should be. the truth is: tracks are supplementary to skilled musicianship. not replacements for musicianship.
THIS. This is it.
This. I didn't watch the vid, was just looking for that comment. Clickbait ehh.
no, it's the complete lack of any spirituality whatsoever that is destroying the church. this new way of doing things is just a symptom.
I agree. Nothing wrong with clicks. It is a tool to use. This is just being nitpicky. Clicks are used to keep everyone on beat and keep to the rhythm of the music. You need to keep it moving at a consistent pace, not too fast, not too slow. Otherwise that's going to throw off the rhythm and everything will sound a mess. You think there's anointing in messy music? I think not! My church uses clicks and that doesn't stop the Holy Spirit from moving through the music. You can't limit God to one method of playing praise and worship. He'll still move regardless of what you use.
As both worship, musician and regular audio engineer as well as an active worshiper, there are several voices I have.
On a 60’ x 30’ deep stage click traps are absolutely necessary to keep everyone tight and together. When a song wants to go longer to drill down deeper into worship, a loop can be made to extend the time of a song as the spirit moves.
The best use of clicks and backtracks for deeper worship is to select three or more songs in the same key to flow freely through them and then back-and-forth for 30 minutes. Some musicians called us a mash up.
As a musician, or as an audio engineer, I will musically use the backtracks to support the musicians. For example, sometimes in the opening eight bars of a slow, slow song, the ambience created in the studio can be brought up in DB to set the stage, and then tucked underneath the musicians when they begin to play. Sometimes there is a particular synthesizer voice that can be lifted up during the chorus bridge, and then tucked back underneath the music musicians.
There is a lot of technology, but used with sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and awareness of the music, both the floor is raised, and the ceiling is raised, referring to a previous comment
In the end, it’s allowing the Holy Spirit to have its way and to make room for ITs flow through each and every musician and singer who are themselves Instruments of God.
Thirty-two-year church musician here. I play the bass.
Our church uses click tracks and thankfully, we have a fantastic, flourishing music program. We have a pool of musicians, so often, weekends are made up of musicians that may have never played together, or haven't played together in that specific band configuration. What the click tracks do is help us get on the "same page" so to speak, providing structure to the musical situation. It's a small miracle that it all works out every weekend, and I'm thankful that it does. We don't have all the time in the world for rehearsal, and the tracks help us maintain a high level of excellence.
Our music isn't dying, and creativity is anything but stifled. Our singers still sing, our musicians still make music, and the audience still responds. To say click tracks are killing music feels a bit like clickbait to me because what I've experienced during my time on the team (eight years) is exactly the opposite.
I think there is an element of 'people always fear what threatens their status quo'. There are plenty of great gospel worship bands who are HIGHLY creative and they use their own form of click tracks.... clicks and "studio produced" tracks aren't killing creativity or craft any more than the "loop" track does for gospel. They are just a tool to be used. One that came out of an era when music in church was lacking in talent. One that pushed the bar for growth. And one that people have come to expect to hear. There is no ceiling when you learn to use the tools you have effectively without compromising anything else in your craft.
I agree. I think that too often church worship teams focus so much on technique, they forget about who they are supposed to be praising (Jesus!) My church is a small-moderate sized church and I like to describe our worship team(s) as “good enough so that you are not repelled by the sound, but not so good that the focus becomes our talent instead of praising God.”
Stupidity
Unfortunately,get your point but whatever happened to worship in SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH?
When you put money on the table, Jesus is forgotten about and put on the back burner. Money, money damn money.
@@SrChalice interesting point 🤔. I get it.
If your congregation “can’t worship” because your musicians are too good, they aren’t worshipping the right things
It’s the fact that we believe we need this when missionaries do praise and worship without electricity. When the power of God is absent production is the next best thing in the eyes of the church in America
So very true
@caramelcocoa234 - I’m curious - please explain in theory: the absence of “the power of God.”
What measurement do you use to qualify “the power of God?”
