O Come Emmanuel

Well, Merry Christmas. Last year we did O Come Emmanuel, and I forgot I had this loop. Have the band rock through verses 2 and 3, and stay out for the choruses...just rock where the loop comes in strong. I'm putting the chart up that we use, too. 

O Come Emmanuel - DOC

O Come Emmanuel - RNS

O Come Emmanuel - MP3

O Come Emmanuel - split - MP3

All Because of Jesus

Here's one of the oldest loops we've done... I played the synth parts, but most of the sequencing is John's work. I'll post it because some folks were asking for one on bwack's...hope you don't mind, John...

It's a little different than the album version, but if you have the reason file you can adjust it. Mostly, it's just the intro that's a little different. When our click comes in, the band should come in full, then back it off for the verse.

I also have the version 3 file (I saved them all when we updated) so I'm sending that on, too.

All Because of Jesus - RNS v3

All Because of Jesus - RNS

All Because of Jesus - split - MP3

All Because of Jesus - MP3

Happy Day

Also thought I'd post this one (I know, two in a day), but here's a loop I made while the power was out in last year's ice storm. Laptop batteries and generators ftw!

Happy Day - C - RNS

Happy Day - C - MP3

Happy Day - C - split MP3

Love Is Here

This song from Tenth Avenue North is really killer, and we're trying it out this weekend. Here's the loop I made a few days ago for it, hope you can use it. It's in A, not their key of B.

Cheers

Love Is Here - A - RNS

Love Is Here - A - MP3

Love Is Here - A - split - MP3

Set List, Aug. 9-10, 2008

I thought I'd post our set list. We don't do the songs all in order, but 2 before the message, 1 before communion, 2 after, then a final one after announcements. So, that said, here's our set:

Awesome Is the Lord Most High (Chris Tomlin)
Cannons (Phil Wickham)
Lead Me to the Cross (Hillsong)
Beautiful Jesus (Kristian Stanfill)
Lord of All (Kristian Stanfill)
Faithful (Steve Fee)

Hope you all have great weekends...

Cannons

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I thought I'd post this one I've worked on a little. It's pretty simple, just strings, and a lo-fi rhodes. Our group loves this song, and we're going to make it one of our regular tunes (thanks, Alex for the recommendation).

Preview

Edit: PS, we do it in G, not Phil's key of A.

Recording

Yep. I'm up at 1:30am working on our recording. We're making our first EP. After we installed the new sound system, we were all excited that we'd be able to make live recordings. I didn't realize at the time both how much fun it would be to work on an EP and how time consuming it would be. I guess I'll go another hour...

Cheers.

Jesus Paid It All

We're doing Jesus Paid It All this weekend using igniter media's video. It's great work, and I'd recommend it to anyone. However, we wanted to use our click, change the key, and add some synth, so we had to put it into Final Cut, edit out the audio, then recompress it with our audio. It was pretty tricky to match their bpm. Here's the Reason file I made for it, with the whole arrangement ready to go. Watch their video for the arrangement, but it's probably exactly like what you've always done.

Jesus Paid It All - RNS

Jesus Paid It All - MP3

Jesus Paid It All - split - MP3

Also, buy it here on iTunes...

Faithful

On Fee's We Shine album is a song we've done quite a bit, and this is one of the first I tried using ReCycle to make a sample that I would use in Reason. We were doing Faithful this weekend, and I thought I should post it. The beauty of using ReCycle is that it creates Rex loops that can be processed like any other device in Reason once it is exported. So, for the first part of the verse, the rhythm guitar is panned (listen to the "non-split" mp3) and has a different eq. Then, when the rest of the band comes in, it's deeper and centered.

Our arrangement is in B, and it follows this order: 

V1, 1/2 CH, V2, CH, BR, CH, BR, 1/2 CH

To use the Reason file, you'll need the Rex file below.

Faithful - RNS

Faithful - intro guit - RX2

Faithful - MP3

Faithful - split MP3

Also, you can find Fee's song on iTunes here.

New Sound System

Well, we looked at our funds and budget, so we're comfortable now replacing and adding to our sound system. Now we're running the drums and bass through the system, adding more in-ears, and realigning our whole setup. We're really excited about it, and eventually it'll lead to recording, podcasting, and lot of post-production work.

Cheers, and I hope you're all having a great summer. Stay cool, and have a great time with friends and family.

Glorious One

This song is incredible. You have to have a couple awesome vocals to pull it off, and a rockin' band to match. Fee is a giant. The vocals on this album are so good. He does it in D on "We Shine", but I think most folks, including us, would do it in C. In fact, they do it in C on the North Point Live album, which is the arrangement I've followed. I originally built this loop in version 3, so I saved that file. I also made a few changes in version 4, so I've included that one too. I hope you can use it...

