English Standard Version
Usually on this site I spend time writing about the grace of God and who we are in Christ. Occasionally I write something on leadership, administration or technology. However, today I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about the English Standard Version of the Bible today. I don’t know how often this shines …
Creating a Podcast
For those of you who read on a regular basis, you’ve probably seen a shift from “how-tos” and gear recommendations to a more devotion driven blog. I love the Word… and I’m in a great season of receiving, but I’m still a creative… so I thought I would break out from the devos and help you …
ClickTrack Review Day 7
The Noise. It’s just what it sounds like… NOISE. Explosions, breaking things, loud stuff! Noise. Why? Noise brings energy. You use noises to bring energy. Your hits and breaks will greatly benefit from a subtle EXPLOSION. How? Your DAW most likely has some sound effects. Find one that doesn’t diminish your sound but rather augments your …
ClickTrack Review Day 6
The Vocals. Recording vocals can beef up you sound more than you can imagine! Why? Back in the day we used split tracks. This was a CD that had the vocals on the left channel and the accompaniment on the right channel. The benefit was that you could put a little vocal in and make …
ClickTrack Review Day 5
The Guitars. Recording your guitar tracks can greatly benefit your sound. Why? A few possible reasons to record guitars: You have no live guitar player. You only have some many, but more needs to happen in the song. You want some backups for when your guitarist is sick. How? Using your DAW, either you or …
ClickTrack Review Day 4
The Synths. Synths are ALL your keyboard sounds. Pads, brass, pianos, rhodes, strings… all of it. Why? A few reasons here: You only have so many (if any) keyboard players. One pad will do more for your thickness than 20 guitars. It is the easiest thing to add to your tracks that is tonal and rhythmic. …
ClickTrack Review Day 3
The Helper. The helper is a track that, like the click, is only heard by those with in-ears or headphones. It is a basic vocal track that guides the song. My helper gives every section of the arrangement saying, “Verse 2 3 4…” keeping us right on track. Why? The helper track is all about …
ClickTrack Review Day 2
The Loop. Step two is adding some kind of percussion loop. This is the easiest and next step. The loop is the only thing you can add to the stems that doesn’t lock you into an arrangement. Why? The loop is a natural step to moving to using full-blown tracks. The loop isn’t always necessary, …
ClickTrack Review Day 1
I want to do a quick series to review clicktracks. Everyday, until finished, we will talk about one of the “stems” that I use in my tracks. The Click… or metronome. Why? Using a metronome is beneficial with or without the rest of the stems. It allows you to lock the tempo in and make …
Favorite Things – Circuit Breaker Cable
I’ve been playing bass for almost 15 years. A few years ago I bought a Planet Waves Circuit Breaker Cable and now I’ve been using it forever. I love this cable. It’s great for those who play active instruments or need to carry their instruments off stage. One click of a button and you’re off in …
Favorite Things – Jands Vista
Lighting is one of my secret passions! I love working with lights… most of the time. The controller I use is incredible. It’s called Jands Vista, I’ve been using it for a few years now… and have grown very fond of it. Great perks: You can run it on a Mac. You don’t have to have …
Favorite Things – Strap Locks
I’ve been a Bassist for almost 15 years now, and one of my most valuable tools is Strap Locks. I do not want my Bass hitting the ground. I have used two kinds of strap locks over the past decade… and here they are. Schaller Guitar Strap Locks and Buttons These are great. They “hang” …
Favorite Things – Boss Floor Tuner
Guitarist, Bassist, plug in a play-ist… this one’s for you. I love my Boss TU-3. I used to use a rack tuner, and once I got out of the garage and actually doing something it became too much. At venues that provide Back Line or require direct input (like most churches) this is THE BEST …
Favorite Things – Apple iPad
Whenever I see someone with an iPad I ask, “What do you use it for?” Mostly because I always want to make sure I’m getting the more out of it. Actually, I’m not totally sure the iPad has found it’s place yet. It’s use will look different a year from now. Today, I want to …
Favorite Things – Cyberduck FTP
This is the seldom discussed often used tool in my arsenal. Cyberduck is my FAVORITE way to access files on all of my web servers. I have set up directories on my dreamhost account that I use to share files with my worship team as well as other worship pastors that I collaborate with. I …
Favorite Things – Capo App
Capo is a great tool for changing a songs tempo and key. I have used the app for about a year now, and I thought I’d share my major uses for the app. Transcribing Sometimes I just can’t figure something out, and I need to slow it down and listen closely. The tempo adjustment allows …
Favorite Things: American DJ AccuSpot
I know I’m going to get crucified for this… BUT… When it comes to good stage lighting it really is (most often) quantity over quality. That’s why I’ve grown to love the American DJ AccuSpots. I don’t use them anymore… because we do both quality and quantity now. However, I used them for a long time …
LegalSounds.com + iTunes
Last week I spoke with you about using LegalSounds.com – which I think is incredible. Today, I’m going to show you my process for managing the files. 1. Create a specific folder for LegalSounds. (mine is in the music folder) 2. Make sure you have the LegalSounds Download Manager. 3. Change the LegalSounds music folder …
Favorite Things: Hipshot Xtender
There was a day when I worked with no more than four strings. That’s right. Not five… certainly not six… only four. As a bassist I have always been partial to playing the four string bass. However, I love the warmth of the low B-string. I knew early on that I would not be a marvelous …
Favorite Things: JumpDesktop App
Jump Desktop is probably my favorite app on iOS. It is a SIMPLE remote desktop application that connects using nothing more than a gmail account. I don’t tend to buy $20 apps, but this one was worth it. I use several computers in my department at the church, all mac and then one lonely …
Online Trainings with a Flip Camera
Recently, I’ve started making our tech trainings available via video on the internet. This is an incredible way to distribute valuable information to our multiple team members. Here’s a small look into how I do it. Flip camera. I don’t use our big expensive cameras. Once I’ve got the big camera out, I’ve started producing …
Favorite Things – Sweetwater
I have always enjoyed doing business with Sweetwater. In my opinion they have the most knowledgable salespeople concerning audio/music equipment. Most companies do a little bit of everything in the production world (lights, video…), but Sweetwater is like a GIANT music store. So, I thought I would share a few of my favorite things from …
Review: Interactive Worship Live
InteractiveWorshipLive.com has become one of the secret weapons in my arsenal. Most of our readers come to jasonmayfield.com as a result of the Creating Click Tracks Series. I am a proponent of making your own tracks. However, the life of the church music director can quickly become bogged down with video, media, meetings and an assortment …
How I Use Wunderlist
Wunderlist is an incredible todo list application that I run on my iPhone, iPad and my Mac. All the items and list stay in sync.I thought I would outline the way I use it for you… My lists in order are: *To Do *Monday *Tuesday *Wednesday *Thursday *Sunday Morning *Sunday Afternoon *To Buy *Stacey (shared …
Vimeo Video School
One of the coolest resources I’ve found is the Vimeo Video School. It is essentially a collection of trainings for the video producer, shooter, editor novice… which would certainly identify myself. I have found this to be an invaluable resource. It’s free and it’s good… JACKPOT! Enjoy.
