As a senior Pastor it really bugs me when people think structure restricts the spirit. In worship, in preaching even in praying....Gods not sat in heaven going oh my goodness they sang verse 1 and verse 2 but didn't go back to verse 1....that doesn't grieve Gods spirit. Sometimes the things we think are the issues that grieve the spirit or frustrate it is not true. Gods not going to not come to church because your singers were not free on the spot..... Most of that is just musicians vanity and most members of the crowd don't even care. What grieves the spirit is when the worship team are not prayed up, full of the spirit themselves, living in compromise, no love in their hearts....not whether they used a track or not lol
I just want to say Jake this is a great and needed channel. I started a church plant in England with just my wife and I and we have grown. We are about to re launch again with about 100 members now and this channel was sent by God. Most of the people who will give you criticism won't be church planters, they will be part of it or serve in it...but won't fully be responsible or feel the burden of reaching the lost. Those of us that are passionate about reaching the lost will so love this. Because yes worship team need to worship the lord....but we also have to connect to people...otherwise there is no point of a team. However your videos help us to provide an excellent service in 2018 so we can reach the lost. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!
Wow God totally led me to your channel. I am a keys player and about to step into my calling and starting a worship band and drug and alcohol ministry. Thank you.
I'm an old guy that's been playing and at times leading worship since the mid 80's. I've had big bands, small bands and no band. It all works. I really believe in using the Musicians that you have and working out your own arrangements. Current worship, in my opinion, has basically become all the same and worship teams have turned into cover bands. So I'll just say no to tracks. Thanks!
Tim. As an aging musician trying to use my skill in worship, I prefer to play with what you have, I agree that if you "fill" in a missing part then the songs will start to sound the same. When you have a full band it is great. It is also great to enhance your skill and sometimes humble yourself working with a partial band.
Dude, you're killing it with this channel. So, so much great information. I also appreciate the FANTASTIC implementation of inbound marketing. Keep it up!!!
There needs to be a delicate balance between making the worship experience more comfortable for the congregation and/or the musicians. If you only have a three piece band, it may be difficult to do an upbeat isreal houghton or even planetshakers song, AND have it sound familiar/comfortable for the congregation. But with some songs all that may be needed are pads and a click. The important part is for the worship team to get comfortable enough with the arrangements that they can play on automatic and just open their hearts to worship.
I lead a 5 piece (musical instrument) worship band, me singing and acoustic guitar, an electric guitarist, a drummer, pianist, and percussionist, and 3-4 vocalists depending on the week. I wish we didn’t rely as much on backing tracks as we do, mainly for spontaneity (that I can’t necessarily figure out how to use backing tracks smoothly during), however, what a game changer! Obviously worship isn’t about music and the quality, but people know what good sound is, believe me...they’ll tell you when it doesn’t sound good haha. But if we can have people focus less on how empty it sounds, and more on Jesus, shoot I’ll do anything it takes! Awesome videos by the way Jake, you’ve taught me a ton!
one way to do it smoothly is to have a music director call out instructions, helping you pre-empt where the leader is going. If the WL handsignals to repeat the bridge, then the MD watches for it and says "repeat bridge, repeat bridge in 3, 2, 1" that way everyone is in sync and the transition is smooth In my church, the MD is usually EG1 or Keys
Depending on where i am leading at i use backing tracks. I like them because they allow me to practice on my own and then my band mates and then when someone is out sick then we can fill there spot.
I've seen so many of your videos and I love the wallpapers you have on your desktop!! Thank you for everything and teaching what you know! May God bless you abundantly!!
Thank you Isaak! Glad you appreciate the wallpapers lol. Unfortunately I don't have that computer anymore so I'll find other funny ways to keep things interesting.
