3 Things I have Learned From The Church Next Door Internship
During these past couple of weeks, I have continued to stay hard at work. We, at the Church Next Door, are slowly trying to go back to normal weekend services instead of live stream only services. These past 2 weekends now, we have been doing a socially distanced outdoor service which have been very successful and have had over 215 people each service. As we continue to see success and more people coming, we draw nearer to opening our building back up.
3 big thing I have learned during this internship are: 1. Setting up/running sound in an outdoor service 2. The process of designing a new setup for church stages and 3. Creating a stage layout/diagram so that there is a template for new stages or input lists. I will explain each process and why I chose these 3 in the next paragraphs down below. But to be able to run live sound during this whole quarantine is very rare, so I am very gracious for this opportunity!
Setting up/running sound in an outdoor service. I cannot tell you how big of a step this was for me to take and how valuable it was for me to learn. Running sound in an outdoor environment is completely different than running it indoors for many different reasons. My biggest takeaway/experience from this outdoor service was planning ahead of time, making the scene for the X32 board, and getting all of the necessary speakers, amps, and cables prepared. If you can run sound outdoor and indoor successfully, then you are on a good start to a good career in live sound!
The process of designing a new setup for church stages. This one doesn’t have much to do with any live sound or music in general, but it gives me experience for my resume. I didn’t realize how much time it took to design a new stage and the thought process that went into it. The worship pastor, videographer, and I were in charge of this project and we looked all over google and youtube to find cool stage designs. When we found one, we researched what all needed to be purchased and what needed to be done to get it setup properly. We also discussed how much power they will need and if the stage provides the safe amount. My biggest takeaway from this experience was prioritizing and planning what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, and assigning jobs to certain volunteers.
Creating a stage layout/diagram so that there is a template for new stages or input lists. This may be the second most important thing I have learned how to do and why it needs to be done. I created a template for our stage layout and where the inputs/input numbers where located. Then I made a diagram of where the worship leader wants every instrument to stand. Then after I made that document, I made one more diagram of where the cables would be routed to and put an input list below it so when the time comes, I can plug everything in fast and effectively.