Can someone please explain worship music?

[Veitchy]

Obviously I understand the broad-strokes concept - it's music performed in places of worship to compliment a service, and it exists alongside/within the broader umbrella of christian rock/music.

What I'm curious about is how it exists as a 'scene'. I've gleaned some indirect info through forums (moreso other places than here), and it seems to be a major part of folks' performing lives. It often seems pretty regimented in terms of how groups conduct themselves (understandable), folks have specific setups for their gigs (what are silent stages about?) and there's often talk of what sort of gear is 'appropriate' for worship gigs (a lot of it seems pricey). All of these are somewhat informed assumptions, and there may well be a scene here in Australia, but I'm not a churchgoer and I'm only aware of it as a US/North American phenomenon.

Anyone have more of an idea than me?

[andy_tchp]

I can't explain what it/the appeal is, but...

there may well be a scene here in Australia, but I'm not a churchgoer and I'm only aware of it as a US/North American phenomenon.

There is, albeit not as big as the US. Think 'Hillsong' at the most prominent and grossly commercial/money-making level, there are loads of 'smaller' churches with huge state of the art auditoriums for these type of performances.

I found a Strat on Gumtree I wanted to buy, guy selling arranged to meet me at one of the many unassuming (yet.seriously.fucking.enormous) religious campuses dotted around the far southern suburbs of Brisbane.

He had the typical 'worship' board, all setup and ready for me to try the guitar out; I too didn't realise this was 'a thing' here up until that point.

[Pepe Silvia]

God likes transparent overdrive and the Strymon Big Sky. Play it for him weekly or burn in the eternal flames.

If your overdrive colors the amp's sound you will be struck down and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[andy_tchp]

[Pepe Silvia]

GOD HATES JAGS!

[marqueemoon]

I think the silent stages thing is just about having control over the FOH mix/not wanting the lyrics to get drowned out.

There is a weird level of conformity when it comes to the gear, but if you think of if in terms of being a cover band situation it makes some sense at least.

I prefer the Devil’s music, but in terms of being able to fit being in a performing band around adult responsibilities it’s not hard to see the appeal.

[Embenny]

God likes transparent overdrive and the Strymon Big Sky.

I don't know if OSG has ever elicited as sudden and forceful a laugh as this sentence did. It was deep and reflexive.

[Pepe Silvia]

God likes transparent overdrive and the Strymon Big Sky.

I don't know if OSG has ever elicited as sudden and forceful a laugh as this sentence did. It was deep and reflexive.

I just realized that not only are these pedals on every worship rig, they are the most Godly sounding effects by name / description.

[shoule79]

I'm not the most experienced, but just before Covid I volunteered for my churches worship team, and got to play with the group all of once due to Church being shut down for a year now, so I just have initial thoughts. One thing to note, some of the songs were right from a hymnal, and I made my own arrangements from there, so its not like the mega churches that you think of with the worship scene. Its just volunteers helping out.

Amps - I brought my Mesa while my Princeton was in the shop, and it got a couple looks. Its only a 1X12 but I think they thought it was a metal machine, not that it wasn't an AC15/30/boutique amp. Its an Express and Fender voiced, so it looks worse that it is. I'll be moving to my PR or AC15 when things open back up.

Pedals - My pedals were cool, but I use a couple Strymons. A shoegaze and worship board can be very similar, I think the presence of a muff is the difference (mine is muff equipped). The instrumentalists were very down with pedals. I was warned against any gain though. My jag definitely needed a mid hump to not fight with the piano for space.

Regarding silent stage, its more a space issue at my church. When things go back to normal and I'm there long term, an Iridium is likely in my future so that there is more control of the mix and I don't have to lug an amp and pedalboard around. Even my 9 pedal pedal board should be scaled down to a 1 row board to save space.

[jakeisjake]

Obviously I understand the broad-strokes concept - it's music performed in places of worship to compliment a service, and it exists alongside/within the broader umbrella of christian rock/music.

