My 2009 Music Awards
December 12, 2009
It’s that time of year again! Time to look back and remember this year in music!
MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUM AWARD
- OneRepublic’s “Waking Up.” I love it that these guys are bringing piano-driven pop back in a cool way. The textures of the programming in their sophomore release really hit the sweet spot.
- John Mayer’s “Battle Studies.” Runner up is John Mayer, who has been on my radar ever since he released his live album, “Where The Light Is.” He’s a massively talented dude, as you can tell from seeing him perform live, but his pop efforts sometimes fail to show his full potential.
BEST DRESSED AWARD
- Lady Gaga. OK, just kidding. She gives me nightmares. But I will give her this: Her music is infectiously catchy, and she knows how to turn a performance into a spectacle people talk about for days.
BEST SONG WRITING AWARD
- Taylor Swift. Taylor’s songs tell a story — an engaging, memorable story that connects with your experience. That level of creativity is rare these days. I only wish her singing matched her mad songwriting skillz.
WORST STAGE PRESENCE AWARD
- Kanye West. I think President Obama said all that needs to be said about this jackhole… We need to install a seatbelt on his chair at the awards shows.
- Miley Cyrus. Miley is proof that even I could have a successful recording career. I’m a big fan of her hit singles, “The Climb” and “Party In The U.S.A.” She’s proven she can do country ballads and teen pop hits and everything in-between. But to hear her attempt those songs live on stage reveals that a lot of magic has gone on to make her studio recordings sound as solid as they do.
BEST ACCORDION SOLO AWARD
- Green Day. At MTV’s Europe Music Awards, this punk band proved once again that nothing goes together better than pyrotechnics and accordions. From one accordion player to another: props, dude, props.
WORST CAREER MOVE OF 2009
- Switchfoot leaving Columbia Records. Everybody is hailing Switchfoot’s latest album, “Hello Hurricane,” as their return to greatness. They regained complete creative control of their sound after leaving Columbia Records. But I kinda liked their sound better when it was record executives who molded the final product into what they knew the public liked. Say whatever you want, but “Nothing Is Sound” will always be the gold standard for me, and this new album is very, very rough in comparison.
STUPIDEST NAME AWARD
- Souljah Boy Tell ‘Em. Really? Can your name be a whole sentence with a verb and everything?
OBVIOUS AUTO-TUNING AWARD
- The Glee Cast. They’re tuning these poor kids to death. And that’s a shame since some of them, like Lea Michele, have awesome voices without turning them into T-Pain.
WORST MASTERING AWARD
- Kristian Stanfill’s “Attention.” Great collection of songs. Hard to listen to. Man, I wish I had the opportunity to re-master these so the crash cymbals wouldn’t eat the entire mix alive!
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT AWARD
- U2′s “No Line On The Horizon.” Although their newest CD contains my favorite U2 song of all time, “Magnificent,” the rest of the tracks completely miss the mark. They’re one of my favorite bands, but “weird” is the only word I have to describe the strange style they’ve adopted for this effort.
- David Crowder Band’s “Church Music.” Given how much I love programmed music and the DC*B, this album should have been a shoe-in as my favorite of 2009 But, it’s dark. Dreary. Strange, even. And rather than taking us through the history of church music (starting with the Phos Hilaron and moving forward), it remains in one gear the whole way through. Big disappointment from one of my favorite bands.
- Christy Nockels’ “Life Light Up.” This Watermark and Passion Conferences veteran has always been one of my favorites. Unfortunately, her solo debut on sixsteps records doesn’t capture her awesomeness at all.
PLEASANT SURPRISE AWARDS
- Owl City’s “Ocean Eyes.” The polar opposite of David Crowder’s dreary CD, Owl City’s unique brand of feel-good programming rocks! The newest album inspires me to greater levels of creativity when using Propellerhead Reason for programming my own music.
- Derek Webb’s “Stockholm Syndrome.” Super original programming. Tight lyrics. Killer album from a guy who turned his career around by ditching the acoustic guitar for some hip hop beats.