Speck Products – My Picks
One product brand that you’ll hear about around our church staff is Speck. We use lots of speck products to protect our precious Apple paraphernalia. I thought I’d share two of my favorites with you… CandyShell Card Probably on of my favorites. This case allows you to carry your credit cards, ID, cash… all in …
Being Prepared for YES
As a creative/innovative leader I find that my mind is always rolling with ideas. It has become very easy for me to toss out an idea that I’ve not thought about more than 30 seconds. I could make the idea work… but I won’t be able to sell if very well. My pastor recently told …
Evernote
If you’re like me, you’re constantly writing down some kind of note… and probably always needing one that’s on another device. Sometimes I take my MBP to meetings, sometimes my iPad, sometimes just my iPhone… but I ALWAYS take my notes using Evernote. This is something I started several months ago, but it’s been a …
Great ClickTrack Video
I’ve been watching videos and reading post at gospelmusicians.com for many years. I really appreciate what Jamal Hartwell is doing over there. This is a youtube video of his approach to creating clicktracks. I hope you enjoy this video.
planningcenteronline.com
One of my newest and most valuable tools. Every week, I have to administrate the scheduling of tech teams, video teams, the band and communicate all important information to the choir. For a low monthly fee, planningcenteronline.com takes care of all of that for me. It allows me to schedule and plan and allows our …
Worship Ministry Technology
I have been extremely blessed to work with great technology, that is not out of reach to most churches. I’m going to take a few moments and tell you about my most useful technologies… while I’m vacationing, at my house. Logic Studio 9 I love Logic. Anyone who knows me will testify to this. Logic …
Your Google Toolkit | 4
Google Docs = Spreadsheets That Breathe I’ve been working with the spreadsheets in Google docs… wow! Not only can you work with spreadsheets if you don’t have a spreadsheet program (iWork 06), but one of my favorite features is forms. You can create a form, email or embed it on a website, and have the …
Your Google Toolkit | 3
Groups = Communication and/or Collaboration It can be so difficult to keep up with peoples contact information. Making sure you’re up to date with correct emails… wow. If you email any large groups of people on a regular basis (from your personal email) then you probably get back at least 10-15 “mailer-demons” – and at …
Your Google Toolkit | 2
Gmail = Consolidate The thing that I’m loving about gmail is the fact that you can consolidate your emails to one gmail account (without setting up a forward) in a very similar way that you would with Outlook or Apple Mail. Under the gmail settings > accounts, you can add your pop3 emails to your …
Your Google Toolkit | 1
I’ve been inspired to unpack google through the unknown inspiration of my friend and boss Mike Hernandez. He just bought the new google phone. Now, don’t think anything crazy… I know that the iPhone is the superior of all phones created in the universe. However, the google apps are pretty hot. Last night I started …
Q&A | 4
When you run your laptop to the house do you need to use a preamp? What kind of cable do you use to run the laptop into the house? I am guessing you need some type of splitter? You don’t need a preamp… unless you just want one! *smile* You can run your audio two …
Q&A | 3
If you could use Ableton or Logic, live, which one would you choose? Believe it or not, this has actually been a question I’ve been thinking about today (prior to reading this message). IMHO – Ableton is probably easier to set up for EXECUTING your tracks live. Really quickly, let me make sure we’re on …
Q&A | 2
From BurritoKid “Hi there, new to the site and love it! New to click tracks, still just trying to learn more about them. when you use the click tracks they go through the PA right? How do you isolate the metronome for the drummer but still produce sounds through the PA? Because the …
Q&A | 1
1. Do you record everything in Logic or do you use Pro Tools too? In 2009 I’m going to be adding ProTools 8 to my arsenal - however, right now I do everything with Logic and Reason 4.0. ProTools, from what I’ve observed, is really good with audio. Logic is super-easy and quite outstanding when it comes to …
ClickTracks Unanswered Questions
If you have any questions or thoughts on clicktracks and Logic Pro – please leave a comment with this post and I will answer them with a written or video response. I hope to continue to serve all that read this blog in our “clicktrack revolution” – smile!
Get Your Licenses Done For You
Copyright… I hear the word and I’m already confused. My Music Pastor has a way of challenging me without even knowing he’s doing it. The other day we were talking about copyright stuff and I came to find out that he gets licenses for everything he does. Part CDs, click tracks, charts… all of it. …