Streaming and

Recording for Your

Congregation
A Living Document

Edited and Compiled by Jonathan L. Luginbill, Ft. Collins, CO

March 26, 2020
Index:

Introduction 2

Streaming and Video Conferencing 3

Choosing a Platform 4

Facebook Live on a Personal Computer 6

Facebook Live on a Smart Phone 12

YouTube Live 14

Zoom Video Conferencing 17

Streaming Setup 18

Best Streaming Practices 23

Recording 27

Microphone Basics 28

Choosing Software 31

Practical Recording Theory 32

Recording with Audacity 33

Practial Mixing Theory for Recorded Audio 41

Further Resources 46

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Introduction:

Mission Statement:

This document aims to provide the resources necessary to empower small-

and medium-sized congregations to confidently create an online streaming
program and prerecorded digital presence.

At the time of the creation of this document, many church congregations are
discovering a need to move traditional Sunday services online due to a worldwide
pandemic. Community is as important now as it has ever been, but we find
ourselves unable to gather in-person. Luckily, there are now many tools that can
be used to virtually close this physical gap and adapt traditional, well-practiced
services to an online platform.

The goal of this document is not to provide an exhaustive guide on streaming

and recording, rather it should provide a jumping off point for congregations
nervous about creating a digital presence.

This guide will discuss two practical tools that can be used to bring your
church service to the congregation remotely: streaming and recording.

This document is meant to be a living document, to be freely updated by

those who wish to expand this resource with their own experience and expertise.
To that end, please try and follow the same formatting and structure. Credit all
outside references and sources. For expediency’s sake, portions of this document
are quotes from other articles and online resources and are appropriately credited.
Individuals with more knowledge on a particular subject are encouraged to rewrite
these sections with their own experiences.

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Streaming:

Streaming generally utilizes a social media platform to distribute a live video

recording from one user’s account to many, but may also use video conferencing
or video-call services to join a group of users into a single call.

Social media streaming – Facebook, YouTube - has the advantage of utilizing a

service most individuals in the congregation already use and understand, but is
limiting in that only the streaming host is able to interact with the stream and
create content; viewers can only interact with text comments. An added advantage
to social media streaming is that the host is given the option to save the stream
after the fact and have that video permanently hosted on the church’s social media
page, allowing those who were unable to view it live to be able to view it at a later
date.

Video conferencing services have the advantage of allowing many users to see and
interact with each other in close to real-time. There will more of a learning curve
for individuals unfamiliar with this platform and those hesitant to be viewed by
others in the stream. An advantage to video conferencing is that it will allow
congregations that rely on many individuals to execute the service to coordinate
and add their voice without being in the same location as the video host; it will also
allow for a more traditional announcement and prayer request scenario.

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Choosing a Platform:

Facebook Live and YouTube Live are the two most common social media live
streaming platforms. Both are widely understood and accepted and the same
audio-video setup can be used for both. Zoom is by far the most widely used video
conferencing service and is free with some limitations.

“Facebook. Facebook is an easy choice because most churches have

invested time and resources into their Facebook pages. If you use
Facebook, you’ll be able to reach some of your existing followers via a
notification that your church is “going live.” The negatives of Facebook
Live are also worth considering. Another consideration is that,
although Facebook Live videos are accessible to non-Facebook users,
the interface and ease of access is limited. If you wanted, for example,
to embed your weekly video on your website for those who couldn’t
watch live, Facebook Live videos are not easy to work with. Despite
these setbacks, Facebook Live may make sense for your church
depending on your existing presence on Facebook and how you want
to handle the videos after they’re complete. The most helpful thing
you can do is to a trial run with the privacy setting on “private.” This
will allow you to test the interface before going public for the first
time.