- Fee’s “Hope Rising.” Unexpectedly, Fee has become one of my very favorite Christian artists. Unlike some albums that take a few listens to grown on you, this stuff hooks you from the first listen. (Mad props to Eddie Kirkland for co-writing a bunch of these awesome, original, God-honoring songs.)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Chris Tomlin, for making a Christmas worship album. Awesome!
- Casey Darnell and James David Carter, for being my new favorite indie artists! Hey, I predicted Fee and Kristian Stanfill. Will I be right again? Somebody give them a record deal, already, so I can be right (and we all can get some good music)!!!
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS
- Matt Redman, for a bland new album that doesn’t represent what he’s capable of.
- Avalon, for not breaking up. It’s over, guys. It’s over.
Who were your favorites from 2009?
Thermometer or Thermostat?
October 23, 2009
In Seth Godin’s new book, Tribes, he writes:
A thermostat is far more valuable than a thermometer… The thermometer is an indicator… The thermostat, on the other hand, manages to change the environment…
Which are you?
Thermometers know when something is wrong. Thermometers known when it’s too cold in church. Thermometers can see your house’s paint is chipping and lights are burning out. Thermometers can tell you that your Internet service is down… again. Thermometers watch and complain. But they do nothing.
Thermostats take action. When it’s too cold, thermostats turn the heat on. When home repair needs to be done, thermostats grab a paint brush and a ladder. When computer problems happen, thermostats try solutions until something works. Thermostats don’t complain. They do something.
The world has plenty of human thermometers.
What we need are more thermostats.
[ht: Photo by Axel Bührmann]
Worship Confessions – 04.12.09
April 17, 2009
It was Easter Sunday, and true to the tradition, we had an overflow crowd. We had to bring in seats to hold all the people. That’s encouraging and discouraging, all at the same time. I always love leading a large, energetic crowd in worship. But I can’t help but wonder why our auditorium was half as full the week before (and probably will be the week after).
My goal, both as a worship leader and the media guy, was to make the experience for them so great that they all would want to come back the next week. That’s why I spent many, many hours working on a very special video opener.
We taped people giving brief testimonies about Easter. (“He’s alive.” ”Because He rose, I will too.” ”It proves everything He said was true.” Etc.). I combined the interviews with relevant stock footage and text animation. What made this production so unique, though, is that I spread out all the elements among our HD projection areas (instead of just using one screen). And I scored original music in surround sound for the video.
To learn more about how I did this, see my recent video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeH6vGX7X3E&fmt=22 (Be sure to watch full-screen.)
The video went almost perfectly, although the side screen lagged for a few seconds in the middle. Then, we hit the opening number, an energetic version of “Happy Day” by Tim Hughes, followed by “All Because of Jesus” by Fee.
Both songs went very well, and people told me it’s the best I’ve sounded vocally. However, we got off the click-track for Fee’s song right from the start, meaning I had to do some on-the-fly mental gymnastics (carefully measure counting) to get us back on track. That never makes singing easy. But I did it.
More practice would definitely have helped prevent moments like this, which makes me ponder all over again what I should be requiring of my worship band (see previous post). Memorizing music? Specific practice amounts during the week? Coming on time… or else?
Oh well, for now, I’m just happy Easter Sunday went so well. I love being creative, and so to score a win by creating my first surround sound presentation makes me feel very good. Even finding the right codec to contain the information and successfully play on both a Mac and a PC was a challenge. But we did it! Glory to God! I pray it impacted people’s lives!
Worship Confessions – An Easter Experience
April 9, 2009
I don’t know why, but God always lets me in on the best ideas when there’s only a day or two left to put them into action. That’s the way my last sermon’s theme came to me (“Spring Is Coming”) — just in time for a last minute re-write.
And now, after weeks of struggling with planning our Easter service, I finally feel like it’s starting to take shape. If I’m able to do what God is showing me, it should be really awesome experience for everyone who comes. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but if all goes according to plan, our opener will make full use of both our new surround sound installation (see pictured to the left) and our ability to control of each of our HD projection areas independently. Sound and video and lighting will literally be coming from everywhere!
