Authentic Leadership

Although it has taken awhile, I feel as though I’m finally finding myself in my position on the Veritas/Salt staff.

I’ve slowly gotten over the pressure I’ve unnecessarily put on myself (if you’ve read this blog for any period of time I’m sure you’ve seen I’m prone to do that and/or sensationalize things) and felt more and more free with the act of leading a congregation in worship.

The thing is, I don’t exactly fit the traditional worship leader mold.

I can’t really grow a goutee, for one, and I don’t exactly live for those moments of being in front of people. I don’t even really love worship music all that much, to be honest. I would much rather see Mutemath or Bon Iver again in concert than a Passion Conference band. (Gungor being the only exception)

I saw this really cool Mark Driscol leadership video the other day entitled “Authenticity over Excellence.”  (If you’re a leader in any capacity, I highly recommend it … short but powerful 10 minute videos … sign up HERE.) Mark described our society’s desperate need of something real, and how even the business world is taking notice and changing their advertising to make their products/companies seem more “human.” At the same time, however, there is a modern Christian move to make church services more “professional.” We act like there is only one right formula for worship/teaching, with character roles for people to fit into. We must be perfect, so that the congregation can be perfect.

In reality, the more people see authenticity in their leaders, the more people will trust their leaders. The more leaders are willing to admit their mistakes, the more their disciples will be able to admit their own. The more a worship leader tries to stop fitting into someone else’s shoes (even if they were good shoes that led a different congregation well), the more authentic the worship experience will be.

I’ve started to see myself less as the professional performer and more as the guy who can just sing lyrics off the back wall … (and if the last retreat proved anything, it’s that if those lyrics aren’t there, I’m pretty helpless).

Does that mean I don’t take my role as seriously? Sort of. I just feel as though the weight is off … so what if I say something unplanned and uncomfortable or stutter my way through a transition so that people start laughing? It’s me! That’s what I do! Anyone who has ever been to a James & James concert knows that’s what I do best!

My authentic gift is that I can make people feel comfortable. I heard one girl tell me that she felt a service I led was “intimate.” I can take the tension off of a service and improvise my way through technical difficulties.  I’m never going to be a Phil Wickham-type performer, but I don’t see any reason why I can’t draw people just as effectively into the presence of God. The same spirit dwells in me that does in Phil! As C.S. Lewis said, “How monotonously similar all the great tyrants and conquerers have been; how gloriously different are the saints!”

I think Mark Arant has always been my favorite worship leader to watch. He’ll be the first to admit that he’s not that great of a singer or guitar player, but whenever he gets onstage, he’s just Mark. He doesn’t try to be anybody else. He can get crazy off-pitch or lead the songs in weird directions (I remember one time he just plain stopped a song half-way through!), but there’s no one I’ve ever seen that is as excited to praise God and bring people along for the ride as Mark is.

My all-time favorite Mark Arant moment came when he took a stage dive at one of the Anthem events a few years ago into the crowd. Yes, it was ridiculous, but everyone I was around couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, Mark … he would do that!”

Yes, he would … and everyone else just wishes that they could express themselves just as authentically. 

The Happening

At least that’s what I’m calling it… (joking)

We can’t really call our one-night-a-semester worship event “Anthem” anymore. And we can’t really call it “Adoleo” either. I think it’s tentatively called “Anthem/Adoleo Concert at the Englert Theatre.”

Or you can just call it “The Happening” …

Whatever it’s called, you should come to it. It starts at 7:30 pm on October 14. And you should bring your friends; the Englert is a much bigger venue than the little bar we had our last two events at.

We’ve been spending some good time planning the set, as well as practicing with the newest and arguably most talented members of the band, Garrett and Lydia. I know you can’t really “force” a good worship experience or any encounter with God, really, but as the speaker this last weekend said, “you can make yourself really accident-prone.”

We’re doing our best on that end.

If all comes together, we’re going to feature extra drummers, a horn section, and a gospel choir during the climax of our set. It could be pretty memorable.

We can hope we can worship with you.

