Engineering Knowledge with Jeff Sandstrom

[00:00:00] This is the Tech Arts Podcast, where we talk about tech, leadership, and all things that

[00:00:11] concern church audio, video, and lighting.

[00:00:16] Welcome to the Tech Arts Podcast and the Earthworks Audio Studios.

[00:00:21] My name is DL, so glad to have you along for the ride.

[00:00:24] Today's going to be a little bit of a longer episode. MxU Basic allows you to recruit, onboard your volunteers, teach courses, and train your team on all things tech. While the Earthworks SR117 microphone is a game changer for vocal mics, you have to have this one in your toolkit. It's clear, has tons of game before feedback, and it to be here. Yeah, I'm so glad to have you on today. And I know we've got Jeff coming up here in a little bit to talk more about MXU and leadership and some tech stuff and all that. But I wanted to jump into a demo with you. So tell us about the product and kind of jump in and show us how it works. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So as you already teed it up beautifully for me,

[00:03:03] MXU, we are passionate about helping churches

[00:03:06] recruit, train, and retain their volunteer teams. specifically targeted at the use case in churches, right? And so we've got those videos that can be included in courses here where you can master topics like the Allen Heath SQ7 and there's a collection of videos that make up that course curriculum. And then we also have topics that

[00:04:20] you can explore and so you can dive into MX these videos In fact all of them are just that at or under the ten minute mark. We know that in live production there are topics like you know studying public address systems PAs that's gonna be longer than a ten minute video and

[00:05:41] oftentimes folks want to go in and learn

[00:06:45] precisely. And so now for those who really want to know what is under the hood of this thing called MXU, they can go in and they can say, man, I want to learn complex topics.

[00:06:50] I'm going to filter by 301 and I'm specifically interested in audio. And I just want to look

[00:06:56] at videos, what videos do you guys have, not courses or topics? And you go in and you can

[00:07:01] filter view and see everything that MXU has to offer in that category. Now what we're Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So this is a path. I mean, this is a game changer spencer. I mean, like you're not throwing a bunch of content at them. You're giving them a path that they can walk through. And the layout of this is very clean, easy to follow. I can see right away what I'm doing, where I'm doing it, if I'm kind of managing this. This is amazing.

[00:08:20] I gotta give you kudos on this.

[00:08:22] This takes the MXU platform that I knew from a year or two ago

[00:08:27] and really changes it to something We'll finish here with assignments. You know, assignments is where we feel like MXU can be of most value to the tech director when it comes to managing their team on a week in week out basis. Let's say you upload your own custom course to MXU, but it's just living there. You don't necessarily know how do I deploy this curriculum out

[00:09:40] to my team, and assignments would be the way you do that.

[00:09:43] And so you can see here, I've assigned

[00:09:46] this collection of videos.

[00:09:47] It can be a collection own videos, like you can record and upload your own videos? Yes, yeah, yeah. So in MXU, you're giving me more time than I thought I had. So I love this. I'll just keep going and you tell me when I'm done, David. But yeah, you know, this video here, I think our team decided there is a video

[00:11:01] that key to my problems.

[00:11:02] I've yet to watch it.

[00:11:03] But this is an example of a custom video

[00:11:06] that we have uploaded to our instance here at MXU. I was certainly seeing all these people they don't recognize. They're seeing you tying things together with assignments and courses. It's just a really cool product. How do we get a hold of it? How do people sign up for this, Spencer? Yeah, great question. So you can go to getmxu.com and you can sign up for free. And if you're just wanting to figure out what the platform might have to offer you

[00:12:21] and get your hands on some of this, sign up for free.

[00:12:23] Just your email and your name will get you right

[00:12:25] into the product.

[00:12:26] And you can click around from there next year, and we talk about how even techs are worship leaders. You don't want to miss this uplifting and interesting talk it all starts after these messages from our sponsors. Hang on. Thank you for listening to the TechArts Podcast.

[00:13:42] Be sure to tell all your friends about us. Great Commission ministries today by going to audio video lighting.com. That's audio video lighting.com. Welcome back. And now please welcome to the Tech Arts podcast, the man, the myth, the legend. Jeff Sandstrom. Hey, Jeff.

[00:15:00] I'm not sure about legend.

[00:15:02] Maybe it's more of a myth, but thank you.

[00:15:04] It's good to be here.

[00:15:06] Hey, Jeff, I got a question for you, man.

[00:15:07] Do you like baseball?

[00:16:04] out there, game one, they tied it at the bottom of the ninth, they hit a walk off in the bottom of the 11th. It was, I mean that doesn't happen in baseball very

[00:16:08] often at all. Yeah. Alone in the World Series. So it was, I had a blast. You got

[00:16:13] extra baseball and a win. I mean it's two great things right there. Yeah but my

[00:16:19] son, you know, he's not really, he wasn't really a baseball fan. Now he's

[00:16:23] walking around with the Rangers hat on all the time what it's like when a hundred thousand people roar, when a pass is caught or a baseball's hit out of the stadium. It's that immersive feeling that you get that just kind of draws you in. Yeah, and you're completely swept up in the emotion too. It's like the people around you are high-fiving you

[00:17:41] and you're hugging perfect strangers.