I aim to create an orchestra, one instrument at a time that will totally immerse the audience. This will be followed by testimonies of “What Easter Means To Me” scattered across the screens (and speakers). Visually, a lot of great video vignettes will fill your field of vision. And all the while, underneath the voices will be a song I’ve scored for this day that will lead into “Happy Day” by Tim Hughes. “All Because of Jesus” by Fee will probably follow. There will be Scripture readings, prayers, and Laurie will lead “My Redeemer Lives.” Pepper in some special music and a traditional song or two, and you’ve got yourself a quite a service!
It’ll take about every second between now and then to pull it off… as well as the full abilities of my creative and technical teams on Sunday morning. But I think we can do it! I pray it will be a powerful moment for all who come!
Worship Confessions – 03.22.09
March 26, 2009
This Sunday, I had the privilege of filling in for our regular speaker. His mother passed away on Monday morning, so I found out then that I needed to organize a memorial service on Tuesday (more on that in the next post) and preach that Sunday.
Here’s how it turned out:
EXCERPT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctDbEQaKKPs
FULL THANG: http://vimeo.com/3865197
There were two unique challenges:
- I was preaching as part of a series, so I did not pick the topic.
- I had less time to prepare than usual. This strained my creativity because I usually have months to think of illustrations, visuals, etc.
Within the broad category I was given to work inside (the series titled “Heaven”), I chose to speak about the longing that has been placed in all our hearts for restoration. I picked a few verses from Romans 8 as the text. It says that all of creation is groaning for the day of restoration. I knew this was a passage that would be particularly applicable, especially after the loss of a loved one in our congregation. But I wrestled with the text for hour after hour every day, trying to make sense of it.
I mean, it did make sense. But I struggled with how to convey what it was saying creatively and in a memorable way. I went through many drafts of the sermon, trying on different metaphors and analogies. Finally, at the last second, the winter-spring analogy came to me. I ran to Wal-Mart to buy some perennials I would use as the illustration. And I’m quite happy with how it turned out.
I was tempted to find three points in the text (1. creation groans, 2. we groan, 3. the Spirit groans), which seemed like the easy and obvious thing to do. If I had done that, my sermon prep would have been over in one day. But I decided I would take the harder route and be as creative as I could. I wanted it to be memorable, if nothing else. I kept on pressing toward finding a good repeating theme (“spring is coming”) and a memorable illustration that tied it all together (the daffodil as a sign that winter won’t last forever.)
My main criticism of myself is that I still let those three points slip in. I feel like I covered too much. I could have cut out the part about creation. And I could have simply alluded to the verses from Genesis 3 instead of reading them verbatim. Doing so takes our eyes off the main text and the main point.
But hindsight is 20/20, as they say. And it wasn’t that bad, given my time constraints. Typically, I have a month or so to prepare, so I can begin with lots of brainstormed illustrations and teaching points, gradually paring them down to one powerful point and one good illustration.
The more I prepare, the less I say… the more laser-like is the focus… and the more effective is the message.
Anyway, it was a good service, all in all, even though Pro Tools refused to record again. Oh well!
Worship Confessions – 02.22.09
February 23, 2009
It’s always a fun week when an unexpected blizzard cripples the region on a Sunday morning. As I said during worship, “We planned to have an acoustic set this morning… just not quite this acoustic!” We had only three people in the band, but thanks to some creative quick-thinking, we pulled it off quite well.
One of my first loves is audio engineering, and I had the chance to work with some of my favorite mics this week. I used a KSM32 to mic my acoustic guitar (using its pickup system on another input to create a nice stereo image). I used an AE5400 and a KMS105 to mic the bottom and top of a djembe. They may not be what you’d think of first when it comes to percussion micing, but their frequency response patterns lend themselves well to this use. And, finally, my trusty KSM9 on a UHF-R transmitter for my vocals (soon to change to a Beta58).
At the last minute I decided to try and route my acoustic guitar’s pickup through a Line6 PODxt for the first and last song. With a little compression, distortion, delay, reverb and amp simulation, you’d be surprised what a convincing electric guitar a Taylor 914ce can be! And, when combined with the KSM32 picking up its natural acoustic sound, it was like getting two guitar players in one!