Interesting topic. Tracks, or no, and how much? I use them sometimes. My band is me on keys/lead voc, a guitarist, bass, drummer and 3-5 singers. I've never used premade tracks but I make our tracks in Ableton. Usually I make a drum/perc loop, synths, bass, and keys. Just depends on the song. Then I'm not stuck if my bass player can't make it, I include bass in track. If I want to add Hammond organ I'll include keys in track and play organ live. I include bgv's once in a while to thicken up vocals, tighten things up a bit. Where I draw the line... ? Some songs need room. Some songs need a band. Some need to really breathe and not be restrictive AT ALL. Like every other comment here, this is only specific to my church and what works for us. I have the ability to record/produce tracks, and I personally don't like to sound identical to other popular bands/songs. We have our own sound that works and there's no need for US to sound like Hillsong when we have what it takes to sound like ourselves. So, I'm for it, sometimes, and always custom made. My rule of thumb is, don't make or use tracks just to use them. I use it if the song really wouldn't be the same without it and I want to add more synths and electronic rhythm than I can play live. Keep making videos! Lots of leaders out there need guidance and you are allowing them to hear many perspectives. Bottom line, worship must be worship, just keep that 1st and everything else is so much smaller in comparison. I love a big sound, but our hearts must be even bigger.
Hey Jake, you mentioned certain instruments (drums, keys, etc.) that you wouldn't put into your tracks and I have to disagree...to some extent. I've been leading at a small church where for many years it was just me on acoustic and a bass player. After a long time of that setup, I eventually got a drum machine and the response from the congregation was amazing. We now use tracks with drums, keys, synths, etc. to support my acoustic and our bass player, with positive response from the congregation. So, I would say it really depends on your church. If you simply just don't have musicians, which I'm sure there are lots of churches like this out there, I think you can work in any instruments into the tracks, over time. Just do it gradually. Probably the only thing I wouldn't put into tracks are BGVs.
That's awesome Aaron! Honestly, it's probably because I've never tried using tracks for drums before that I'm a bit hesitant about it, but hey, that's probably a lame excuse to recommend against them. Really appreciate your feedaback and that's great to hear it's working well for your context!
Music is even more easier. As a busy person and also my team members, I prefer to use tracks because I will just let them prepared and more discipline. Im not have much time to cover more practice but really this helps a lot ,so we can practice new songs with ease. Backing tracks sound good and it reduced error in worship and also we can spend more time in another ministry.
That's the thing a lot of people don't realize. Most churches are in these situations - limited manpower, limited time, limited budget. But people keep trying to play like they're a mega church.
Why do so many people think they need to sound like the original recording? What happened to creativity in our music? If you work with the musicians you have, it will force you to think outside the box when planning your arrangements and give you your own unique sound. Secondly, I understand the desire for excellence, but musicians have to start somewhere. I wouldn't turn someone down just because they're not an expert. I believe setting standards too high is what turns people off learning an instrument, which will of course result in fewer musicians being available.
We just tried our first backing track, using Ableton. I suppose it sounded more polished, but did it bring anyone closer to the Lord? Why does everyone have to sound like Hillsong? Let's just go all the way and play the song from the album while somebody lip-syncs on stage. I don't want to be too cynical, but are we forgetting the real purpose of worship in our rush to chase after the latest shiny new thing?
グレゴリーミカン That's a very good point and I know he isn't saying to do that. When I had a really small band I personally appreciate the sound of worship you can create with just that. Then again I'm a pianist and you can almost add anything to piano and have a unique sound. You can take the piano or keyboard away and we will sing louder than ever and it is worship. I concluded my own comment with the same feeling. It has to be worship. Then we can talk about how to thicken up the sound. This video skips forward past are we saved... Are we worshippers... and the whole checklist because, well, there's no time to go over all of that before every single video lol. It's assumed. Let's be worshippers.. THEN start this video.
Sometimes as Christians we fear change. In Jesus day I am sure they didn't have speakers and microphones. We use them because its a great tool. Its not about sounding like anyone....but our worship isn't destroyed by making it better. Sometimes we are to Religious in our approach. A microphone, a backing track, a projector isn't going to bring anyone closer to the lord we know that....but never forget we are trying to reach our culture with the gospel.
