Sound During Covid

Written by Caleb Anderson, Sound Technician 
 
Hello CtK!
 
I am glad to be writing to you, and excited to see some of you at this Sunday’s drive-in service, especially since I have been even less visible than usual! As Christ the King’s Sound Technician, I’m usually hidden up in the sanctuary loft… but for the past few months, instead of mixing sound as it happens in worship, I’ve been mixing the sound for services after they’ve already been recorded.
 
Needless to say, the pandemic has led to some big changes in how I serve Christ the King. Working with the rest of the Worship Team to figure out how to record and assemble services has been a formidable challenge. The first few months of streamed services consisted of many different videos, made in several different homes, with everyone using different audio recording devices and formats. As a Sound Technician, I’ve had to deal with a host of new problems: noisy rooms, harsh-sounding cell phone recordings, and syncing the performances of musicians playing the same song in different places at different times. 
 
With all of this came some silver linings. I have gained hours of experience editing and mixing remote recordings, and I’ve learned more about the limitations and strengths of my personal equipment. And, I have to admit, sleeping in on Sundays hasn’t been so bad either! The pandemic has also given us time to go about the work of updating the church’s equipment. Thanks to a generous grant from the Christ the King Foundation, we have been able to acquire new sound and video equipment. This new gear will help improve everyone’s worship experience when we return to in-person worship, but it will also give us ways to livestream from the sanctuary. This new capability will help bridge the gap between now and a return to in-person worship, and it will allow us to continue livestreaming services in the future for the benefit of our members who aren’t able to attend worship on a regular basis.
 
As we move further into uncharted territory together, I feel very blessed to have my role as Sound Technician at Christ the King. I am grateful for the support of my fellow staff members, especially the Worship Team. Without our many talented musicians, our pastors who are so willing to adapt, and Worship Director Nate Crary’s leadership and video editing skills, we would not have been able to pull off services every Sunday since the original stay-at-home order went into effect. I look forward to what lies ahead: figuring out new ways to improve virtual worship, this Sunday’s drive-in service, and most of all, the day when we can finally gather together in the sanctuary once again. In the meantime, keep watching our services… and let me know how things are sounding!