[00:17:43] It's like, this doesn't happen in my house.

[00:17:45] This only happens in was kind of, I was mixing for Passion, which led to meeting all the artists on the Six Steps Records label, which at the time were Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, Matt Redmond, and David Crowder. So we were doing the conference one

[00:20:20] year and the guy who was mixing in front of the team that was bringing songs like How Great Is Our God and Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone and Your Grace Is Enough and Jesus Messiah, all those songs around that time that the church used to give voice to people to worship.

[00:21:41] I mean, that really is Chris's passion

[00:21:43] and his heart for songwriting is to really give a voice

[00:22:47] was what's your passion? And it sounds like your passion is not just the technical side of things, but the people side of things. So, it kind of helps us understand how does MXU, we had a demo

[00:22:54] earlier, so we were able to see a lot of MXU. But what's driving the path of MXU? How is it aligning

[00:23:04] with your passion of not just teaching texts, but it sounds like you're passionate of helping people But excellence in and of itself can quickly turn into just expectations that are too high. You know, if perfection is the goal, then that can become an idol. You know, how many volunteers on a team never miss a cue that that's not going to happen.

[00:24:22] So if the goal, if par for the day is you'm going to church. I'm involved in this because, you know, I'm feeling the music and the emotion of what Chris is communicating. And so I'm good. And it, you know, I've told the story before, but it's like God kind of hit me with an anvil and said, you know what? Worship by proxy is not what I've called you to.

[00:25:41] Where's your heart in this?

[00:25:43] Where is your personal worship in the middle of all this?

[00:25:46] Because watching Chris worship, Totally. But secondly, it's going to be buttons and faders, and people don't wanna come to do buttons and faders, at least at church. They wanna come to be a part of something that's bigger than themselves. Well, buttons and faders are fun for a while. It really is, like especially if you're technically-minded and you like gear and you've got a home theater setup

[00:27:02] that's cool and you're into computers and technology,

[00:27:05] it's like, man, the buttons on stage that facilitates worship. And it really is, you know, creating space for people to experience what God has for them. And that's way bigger than just pushing a button and pushing a fader.

[00:28:20] It's like, man, if you're not on the kinds of things that we're trying to cast vision for. So, you know, we really do like partnering with senior leaders who can sort of understand that as the value and help that become a part of the vision for their ministry because that's where people

[00:29:40] are gonna be really engaged.

[00:29:41] Yeah, you're basically defining the why

[00:29:43] behind the button in the fader.

[00:29:45] Once you define the why, especially in today's world drums, they're singing, I'm playing the band. So, you know, just thinking about it that way has really helped me over the years kind of have a perspective on what my role is because I'm really in partnership with the team on stage. I'm not just, you know, making sure that nothing breaks, making sure that power stays on, making sure that there's no feedback.

[00:31:02] No, I'm playing the song along with the band.

[00:31:05] And that's a huge aspect of what we get to do.

[00:32:02] which I really love as well. Anybody who's been to an MXU live event

[00:32:05] has probably seen that desk.

[00:32:06] It's a touchscreen based, plug-in based mixing console

[00:32:12] that is a small form factor but has a lot of bang

[00:32:17] for the buck and I really enjoy that console as well.

[00:32:21] It's limited to 64 channels.

[00:32:24] So for some bigger events, it's not ideal what we did in the church industry, blunt to the point. You learned from him. He had a heart and a passion for this. Tell me, I know he was a part of MXU. What kind of fingerprint has he put on MXU? The thing that he was able to provide, I always said that Andrew had the spiritual gift of sarcasm.

[00:33:44] He was quick-witted.

[00:33:47] He was not afraid to speak his mind. I miss him too. I totally agree with that. He would put his arm around me after he said, man, this is really boring. I said, well, thanks Andrew. I just got done speaking and he said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He put his arm around me and he said, we need to figure something out better and we need to make it more entertaining and interesting and something that people will want to listen

[00:35:02] to.

[00:35:04] I think it makes you came about shortly after that.

[00:35:07] I think you guys have done it. Now, D&B is one of our partners, but it's because their product is so stellar. And beyond that, their people are amazing. And so I'm always going to kind of default to a D&BPA. And the great thing is they have solutions all through their product line that are appropriate

[00:36:21] for any size room and a lot of different budget levels. fan of Meyer. So you're talking about D&B, you're talking about Meyer. Well, we have Elacoustics. Like, do we need to go change? No, there's probably Meyer, Elacoustics, D&B, Martin. There's probably four or five that if you're in that area, if you're getting those products, you're in a good space. Especially nowadays, I think technology has come so far in the way amps are processing

[00:37:44] the signal in the way the whole ecosystems work. I mean Let me ask you this question. If you're gonna spend your money, cause this is what I advise, let me see if you agree with this. If you're gonna spend your money, I say when it comes to PA, don't cheap out on that, invest into that PA,

[00:39:01] cause that's gonna be with you probably

[00:39:02] for 15 to 20 years.

[00:39:05] Yeah.