I believe when we worship creative ideas start coming. So new technologies can be an expression of our worship. If it comes into your spirit that you should try something new, I believe it's worth trying)
man, in everything you do, be excellent. thats biblical. but obviously, doing it for the glory of God. excellence speaks volumes to our world. especially in the name of the most excellent creator in existence. However, I agree in the fact that cool stuff always needs to be weighed with that question. will it help point people to Jesus? I just think anything excellent does that.
we have a small worship band in my dads church , but we don't use backing tracks because we don't know that how to make a backing tracks . we also don't use inear monitors because there are some financial problems in our church . our church is a new church and 40 peoples come in our church !
In one of our teams they use in few uptempo songs backings - especially when the guitar player isn't available. But when nobody plays bass guitar, they keyboard player could do with left hand
I think it depends. I play in a 2 piece (yes, you read that right) band with me on the percussion and drums and the worship leader on keys and bass, and 5 vocals. For most of the contemporary stuff(Hillsong, Chris Tomlin etc), we try to get as close as we can with drums and keys. It's a challenge trying to copy the drum machine(that scintillating 32nd note hi-hat pattern), live drummer and percussion at the same, but we try our best. :D Of course, this is a long shot because we don't have that distorted guitar lead or that pulsating CS80 brass sound or just simple percussion loops, but we try our best to get there because of limited manpower. So in fact, all of our music is played live, and our current setup doesn't allow us to use click tracks or backing tracks. We praying for a bigger band(and more resources), but as for now, backing tracks will probably stay a dream. Thanks for the great content Jake! Hope to use this soon in the future! :D
I tried doing backing tracks for our church. It was not accepted well. People could not grasp why they were hearing all these instruments with only seeing two on stage. Then, they wondered why we should have live musicians at all. I find that at secular gigs that I do as well. People don’t go to a solo roost to hear 40 instruments and a full orchestration. They go to heat that one person in a stripped down style. Does it mean our church can’t sing some of the “big” songs. Sometimes. But, who cares? There’s thousands of songs out there. Plus we’ve written some of our own. It’s not about the song, it’s about the heart. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty. Who was and is and is to come.
Its good to use backing tracks beacuse it makes the band sound bigger that's why I loved using backing even Pads in worship I only use Pads in our church using mg android phone but it's very effective in worship
I would LOVE to add tracks and a click to the majority of or worship set. However, our P&W Leader is against it because it takes her freedom of being spontaneous away. Any advice on how to convince her it’s worth the sacrifice? Also, she is against inear monitoring, which is another tool I believe would help our team tremendously. Any ideas on using clicks and cues w/o an in-ear monitor? I was thinking setting up a small speaker next to her??? It will probably bleed through the mic though. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated!
Hey brother, thank you for all the vids but as a musician I have to say that if I had a choice between playing with a backing track or playing without one I would always choose no track. I'm not saying that backing tracks are useless, I'm saying that they restrict a musician from freedom. The point of playing especially in a worship service is to have the freedoms to play and allow the spirit to move freely. Once again I'm not saying this is impossible but what's the point of having talented musician who will just perform and sound like another band or track? I rather have the pianist, drummer, guitarist play the same song and make it their own and unique than to have my musicians feel like they need to perform at a different level hindering the ability to learn free play. Again not that it's useless and I'm sure many churches may need it but if you have a band I'm not sure it's that necessary.
Thanks for your input! In my context, I have pretty much all of our song arrangements planned out, with some flexibility at the end of songs for pray or repeating parts of songs as I feel led.Totally personal preference. I appreciate you sharing.
Hey INQUIZITIV3. I don't know what era of religious(to be politically correct) music you come from(it would be nice to know), but if you go to people like Ron Kenoly(that's where I come from lol), Alvin Slaughter, Paul Baloche(waaay back), you will find that there was only one keyboardist(Tom Brooks). He used A LOT of backing tracks(especially for his keys to act as a double or as another instrument) and for other instruments like brass or strings (synthesized or live, but recorded in studio ). When you listen to the music, you can't help but get consumed by the music and worship. You look on stage and you find musicians who played with Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones and all the big names (Abraham Laboriel, Paul Jackson Jr, Alex Acuña, Justo Almario). If I had the chance, I would honestly ask Tom Brooks why he did that when he had a beautiful list of highly professional musicians, but again, it depends on the situation.
I've used backing tracks the record myself. makes things easier, I don't have to rely on flakey musicians, egos, and I get different musical styles so I'm not locked into any 1 type of style.