@user-tx5xl5cu8c if this is for debate purposes I don’t believe in debating online. The book Acts and Apostle Paul’s journey is a good place to prayerfully start. If you need anything beyond that, respectfully I have no answer for your question 🙏🏾
Nothing absolutely nothing beats the presence of God……In my twenties some time ago 1991 I was at a prayer conference on a little pacific island Guadalcanal. I was staying in a single bed room this one night when I awoke at about 2:00am with the most incredible presence of God filling my room. It was not because of anything I had done it was two young men about my age in the room next to mine that felt pouring their heart to God regardless of the hour was more important than sleep. It was raw unashamed worship that moved the heart of God, never have I since heard worship that came close to what I heard that night it changed my life. I am saddened however that we make worship in church more than what I experienced that night and countless times since. I love great music but if that was enough the church should be overflowing by now. It’s the presence of God, when we will genuinely seek Him we will find Him. In my experience it has very little to do with music and so much about our heart.
BRING BACK THE CHURCH CHOIR AND SAVED MUSICIANS!!!!
Lord knows I missed saved musicians! 🎯🎯
BRING BACK THE CHURCH! I don’t know what’s going on in 2024
@@TAJMUSIC81 you either keep up with elevation, hillsong and bethel or you are not considered a place where God is. It's not about God being in a church anymore, it's about your lights, and if you are a good cover band.
@@Michael-le5ph you just said a mouthful. As a 42 year old that grew up in church, you may as well say I’m a baby boomer.lol I’ve seen church do a total 180 in my lifetime. Being in full time ministry I’m exposed to the underbelly of it all
Amen!
I long for the days when we just sing together, you know, congregational singing...
as a solo performer on keyboards, I wanted to have a fuller sound. I added a Beat Buddy, and a vocal harmonizer to my rig, and got pretty good at using them both. After one gig, a woman who had heard my entire performance told me that she thought I was using backing tracks...
Because everyone is getting the same stems every church will soon start sounding the same.
I always find this sentiment a little funny. I don’t disagree that variety is good, but historically speaking, the church sounds more diverse now than it ever has. The further back you go, the more hymnals were used, the more churches were likely to sound similar.
I do understand the concern of using the same tracks. I just see it as no worse than hymnals were. I also think we will see more and more track variety. It’s pretty easy to find good amateur tracks now.
@@kyleblaneplays I forgot that every played out of the same hymn book. You're absolutely right.
@@nukeman444But you're not all playing the same piano/organ (and with organ, using the same registrations), using the same alternate harmonizations, introductions, or improvisations.
@@kyleblaneplaysThe standard practice until the 1900s was that hymnals were either text only or provided a melody. Choir books had harmonizations. Organists were often expected to come up with their own harmonizations. Most of the harmonizations given in hymnals came from choral settings.
@@karlrovey I would still argue that back then, simply due to limitations outside of anyone’s control, music from one church to another had a greater chance of sounding similar.
This is all working under the assumption that churches sounding similar is a problem, which I don’t even agree with. I have no problem with each church deciding for themselves what is best for them. If that means sounding just like the recording, more power to them. If the worship is God-honoring, I couldn’t care less how it sounds.
I miss the days of REAL live music.
Tiny Desk is bringing the live experience back. And the performances sound amazing. The mixing engineer is other worldly. And because the artist know it must be all live, they bring the best musicians and singers.
I thought may be I am too old…
Send me one Christian who plays guitar and one more who plays drums and we can do so, as you want.
When things are tracked or “programmed” it’s a little too planned. It’s nice to leave room for Holy Spirit to move and be able to stop and sing or play prophetically if you’re being led to by the spirit. Very good points in this video!
*My church is this way. Without tracks, the musicians and the choir literally malfunction and start looking at each other whenever the track cuts off and they just freeze up not knowing what to do 😂*
As i person who also was in the media department at a church that had no band except a drummer and bass player, we had to use backing tracks and it got to a point where it put extra stress on the media and sound ministry. It got to a point we would be asked to travel to other churches to set up in other churches media booth so that they could “make sure it sounded “ like at our church “ 😂. Needless to say that didn’t last long and eventually the church had to go back to a traditional church band
few things i hate about "modern" worship services... 1) vocalists don't have to memorize lyrics, but many musicians are expected to memorize "everything", 2) stems being added that emulate or cover up what you're playing (what is the point of having a real musician playing something/giving their time over a weekend when it gets smothered by the background tracks?)... 3) the laziness that goes hand in hand with using too much production (lowering expectations of what people need to be doing on their own to prepare for services), and 4) things being "too" perfect (like he mentioned in the vid)...the last one is a complaint about modern music, too- that recordings are so polished, they no longer sound "real"...