“YouTube. Most small- to medium-sized churches tend not to invest

much time or energy into YouTube. For that reason, I suspect many
churches doing live video for the first time will select a different
option. Despite the challenge of setting up a new YouTube channel for
your church (linked to a Google account in YouTube), there are some
excellent reasons to consider. Like Facebook, subscribers receive
notifications when your channel goes live, YouTube plays well with
websites, embedding nicely after the video is finished, and you can
also share the video link on Facebook. A missional consideration for

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 YouTube is that their platform is the primary place where millennials
and Gen-Z go for content consumption. YouTube provides much easier
on-ramps for non-churched people to discover your livestream.

“Zoom. Depending on what kind of live format you want to pursue,

Zoom is a reliable method for smaller and more intimate gatherings.
For example, some of the house churches in China have used Zoom to
enable pastors to continue teaching small groups while they cannot
meet in their main facilities. A number of churches also use Zoom to
facilitate Bible studies, staff meetings, and sermon discussions
throughout the week. Zoom is free if your meetings are less than 100
people and shorter than 40 minutes. If you go larger or longer, you’ll
need to pay. Other alternatives such as Skype and Google Hangouts
Meet are viable options, but issues with reliability have pushed many
organizations toward Zoom.

[Phil Thompson – “How to Livestream Your Church Service: A Practical

Guide” thegospelcoalition.org – March 26, 2020]

From a technical perspective – getting your audio and video onto the
platform – all of the above services are essentially the same and the setup will be
discussed in the next chapter. In order to jump the initial hurdle of “going live” for
the first time on any of these platforms, here is a quick rundown of each with
screenshots. Note that this walkthrough was done on Apple’s OSX operating
system, but Windows users will find that the same will apply.

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Facebook Live on a Personal Computer:

On the Church page, click on “Live” and you will be presented with the
following:

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Page 7
(1) Go Live Now – An option betweeng going live, and scheduling a live stream
sometime in the future.

(2) Post – Since this window is the same for both personal Facebook accounts
and page accounts, this section gives the streamer the option to change
where the stream originates from – personal vs. page accounts. If you have
selected “Go Live” from the church’s page, it should default to the church
page. Give the video a title and a description.

(3) Publish as a test broadcast – Select this box in order to test the streaming
tools without allowing your followers to view the stream, essentially
making it private. This is a good way to practice your service and
technology.

(4) Go Live – This will turn blue when the setup has been completed and you
are ready to go.

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(1) Get Started – This section allows you to choose your video source. If you
are streaming from either the built-in camera in a laptop or an external USB
camera plugged into a laptop, you will select the drop down arrow and click
“Camera.” If you are using broadcasting software like OBS (Open
Broadcaster Software) or a mulit-channel camera setup, a stream key will
be generated by the software and you will input that into the Server URL to
the right.

(2) Unpublish after live video ends – This checkbox will hide the video from
your followers after the live stream has ended.

(3) Viewing – Options to allow or disallow follower actions during the stream.

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Notice that when you selected camera, the “Setup” options to the right appeard.
This is where you will select your internal or USB camera and the internal or
external microphone. Each device will be named differently, so experiment to
determine which device is which. The “Share Screen” button allows you to select
either an entire computer screen, or application window from your computer and
stream that instead of the live video. This would be useful for sharing images,
bulletins, hymn sheet music, call and response, or other media. Be careful with
streaming potentially copywritten material.

The bottom left window shows what the camera is currently seeing and clicking on
it or scrolling up will show a larger view of the stream and will always show what
your followers see:

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When you are live you will be able to see follower comments on the left side of the
live view. You may also comment, paste external links, and emoji as the church in
the comment box.

The “Go Live” button will turn red and display “End Broadcast” instead.

You may freely switch from any window or application on your computer during
the stream without fear of followers seeing what is happening “behind the scenes.”
This will allow you to cue up the next portion of your broadcast. Rehearse this just
as you would your normal Sunday service.

At the end of the broadcast you will be given the option to post or delete the video.