With Ableton I can arrange the song however I would like and I can use a foot controller if I want flexibility on the fly. Check out a video a posted a couple days ago on this topic!
We are currently using Ableton to run loops. I’m currently working on incorporating multitracks and in ears. Do you create you song lyrics to sync to Ableton or purchase them?
I have a small worship band that I’m trying to put together. We are extremely limited in our instruments. I have two keyboard players who also sing, a drumer(myself) and bass guitarist. I’m starting to play with ableton and I was wondering what instruments or sounds you would recommend for us to start having a full sounding worship.
Two keys, bass and drums is plenty. No need for tracks, you just need to spend time working together so what you play complements each other. Then maybe pray for the Lord to send you additional musicians!
Why would you want to sound like something you’re not? I’m all for electronic tracks used in worship. But if you use them, do so to express yourself, not to emulate someone else’s sound.
What if you can't afford to buy these tracks for 25-35 dollars a piece? What is another alternative? Right now we use pads and we have anywhere between 3 musicians (drums, bass, acoustic) and a full band. I do want to add depth and creativity to the sound we create but if we do five songs on a sunday thats 125+ dollars a week - how do you manage that with such a small church? your budget must be fairly large? Or you end up paying out of pocket.
Great question Meg! This is actually the topic of tomorrow's video. It's great that you are using pads because that's one of the best routes to go when building your library on a budget. The next best route is to use custommix from multitracks.com. those audio files cost $12, so it's a more realistic route to go if you need to build a library of tracks in a hurry. I think it's definitely worth a conversation with the senior/executive pastors or whoever is in charge of the budget. Try to show them the transformation tracks bring and then make a plan of how much the church budget can allot for them. At Mission Lakewood specifically, our lead pastor is super passionate about worship and he is okay with putting resources toward tracks. We went with credit bundles from loopcommunity. It's a higher cost up front but gives you a pretty good discount.
Hi again, I was investigating the option of the whole custom mix route but I was confused with how to do it, or how it really works. I look forward to tomorrow's video then! thank you!
I think backing tracks are much closer to your band just playing youtube videos for worship every week. I'd suggest using something like Mainstage with patches that'll let you freely experiment with different sounds but still sticks with your playing style.
Tracks, and even click tracks, have been ruining worship for me. It forces the team to play the song exactly the same as the recording. It's forced, feels inauthentic, and prohibits expressive worship from the worship leaders on stage. Without the ability to arrange songs according to your needs and putting your own inflections, touches, and styles into the music, you become nothing but a parrot. Train your team to be expressive and independent, and find creative ways around your limitations and you won't have to rely on a computer to dictate your worship services.
this is so commercialized. Be careful not to turn worship into a show. to say that we need to learn how to cater to the culture when it comes to WORSHIPING GOD is very wrong. No hate though, I just encourage you to find scripture on your statement that as Christians we need to stay hip and relevant to what style of music the culture likes. You are basically saying that hymns have no place in worship based on your statement.
You shouldn't be hiring worship leaders. You need people who are worshipers first, and musicians second. Bringing in musicians who may not even be believers. Making music the focal point defeats the entire purpose of worship. Otherwise, you're managing a pop band and using the church as a venue.
As a senior Pastor it really bugs me when people think structure restricts the spirit. In worship, in preaching even in praying....Gods not sat in heaven going oh my goodness they sang verse 1 and verse 2 but didn't go back to verse 1....that doesn't grieve Gods spirit. Sometimes the things we think are the issues that grieve the spirit or frustrate it is not true. Gods not going to not come to church because your singers were not free on the spot..... Most of that is just musicians vanity and most members of the crowd don't even care. What grieves the spirit is when the worship team are not prayed up, full of the spirit themselves, living in compromise, no love in their hearts....not whether they used a track or not lol
Mo Timbo amen
I just want to say Jake this is a great and needed channel. I started a church plant in England with just my wife and I and we have grown. We are about to re launch again with about 100 members now and this channel was sent by God. Most of the people who will give you criticism won't be church planters, they will be part of it or serve in it...but won't fully be responsible or feel the burden of reaching the lost. Those of us that are passionate about reaching the lost will so love this. Because yes worship team need to worship the lord....but we also have to connect to people...otherwise there is no point of a team. However your videos help us to provide an excellent service in 2018 so we can reach the lost. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!