I play in two churches and we use no stems or click tracks, it is just old school playing with what we have and I don’t have the impression that we miss anything.
I play in a small church because they have hardly any musicians themself and mostly it is like a piano and a guitar/bass two guitars and a cajon or something like that and nobody asks for anything more.
I like playing there just as much as playing in a full band like in my own church, in fact it gives me much more freedom to do my thing.
We use click and IEM. Our Church has a beautiful oak panel wall on back of stage that made the music muddy with reverb when we used stage wedges that competed with the grand piano, drums and saxophone. In-ears was a fantastic solution that allowed us to lower the dB and clean up the sound in the room. An e-drum kit helped, too. The click, set by the drummer, keeps the intro on solo guitar or penny whistle in time and doesn’t kill creativity. It also is great when all the instruments drop for a few bars and then all come in exactly together. It is important to practice and know the songs well enough not to drop beats on the end of phrases.
We never use stems or backing tracks and never want to sound like the recording, anyway. Being musicians, we want the music to be an authentic expression of ourselves in which we sing and play to the best of our abilities as a pleasing sacrifice of praise. Leading in authentic worship requires the musicians to cast off the performance mindset and focus on worshipping God.
Unfortunately a lot of churches focus too hard on entertainment, and not enough on true worship!
no one is paying attention to the 10s of thousands leaving the church right now. but to get the cover band right? oh, yes they do pay attention to that.
While I am used to tracks, I do agree that the lack of tracks is better. It gives musicians the space to self-express and even substitute chords and arrangements. I think clicks are useful for recordings but not necessary for live performance. Who cares if we speed up or slowdown a bit? Great music is imperfect music.
Well said Terence! I appreciate this message, this is what happens in my church!
Brother I can really appreciate you putting your own story out there and how you learned from it. It's humbling but we learn a whole lot in the process. Thank you for your awsome content. God bless you.
This topic really resonates with me. In my opinion, the main goal of a worship team is to bring as many people as possible into a place of intimate worship with God whenever the team is on stage. I’ve played at too many churches that have all the talent and latest tech available, but not a single person in the crowd is singing along or raising their hands in worship, and it’s because they are simply watching a performance instead of actually worshipping God. Beyond this, playing/singing becomes boring and mundane for the members of the worship team because there’s no room for creative expression. Sure it’s good to have defined parameters to play in, but when the goal becomes sounding exactly like a recording and every single fill, solo and melody has to sound exactly the same each time, worship becomes truly monotonous. And when this happens, the crowd notices the lack of passion in the worship team and responds in kind.
One of my favorite worship experiences was in haiti with no projector and severely out of tune guitars. But it was authentic and beautiful. Worship shouldn't be a production it should be a conversation with God. We love to distract ourselves.
I grew up playing in a church that was too cheap to hire musicians and I got tired of playing with just a drummer most of the time. I then started tracking things up and it sounded so much more organized and beefier! It’s better when presented to people but there’s nothing like having a live full band and everyone working together.
You are speaking truth!
I am a contemporary worship songs composer.
Last year I was in charge in church projection also a song leader, back vocal and performed live recording as back vocalist, also I was managing our Worship Team channel, and information technology committee. The feedback from inside me, online comments, team members, and church members said the same.
Those issues are true, and they destroy the life of the songs, Church value, unity and if misused as you said, they can ruin everything in the church.
Yes, they should be used as tools for improvement not as tools that lead us.
God bless you
We visited a larger ministry with our pastor in different city. They were deep into Ableton with the bells and whistles. They forgot to bring down the bgvs and they were off terribly! I’ve always used hardware sequencers for our team, but we also sit around singing and learning parts so that we may sound organic. God gave us individual gifts that we must use. We could have easily transitioned into those modern tools but they are very expensive. That type of stuff trains people not to really do cooperate worship, but have a personal DJ. The emphasis is not God focused. God first and foremost must be the focus of our musical efforts and our worship! Great video!
So how do you know you are starting your songs at the correct tempo? Our church does not use backing tracks, just a click. I have found that since introducing the click, it has raised the ceiling for what we are doing. The bible says that the musicians in Psalms were skilled. Practicing with a metronone is critical in being a musician and the click track is accountability to the song.