Perceptions of Reality

Preface: I’m working a slow overnight shift and this post is written in a decidedly more boring tone than my other posts on the recording process. It’s philosophical, and if it doesn’t grab your attention by the first paragraph, don’t feel bad about completely disregarding it.

 

Recording is an art, in the same sense as a live performance, but completely different in form. After 8 days in the studio, I’ve come to quite a few realizations about the philosophy of the art. I was talking with my dad, and he compared the recording process to the art of photography. To a photographer, a stunning backdrop is only half of the issue at hand.

 

How many of us have taken a picture of a stunning sunset or mountain panorama, only to look at the picture later in somewhat disbelief? “It was so much more beautiful in person!” we remark, while looking at a picture that is quite boring in comparison to how we remember it. While a great photographer is able to capture our “mind’s eye” of the scene, most of us only return pale images of what we actually saw. Technology, of course, is intended to aid us in our recreations, yet some of the best pictures ever taken were shot on cameras that would be considered archaic by today’s standards.

 

The same problem exists in musical recordings. The seemingly simple challenge of “just getting it to sound like it actually does” is truly an art that few are actually capable of accomplishing. How common is it to hear a band in a live setting and love the sound, only to hear it on a cd and think it sounds dull and uninteresting! Again, the aid of better technology without an experienced artist’s direction does little to help the process; none of the equipment used to record the Beatles is still used in modern recording studios, unless one wishes to capture that “vintage” sound. The technology that comes standard with macbook computers (the garageband app) is infinitely more powerful than was used on any recording before the late 90′s. Programs that adjust vocal pitches to be perfectly in-tune and fix recordings to be perfectly in-time are now standard in most recording studios.

 

Yet, for all the increases in technology and tools for audio production, the process is still more of an art than a science. In the same way that colors and contrasts on photographs must be enhanced in order to give the viewer a “mind’s eye” view of what was actually seen, recordings must be enhanced in subtle ways. Artificial reverbs, for example, give the listener a sense of space, removing the dry sound of a record and enhancing it with a texture similar to what would be heard in a loud room during a live performance, or in a large cathedral. In the same way, how a recording engineer places a microphone (or what microphone he chooses) can make a drastic impact on how the sound is heard. Sometimes, the most pure, isolated sound, although perfect in concept, is actually the exact opposite of what is needed on an album, in the same way a slightly washed out photograph might better capture a squinting eye’s perception. The “real” needs an effect for the purpose of making it “appear more real.”

 

In this sense, technology often hinders sound. While the potential for audio perfection increases, (especially with very high and low frequencies), the perceived sound quality does not necessarily increase proportionally. For example, many people prefer the sound of an old record player through old speakers versus the “superior” quality of a modern home theater system. Some artists have spurned the option to record with the latest technology in favor of “lo-fi” recordings, using much simpler set-ups. One of my favorite albums, “Illinois” by Sufjan Stevens, was actually recorded using an incredibly simplistic set-up, although you would never know it simply by listening to the fantastic sound of the album.

 

All of this is to say that the recording engineer has considerable power over the final sound of the album, for better or worse. Many bands, such as Radiohead, Coldplay, and Sufjan Stevens, have opted to record their albums themselves in order to better capture their sound in the way they would want it to be perceived. “Getting it to sound like it does” can mean something completely different for someone who perceives the sound to be “like U2″ for example, verses someone who perceives the sound to be “like Neil Diamond.” It is rare for professional producers and engineers to stray too far from their “niche,” because they will always gravitate toward a certain sound, no matter what band comes to their studio. Additionally, the mixing process of the album (setting the volume and effect levels on each part) is crucial, and is something artists can have a hard time surrendering to a third party. It is a common practice for major headlining bands to bring along their own sound guy for live shows in order to translate their sound in the way the artists intend. For those of you who have been to Anthem in Ames, one of the major reasons it always sounded so much better than the average Sunday/Thursday service was because of the sound guy, Phil.