Wow God totally led me to your channel. I am a keys player and about to step into my calling and starting a worship band and drug and alcohol ministry. Thank you.
I'm an old guy that's been playing and at times leading worship since the mid 80's. I've had big bands, small bands and no band. It all works. I really believe in using the Musicians that you have and working out your own arrangements. Current worship, in my opinion, has basically become all the same and worship teams have turned into cover bands. So I'll just say no to tracks. Thanks!
Tim. As an aging musician trying to use my skill in worship, I prefer to play with what you have, I agree that if you "fill" in a missing part then the songs will start to sound the same. When you have a full band it is great. It is also great to enhance your skill and sometimes humble yourself working with a partial band.
Dude, you're killing it with this channel. So, so much great information. I also appreciate the FANTASTIC implementation of inbound marketing. Keep it up!!!
Thanks Bobbie!
There needs to be a delicate balance between making the worship experience more comfortable for the congregation and/or the musicians. If you only have a three piece band, it may be difficult to do an upbeat isreal houghton or even planetshakers song, AND have it sound familiar/comfortable for the congregation. But with some songs all that may be needed are pads and a click. The important part is for the worship team to get comfortable enough with the arrangements that they can play on automatic and just open their hearts to worship.
I lead a 5 piece (musical instrument) worship band, me singing and acoustic guitar, an electric guitarist, a drummer, pianist, and percussionist, and 3-4 vocalists depending on the week.
I wish we didn’t rely as much on backing tracks as we do, mainly for spontaneity (that I can’t necessarily figure out how to use backing tracks smoothly during), however, what a game changer! Obviously worship isn’t about music and the quality, but people know what good sound is, believe me...they’ll tell you when it doesn’t sound good haha. But if we can have people focus less on how empty it sounds, and more on Jesus, shoot I’ll do anything it takes!
Awesome videos by the way Jake, you’ve taught me a ton!
one way to do it smoothly is to have a music director call out instructions, helping you pre-empt where the leader is going.
If the WL handsignals to repeat the bridge, then the MD watches for it and says "repeat bridge, repeat bridge in 3, 2, 1"
that way everyone is in sync and the transition is smooth
In my church, the MD is usually EG1 or Keys
Depending on where i am leading at i use backing tracks. I like them because they allow me to practice on my own and then my band mates and then when someone is out sick then we can fill there spot.
I've seen so many of your videos and I love the wallpapers you have on your desktop!! Thank you for everything and teaching what you know! May God bless you abundantly!!
Thank you Isaak! Glad you appreciate the wallpapers lol. Unfortunately I don't have that computer anymore so I'll find other funny ways to keep things interesting.
Interesting topic. Tracks, or no, and how much? I use them sometimes. My band is me on keys/lead voc, a guitarist, bass, drummer and 3-5 singers. I've never used premade tracks but I make our tracks in Ableton. Usually I make a drum/perc loop, synths, bass, and keys. Just depends on the song. Then I'm not stuck if my bass player can't make it, I include bass in track. If I want to add Hammond organ I'll include keys in track and play organ live. I include bgv's once in a while to thicken up vocals, tighten things up a bit. Where I draw the line... ? Some songs need room. Some songs need a band. Some need to really breathe and not be restrictive AT ALL. Like every other comment here, this is only specific to my church and what works for us. I have the ability to record/produce tracks, and I personally don't like to sound identical to other popular bands/songs. We have our own sound that works and there's no need for US to sound like Hillsong when we have what it takes to sound like ourselves. So, I'm for it, sometimes, and always custom made. My rule of thumb is, don't make or use tracks just to use them. I use it if the song really wouldn't be the same without it and I want to add more synths and electronic rhythm than I can play live. Keep making videos! Lots of leaders out there need guidance and you are allowing them to hear many perspectives. Bottom line, worship must be worship, just keep that 1st and everything else is so much smaller in comparison. I love a big sound, but our hearts must be even bigger.