You’re entitled to your opinion, even if it’s wrong. As a WL, I work harder to put together a Sunday service than I ever did. Modern songs are longer and more complex, so having a confidence monitor is justifiable, but parts must still be learned. (And is it really different from singing out of a Hymnal?) As for “imperfections,” they’re definitely still there. Small churches can use stems to fill out the band, covering the gaps in what they have on stage. Apps like ProP is more than just a lyrics projection tool - sermon content, announcement reels, media playback, live-streaming,…all of this and more.
Wow Man ! Thanks For This Video !!
Love that you took time to dissect this. Using tracks seems to be the default option without taking into consideration if it's even the best fit for your church. We should be led by the Holy Spirit in how we incorporate technology into our worship in the same way that you would be led in the songs you choose to sing.
I’ve been playing in church for the King of Kings since I’m 14 (that’s about 51 years now). I’ve also worked with international “artists” I need not mention because no name compares with His glorious name. Reflecting about this from the perspective of a Christian kid who practiced 4-6 hours daily to develop God given skills, I just wonder if people who get everything nicely prepackaged -even if they have God given talents-will ever develop those gifts as musicians. More important yet, it worries me that in many cases we might be witnessing mere “showmanship/performance” rather than “spiritual praise”. We are abandoning “art”, as God given force that helps express our praise, embracing artifice defined as cunning tricks or devices used to achieve a specific result. Worst yet “artificial" refers to human-made or products that imitate natural ones. With AI looming, will our praise finally become artificial too? Will the ends justify the means? Will computer assisted praise -CAP-lead us to embrace a sham and to offer strange fire?
Thank you for speaking on this
Thank you for sounding the alarm! EVERYTHING YOU SAID is like SPOT ON. Like there is not ONE THING you said that wasn't accurate. You kinda touched on this, but most disconcerting is what it does to WORSHIP both for the musicians and the church.
I am a church musician at a church with a music department that has bought into tracks hook, line and sinker. Our legacy is worship - our choir actually won the "Best Choir in America" award at a Verizon Wireless competition several years ago. We won the competition with a choir full of people that were worshipping God without anyone counting down to verses or choruses in their ears - it was pure, very imperfect (though the musicians had a click) worship. We definitely weren't the best sounding group, but we had freedom of worship that resulted in the whole arena standing and worshipping.
It's really, REALLY hard to worship as a musician with all this stuff going on in your ears, and (as someone else said) musicians don't even listen to each other half the time. Like I have heard people say, "I have everyone else turned down except me and the click track." That is the POLAR OPPOSITE of what a musician should do. You can say alllll day long that click tracks are filling the gap, but the truth is that the tracks make people crazy lazy and are a substitute for good musicianship in 99% of the cases. I actually have started turning off the click when I play so I can worship better, but when I turned down the backup vocals (that got on my nerves since they weren't our singers, as you said) what I heard was embarrassing, especially considering our legacy. I'll say it again: people are getting CRAZY LAZY
We literally DIDN'T HAVE WORSHIP SERVICE during a midweek service a couple months ago because the Avioms went down and no one could hear the tracks or themselves. When you are so dependent on technology and production that you can't even have a worship service without something plugged into your ears, I think you need to take a step back.
God still moves in our church, but a lot of it is "in spite of" what is happening with PRODUCTION. I won't go deep because I do love my church, but a click to help you keep the beat is WAAAAAAY different than what is going on right now. I had someone come up to me a couple weeks ago and say, "I could tell you were playing the bass tonight!". I was like, "did I sound that bad???", but he was like, "No, you sounded real good, I could just hear it good and tell that you were really playing it". The musician in me was appalled at the thought that people could think I was like not even really playing the bass and that all the music (not just half of it) was fake. We started fake music hardcore when COVID hit and they started just using tracks and a few singers, but when we all came back the tracks were there to stay.
If we were just dependent on production we'd be toast, but thank the Lord we are a spirit-filled church with a pastor who won't settle for dead church. But I can unequivocally say that click tracks are destroying church music and making it really, really hard to break through to pure worship.
Terrific comment @MrCerealTV. Thanks for making it real.
This is my story for sure. I was in a small church and brought my whole recording studio every week and only needed a solid drummer. I would have everything produced in ableton and would have my mac on stage with a mouse and keyboard on a music stand. It was tight but not spirited. I now do not use any clicks or tracks, and the worship is so much more powerful. Im growing like crazy now where before I was spending all my time on production and didn't have much time for creating my own interpretations. It feels so real and emotional to have real pockets and tempo fluctuations. I'm not planning on using tracks ever again. I would rather have just me and an accustic.