 

So, for our album, we have opted to work with Griffin, the same recording engineer as the previous Anthem album, “With One Voice.” As we attempt to translate to him our thoughts and wishes for the album throughout the mixing and recording process, we are in many ways at the mercy of his perceptions of sound. These perceptions lead to some unanswerable questions:

 

What is “a good sound” anyway?

What does “a natural sound” mean in an artificial process?

What “effects” can we do without, and what “effects” are absolutely necessary?

 

And, most importantly, “What does an authentic worship experience sound like?”

Studio Update #8

I accidentally left my computer at the studio, so this brief update will have to do.

10:00 a.m. – Band devotional.

12:00 p.m. – We arrive at the studio and record some stuff.

2:00 p.m. – We record some more stuff.

4:00 p.m. – We record some more stuff.

6:00 p.m. – Clint reminds us that today is Luke’s 21st birthday. We stop recording long enough to eat pizza and cookie cake and split a six pack of something. Then we record some more stuff.

7:00 p.m. – Clint records his glockenspiel. Griffin makes rough mixes of our week’s work to take home (and not show anybody!). We will use these to plan out our last few days in the studio.

7:30 p.m. – We take off for Iowa City, dropping off everyone but Luke and I at a drive-in theater in Newton to see “Cars 2.”

(for “techies” only: we recorded my AC15 with an SM57 [same set-up as Sunday morning], although with the gain turned super hot and with the mic off-center and a few inches from the amp. I’m pleased to say that it sounded at least as good as the previous day’s recording of the Orange head with the Marshall cab … therefore my gear envy at this point is limited to Griffin’s Maxon overdrive pedal, which far exceeds the quality of my $25 Behringer pedal.)

Studio Update #7

Here’s a great picture from yesterday that I forgot to put in the blog.

Martha gives Clint a cello lesson

10:00  a.m. – Band devotional

12:00 p.m. – Arrive at the studio. Ally and Bri work on harmonies for a bunch of songs.

3:00 p.m. – More group vocal parts. Clint can’t seem to remember the lyrics, “Our God is power, our God is stronger, our God is greater, than any other,” so we put up a styrofoam cup with Clint’s words on it and post it to the microphone stand. Don’t worry, though, we don’t actually sing “stronge” on the record.

high tech recording device

3:30 p.m. – Clint, Bryan, and Ally go back to Iowa City, leaving Bri, Luke, and I in the studio by ourselves. We throw some pretty crazy vocal parts into “Delivered.”

5:00 p.m. – I start recording guitar parts to “Beautiful One.” Griffin lets me use his Orange AD30 head through a 4X12 Marshall Cab (that one’s for you guitar nerds).

6:00 p.m. – I record my guitar part to “Delivered.” I play through the song seven times, and then Griffin takes the best parts of each take, making my final part sound like I actually know how to play guitar!

7:00 p.m. – I record my guitar part to “Meet Us Here.”

8:00 p.m. – We leave the studio, exhausted.

After four days, even the most exciting parts feel like work. We’ll go back for one more day tomorrow, then again Wednesday and Thursday of next week, and then two more days which have not yet been scheduled. Then we’ll be done … and hopefully it will all have been worth it.

Studio Update #6

10:00 a.m. – Mark Arant and Clint come back to Iowa City. We have a sweet band devotional/worship time, and my mom makes an incredible breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, and fresh strawberries. We go to the studio very happy.

12:00 p.m. – We meet Lydia and Martha Yoder at the studio and I get to help coach their violin and cello parts …. Best day of my life. Can’t wait for Lydia to move to Iowa City.

1:00 p.m. – Martha records cello for “Waiting for You.” Clint goes to the bathroom to cry (just kidding).

2:00 p.m. – Lydia records violin for “Waiting for You.”  We decide that this song is destined to be played at weddings. Martha gives Clint a 10 minute cello lesson. Ally wins the competition on Skate 2 for “best wipeout.”

3:30 p.m. – We record group vocals for “Waiting for You.” Mark Arant has to go back to Iowa City, but stays just long enough to have an appearance on the album.

4:00 p.m – Lydia and Martha record parts for “Beautiful One.” Ally almost learns how to juggle apples and oranges.