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Facebook Live on a Smart Phone:

On your church’s mobile page, you will see the “Live” option under “Create
a Post.” Doing so will immediately take you to the Facebook live stream after asking
for permissions to access your camera and microphone. You must allow both in
order to stream. Within the mobile app there is no option to test or make the
stream private. While an individual user may restrict their live stream to only
friends or family, a page’s stream is always made public and anyone can view it.

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 There is also no ability to include other video sources or applications in the
stream, though you are given the ability to switch between the front and rear
camera on your phone. You may also choose to add a description to the stream
before going live. Comments will appear overlaid on the screen, and you may also
use the comment box to add comments, or emoji.

Instead of having the option to manually switch between audio sources, the
smartphone application will automatically select the internal microphone of the
smartphone unless it detects that an external microphone is plugged in. The
advantages of an external microphone will be discussed in a later chapter.

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YouTube Live:

From the main page on YouTube, click on your user icon on the top right,
and in the dropdown menu, select “YouTube Studio.”

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 To go live, select “Create” in the top right, and select “Go Live.” Note that
you may have to wait up for 24-hours for your channel to receive approval to
livestream.

Once you are set up to livestream

through YouTube and click “Go Live”
you will be presented with the
option to title the stream, make it
public – or private for testing
purposes – and select your audio and
video sources. It will default to your
internal microphone and camera,
but you may select external sources
just as you would with Facebook
Live. Hitting “NEXT” will prompt you
to select a thumbnail image which
will be the image users see when the
video is displayed online.

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 YouTube Live also has the option to schedule an event and input all of the
information beforehand.

Once you are live on YouTube it functionsd much the same way as Facebook
in that you may open other windows or applications without fear of it affecting
your live stream. You can also share your screen or windows with the live stream
in order to display images, bulletins, sheet music, and call and response text. Ending
the stream will save it to your channel’s video library where users may watch it in
the futre and you may share the video on other platforms.

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Zoom Video Conferencing:
Zoom (https://zoom.us/) offers both a free and subscription service. The free
service limits the number of participants to less than 100 and also allows only a 40
minute conference.

Below are instructions that can be shared with those who are unfamiliar with Zoom.
You will need to provide current and accurate information in the places indicated
with [insert…].

1. Use this link to join from a computer, or if you have the Zoom app on your
phone: [insert link]
2. To join by smartphone, click this number [insert phone number]
3. If you are calling from a non-smart phone, dial this number and enter
meeting ID [insert phone number] Meeting ID: [insert]

Tips and hacks:

If you experience difficulties with the microphone or speakers, once you have the
chat window open, find the Zoom "preferences" menu tab and then select the
speaker or headphones you want to use. If you continue to have trouble, just phone
in--this nearly always works.

In the upper right corner you can toggle between “gallery” view (where you can
see everyone) and “speaker” view (where the person currently speaking is the only
one you see).

Buttons to mute video and audio are in the lower left corner

Using headphones sometimes improves sound quality; if you are meeting in a

group, just use your device’s speakers.

And now for some words on Zoom etiquette

You may be muted when you enter the chat room; please keep yourself muted
when you are not speaking to reduce background noise. This includes those who

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call in. If you don’t know where the mute button is on your phone, look for it now!
With a large group, this will help us all have a much better experience.

It is very common on Zoom to step on each other’s sentences because of sound

delays. Please release yourself from shame if you do this--just stop talking and let
the other person keep going! If you apologize, you step on them again, and then
it’s even more disruptive!

If you can’t hear someone, cup a hand to an ear to signal to them.

Information in this section was provide by Alison Casella Brookins, Pastor at

Chicago Community Mennonite Church.

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Streaming Setup:
There are many ways to get set up for live streaming and video conferencing
and each church body will have to choose which will work best for its situation.

Level 1 is shooting live video via mobile phone. The strength here is in
its portability and cost. It’s essentially free (you could add the cost of
a $20 phone mount and a $30 microphone to improve quality), and it
provides a great, informal experience that lends itself well to live video
platforms, providing a personal and “behind the scenes” experience
for followers that can be lost as production quality escalates.