Looking forward to your next video
The last 3 minutes of this video is where the value is.
Thanks Terence, really helpful information. Much appreciated. Q: is it possible to really "go with the flow" when using all the outboard stems and stuff? Eg, if the Holy Spirit urges me as a worship leader to change the song, or the sections, or keys? Is it possible? How about creating spontaneous songs 'on the fly', is it workable?
Excellent assessment! Amen.
For me is just a tool that helps me to serve God better! I don’t have musician so helps lots to lead worship better! I think depends in the need of each congestion! Thank you for sharing!
It seems many people are conflating click tracks with stems or backing tracks. A “click track” is just a metronome. It helps everyone stay on beat. It actually takes discipline to play to a click track. Ask any drummer. There’s nothing lazy about it.
“Stems” on the other hand, are prerecorded instrumental or vocal parts that can be used during worship to either supplement or fill-in missing pieces in the worship team/band. For example, if you don’t have a bass player, you can use the bass stem so that your music still sounds full. Or if you don't have enough vocalists, you can add the vocal stems to fill out the vocals.
I agree that it’s possible to abuse stems or hide behind them, but they're are not bad in and of themselves. They’re just tools and resources. It’s up to us to use them wisely when needed.
Whenever I hear conversations like this I am reminded that the majority of churches don't understand the meaning of worship
Great video. These issues arise with cover bands lately too, everyone's using tracks for the most part.
There's certainly a balance. Ableton Live is such a powerful tool for organic worship and live processing (especially for groove and rhythmic creativity). I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water because I think Live can really minimize distractions and enhance worship!
Each Sunday i lead worship from the keyboard without tracks, I can control the ebb and flow and timing, whether the music gets big or quiet, which I wouldn't be able to do if I were plugged into tracks. There's a place for tracks but some churches are completely timed from the countdown all the way to the preaching by Ableton and tracks, and there's no variance in tempo, its all on the grid.
Thanks bro. You’re all right 100%
As a musician that played in worship bands for many years, at one point I could select the instrumentation to blend in. The worship leader decided he would be better suited to make these decisions, unfortunately for me, I’m not into what I feel is a Karaoke style of playing or lip syncing. I find it interesting the observation that the live version sounded to “perfect” , amazing how observers can see things the way that they do! I worked hard at my musicianship and unfortunately all if the institutions in my area rely on “tracks”. Great stuff and Bless you for these.
Thanks for bringing this to light!! As a worship drummer I miss the worship aspect of the music!! I’ve said since day one of tracks and clicks it’s now become more of a “job” than a worship experience!! See first hand the the issue of clicks is when our younger folk step in to play they can’t keep a tempo or rhythm very well without the clicks and tracks. Not their fault, it’s the way of the day and them not having to learn their craft the right way.
It's not so much mistakes, it's the fact the performance is a personable and present experience rather than predicted.
I really do love my acapella church of Christ service. 😊
At our church, we use a percussion loop that matches the BPM and time signature of the song we are singing and then all of our instruments/vocals are live. We used to rely heavily on multi-tracks, but thankfully we stepped away from that. Now the worship is able to flow wherever The Holy Spirit is leading us, and all of the musicians and vocalists have the same BPM to follow while also having the freedom to build their musicianship. If we feel the need to flow into another song that wasn't rehearsed, we turn off the percussion loop and let it breathe (unless the song is in the same BPM). This helps us stay on the same tempo as a team, but we have the freedom to flow wherever The Lord wants us to go.
I’m in the worship band at my church and we just started using the click and backing tracks. I love the click because it helps me keep time, and reminds me of what part of the song is next. The backing tracks are used to fill in an instrument or two when a band member is away from the service. Eventually I will be able to isolate the guitar part on the track at home for practice.