Glorious One v3 - RNS

Glorious One v4 - RNS

Glorious One - split - MP3

Glorious One - MP3

Buy it on iTunes here, or here. Support the artists!

Tears of the Saints - Video

When Storm's Dad heard we were doing Leeland's Tears of the Saints, he said he'd be there. So, since he has a fairly active youtube profile, he has of course, uploaded what his home video camera caught. It's a pretty cool angle because it catches the video from the side screen. We're using MediaShout to synchronize the audio and video using a split audio signal (click left, track right). Anyway, I thought I'd post it, and hope you enjoy. You can find the loop down a few posts. If you want the video, email me. Cheers.

Edit: you can find the loop I used below on an earlier post.

Wholly Yours

This is a little loop we're using this weekend. When Reason 4.0 came out, I was very excited to be able to change the tempo and the time signature in the middle of a loop. That makes it very easy to deal with time changes. In the previous version, you had to just move everything over, then ignore your measure numbers at the top of the sequencer (because they would be off by 2 beats, or whatever). So, for songs like Wholly Yours that have 2/4 measures in them, the measure numbers now line up. Well, I'm probably too analytical to be practical, but little things like that make me happy...

Anyway, here's the loop we're using this weekend.

Wholly Yours - RNS

Wholly Yours - MP3

Wholly Yours - split - MP3

Tears of the Saints

If you haven't done this song, you should do it, and make a special spot for it, because it is amazing. Leeland's Tears of the Saints is an incredible tune with such poetic lyrics. We made a video that we synchronized with the loop using Media Shout to project it. The loop works, but the string part are not quoted exactly as the album. I'm sure we'll do this song again, and I'll write the string parts out for the quartet at some point, too. We did it in G, not B. Hope you can use the loop. 

Tears of the Saints - RNS

Tears of the Saints - MP3

Tears of the Saints - split - MP3

Spring of Life

Here's a quick video I'd like to put up, just to show it. This is Storm Davis, leading at our church, and his Dad put up the video he took from the crowd. There's no audio post-production, just the audio from the camera, so I hope you enjoy...

Also, here's the loop I used. Hope if works for you...

Spring of Life - RNS

Spring of Life - MP3

Spring of Life - split - MP3

Video background music

So, this week we needed some music for a video background. We're using a video as a transition, and needed some audio that grew dramatically, then tapered off, so, I used a few of my favorite patches, then put this together. 

Interesting things, it didn't playback on my hp laptop I usually use for Reason, so I had to move to the MacPro in the office for the faster processor. It contains a lot of involved combinators, so it was processor intensive. I also wanted to add reverb and distortion in different levels for different sounds in a ReDrum kit, so I patched each individual channel output into a channel on a new mixer. It's a bit tedious, but you can really tweak it out that way.

RNS

MP3

Let God Arise

Here's the loop for Let God Arise that we're using this weekend. The arrangement is like the live version on the newest passion album. We thought we'd take out one of the pre-choruses at the bridge. If you need a different arrangement or key and you don't have Reason, let me know, and I can export more. I'll let you know how using it goes for us after this weekend... If you're looking for interesting things in this loop, I use ReDrum to trigger a clap patch in Subtractor using CV input. It's not overly cool or revolutionary, but new for me to use live...

Let God Arise RNS

Let God Arise - A MP3

Let God Arise - A - split MP3

Tornado Damage

If you live in the midwest, you know that you have to watch the weather closely. Especially during the spring. Last night, about 11pm, we had a pretty significant tornado roll through the Manhattan area. You hear on the news occasionally about destruction like this, but it's a completely different thing to find yourself coming out from the basement and damage covers your city. Here's some pics:

My Big Fall

While at Junior High camp, we thought we'd take a nice hike through the mountains... Sounds innocent enough, until my friend Craig made a make-shift bridge with a log over a ravine. Calling it a ravine is a bit of a stretch, because I could have simply walked across it without a log bridge. Anyway, the result was a nearly broken nose, the end of the hike, and really broken pride. This is the video my friend John took of the attempt. 

Hope you enjoy...

Center and Beautiful Lord

This weekend was a lot of fun. We did Charlie Hall's Center and Leeland's Beautiful Lord, in addition to others. Really great and moving tunes; one is powerful in it's simplicity and poignant lyrics, the other in it's passion and emotional poetry.

Here's the loops we used this weekend:

Center RNS

Center - split MP3

Center MP3

Beautiful Lord RNS

Beautiful Lord - split MP3

Beautiful Lord MP3

Cheers, and I hope you can use them...