Now, I’m no electric guitar player, but I did have a good time with my power chords and delay effects! And I’m also no John Mayer Trio. But the Billy, Bob and Adrian trio didn’t do too bad for just three guys…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB6juStxJPM&fmt=22
Worship Confessions – 02.08.09
February 11, 2009
Thank God I had planned to sit out this Sunday. I came down with a delightful 24-hour stomach flu right when I work up on Sunday. Needless to say, this made for an interesting morning.
My plan was to fix some of the lingering Pro Tools problems we’ve been having in the back (mission accomplished). Meanwhile, Lauren and Bill held it down from the front, and they did an excellent job.
We’re continuing our sermon series, “Heaven.” This week dealt with the difficult topic of hell. It’s not something that gets a lot of discussion in the modern church, which is unfortunate, since it gets so much discussion in the New Testament.
Next week is a communion Sunday with a sermon titled “RSVP.” We’re looking forward to it with great expectation as hopefully a lot of people will make the decision to RSVP for an eternity with God.
Worship Confessions – 01.25.09
January 28, 2009
What weird instrument can I pull out of storage this week? A Hohner melodica! Yes, this week, the magical melodica was the instrument that had everyone after the service asking, “What was that thing?” (even though I said what it was during the service).
I used it for the offertory (Rachael Lampa’s “No Greater Love”). It’s really cool because it sounds sort of like a harmonica or accordion, but it’s as easy as playing piano because of its traditional keyboard layout.
We used an original accompaniment track that I made with Reason for use with “Everlasting God.” I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. It contains some simple rhythmic synth effects and a simple drum loop in parts.
Other than that, it was a pretty typical week. As usual, something stressed me out right before the service started. This time it was Pro Tools only recognizing 10 inputs, which had me scrambling for answers right up until the service started. So, nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately! Also, the band rushed ahead of our click track for “All Because Of Jesus.”
Practicing and playing with a metronome is something I’m making mandatory for our band because if there’s one thing I hate, it’s rushing. I used to be the worst, so I know from experience how bad it sounds. It feels right at the time. But it sounds horrible when you listen back to your performance.
Worship Confessions – 01.18.09
January 22, 2009
Sick
Sick
Sick
That’s how I felt this week. Plus, we had…
Ice
Ice
Ice
So I had to replace four band members on the fly and go pick up a drummer in the middle of a very slippery hill. Nice, huh? That’s a fun way to start your day!
But all ended well. I tried my hardest to sing while playing keys, even though I’ve been struggling with throat issues for two weeks now. Lauren also lead some songs and played violin on others. Adrian worked his magic on the drums. Bob was on bass, the other Billie on electric… and that was about it! But we pulled it off.
Songs included: Blessed Be Your Name (a good tie-in to the sermon topic), Glory To God, Forever (a new one by Fee), How Great Is Our God and Lead Me To The Cross.
Worship Confessions – 12.28.08
December 28, 2008
I played keys from the back of the stage this week, as it was the Sunday after a week-long vacation. Instead of our usual highly prepared, very structured service, I told my OCD to take a hike, and we played it by ear this week. As hard as that was for me to do, it was good to get some balance and prove that the world doesn’t come crashing down if everything isn’t scripted to the second.
I loved being up on the riser with my Roland Fantom X8, Korg Kontrol (hooked up to Reason) and Hammond XK3. Being the worship leader is a lot of pressure, but playing from the back in support of another leader allows my creativity to flow freely.
In the name of simplicity, we used a static preset on our intelligent lights, and we used traditional dimmers only during the service. We didn’t use any video either, other than a few Jumpbacks. We’re preparing for the new sermon series, “Heaven.” In the meantime, it’s going to be simple services like this… although not quite this simple once I get back from vacation!
Worship Confessions – 12.14.08
December 15, 2008
This was the best Sunday ever… or the worst, depending on who you ask.