I’ve been doing this for years this brotha is right on point let them know bro bro listen to him you won’t miss
A musician, who specializes in hand drums, talked about all the movies and shows that he recorded drum parts for the soundtracks. He demonstrated the different rhythms and hand drums from across the Middle East, North Africa, South American and Central America. When asked why musicians from these regions didn’t record for the soundtracks, his answer was simple. Although they were talented musicians, they couldn’t play with a click track. If the best studio musicians in LA record to a click track, it’s a good tool for anyone. After you get use to the click, it helps keep the music in the pocket and everyone is much more relaxed. It’s so easy to play a fill and drop a beat or play a solo instrumental interlude and rush the beat just. Click tracks also eliminate potential arguments with singers skipping a beat at the end of a phrase or a guitar strum pattern getting off.
wonderful work sir ❤
I’m still looking for a way to properly put my church online as a member of the media team. We don’t have the tools yet. Listening to you talk about those producing in church is making me feel light years away.
I agree with the person who posted about the difference between a click track and a backing track. I feel a click has made us a tighter group. Especially if you have drummers who struggle with accuracy. Yes, you should work one on one with them and help them to improve the best you can, but he said he goes a long way and tightening a group and their musician ship.
Also, I think backing tracks can be done effectively. We had a guitar player who just started playing with us who didn’t even realize we used tracks. I was pleased with hearing this. I want to use it to supplement a few things, but not be anything over the top or artificial. But I probably air on the side of minimalism with backing tracks compared to some.
It can be done tastefully. The key is to have the musicianship to perform the songs without tracks and then use the tracks to glue everything together. If people in the congregation can notice the tracks then they are being overused in my opinion but if they are there to pad the chord changes and add subtle layers it can make the overall band sound better because there will be more of a foundation. Plus click tracks keep people in time better than not having one, most touring bands use them for a reason
When I was told to “make sure you’re standing on the “X” on the floor to make sure the camera catches you when it pans left to right” was the day I quit playing in church.
Why? Because you don't want to use technology to further the Gospel? There's nothing wrong with using today's tools to help out.
@@tbdrummer67 Respectfully, I think you're missing the point of what @xmac6519 meant.
Great points! I am grateful God has placed me in a church that is more concerned with worship that is in accord with scripture than seeking to be at the cutting edge of tech trends. Although most of the musicians rely on sheet music they are able to flex and understand that the sheet music is more of a guideline than a taskmaster.
As a member of a very traditional church, where all of the music in our services is a cappella with the entire congregation singing, for better or worse, we don’t have this problem. There might be a song leader, trying to help those of us who can’t carry a tune in a wheelbarrow, but that’s it. After all, it’s about singing in praise and worship, not trying to impress anyone. Truth is, we are usually singing classical gospel anyway. They are still powerful songs many years later.
Honestly, This is a GREAT point of view for today's church. Save it for the single or album
Interesting video. I didn't even know churches had this kind of resources/material available! I have been a minister of music/organist/pianist ,for the last 35 years. I read music. I practice( I have a piano & Organ @ home) I'm in a small church and I would never use anything but real instruments and real musicians. Being in a small church,( I'm the only musician) I play the organ & piano and I sing. I can't imagine doing it any other way. It's not about performance but about worshipping the Lord and being touched by the Holy Spirit. It's not a concert or a professional studio, it's church. I don't believe God is impressed with all this technology,it's what is in your❤ heart. Your love for God ,your love for others.
As a senior pastor and an accomplished musician…..Much Respect for this!!
I only use. 1. Click 2. Guide 3. Pad that syncs based on the click to create atmosphere 4. Shaker or small rhythm element to give reference to everyone. 5. Instruments I don't have. Never horns, minimal strings. My guitar player has to work every 3 weeks and cant make our third service so I play the tracks or I wont lead and play guitar for songs needed and keys for worship.
Ive had occasions where the bass player got sick the day before and I had no option but to use the track and it worked out great.
Its definitely a help. I like playing with a track because it puts everyone on the same page and gives confidence to new members in band but I think of them as an additional instrument.
I'm interm pastor of a small church which uses backing tracks since we don't have a pianist. I could play piano, but I can't do that, lead the service and preach. One Sunday the young lady who does the music was away and someone else was doing it, but they somehow ended up playing two different songs at the same time, one over the other. We didn't have the time to figure out what was wrong, but suffice it to say, the music was very distracting. It affected me in my preaching, and we ended up just cancelling the closing song. And so my opinion is that no matter what job you have in the music production of the church, either as a musician, or as a technician, you have to make sure you know what you are doing. My other observation is that in the early church they probably didn't even use musicians, but rather just sang accapela as an expression of their love for the Lord. I suspect that just like a lot of other aspects of church, we have made it a lot more than it ever was.