Lapel microphone for smart phones: https://amzn.to/2WWAwcb

Level 1 (A) involves using your audio system and incorporating that into the video
stream. The advantage of this is that you should be able to utilize the same audio
system you use for your normal Sunday services. Traditionally, all microphones
used during the service are sent to some sort of mixing board or mixer, which then
takes all of the audio and directs it to a set of speakers or audio monitors in the
sanctuary. If, instead of just sending that audio to the speakers, you intercept the
audio and also send it to your smart phone or laptop you will be able to use a
system you already understand to capture high-quality audio and add it to the
video stream. This can be accomplished a number of ways, and any technically-

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inclined member of the congregation should be able find a way to do this with your
system. However, here is a way that should work on most systems:

In a traditional audio mixer, there should be a number of “outputs” where

the audio mix can be sent. The main outputs are usually sent to a set of external
amplifiers and then to a set of audio speakers. There should be a number of other
outputs as well including “AUX” and RCA connections, however, we are interested
in the headphone output which usually carries the same signal as the main outputs
but will allow you to adjust the volume independently. Usually, this is a ¼” jack
similar to the jack used for guitars or electronic instruments, however, it will output
a left and right stereo signal. That is ok. Simply plug a normal ¼” tip-sleeve cable
into the jack and the audio will be made into a left-only mono signal. The end of
the ¼” cable that you just plugged in can then be run to where you have your
smartphone or laptop laced in the sanctuary.

For smartphones, use an adapter to change the ¼” jack into an 1/8”

(headphone-sized) jack and plug that into the microphone side of a y-splitter. In
most smart phone headphone jacks there is actually a third connection for a
microphone and using a y-splitter you are able to insert any signal straight into the
microphone input. Most phones will automatically recognize and switch the audio
source for video and streaming to the jack when a microphone-enabled cable is
plugged in.

For modern Apple laptops, the headphone jack actually serves the same
purpose as a smart phone in this case and will recognize a microphone-enabled
cable when it is plugged in. Use the same y-splitter cable to send signal directly to
the microphone input.

For Windows computers there are usually two jacks of similar size:
microphone and headphone. Simply plug the adapted 1/8” cable into the
microphone input and you should be up and running.

For most personal computers there will be an internal setting that allows you
to attenuate the volume of the incoming signal. Alternatively, use the headphone
volume on your mixer to attenuate the level sent to the device. Make sure to not
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send so much signal that you distort the input into the device. This will sound nasty
and can be fixed by turning down the volume at one of the previous stages.

Everything you will need for Level 1 (A):

Female ¼” to Male 1/8” TS adapter: https://amzn.to/2xqszRK

Female to Male Headphone / Microphone Y Splitter: https://amzn.to/2UjsMPC

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Level 2 is shooting video via a dedicated live camera. The dominant
player in this space is the Mevo camera. For somewhere in the $500
to $1,000 range, the Mevo provides a great solution for live video.
Production quality on the Mevo is significantly higher than the mobile
phone, retains some of the informality of the platform, and provides a
cheap fixed-point live video solution.

Level 3 is a hybrid solution that gives you more control than Mevo but
doesn’t require a substantial media budget. One of the best examples
here is Boxcast. For $100 per month, you get the hardware and
software necessary for streaming your service on the web. You’ll also
need to invest in cameras capable of HD capture (in the $500–1,000
range per camera) as well as a high-quality microphone and
amplification (perhaps what your church already uses will work).
Other computer-based software solutions (such as Restream or OBS)
can achieve some of the results of Boxcast with a little
experimentation and technical know-how.

Deciding between these approaches involves three factors:

Budget: Level 1 will cost between $0 and $50. Level 2 is between $500
and $1,000. Level 3 is a $1,200 per year investment with initial costs
around $1,000.

