Writing from a working studio
The Modern Musician
What I have learned playing, directing and mixing, plus my opinions on more or less everything music related. Pull up a chair.
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The Amanorsac Sheets
Five guides for musicians, singers and engineers, each with a post that walks through it. No sign-up, just the PDF.
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Every illustration from the sheets. Tap one to open it in its post, full size, ready to save.
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The Nashville number system for worship teams, in ten minutes
How to write a song as numbers so the band can play it in any key, the chart for every major key, how to mark minors, slash chords, rhythm and the diamond, and how to run the Sunday rehearsal from numbers.
Twelve gospel chord progressions every church keyboardist needs
The 2-5-1 and its gospel cousins, the 1-6-2-5 turnaround, the 7-3-6 walk-down, passing diminished chords, the chromatic bass walk-up, the praise break and the modulation up a half step. Written in numbers so they work in every key, with the voicing for each.
Keyboards for church: what a Sunday actually needs, and seven that deliver it
Piano, organ and pad in one instrument, a key action you can play all morning, instant patch changes, and a weight you can carry. The Nord Stage 4, Yamaha YC88 and CP88, Roland RD-2000 EX, Korg Nautilus, Yamaha CK88 and Roland RD-88, judged by the job.
The pastor's microphone: headset, lavalier or handheld, and which one your church needs
The three kinds of preaching microphone compared for feedback, the preacher who walks, the preacher who shouts, 2.4 GHz against UHF, and what to buy for a small, a medium and a large church.
What does a church music director do? The role, the week and the pay
What a church music director does all week, how it differs from worship leader and choir director, how to run rehearsal, and how to become one.
Church live stream audio sounds bad? Why, and how to fix it on X32 or MR18
Why church live streams sound thin, echoey or out of sync, and the fix: a separate stream mix on an X32 or MR18, room mics, compression, loudness and OBS sync.
How to stop feedback in church: the fixes in order, from mic to EQ
Why church mics squeal and how to stop it: mic position, speakers, gain before feedback, the pastor's lapel, the shouting preacher and ringing out an X32.
How to mic a church choir: how many mics, where to put them, how to mix
How many mics a church choir of 10, 30, 60 or 100 needs, which kind, where they go, why choir mics feed back, and how to EQ and mix the choir on the desk.
Live stream church on mobile data: data use, upload speed and settings
How much data a church live stream uses on 4G or MiFi in Ghana, Nigeria or Kenya, why upload speed matters, which settings to pick and what to do when it drops.
Mixing an all-night vigil: a church sound team's guide to the long night
How to run sound for an all-night prayer vigil: shifts and handover, ear fatigue, the keyboard pad under prayer, ministers' mics, noise limits and power.
Keeping church sound gear alive: harmattan, humidity, rain, theft
Dust, heat, damp, rain on a zinc roof and break-ins kill church sound gear. A care routine, a yearly calendar and simple security.
Church noise limits in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya: loud inside, legal outside
Churches have been fined in Accra and sealed in Lagos over noise. The limits, the real cases, and how the sound team stays legal.
Mixing a preacher and an interpreter: two microphones, one sermon
How to mix a sermon interpreted on stage, phrase by phrase: matching two voices, gain, the preacher who shouts, feedback and wireless.
Is my Shure SM58 fake? How to check a microphone before you pay
Counterfeit SM58s and fake wireless mics are common. A ten-minute check before you buy: weight, price, grille, sound, models and dealers.
Church sound on generator power: stabiliser, UPS, hum and routine
Protect a church mixer and speakers from outages, low voltage and generator power: stabiliser, UPS, start-up order, sizing and hum.
Mixing an African praise band: bass, talking drum and percussion
How to mix Ghanaian and Nigerian praise: a bass that sings, talking drum, congas, bells and shakers, the highlife guitar, and scenes.
Church music director guide: leading the band and choir
A guide for church music directors: the role, sets and keys, rehearsals, key changes and medleys, click and tracks, cueing the band.
Church live stream audio guide: stream mix, interface, weak internet
Make a church live stream sound good: a separate stream mix, the right interface, streaming on mobile data, power cuts and recording.
Worship team monitors: wedges, in-ears, click and personal mixes
Wedges or in-ears, choosing in-ear monitors, building each person's mix, the click, personal mix apps and hearing safety for worship teams.
Church sound guide: how to run the desk, from gain to a clear sermon
A church sound guide for volunteers: gain, the vocal channel, feedback, choirs, the band, monitors, power, loudness and recording, step by step.
Church sound in Africa: a practical guide for Ghana, Nigeria and beyond
Mixing African praise and interpreted sermons, generator power, fake mics, noise law, vigils and streaming on data: church sound for African churches.
In-ear monitors for a worship team: eight compared on isolation, cables and what feeds them
Shure SE215 and SE425, Sennheiser IE 100 PRO, Mackie MP-220, MEE M6 PRO, Truthear Hexa, KZ ZS10 Pro X and Moondrop Aria 2 from the makers' own sheets, plus the Behringer P2 and P16. Why the seal beats the frequency response, which cable fits which, and why both ears go in.
Mixing headphones under $200: open vs closed, ohms, and what flat means for a vocal mix
Sony MDR-7506, ATH-M50x, HD 280 PRO, DT 770 PRO, AKG K371, HD 560S, DT 990 PRO and K702 from the makers' own spec pages: which are closed, which need an amplifier, which the maker actually calls neutral, and which pair for which job.
