Easter rocked

Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Day, was great. The extra practices this week paid off. We adjusted where we needed to and were able to help lead 2 services of people into worship. The dynamics of the worship set were awesome and supported the entire theme of Jesus' resurrection. Over 900 people, more than 50 decisions, a message that brought the gospel home to a lot of people. Overall, Easter was chocked full of good worship time, good 'down'time, good family time...was a full day but was good.

As far as the sound/amp/stage/direct question that I raised before...I think I have a possible reason for the divergent opinions of the use of amps vs direct boxes, etc. I think a person's opinion on the issue depends simply on whether a CD-type, studio sound is wanted versus a live, stage sound. There...that's it.

Let me explain...everyone who has an ear for music can hear the difference between a Live version of Sweet Home Alabama and the studio/CD version of the same song. Live sound has a totally different vibe, feel, and mix of instruments 'overlapping' together - a true amalgamation of tone/sound. Amalgamation is (dictionary.com) "the mixing or blending of different elements, etc.; also, the result of such combination or blending; a homogeneous union."

This is totally different than a studio, or CD sound where individual, direct tracks are fed into a 32 (or more) channel board and then "mix"ed in terms of volume level, panning, et al, with the other channels. I guess another example would be the London Philharmonic orchestra. Even on the CD version of a performance, 107 (love that number) instruments are not individually miked. Why? Because the blending together artificially/digitally, channel by channel, in no way catches the live, naturally "amalgamated" sound of a symphony played all together. Even in the studio they aren't recorded by just one mike, so that there is definitely "overlap" of sound between instruments and sections of the orchestra. You get my drift.

So, in my opinion, that's at least one of the main reasons for the difference of opinion in the use or non-use of amps onstage. This is not to start an argument - it's just discussing opinions/options. The bottom line to me is that there should be an "amalgamation" (haha) of the 2 viewpoints. They both have their strong points and in a live situation, live sound would be best along with still a centralized point of overall control. Why do you still need centralized overall control? Because it's not a concert - but an attempt to bring people into worship in singing, etc.

Any thoughts on it?

Oh and btw - there's a reason why Marshall, Ampeg, Fender, Gallein-Krueger, etc. all still make amps :-).

Later...and be careful out there.