My church almost always uses a click and regularly uses backing tracks. I personally think correctly using and playing with tracks tends to be more difficult then just not using tracks at all. People have to learn their parts and fit within the entire band sound. We use tracks to cover parts that aren’t practical for us to play live, but we don’t just rely on the tracks to cover everything. Our tracks are designed to be flexible and allow us to follow the worship leader and have moments. I think of tracks as just another tool to help us point people to Jesus. When we use them well, they can bring excellence. The problem is when a desire for perfection causes us to put the tool before Jesus.
Our worship shouldn’t be perfect to make us look good. Our worship should be excellent for the glory and renown of Jesus.
The Episcopal choir I sang in was unamplified, there's a lot to be said for that tradition.
We make our own stems. We don't have a bass guitar player so that's basically all we added in with a simply loop and maybe some pad. We also have our keys record in case the keys player is on vacation for a week or 2. we never use vocal stems outside of virtual sound checks and rehearsals. I never want to use stems for instruments or vocal that we have because in my experience it kills moral when people feel they can just be replaced in a service. Would you say we're doing it right / tastefully?
we have also tried click track and additional tracks in live situation...i would say i agree with you...too much perfection does not really connect in regular Sunday worship...i don't know...but it does, just this morning, we played CCM's without click or backing tracks...i could say that it is much better...the slowing or getting fast on every corner of song gives less robotic feels which makes it better as far as i observed...maybe others will not fully agree with me but it's ok...i just go with what ever works best.
When the backing tracks are used for vocals, I feel like that's when it gets difficult to keep the worship authentic, and that it sometimes takes away more than it adds. Something I think is really important to include in this conversation though, is that some churches are using this technology because they can only afford 1 or 2 musicians. Another blessing in this technology is that it provides churches with limited resources an opportunity to have full instrumentation for their music ministries.
I'm happy to be behind the curve.
Thank you Thank you for this! I’ve been a church drummer for years; I will quit the band if they moved to this style of worship. The need for perfection diminishes the talent God has given us to worship Him!
I lead music in church for 25 years. One thing that seems to be forgotten is “it’s not a concert - it’s not a performance - it’s not about you.” Yes, you should do your best when singing or playing an instrument. That’s true for anything we do - to glorify Jesus. But, the point and purpose of music in church is to lead (motivate, encourage) people to worship. Sadly, all of the tools and tricks that are available today make it very easy to say “look at me” and not “look at God”.
Very interesting and bold move bro to post this. Quite a good
Point , takes good balance to know when not to use the tracks and take them out. I love to play the tracks live. Did that since the 80s , had to learn to embrace the tracks , they were the enemy to me for awhile. But had to embrace. Great to practice without stems yeah! 👍 as if it goes out you are ready to play the tracks
I find they fill in the sound nicely...
Where I’ve landed on it
Turn off extra stuff you don’t need. Bring what makes you you to the front. Texture is nice but you don’t need to sound like the track identically. It’s sweet if you turn a lot off because you start to sound consistent across the set.
We added using an ambient pad in the background, but we have no plans to add click tracks or backing tracks. We are considering in-ears cause we rent a space with low ceiling so its hard to get monitors for the band to hear without them being so loud they drown out the foh
As a church musician, I've experienced the pros and cons of click and tracks. There have been instances where I or someone had to call out sick. Instead of throwing everything into disarray, we just throw their respective track into the mix. However, I've also had the mistake of leading a song that is in 3/4 off in 4/4. We stumbled through the first verse and eventually kicked it over to the right time signature, but the vocalist about had a meltdown. Once the tracks start, you're riding that train until it's done.
But I do think musicians and worship leaders using tracks as crutches more than tools to enhance worship is an issue. If we have an instrument, it shouldn't be in the track, unless it's a secondary or special part.
Is there a difference between "click tracks" and "backing tracks"? I always thought a "click track" was just about keeping tempo, while "backing tracks" were akin to playing live "over top" of a recording of the actual tune (w/ or w/o backing vocals).