What I'm curious about is how it exists as a 'scene'. I've gleaned some indirect info through forums (moreso other places than here), and it seems to be a major part of folks' performing lives. It often seems pretty regimented in terms of how groups conduct themselves (understandable), folks have specific setups for their gigs (what are silent stages about?) and there's often talk of what sort of gear is 'appropriate' for worship gigs (a lot of it seems pricey). All of these are somewhat informed assumptions, and there may well be a scene here in Australia, but I'm not a churchgoer and I'm only aware of it as a US/North American phenomenon.

Anyone have more of an idea than me?

Like most fad music...someone does something that sounds kinda good...everyone else copies it...until someone else does something new that's kind of neat and then every one copies that.

it's quite boring to me. One of my biggest flaws/strengths as the song leader in church is that I'm so out of touch with that nonsense. In fact, my only contact with it is to listen to it and then try to do something different.

[Beebe]

I used to work as a Design Engineer in commercial audio visual installation and have designed and tested more than a handful of systems for the HOW (house of worship) market. I worked for about 6 years with Ford AV (headquarters in Oklahoma City, heart of the Bible Belt) known for some of the largest HOW installations in the world.

To achieve a silent stage, everyone would plug in direct to the board (usually via an Ethernet snake) and the drummer would sometimes be in an iso booth or behind a shield. The band would all be using in ear monitors. There would be floor monitors at the front of the stage for the pastor/etc. Abd the choir would sing into hanging mics and get their monitor feed from speakers overhead. With video, pan tilt zoom cameras, broadcast, theatrical lighting, show control, overflow, live stream, recording... It can get quite complex. In my personal experience with the $15k to $300k AV systems I've installed, the band members and event support were all volunteer members of the congregation.

[Beebe]

And I forgot to mention... We would often program a digital audio console with presets defined for different types of services. Because the staff was volunteer, it was almost always novice and turning over... This is the main reason for the quiet stage and standard practices.

[Veitchy]

I can't explain what it/the appeal is, but...

there may well be a scene here in Australia, but I'm not a churchgoer and I'm only aware of it as a US/North American phenomenon.

There is, albeit not as big as the US. Think 'Hillsong' at the most prominent and grossly commercial/money-making level, there are loads of 'smaller' churches with huge state of the art auditoriums for these type of performances.

Ok, well I've heard of them for sure. That, and they apparently used to make a habit of entering artists into all the Idol/Got Talent type shows (Guy Sebastian being the most obvious example), so that's a useful reference point.

There is a weird level of conformity when it comes to the gear, but if you think of if in terms of being a cover band situation it makes some sense at least.

Like most fad music...someone does something that sounds kinda good...everyone else copies it...until someone else does something new that's kind of neat and then every one copies that.

So are they primarily performing covers of original Christian music, rearranged traditional numbers, or a mix? (probably answered my own question, but).

In my personal experience with the $15k to $300k AV systems I've installed, the band members and event support were all volunteer members of the congregation.

That seems like some serious kit to hand over to volunteers. Not saying that volunteers are inherently inexperienced, or likely to break/mess up the rig, but if you're investing that much in your sound system wouldn't you want to ensure a consistent degree of quality in the end product?

Is this why a lot of worship guitarists in particular (at least the ones who talk about it on TGP and the like) seem to like higher-end gear? So that it matches the overall level of the setup of the house of worship?

[HarlowTheFish]

Is this why a lot of worship guitarists in particular (at least the ones who talk about it on TGP and the like) seem to like higher-end gear? So that it matches the overall level of the setup of the house of worship?

Nah, shit's nice, Jesus music pays, and TGP's got more expensive taste than my dice-goblin partner and her three-figure D&D gear habit.

they're fucking dice, how the actual fuck does a d20 cost $40

. . . I was gonna ask how TGP/me/the rest of us guitar-playing fools can justify our gear pricing, but this horse is too high and I can't reach my stepladder

[Ceylon]

I've noticed this trend being mentioned here and there without really catching the scope of just how big it seems to be. No church I've ever been in has had drums, bass or guitar. Is worship as a genre a relatively new phenomenon, and what should I listen to to get the gist of what it's meant to be?

It was mentioned here that a worship board does more or less the same things as a shoegaze-board, and I've just deduced that the genre is all about angelic/ethereal soundscapes, which I can imagine goes great with a service that wishes to capture some sort of transcendence. But is this correct or even in the ballpark?