Jr High Camp

Hi all. We're in Westcliffe, CO leading worship at a junior high camp. 2 guitars, bass, drums, keys, and Reason, FireWire 1814, and 2 Sennheiser in-ears. Good times...

Coming out to the mountains is a huge, relaxing, wonderful reminder that God is truly awesome and has created the most amazing, wonderful things for us to enjoy.

Good night from the peaceful, gigantic, triumphant Rocky mountain range.

The Time Has Come for ReCycle

I had said I would post the loop I made for The Time Has Come, and I will, but I think that title is now more significant... Not only has the time come to "stand for all we believe in," but the time has come for us to use ReCycle. I just found that M-Audio has completed the Leopard driver for our FireWire 1814, so once I get ReCycle in from propellerhead, I'll start putting in more guitar tracks.

As far as The Time Has Come, the arrangement is just like the album, and is in A. Our bass player plays the bass part live, so I didn't feel the need to add it (although I might consider it after getting ReCycle up and running). 

Cheers, and I hope all of your weekend experiences go wonderfully...

The Time Has Come RNS

The Time Has Come MP3

The Time Has Come MP3 - split 

We Shine

(Edited 06.16.11)

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Ok, so I saw a post on bwack's that was asking for a We Shine (Steve Fee) loop, so I decided to export the ones I had done a few months ago. With a few changes, all I did was export, upload, and post them.

I want to give you some options for using them. Playing the song in D (like on the album) may be too high for you or your audience, so I'm going to include the transposed to C version. The arrangement is just like the album, so I hope you enjoy...

We Shine Preview

I also have a Time Has Come loop, so I'll post that tomorrow...

It Just Depends

What goes in the loop? What is played live? It depends on your situation. Do you want to make it "just like the album" or do you want to enhance the album cut, adding some creativity? Each might be a valid choice.

Here's a loop I made for Beautiful Jesus. The arrangement is just like the album, but I've added some favorite patches that give this the UCC "brand." 

Beautiful Jesus MP3

Beautiful Jesus RNS

Also, here's the link to Matt's blog. He sparked my thinking on bwack's forum.

On another note, we did Salvation Is Here this weekend, and used igniter media's video. If you haven't checked them out, they've got some pretty cool stuff. Especially check out their video for Jesus Paid It All.

Split Keyboard

Last week we did The Stand, but only used the chorus as a build to another section of the service. Before our rehearsal, we weren't sure how many times we would play through the chorus before moving on. I didn't have the luxury of programming every bit of the synth/bass combination I normally would use for the style of The Stand. 

Because I intended on playing it live, I split the keyboard using the programmer on the combinator and assigned one portion to the bass and another portion to the synth. I played it live (not with Live, which would be entirely different... ;) ) and we were able to use the sounds which would normally be assigned to the loop and click track. If you want to download and play this patch, make sure you play a very legato style with your left hand to keep the bass from sounding too punchy.

Huge synth RNS

The idea of splitting the keyboard isn't revolutionary, or excellent by itself, but using the resources around you is an important aspect of making your services remarkable.

Hope all of your weekend experiences go well...

Sharing Music Content

I have a passion to provide musical excellence in worship. Conveying the Gospel message through music requires a high level of excellence to be effective. Creating quality content is an important aspect of maintaining musical excellence.

I hope to provide some of the music content that has been successful at our church. This includes loops, click tracks, orchestral arrangements, and creative ideas.  

For our live experiences, we always use the split-signal method using Reason 4. The click is in the left channel, and the loop is in the right channel. To use it, just split the signal to two different channels, then send the click to the in-ear monitors and the loop to the house mix (or to the monitors also as the musicians desire it). The cues we use for the worship leader and band are simple. Start singing or playing after the double-time click comes in. End the song one measure after the click runs out.

Two weeks ago we did Lifehouse's Everything. The arrangement is just like the album, but I hardly ever try to make the loop sound exactly like the album because I have some favorite patches and sounds I like to use. In place of the tremolo guitar on the album, there's an ambient, delayed rhodes patch.

Everything RNS

Everything MP3

Somewhere around 6 months ago, another church, H2Ochurch.tv (my Dad's the Lead Pastor, also involved in LifeChurch.tv's One Prayer initiative) asked me to make a loop for Fee's Happy Day. This loop is also just like the album. For the final chorus, after the drop-out and huge drum fill, repeat back to the top of the chorus (like the album) and end after playing the chorus like you would normally. If you have any questions, email or comment...

Happy Day RNS

Happy Day MP3