I'm the MD/keyboardist for my church's WT and I've pushed back against using backing tracks for two main reasons. First, the plethora of additional sounds coming from a three-piece band can create confusion among the listeners. I recently watched a seminar that touched on that subject, and if people hear a guitar when there's no guitarist on stage, they start wondering where that sound is coming from. Besides, I have good enough instruments and am a good enough player that I can mimic that part with a synth sound that leaves no doubt as to what instrument is playing it. Second, and most importantly, is using backing tracks takes all the spontaneity out of the worship service. If the leader wants to do the bridge a third time or go back to the chorus at the end, that's hard to do with backing tracks. We do use in-ears, but for monitoring purposes only. I have a mic to give verbal directions to the band, but the rest is just a mix of the instruments and vocals. In fact, the vox just recently started using in-ears, and the majority of them live being able to hear themselves, each other, and the band more clearly. But as long as I'm the MD, I will fight against using tracks. We have real musicians who are very good, and it's been confirmed by comments from visitors. That's not bragging, but it does reflect on the level of excellence that we expect from all our musicians and vocalists. Like it was said in the video, relying on backing tracks and stems can lead to laziness, and we're not about that in our church.
I always create my own backing tracks, but I only make stems of things that are "missing" in the mix. Our keyboard player is a high school senior, about to graduate, so she's been pretty busy with life, and doesn't always make it to church. Having recordings of the keys fills a gap, when I think that they are needed. I play guitar, and sing, and I'm usually relied on for the rhythm parts...but sometimes, I just want to put a little "flair" into the songs....so I record the rhythm, then I'm free during church to add whatever I want, without having to lose the rhythm.
I think that backing tracks are most beneficial for small praise teams. I have 6 members of my team.....total. I've seen churches that have 2 or 3 worship teams, and they fight for scheduling to be "seen" on Sundays...they can recruit replacements from satelite campuses, etc. For me, if somebody is ill, or can't be at church on any given Sunday, it's nice to have a way to preserve needed parts of the music.
One thing to keep in mind is that every time we add new technology there is a learning curve. We have to master it and be so familiar with it that it becomes second nature, so our FOCUS is on the Lord. We can become distracted by many aspects of unpreparedness (not knowing our chord progressions, our tempo, our notes, our words, our lead lines, etc. Adding new tech is similar - we have to be well prepped and solid so that the new tech becomes a usable tool.
A decade ago we introduced the click track to drummers only. Then the bass player. Then the Worship Leader. For awhile we felt encumbered. Then I started listening to older recordings prior to click. I couldn’t believe how much we floated tempo! It was a rude awakening. We decided to embrace the click for everyone. Over time we found it to be liberating, honest, helpful to tightening us up. It doesn’t have to be a false choice of listening to the click OR to one another. We do both, just like orchestral musicians watch a conductor (the metronome) and listen to each other. After 10 years it would be hard to return to floating tempos for bands. (No problem for single leaders or small ensembles).
We use our own tracks. We record to multitrack. If on a Sunday I don’t have a bass player or a drummer, I can edit and optimize tracks from a prior Sunday and integrate them where helpful. I use Studio One (rather than Prime or MTs) so that I. A set up the arrangement how we like. With your own tracks you can choose the best key and tempo and arrangement. And you can make realtime changes.
It’s all tools. Do your prep during the week. On Sundays, worship the Lord and lead your team and love your people. Blessings.
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longin' just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart
I'm comin' back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus
Matt Redman- Heart of worship
I do play as a volunteer for a local church myself, and they do have a click track into our monitors but thats literally all they have, sometimes we dont even use it because it locks up and malfunctions
What's are stems/stims that you created?
I was a church musician for about 25 years and I hate church music now. This explains why.
Gotta consider the spiritual side of using (or not using) backing tracks. Sometimes you lose the “oil” when using backing tracks
I agree completely with you!
I’m glad that people are finally waking up and catching onto this. I woke up and caught onto this way before I even started using this type of new technology and modern church crap.
We use backing tracks, but we don't make the full band be recorded into the backing track. We mostly just add textures, synth leads, and pads. However, we only do it for fast praise songs. For solemn worship, we only do it live. Worship becomes too restricting if we play it in metronome
I appreciate the thoughtful insight. The most important instrument in Sunday mornings is the congregation. The musicians job is to lead and enhance the signing of praises without being a distraction ie playing poorly or overplaying.
Good point. Most "worship" bands drown out the congregation. I Can't tell if I'm on key if I can't hear myself. The loudest part on stage should be what I'm supposed to sing along with, then the chords, last the drums. Most of these rock and roll wannabes get it backward. I can hardly hear anything except the drums and guitars.