From my point of view, it was almost torture. From the crowd’s point of view, it was one of the most creative and engaging yet. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let me start with what the crowd saw. We opened with a really cool video of traditional Christmas works of art morphing into one another. We performed Coldplay’s “Life In Technicolor” as the accompaniment (complete with me on the hammered dulcimer). I spent soooooooo many hours this week preparing for this two-minute opener.
I made sequenced out a click track. I edited the video to meet our needs. I tuned up the dulcimer (which takes forever!). I programmed dramatic lighting effects. And the result was pretty awesome. I’ll get a video posted later this week on YouTube to give you a look.
After that were some traditional Christmas carols accompanied by the dulcimer. They sounded fantastic. Then, another family introduced themselves on video, accompanied by cool jazz music. We had a worship song set that went well, and that was that!
So, for the crowd, it was a pretty good experience. For me… not so much.
It started with practice, when I discovered that almost 0% of my band members came prepared by listening to and practicing the Coldplay number. That’s never a fun way to start the day. But we all learned our parts quickly, and it ended up sounding really good. We were ready for a great service, but as soon as it began… disaster. I lost my wireless in-ears receiver. Without me hearing the click, I’d have no clue how to keep up with the video and accompaniment audio. So I quickly borrowed my guitar player’s headphones, which let me hear what he was playing really loudly. But at least, I had the tempo and could start on time. Unfortunately for him, he no longer had that benefit.
The following two Christmas carols went well, but I still couldn’t hear what I was playing, leading to several wrong notes. That’s no fun, but tolerable. Then, when we came the worship song set, it was my turn to lead from the piano. To my surprise, my in-ear mix was muddy as it could be. The dulcimer mic was pointed toward the stage monitor, and it was LOUD! And that mic wasn’t muted in my mix like it was in practice. I had to take my monitors out and hope for the best.
The family video I spent many hours editing played with the audio out of sync for some unknown reason. It really made me feel like all that work was for nothing.
And, during the sermon, I remembered that I was supposed to have produced a flyer to hand to people on their way out about our Christmas service. So I spent the entire time during the sermon in my office, throwing a flyer together and printing it out.
Wow, what a Sunday! It was absolutely torture for me! I mean, have you ever tried to play dulcimer without hearing what you’re playing? Or sing without hearing what you’re singing? I was flying blind the entire service. Luckily, I watched the video of the service back, and it still came out well from the congregation’s point of view.
As far as the crowd knew, it was your ordinary Sunday — except for a worship leader that kept pulling his in-ears out!
Worship Confessions – 11.30.08
December 5, 2008
This week began Advent, which is the churchy word we use for the Christmas season. Advent simply means “coming” or “arrival.” When we speak of the advent of the computer age, we’re talking about the coming of computers. Of course, with the church’s celebration of Advent, we look to the arrival of someone who revolutionized the world even more than computers.
This Christmas, we decided to focus on the concept of family during the worship service. So we’re highlighting people’s families as part of our time together. This week, we introduced Jessica and me via our Christmas tree timelapse video, which was an energetic way to open the service. (Watch in HD on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqvNU-3hrfk&fmt=18.)
We also introduced the Leedy family via a fun video I created. We used some jazz Christmas in the background while while touring their house, meeting their dogs, and listening to their favorite Christmas memories. Their dogs — two skinny, alien-looking weirdos — made the video totally awesome!
We also began the seasonal onslaught of Christmas songs lightly this week with Angels We Have Heard On High being our only carol.
It was an interesting week for me, vocally. I was pretty sure I didn’t sing well. But listening back, it was actually very good. It’s the same way with my preaching. On weeks when I fill-in to deliver the message, I usually think I did horrible until I listen back. I guess it’s a combination of me being overly critical and actually being pretty good on “auto-pilot.” By that, I mean that even when I’m off my game, somehow I still do OK through years of doing this (and God’s blessing)!
Worship Confessions – 11.23.08
November 27, 2008
What a week in worship! For some unknown reason, the room was packed. We had to bring it two extra rows of seating. I never thought Thanksgiving was that big of a draw for church attendance.
It was one of those Sundays that felt great. Listening back, I didn’t perform particularly well (pitch wandering, etc.). But it’s almost like it didn’t matter because the crowd was really into it, and we were all singing to God with passion.
