Articles

What is Excellence?

Excellence is about doing our best with what we have - not making excuses to others or ourselves that "if I only had better gear or more time or better people" or “I could do it better myself”.

Over the years I've had the opportunity and privilege to visit and work with many churches with a myriad of different styles of music, worship, preaching and congregational involvement. However even with the wide variation in church 'style' they all share in a similar intended outcome...

Practical Equalisation 1: Taking out the Rubbish (video tutorial)

OK so we all know what the eq is, we know what the frequency and gain knobs do, maybe we even understand the ‘Q’ or bandwidth, so how do we apply all that in the real world to get the sound we really need?

Well for me it’s all about housework! Specifically taking out the rubbish. Let’s work through an example.

Interview with Mike Edwards - Foxtel Audio Director

Mike discusses what’s involved in audio for broadcast. He provides insights to the world of television and how to prepare your show.

Whether for commercial TV or for a webcast, the principles he gives you are invaluable.

Have you ever wondered why newsreaders wear the mics 'upside down'?
Mike has the answers!

Interview with Kevin Watts, Production Manager (audio)

Kevin Watts has been a freelance Production Manager for over 10 years and manages events ranging from the Hillsong Conference in the 22,000 seat Acer Arena to The Sydney Entertainment Centre and many others.

In this interview he discusses the roles and responsibilities of production management and how to apply them to your event, irrespective of the size, to ensure you get the best results.

How loud is too loud? (video tutorial)

How loud is too loud?

Consider this scenario: You’ve got to bed pretty late on a Friday night and you’re looking forward to a sleep in. However you are woken up at 7am by a lawnmower two houses away, annoyed? Same scenario, however this time you’re woken up by your all time favourite rock song being played by the neighbours...

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Practical Equalisation 2 (video tutorial)

In some ways, mixing sound is like baking a cake, you take a lot of different ingredients (musical inputs) blend them together and they become something quite different from the individual ingredients you started with.

The overall sound and tone of a large string section is much warmer and silky compared to say just two violins playing together. Simply adding bass guitar into a mix of a drumkit makes it sound stronger and more solid, it glues everything together.

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Intro to Reverb and Delay

Reverb and delay, both powerful weapons in the hands of the musically wise, a disaster in waiting if used poorly.

Full article available to SYNK members only. Click here for more about SYNK membership.