Great insight Isaac! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Jake, you mentioned certain instruments (drums, keys, etc.) that you wouldn't put into your tracks and I have to disagree...to some extent. I've been leading at a small church where for many years it was just me on acoustic and a bass player. After a long time of that setup, I eventually got a drum machine and the response from the congregation was amazing. We now use tracks with drums, keys, synths, etc. to support my acoustic and our bass player, with positive response from the congregation. So, I would say it really depends on your church. If you simply just don't have musicians, which I'm sure there are lots of churches like this out there, I think you can work in any instruments into the tracks, over time. Just do it gradually. Probably the only thing I wouldn't put into tracks are BGVs.
That's awesome Aaron! Honestly, it's probably because I've never tried using tracks for drums before that I'm a bit hesitant about it, but hey, that's probably a lame excuse to recommend against them. Really appreciate your feedaback and that's great to hear it's working well for your context!
Music is even more easier. As a busy person and also my team members, I prefer to use tracks because I will just let them prepared and more discipline. Im not have much time to cover more practice but really this helps a lot ,so we can practice new songs with ease. Backing tracks sound good and it reduced error in worship and also we can spend more time in another ministry.
That's the thing a lot of people don't realize. Most churches are in these situations - limited manpower, limited time, limited budget. But people keep trying to play like they're a mega church.
Why do so many people think they need to sound like the original recording? What happened to creativity in our music? If you work with the musicians you have, it will force you to think outside the box when planning your arrangements and give you your own unique sound.
Secondly, I understand the desire for excellence, but musicians have to start somewhere. I wouldn't turn someone down just because they're not an expert. I believe setting standards too high is what turns people off learning an instrument, which will of course result in fewer musicians being available.
We just tried our first backing track, using Ableton. I suppose it sounded more polished, but did it bring anyone closer to the Lord? Why does everyone have to sound like Hillsong? Let's just go all the way and play the song from the album while somebody lip-syncs on stage. I don't want to be too cynical, but are we forgetting the real purpose of worship in our rush to chase after the latest shiny new thing?
グレゴリーミカン That's a very good point and I know he isn't saying to do that. When I had a really small band I personally appreciate the sound of worship you can create with just that. Then again I'm a pianist and you can almost add anything to piano and have a unique sound. You can take the piano or keyboard away and we will sing louder than ever and it is worship. I concluded my own comment with the same feeling. It has to be worship. Then we can talk about how to thicken up the sound. This video skips forward past are we saved... Are we worshippers... and the whole checklist because, well, there's no time to go over all of that before every single video lol. It's assumed. Let's be worshippers.. THEN start this video.
Thanks for sharing! A bit cynical but you raise a good point. haha.
Sometimes as Christians we fear change. In Jesus day I am sure they didn't have speakers and microphones. We use them because its a great tool. Its not about sounding like anyone....but our worship isn't destroyed by making it better. Sometimes we are to Religious in our approach. A microphone, a backing track, a projector isn't going to bring anyone closer to the lord we know that....but never forget we are trying to reach our culture with the gospel.
I believe when we worship creative ideas start coming. So new technologies can be an expression of our worship. If it comes into your spirit that you should try something new, I believe it's worth trying)
man, in everything you do, be excellent. thats biblical. but obviously, doing it for the glory of God. excellence speaks volumes to our world. especially in the name of the most excellent creator in existence. However, I agree in the fact that cool stuff always needs to be weighed with that question. will it help point people to Jesus? I just think anything excellent does that.
we have a small worship band in my dads church , but we don't use backing tracks because we don't know that how to make a backing tracks . we also don't use inear monitors because there are some financial problems in our church . our church is a new church and 40 peoples come in our church !
In one of our teams they use in few uptempo songs backings - especially when the guitar player isn't available.