Oh, for more weeks like that! But maybe I could sing better too. That wouldn’t be bad… Maybe Santa will give me singing lessons this year!
Worship Confessions – 11.16.08
November 17, 2008
This week, we changed things up with an acoustic set. We had three acoustic players, a violin and a djembe. The three guitar players blended perfectly, with one (me) playing rhythm in an open D tuning, Billie playing arpeggios in standard tuning, and Mike playing magical fillers in higher octaves. We put the lyrics on the center screen make the room feel less imposing and used soft backlighting to give an intimate effect. The whole service took on a different feel, and it made some songs simply come alive.
I was tempted to shut the whole idea down. The technicalities of fitting the acoustic instruments into the sound system WITH the regular instruments for our other set were daunting. But with a digital board, it is possible, and, dare I say, easy… It’s just more work that usual.
But that work paid off in a big way. The service was awesome, and it was the best personal worship time I’ve had in a long time.
Our acoustic set was Come Thou Fount and Here I Am To Worship. Our regular set included I Will Go by Starfield and a reprise of that song after the sermon. This week’s topic was Relational Evangelism, so the new song by Starfield fit perfectly. That is a powerful song, and it’s versatile because you can sing it in so many different ways. It will become a staple of ours, I’m sure!
Our band had a happy, playful attitude this morning. We fiddled around with some jazz riffs during practice and goofed off more than usual. Even though a good number of people were late in the cold weather, it still didn’t get us down. Or maybe more accurately, it didn’t get me down. And because I didn’t let it get me down, the band’s attitude as a whole stayed on track.
Maybe I’m getting better at being a leader by keeping my expectations somewhat more realistic. I have us do fewer songs nowadays, which take a great deal of pressure off for a limited-time practice. I also realize that even if I’m upset with people for not practicing or not coming on time, I can’t let that affect my attitude on Sundays. Those issues can be addressed later. Sunday is for worship, and to do that well, you have to go into it with a positive attitude and a compassionate team-player spirit.
Worship Confessions – 11.09.08
November 14, 2008
I was filling in for Brian this Sunday, as he was in L.A. I always enjoy opportunities to preach. This week, I delivered a message called “Happiness 2.0.”
The idea is that we can all upgrade our happiness. I get happy about iPhones, clothes, job success, etc. But that happiness is short lived when the phone breaks, the clothes go out of style and you’re passed over for a promotion at work. Isn’t there a better source of happiness?
The big idea of the sermon is that when you tie your happiness to something that changes, your happiness changes. But when you tie your happiness to the only thing that never changes (your salvation in an all-powerful God), your joy never fades away.
This was a controversial sermon because some people believe that God doesn’t care if your happy. “He doesn’t exist to make me happy,” say some people. But then why does the Psalmist command us to delight in the Lord, and why does the Apostle Paul command us twice to “Rejoice in the Lord always“?
Watch below, and decide for yourself:
Sermon – Happiness 2.0 from Bill Whitt on Vimeo.
http://www.vimeo.com/2243133
I felt pretty bad about my performance after the sermon was over. But people told me it was my second best (second to “Fear”). I didn’t believe them until I listened back. It was actually pretty good. Would I organize it differently and tweak a few things if I did it again? Sure. But it wasn’t bad. I’ve learned that even when I’m a bit disorganized, I have the speaking skills to tie things together in meaningful ways while speaking. That’s no excuse for not preparing well enough, but it does prove to a certain extent a natural ability in public speaking.
As for the music, the crowd was pretty dead. There wasn’t a lot of singing along, as happens when the first song doesn’t go so well. The rhythms were all over the place for Charlie Hall’s version of “The Solid Rock.” That song has perplexed our band more than once, and I don’t know why. It’s really actually straight-forward. It’s one of my favorites, and it has a great message, so we’ll take a stab at it again when I’m wearing my vocal leader hat again.
Other songs rushed because the band didn’t use a click track this week. If there’s one thing that mentally disturbs me, it’s rushing. I’m the worst about it, though… which is why I always play with click tracks.
Still, all in all, a good week!