5:30 p.m. – Lydia and Martha record parts for “Higher.” Luke, Bri, and Ally make a list of which animal everyone would be, were they not a person. (mostly inspired by our current obsession with this video: 

Luke – Bear

Ally – Rabbit

Bri – Seal

James – Giraffe

Bryan – Red Panda

Clint – Ferret

Mark Arant – Dolphin

6:30 p.m. – Lydia and Martha leave. I record the vocals for “Higher” and “To Be Filled.”

8:00 p.m. – We leave, and my mom solidifies her reputation as the greatest mom in the world by cooking steaks for us.

Studio Update #5

10:00 a.m. – Band devotional. We read through Colossians 2.

12:00 p.m. – Arrive at the studio. I record vocals for “Beautiful One,” “Waiting for You,” and “You Alone.”

3:00 p.m. – Ally records “Meet Us Here.” I learn how to play Skate 2 on the playstation. Luke Haverkamp comes and picks up Clint so they can lead the Salt Company service back in Iowa City.

4:00 p.m. – Luke and I head over to Scott’s again to record keyboards. Ally and Bri keep recording vocals. Scott does some cool production work with Luke’s parts on his Rhodes piano. If you notice a cool sound during the chorus of “Higher,” you can thank Scott.

6:30 p.m. – Luke and I get back to the studio. Gabe Noll stops by for a visit. We record the guitar part for “Higher.”

I’m afraid nothing especially funny or unusual happened today. I apologize for the boring blog post … so hopefully this video from yesterday makes it worth it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uJppxLrLNM&feature=player_embedded

Studio Update #4

9:00 a.m. – We meet Mark, Jeff, and Mikaela at the church offices for prayer.

10:15 a.m. – We leave for Des Moines.

12:15 p.m. – Arrive in Des Moines and load equipment into the studio. I park the car, and Ally realizes she left her computer in her purse in my car. I do the gentlemanly thing and carry her purse three blocks through downtown Des Moines.

12:30 p.m. – While Griffin sets up microphones, we jam in the break room with the following line-up: Bryan on banjo/tenor sax, Luke on tambourine/mandolin, Clint on trumpet, Ally on acoustic guitar, and me on trombone/banjo. I would term our creation, “Indie-folk pep-band.”

12:35 p.m. – We realize that Bryan is at least as accomplished on the tenor sax as he is on the bass, which if no small feat.

1:30 p.m. – Bri starts recording vocals. Luke finds a long cardboard tube, and begins to invent as many uses as possible for it (including bass drum stick and one-note-trumpet).

2:30 p.m. – We record group vocals, (or gang vocals), with all of us singing at the same time into one microphone.

3:00 p.m. – Clint records his first ever harmony vocals on a professional c.d. (he’s done 6 full length albums and 2 e.p.’s).

4:00 p.m. – Ally records her vocals on “Savior.” Clint goes to Wal-Mart to buy a min-fridge for Griffin. He comes back with it stocked full of healthy foods.

5:30 p.m. – Bri starts recording vocals on “Delivered.” Luke and I resolve to start a company that offers a reasonable balance between “extra creamy” and “extra crunchy” peanut butter.

6:00 p.m. – Luke and I leaves to record keyboards with my good friend Scott Gratton while Bri and Ally keep working on vocals.

7:20 p.m. – After hearing Scott demo his new organ (a beautiful Korg cx3), Luke and I decide that Scott needs to record the organ part for “Delivered.” His work is pretty spectacular.

8:30 p.m. – We head back to my house to unwind with some “Killer Bunnies.”

Band Board Game Night

Studio Update #3

12:05 p.m.: Luke, Bryan, and I survive the world’s worst rainstorm on our way to the recording studio. I start working on more acoustic guitar parts. I was “rushing” my parts yesterday (or playing ahead of the beat), so I compensate by not drinking any caffeine in the morning. My playing improves considerably. Luke and Bryan begin to work on mastering Skate2 on the playstation.

2:00 p.m.: Bri arrives, is handed a video game controller, and does a quadruple kickflip, which Bryan and Luke spend the rest of the day trying in vain to replicate.

