Thanks for your interest in my recent article with OCP’s Today’s Liturgy. Below you will find the article in it’s entirety, with pictures and links to additional resources. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas for future articles. I would love to hear from you!

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Dan Houze  |  dan@randomhouze.com

Download the article, as published © OCP 2011.  PDF

“New Emerging Technologies that affect How Parishes Worship”  -by Daniel Houze

Greetings, my new friends!  May I join you in the trenches of music and liturgy planning just for a few moments because we have something I would like to discuss: Technology in the Liturgy.  Now hold on, don’t change the channel yet!  I realize that for some of us the thought of mixing up the worlds of liturgy and technical gadgets just doesn’t seem necessary.  I feel you.  Growing up in a quaint Ohio farmtown of 800 people, our parish had two microphones, two speakers and an account at Radio Shack!  But now, 20 years later, we see our leadership at both the parish level and even the Vatican realizing the need for change; the need to remain relevant to a population who have come to expect a properly-functioning sound system every Sunday.  I think sometimes we fear the slippery slope of “making it all about technology”, so much so that we decide to simply stay over on the sidelines.  My challenge for you today is to look at these five areas of modern technology and consider a “tune-up”.  Where is your parish currently and where may you be willing to go? (p.s. If you are a visual learner like me, I encourage you to check out my website as you read this article to see pictures and design layouts).

Digital Mixing Boards vs. Analog Boards – Less setup time!

As a choir director and accompanist myself, I understand those last few moments before Mass begins. The last thing on our minds is usually worrying whether or not the choir microphones are functioning or if the assembly will be able to hear the new acoustic guitar player. “Just set it and forget it” was my mantra for the longest time. Then our church began to incorporate various types of choirs and musical styles, each with it’s own setup and needs, and my struggle became having to re-adjust everything from week to week because the settings from the last mass didn’t work for me.

This is where a Digital Mixing Board can be of immense help, as they allow you to save a snapshot of your settings (like a digital memory picture) and then “recall” those same settings you had last week, all with the push of a button.

Digital Mixing Boards have faders and EQ buttons which are motorized, versus the once popular Analog Mixing Boards where everything is manual. Is there a difference in sound quality? 5 years ago, I would have said yes. But with today’s modern improvements, the difference between digital & analog is hardly noticeable.

Plus, how many times have we needed to make quick changes during a mass due to feedback or soloists? Well many of the new Digital Mixing Boards allow you to control them via an iPad™, say from the back of the church!

Floor Monitor Levels – To Hear or Not to Hear?

Contemporary band too loud? Feedback from choir mics? 75% of the time it is the volume level of your monitors. But wait, turning them way down isn’t the solution either, because everyone needs to hear. And if instrumentalists can’t hear themselves well, or if the choir isn’t hearing enough piano, it can have disastrous consequences and make the ensemble seem out-of-sync…we’ve all been there. I would say that for me, hands down, “dialing in the monitor mix” takes the biggest chunk of my prep time just before Mass.

So one year I decided that there must be an easier way and found a great solution: consider adding an Aviom™ or Hearback™ monitoring system to your music area, allowing these units to create their own mini mixes and then sending each mix to a floor monitor (see cool pics on my website to help explain). This will accomplish two things immediately: 1) less setup time between masses because everyone can “dial in” their own mix during warm-ups, on their own 2) gives ability for each instrumentalist to hear only what they need/want – this will result in much LESS volume coming from the band overall.

Recording Homilies, iTunes Podcasts & more

Last year, Pope Benedict XVI called us to “evangelize today’s digital continent”, speaking to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. This was such a powerful statement because as we discuss apologetics and outreach, we must not forget the modern tools which can bring the Gospel to the world. An easy way to do this at the parish level is to use a Digital Recording Device to capture your pastor’s best weekend homily and post it on your parish website or via a podcast service like iTunes. This is a wonderful way for parishioners to catch a homily they may have missed or allow them to save a message that really spoke to their heart that week. I know of several parishioners who look forward to the online homily because they send this out via email to their friends and relatives, as a way of ministering. Parishes also these this method to record missions or special non-musical events held in the church. What a cool way for us to “go forth to love and serve the Lord, and one another” by evangelizing to our friends via audio recordings! Setting this up can be a bit confusing because there are so many digital recorders on the market.

My suggestions start with recorders by Zoom™ and Marantz™. Both companies make affordable devices with various features. For example, at my current parish we have a digital recorder which saves the homily as an MP3 file, and begins recording automatically, according to the schedule we program into the built-in software. The recorder also hooks up to the internet, so I can even start the recording from home and transfer it to my drive for editing. And great news–once you purchase the equipment, the iTunes podcast service is actually free! (disclaimer: Unless you have a Webcast music performance license, which is separate from the typical OCP/GIA/WLP print licenses, you may not include any musical parts of the Mass on your recording. Yes, the U.S. Copyright Law covers musical performances during the “live” church service, but this does not apply to re-transmission via the radio, television or internet.)

LCD Television Panels vs. Projectors & Screens

I get a lot of consulting calls regarding the pros and cons of installing LCD Television Panels versus Digital Projectors and Screens in a church. That is really an entire article unto itself because there are so many variables: aesthetics, budget, size of the sanctuary, length of cable runs, ambient lighting levels. However, in very general terms, projectors and screens are most cost effective and require the least amount of setup and overall maintenance, plus most can roll up or be hidden in a wall, so the visual concern is less of an issue. LCD Television Panels look really cool and present wonderful widescreen images but in general are not as bright and often result in much higher installation costs. Your parish may benefit from a combination of both. The key is to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible, while not compromising the quality of the image nor the “sight-line” for the parishioner sitting in the pews. (i.e. go to the back pew, can they still read the text?) How are these technologies changing the way we worship, you ask? Just as we tell our choir members to sing out and away from their folder, it is the same experience for the assembly. They usually sing heads down in their hymnals. Using a screen allows them move around naturally to the beat and really sing up and out. (For ideas on background images or song files, go to www.WorshipHouseMedia.com or www.WorshipVue.com)

A/V Ministry – a cool thing

As I wrap up this first article, I want to encourage you to share this information with others on your team. What you will find is that technology excites folks, and even if they aren’t a video editor or electronic engineer, folks that never participated in the past will be interested in getting involved, especially on the high school and young adult level. We love technology and if this is a way that we could contribute, whether it be helping to setup the sound system for the choir or running the powerpoint for the lyrics each week, my suggestion is to look at this as a potential ministry start-up and you will be surprised what comes your way.

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