But when nobody plays bass guitar, they keyboard player could do with left hand
I think it depends. I play in a 2 piece (yes, you read that right) band with me on the percussion and drums and the worship leader on keys and bass, and 5 vocals. For most of the contemporary stuff(Hillsong, Chris Tomlin etc), we try to get as close as we can with drums and keys. It's a challenge trying to copy the drum machine(that scintillating 32nd note hi-hat pattern), live drummer and percussion at the same, but we try our best. :D
Of course, this is a long shot because we don't have that distorted guitar lead or that pulsating CS80 brass sound or just simple percussion loops, but we try our best to get there because of limited manpower. So in fact, all of our music is played live, and our current setup doesn't allow us to use click tracks or backing tracks.
We praying for a bigger band(and more resources), but as for now, backing tracks will probably stay a dream.
Thanks for the great content Jake! Hope to use this soon in the future! :D
Thanks for sharing Tony!
We only have only 2 at our church, a drummer and guitar player who sings.
I tried doing backing tracks for our church.
It was not accepted well.
People could not grasp why they were hearing all these instruments with only seeing two on stage.
Then, they wondered why we should have live musicians at all.
I find that at secular gigs that I do as well.
People don’t go to a solo roost to hear 40 instruments and a full orchestration. They go to heat that one person in a stripped down style.
Does it mean our church can’t sing some of the “big” songs. Sometimes. But, who cares? There’s thousands of songs out there. Plus we’ve written some of our own.
It’s not about the song, it’s about the heart.
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty. Who was and is and is to come.
Its good to use backing tracks beacuse it makes the band sound bigger that's why I loved using backing even Pads in worship I only use Pads in our church using mg android phone but it's very effective in worship
Would it not take away from the spontaneity and improvisation of the worship service?
I have an arranger keyboard. This means, the backing tracks are flexible, I can change much things spontaneously, can play maybe another song.
I'm a church guitarist this is very intresting , why not put some clips of your worship band and do some examples it would be really helpful thanks
Yeesss!! Thank you!!!🙌🏾🙌🏾
How many hours per week do you and your team spend per week to learn a new song..individually and as a group..
I would use something like the Yamaha Genos to add the parts. I can vary the patterns, the virtual band can change songs, can play anything.
I would LOVE to add tracks and a click to the majority of or worship set. However, our P&W Leader is against it because it takes her freedom of being spontaneous away. Any advice on how to convince her it’s worth the sacrifice? Also, she is against inear monitoring, which is another tool I believe would help our team tremendously. Any ideas on using clicks and cues w/o an in-ear monitor? I was thinking setting up a small speaker next to her??? It will probably bleed through the mic though.
Any suggestions is greatly appreciated!
Hi Jake. Do you have any instructional videos on worship in the round? I want to change our current stage setup to a worship in the round setup…
Hey brother, thank you for all the vids but as a musician I have to say that if I had a choice between playing with a backing track or playing without one I would always choose no track. I'm not saying that backing tracks are useless, I'm saying that they restrict a musician from freedom. The point of playing especially in a worship service is to have the freedoms to play and allow the spirit to move freely. Once again I'm not saying this is impossible but what's the point of having talented musician who will just perform and sound like another band or track? I rather have the pianist, drummer, guitarist play the same song and make it their own and unique than to have my musicians feel like they need to perform at a different level hindering the ability to learn free play. Again not that it's useless and I'm sure many churches may need it but if you have a band I'm not sure it's that necessary.
Thanks for your input! In my context, I have pretty much all of our song arrangements planned out, with some flexibility at the end of songs for pray or repeating parts of songs as I feel led.Totally personal preference. I appreciate you sharing.
Hey INQUIZITIV3. I don't know what era of religious(to be politically correct) music you come from(it would be nice to know), but if you go to people like Ron Kenoly(that's where I come from lol), Alvin Slaughter, Paul Baloche(waaay back), you will find that there was only one keyboardist(Tom Brooks). He used A LOT of backing tracks(especially for his keys to act as a double or as another instrument) and for other instruments like brass or strings (synthesized or live, but recorded in studio ). When you listen to the music, you can't help but get consumed by the music and worship. You look on stage and you find musicians who played with Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones and all the big names (Abraham Laboriel, Paul Jackson Jr, Alex Acuña, Justo Almario).
If I had the chance, I would honestly ask Tom Brooks why he did that when he had a beautiful list of highly professional musicians, but again, it depends on the situation.