[00:39:06] So the reason why, a lot of people say, Sound absorption, diffusion, you know, reverb times, all those things matter because physics is not only a good idea. It's the law. And so if you have a mindset where you're just trying to all the speakers. And then there's a second aspect that's a little more musical that I would refer to as toning the PA. So there's tuning and toning. So things are aligned in the best possible way. So that's definitely something not to be kind of weighted into lightly. I think you need training in that. I think you need not just a good ear, but you need measurement tools and the skill to be able to make sure that happens well. On the toning side,

[00:43:01] that's where personal preference comes into play

[00:43:03] a little bit.

[00:43:05] And that's more of a tone shaping and EQ type scenario. to accentuate a certain aspect of tonality. So you might have a song that has a really bright vocal, for example, on the record. So you can see if it sounds too bright in the room that you're in. You might have a song that has a real driving low end, so you can make sure that the low end is responding the way

[00:44:20] you think it should. For me, you know, I have several songs one for the same reason because the vocal is just round and warm and present But if it if it starts sounding harsh in the room or in the PA then you know you're gonna have to do some work So I think it's also important that you know what the song sounds like in a correct PA Yeah, you just don't throw a song on and and listen to it and be like oh, okay

[00:45:44] Let me make some changes like you need to to use. I know that's a little bit of a trick question because it depends a little bit on who's on the platform but talk a little bit about all of that.

[00:47:00] What vocal mic you like and why you choose a mic.

[00:47:03] Yep, so a lot of it is dependent on the PA. So I would always defer to him on that. There were times when we started trying something different and he would try it for a few weeks and liked it and then all of a sudden didn't like it and it was, you know, we're going back. You know, I think the good thing about those microphone capsules is that they're affordable. So along those lines

[00:48:22] of affordability, there's things like the V7 and try them out and see what you might like and see how you can maybe have a more informed purchasing decision before you just jump in, you know, without that knowledge. So I think that's a great thing.

[00:49:41] Just try some different things.

[00:49:42] If you have a singer who's not sounding as great

[00:49:46] as you think they should, Mike, because we used that at our MxU live event this year on there are two main worship leaders, Pat Barrett and Melody Malone. And it sounded great. I think the top end had a lot of sparkle to it, but it wasn't ever going to take off

[00:51:00] in terms of feedback, had a nice presence to it, huge dynamic range, a lot of clarity.

[00:51:06] I really like that, Mike. in Dego, it sounds really good naturally. And a lot of churches have those singers. They get up there, they're not Lauren, but they get up there and they sing, you don't have to do a lot of work with them. And so this kind of brings me to my next question. The whole waves thing. I walk into churches and there's plug-ins on every channel, multiple plug-ins.

[00:52:22] Sometimes it can be overused.

[00:52:24] Sometimes it can be overwhelming.

[00:52:27] I'm a big believer of if it sounds good, For example, Super Rack is their plugin host software, and each channel can support up to eight plugins. Well, just because those slots are there doesn't mean that you should use eight plugins. I mean, I would say rarely should you ever use eight plugins on a particular signal. So, there are ways though to enter into waves

[00:53:45] kind of compressor emulations that were modeled after vintage analog gear. And so for me it was a great way to kind of go okay my bass guitar if I need any EQ it's gonna be on the console. But I'm gonna put a compressor on it as an insert like I

[00:55:04] would in the old days with a DB X160 though you like curry, too much curry powder in a curry is not going to taste good. It has to be balanced with the other ingredients in the recipe. So think of it as spices, think of it as colors, however you want to do it, to be used to fix something. But if that is your primary purpose for waves, then you're not really using it like the tool set that it should be used for. So I like to say to new users, hey, start simple and with nothing and then add the pieces that you need on the channel to make it work for what you're trying to accomplish.

[00:57:43] Do you agree with that? to be my surgery, I want the ingredients to be right in the first place and then the plug-ins become the icing. It's really just that last little bit of nuance. It's not, I'll have to fix this tone. No, fix the tone before it gets to the microphone. So make sure that your drums are tuned properly. If your drummer

[00:59:01] doesn't know how to tune drums in your church. What I like about the whole goal and mission is investing in the person. If you don't do that, the tech gear doesn't matter. I really appreciate what MXU is doing on that front.

[01:00:23] How do people sign up?

[01:00:24] How do they get in touch with MXU?

[01:00:27] How do they get it? to have access to our training content, but then to also be able to upload your own content. So if you have, and I think Spencer probably talked about this in the demo, but if you have a workflow that is specific to your context, let's say you have a console brand that's not already a part of the MXU platform

[01:01:41] and your volunteers need training,

[01:01:43] you can record training videos for your team

[01:01:45] and upload them to MXU. they already have a feel for how this thing works and what it looks like on the screen and how they can click through slides to be able to apply what they've learned into your context. So those are the kinds of things that we're really excited about is how can we continue to add features that are helpful to the entire team, not just, you know, provide

[01:03:02] specific training on specific gear, which we're going to continue to do, but how can we of the features, but it has enough of a taste for you to understand what MXU is all about. So let me say that again. If you want to better develop yourself, your teams, your leaders and your techs, make sure you check out MXU at get MXU.com.

[01:04:20] So that's get MXU.com.