Which iPad and which Wi-Fi router for a Midas MR18 or Behringer XR18 (and the app that replaced M AIR)
Why the mixer app drops mid-service, what Midas says about the built-in Wi-Fi, how to wire a dedicated router, and four iPads and five routers compared from Apple, TP-Link, ASUS, NETGEAR, GL.iNet and Ubiquiti's own spec pages. MX-Mix replaced M AIR.
Audio interfaces for a church livestream: eight compared on the spec that matters
Scarlett Solo and 2i2 4th Gen, MOTU M2, Audient EVO 4 and iD4 MkII, PreSonus Studio 24c, SSL 2+ MKII and UA Volt 2 Gen 2, from the makers' own spec pages: loopback for OBS, gain, headphone outs, MIDI, and which one to buy for which job.
Mixing on the Midas MR18: a church sound guide for whoever was handed the iPad
How to mix a worship service on the Midas MR18 with the MX-Mix app: gain first, the vocal channel, six monitor mixes, the build order, snapshots and recording every Sunday over USB. With six free cards.
Why I built Chordlight 88: a MIDI chord display with Nashville numbers and sol-fa
Chordlight 88 names the chord, the Nashville number, the Roman numeral and the sol-fa as you play a MIDI keyboard, lights all 88 keys, records the take and renders a lesson video. Why it exists and how it compares to chord detectors, song-learning apps and MIDI visualisers.
Why I built Stem Sorter: multitrack files onto the right tracks of your DAW template
Stem Sorter reads the file names in a folder of multitracks, matches them to your template and builds the session for Studio One, REAPER, Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase, Ableton and more. Why I wrote it, what it is safe not to do, and what else is out there.
Why I built Nebula Tide 2: a worship pad instrument with twelve real recordings per preset
Nebula Tide 2 is an ambient pad for Windows, Mac and Android: a real recording in every key, seamless loops, a shimmer, your own presets and a drag that drops a MIDI clip on your DAW. How it compares to pad loop packs, synth pads and YouTube pads.
Why I built Nebula Tide: the simplest pad under a room, in the right key, with no click
Nebula Tide version 1 is a pad player that starts when you press it and does not stop until you say so, in the key you tap, from twelve separate studio recordings. $9, and why it still exists beside version 2.
Why I built PerformLive: stems under your fingers on stage, with the mix untouched
PerformLive is a multitrack playback and stem performance app for worship teams and artists who play to tracks: four decks, bar-quantised switches, twelve pads, scenes, MIDI learn and no network calls. The third option between a DAW on stage and a stereo bounce.
Why I built SecondOut: send your DAW mix to a second output device and a phone
SecondOut is a VST3 and standalone that sends a DAW master bus to a second audio device on Windows and Mac without re-patching, with drift correction and a Wi-Fi phone stream. Compared with Loopback, virtual cables and a second interface.
Why I built AMB Analog: ten analogue-style mixing plug-ins for one price
AMB Analog is ten separate processors, an EQ, two compressors, tape, a passive EQ, a transformer preamp, a plate, a console channel, a valve stage and an optical leveller, with 187 presets, for $39. Why, and how it compares with the big bundles.
Why I built AMB Digital: ten precision plug-ins that draw what they do to your audio
AMB Digital is a precision EQ, dynamic EQ, multiband, true-peak limiter, de-esser, resonance controller, harmonic shaper, delay, reverb and stereo imager, each drawn over the live audio, for $39 on Windows and Mac.
Why I built AFD Gate: a drum gate where one band decides and another gets turned down
AFD Gate is a frequency-dependent gate for close-miked drums: a snare hit opens it and only the cymbal wash above is reduced. Linear-phase band split, lookahead, no activation, $12. Compared with your DAW gate and FabFilter Pro-G.
Why I built PulseRoom: delay, reverb, EQ and compression values at your song's tempo
PulseRoom is a desktop companion for mixing: it finds the BPM of a song and gives you tempo-synced delay and reverb values, EQ zones, compression envelopes and mix chains per source, offline, in two megabytes.
The Live Recording Run Sheet: how a worship team gets ready for the night
Four weeks, one job per week, a song map for every song, hand signals, in-ear recipes and what to do in the two seconds after something goes wrong. The first of five free sheets.
The Mud-Free Mix Card: the settings behind the five steps
Gain staging targets, high-pass starting points, compression settings, the build order, a vocal chain and a reverb cheat sheet. The numbers I actually use on worship and gospel mixes.
The 7-Day Voice Reset: one focus a day, fifteen minutes a day
A week that gives the voice one clear job a day, with breath drills, a tension release routine, a habit tracker, a self-review scorecard and the signs that mean rest.
The Gig Money Split: where every gig fee goes the day it lands
Taxes, giving, gear, savings, you. Three accounts set up in an afternoon, a rate card, an invoice checklist and an emergency fund ladder, so a quiet month never forces a bad gig.
The Musician Body Check: look after the instrument you cannot replace
A weekly self-check, the safe listening limits, an eight-minute stretch routine, posture by instrument, gig-day sleep and fuel, and what to do about nerves and burnout.
Key changes in worship: smooth modulations without losing the choir
How to change key in a worship song or between songs in a praise medley: why, which moves work, cueing the choir, and rehearsing it.
Worship team in-ear mixes: 3 mistakes that wreck them
Most in-ear trouble is a mix nobody planned. What each seat needs, why singers go sharp, where the click goes, and fifteen minutes that fix Sunday.
Mixing gospel vocals and choirs: the wall of sound, with clarity
How to mix a gospel lead and choir, live or in the studio: lead first, high-pass the stack, pan by section, one reverb, call and response.
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Guides from a working music director, written for the churches we actually work in: church sound, worship teams, free sheets for the desk, and the apps, with the free one first. A few letters a month at most, and every one has a link to stop.
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