4:00 p.m.: I finish my work on the acoustic guitar. The band takes a break and goes to the Spaghetti Works, a Des Moines classic hot spot.

5:00 p.m.: We get back to the studio, and start working on vocal parts for “My Heart Yearns.” Griffin has me sing into three microphones at the same time; a blue one, a green one, and a black one. He records me singing the song, and then we listen to how my voice sounds through each of the microphones. It’s a close call between the blue and the green one, but we decide to go with the blue one. We record the song in sections (verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge) taking three different tries for each part in order to get the best one.

6:30 p.m.: Luke steps up to the microphone, and does some doubling of a few of the vocal parts in a highly technical process we like to call “Gang-vocals.” Basically, we just record the same thing over and over with a lot of different people singing so it sounds like a big group of people is singing with us. Luke does a spectacular job, and we realize that we have very similar sounding voices in our higher range.

7:00 p.m.: We spend our last hour listening to all the songs as Griffin makes “bounces” (unfinished recordings) for us to take home with the guitar, bass, and drum parts. We make plans for recording a piano next Thursday, and experimenting with vocal arrangements (harmonies … “oohs” and “ahhs”) in the next 10 days before we go back to the studio for 5 days on the 20^th.

Bri and Luke listen back to the recordings

8:00 p.m.: We pack a bass guitar, 3 acoustic guitars, Bryan, me, and Luke int o the cab of Luke’s truck (due to the rain). It’s packed tight, but we make it back to Iowa City alive and in time to catch the end of the Maverick’s game.

Parts still needed to record in our remaining 9 days in the studio:

• My vocals
• My electric guitar
• My trombone
• Bri’s vocals
• Ally’s vocals
• Clint’s vocals
• Clint’s glockenspiel
• Clint’s trumpet
• Luke’s vocals
• Luke’s organ parts
• Luke’s electric piano parts
• Luke’s acoustic piano parts
• Luke’s “signature double reverse reverb” piano parts
• A cello
• A violin
• Bryan’s banjo

Studio Update #2

10:00 a.m.: The band goes to the Science Center IMAX to watch “Tornado Alley” and find inspiration. When Clint goes to pay for parking, the parking attendant asks him if he can help a family in distress. He points to the elevator, where a little boy is trapped inside with the door nearly closed. His little sister is crying on the outside, and his mom is sufficiently panicked. Clint sticks his foot in the elevator and then pushes as hard as he can to free the child. The door makes a clicking sound and then opens. The boy stares at Clint, with wide eyes. “Wow! You’re really strong!” Clint walks away the hero, but still has to pay for parking.

12:05 p.m.: Bryan goes back to work on his bass tracks. Luke Drieson arrives, and we talk about some of the guitar parts. He enjoys playing the vintage Gibson Hummingbird, which Garrett from Veritas Church allowed us to borrow for the recording process. We eventually get a three part guitar trio going with Clint, and vow to have a quite literal “acoustic” set sometime in the future.

3:30 p.m.: Bryan records “Delivered,” our most “soul-ful” tune. At one point during his take, Clint makes a remark about how simple one of Brian’s bass riff fills is. Bryan makes sure to play as many notes as possible at the next available fill. I challenge Luke to a round of golf on the playstation.

5:00 p.m.: Griffin starts to set up microphones to record acoustic guitar parts. Clint makes a run to Jimmy Johns.

6:00 p.m: After much discussion on microphone placement (Which mics? Where do they go?) and guitar tone (Martin guitar? Taylor guitar? Gibson guitar?) we begin to record “My Heart Yearns.” I record a total of four different acoustic guitar parts (3 different parts … one part played twice) and Luke plays one small part that he added “on the fly.” It sounds pretty cool, is something that will be fun to try and play live.

8:30 p.m.: Clint leaves, and Zach Gilbert stops by.

10:00 p.m.: We leave the studio after recording acoustic guitar parts to four songs.

Griffin sets up the drum microphones to record.

Helping Clint follow along while he records

Senseless drum banging in a sound-proof room