I've used backing tracks the record myself. makes things easier, I don't have to rely on flakey musicians, egos, and I get different musical styles so I'm not locked into any 1 type of style.
thanks, bro.. but does this mean you have to follow the exact sequence of the song? if so then how do you deal with spontaneity?
With Ableton I can arrange the song however I would like and I can use a foot controller if I want flexibility on the fly. Check out a video a posted a couple days ago on this topic!
Can i ask? It might be Good for worship band to use pads using Android phone?
We are currently using Ableton to run loops. I’m currently working on incorporating multitracks and in ears. Do you create you song lyrics to sync to Ableton or purchase them?
I create my lyrics in ProPresenter and then automate ProPresenter with Ableton
Hi, i love your Channel, but can you disponibilize legends in Portuguese... O am Brazil, thanks
I don't use that
I imagine this would be super hard to do without in-ear monitors. It'd be almost impossible to stay on beat without monitors.
Yeah you need in ears to run a click and tracks.
I have a small worship band that I’m trying to put together. We are extremely limited in our instruments. I have two keyboard players who also sing, a drumer(myself) and bass guitarist. I’m starting to play with ableton and I was wondering what instruments or sounds you would recommend for us to start having a full sounding worship.
Two keys, bass and drums is plenty. No need for tracks, you just need to spend time working together so what you play complements each other. Then maybe pray for the Lord to send you additional musicians!
Why would you want to sound like something you’re not? I’m all for electronic tracks used in worship. But if you use them, do so to express yourself, not to emulate someone else’s sound.
I can't open the toolkit.. it show up 404 error
What if you can't afford to buy these tracks for 25-35 dollars a piece? What is another alternative? Right now we use pads and we have anywhere between 3 musicians (drums, bass, acoustic) and a full band. I do want to add depth and creativity to the sound we create but if we do five songs on a sunday thats 125+ dollars a week - how do you manage that with such a small church? your budget must be fairly large? Or you end up paying out of pocket.
Great question Meg! This is actually the topic of tomorrow's video. It's great that you are using pads because that's one of the best routes to go when building your library on a budget. The next best route is to use custommix from multitracks.com. those audio files cost $12, so it's a more realistic route to go if you need to build a library of tracks in a hurry. I think it's definitely worth a conversation with the senior/executive pastors or whoever is in charge of the budget. Try to show them the transformation tracks bring and then make a plan of how much the church budget can allot for them. At Mission Lakewood specifically, our lead pastor is super passionate about worship and he is okay with putting resources toward tracks. We went with credit bundles from loopcommunity. It's a higher cost up front but gives you a pretty good discount.
Hi again, I was investigating the option of the whole custom mix route but I was confused with how to do it, or how it really works. I look forward to tomorrow's video then! thank you!
I think backing tracks are much closer to your band just playing youtube videos for worship every week. I'd suggest using something like Mainstage with patches that'll let you freely experiment with different sounds but still sticks with your playing style.
thanks for your input!
You are donated by Ableton? :D
Nope! I should be tho.
No tracks. Super simple band in the country side of Brazil
Tracks, and even click tracks, have been ruining worship for me. It forces the team to play the song exactly the same as the recording. It's forced, feels inauthentic, and prohibits expressive worship from the worship leaders on stage. Without the ability to arrange songs according to your needs and putting your own inflections, touches, and styles into the music, you become nothing but a parrot. Train your team to be expressive and independent, and find creative ways around your limitations and you won't have to rely on a computer to dictate your worship services.
how to backtrack.
Use Playback, Prime, or Ableton
this is so commercialized. Be careful not to turn worship into a show. to say that we need to learn how to cater to the culture when it comes to WORSHIPING GOD is very wrong. No hate though, I just encourage you to find scripture on your statement that as Christians we need to stay hip and relevant to what style of music the culture likes. You are basically saying that hymns have no place in worship based on your statement.
You shouldn't be hiring worship leaders. You need people who are worshipers first, and musicians second. Bringing in musicians who may not even be believers. Making music the focal point defeats the entire purpose of worship. Otherwise, you're managing a pop band and using the church as a venue.
Lol 69 comments