Should Your Church Backline Gear? Here’s A Guide.
Few things are more frustrating that being a music director of a group of people who refuse to provide their own gear. What are the boundaries with this though? Should your church backline gear for volunteers? Well, yes and no. There’s certain things that should most certainly back-lined for your team. There’s other things that, in my personal opinion, are no-fly-zones. Keep in mind that these are my opinions, not the book of Leviticus. In this guide I’ll also provide a link to the item that we recommend your church provides for its volunteers, as most of these are industry-standards.
First off, What Should Churches NOT PROVIDE?
In order to properly get into this guide we have to clear a few things up. First thing is that this guide is specific to band members and singers. Secondly, I find it almost more important to specify the items that you shouldn’t provide, as these can be a money pit for your churches finances.
1: Guitars
Simply put, if you play guitar, you should own one. You should also maintain it yourself as well as re-string it. I’m not opposed to churches providing strings to their players, but don’t really recommend it, for a variety of reasons. Feel free to provide some picks and a spare capo or two, just make sure they don’t walk off. Let’s keep the honest people honest, eh?
2: Guitar Pedals
With the exception of a bass preamp pedal, I wouldn’t provide guitar pedals under any circumstance. Flavors come and go and the newest fad shouldn’t be the churches financial investment to worry about. Furthermore, there’s the battle of pedals not leaving the church but still needing to be attached to a players board. You can see where this could get problematic. Once it goes on a guitar players board, it’s out of your control. So hear me again, YOUR CHURCH SHOULD NOT BACKLINE PEDALS. This is a piece of gear that should be 100% provided by the player.
3: In-Ear Monitors
The churches responsibility stops at the actual wireless in ear unit. We don’t need to share earphones, that’s unsanitary and again, falls to a preference situation that shouldn’t be required of the churches budget. (Yes, the actual monitoring SYSTEM is the churches responsibility, just not the earphones).
So What Gear SHOULD Your Church Backline?
Now that my griping is over, let’s talk about what the church should provide for its team. Some of these are optional, so bear that in mind when reading.
1: Keyboards
Every church needs a good “hardware” keyboard with, at minimum great piano sounds. I don’t recommend using midi controllers as a backline situation. However, You can use the same unit as a midi controller if you want to combine the units and use VST sounds from a backlined MacBook running MainStage, but keep the reliability of the in-box sounds. One highly recommended keyboard that we’re all too familiar with is the Nord Stage. Every church needs 1-2 of these.
2: Kemper Racks
Love them or hate them, Kempers are a great solution for a backline guitar amp. The way I look at it is that you can give them an option to play a great modeler that has a variety of amps available or they can bring their own gear. The reason I chose Kempers here is the rack mounted version very unlikely to “disappear”. This is in stark contrast to something like a Walrus ACS1, Kemper Stage, or Helix. I also HIGHLY recommend spending the money on buying at least two Kemper Racks so that players can keep the stereo functionality of their pedalboards. If you have two consistent players, it’s worth considering two sets of these, but one is typically fine. It’s also worth noting that traditional tube amplifiers are just too problematic in most cases to provide.
3: The Drum Kit
It’s your call on whether or not you want cymbals or snares swapped out to taste. Overall, the drum kit, the drum heads, and a backup pair of sticks should be the churches responsibility. Don’t ignore the drum heads or put that on your player to provide for themselves. I recommend changing them at last once a quarter.
4: Direct Boxes
By now you probably realize that you’ll never have enough DI boxes. I highly recommend purchasing the Radial Stereo or Mono Direct Boxes. Just the passive ones, I don’t personally see a need for the active ones.
Radial Stereo Direct Box on Sweetwater
Radial Mono Direct Box on Sweetwater
5: SGI Boxes
SGI boxes are simply used to transport a guitar pedalboard signal over to a different room over XLR since the signal isn’t near as prone to loss. I would recommend provided 2-4 sets of these. Two For Each Player. Another great product from Radial. You’ll need both of the items linked below to make a functional set. Note that this only need, but highly recommended if you are running analog guitar amps.
SGI Receiver on Sweetwater
SGI Transceiver on Sweetwater
6: Spare Capo and Picks
It wouldn’t hurt to keep a few spares on hand, but be careful that it doesn’t become a culture of not purchasing your own or the church will end up purchasing these 400 times a year.
7: The Track Rig
A good tracks rig is worth it’s weight in gold. At HoneySonic, we actually specialize in building out custom track rigs for your churches needs. I recommend at least 8 channels on hand for tracks. The computer for this should also be the churches responsibility. Also, please don’t skimp on the computer portion. This usually consists of an audio interface, power, rack case, and direct boxes. Please stop buying that $150 Behringer 8-channel direct box, it’s giving you noise. It’s not good, it’s a paper weight. The registration for Ableton or Playback, as well as the purchase of multitracks / stems should also fall on the church.
Contact HoneySonic For A Custom Track Rack Build
It’s Expensive, So Work Toward It.
So if you’re a pastor or music director, I hope that this helps guide you into knowing what you should and shouldn’t be held responsible for providing for your team. This stuff get’s expensive, so it may not happen all at once, but it’s a goal that should definitely be worked towards.
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