Crew: Talk with your deacons, pastors, or A/V team to determine what
they’re comfortable with or use most often. At the same time, be
cautious about committing to obscure or complex hardware, software,
or streaming methods that won’t work unless a single member of the
team is able run them.

Vision: Although your church may be making a temporary compromise

with livestreaming, wise planning for how you invest during this
season can reap dividends for your ministry down the road. So, make
sure that whatever purchases you make or methods you try will serve
you well in the long run. Think about future uses of your technology,
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should you decide to stop livestreaming your services. This might
include midweek update videos, pre-recorded announcements,
baptism or other testimonies, special non-Sunday teaching series,
Q&A videos, or non-English teaching videos. Perhaps consider doing a
special daily series of videos for Holy Week or during Advent.

[Phil Thompson – “How to Livestream Your Church Service: A Practical

Guide” thegospelcoalition.org – March 26, 2020]

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Best Streaming Practices:
Some concessions may have to be made in order to adapt your service to a
streaming-friendly format. This might include shortening the service, choosing to
forgo congregational singing in lieu of listening to prerecorded music together, or
streaming from a different location instead of the sanctuary of your church. Each
church body should decide together how to approach streaming to include the
most members and make viewers as comfortable participating – or not – as
possible. Here are a few things to think about:

Should we attempt to stream an entire service, or just the

preaching/teaching?

If you’re doing more than singing music written before the

1920s, you are likely performing copyrighted content. There are
complex ways of handling this, but for simplicity’s sake and legal
reasons, I would recommend omitting the musical portion of your
worship service from the live stream. If there are announcements
you’d like to give or specific issues you want to address, just keep in
mind that you are potentially reaching a worldwide audience. You also
want to ensure that your camera is placed in a way that does not
capture minors, victims of abuse, and so on, for their safety and for
your own legal purposes.

Should we stream monologue preaching or attempt something

different?

The best use of a live video is not a camera in the back of the
room gathering content, but video where the speaker engages with
the live comments either during the video or afterward, via comments
or in person. Churches attempting to live stream for a congregation
that is entirely remote may feel more comfortable retaining the
traditional preaching model. But it seems worthwhile to consider
encouraging viewers to comment with questions or feedback that can

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be answered following the sermon. Someone running the camera can
be monitoring comments on a separate device and preparing them for
the post-sermon discussion time.

Alternatively, some churches may opt to more strategically use

live streaming in a dialogical or hybrid format, breaking up teaching
with designated Q&A slots (“Be sure to comment, and I’ll discuss your
questions in 10 minutes”) or engaging in ongoing audience interaction
throughout the video (“Thanks for your question, ____, let’s answer
that . . .”). Zoom or other more direct video mediums may lend
themselves to a more dialogical environment if you don’t mind limiting
the audience.

How should we place the camera, interact with the camera, or set
the stage?

Live camera placement always looks best when the angle is eye-
level with the speaker. In an ideal live-only scenario, the speaker is
speaking directly to the camera, making eye contact with the video
viewers. Angles from below the speaker tend to be unflattering.
Simple lighting in the form of lamps, a ring light, or a basic lighting kit
can go a long way toward enhancing your video, depending on how
you engage with the camera.

Should we go live or upload a pre-recorded sermon (or something

else)?

This decision will rest on what your church and pastors and
volunteers are confident with. There are pros to each approach:

- Pre-recording: You can refine the end product; it will have a

higher production value; you can easily include slides or
announcements; you can schedule it and send a link in
advance.

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 - Live Streaming: You can interact with the audience and allow
them to interact with you; the setting is more intimate; the
notifications reach more of your followers.

If you pre-record, you can capture video using the camera app
on your mobile device, PhotoBooth on a Mac, or the webcam app on
your PC. You may want to edit the video (using a free PC app, or
iMovie, which is free on Macs) before uploading. You’ll want to
consider how to boost lighting, add Scripture references, and clip out
errors or unhelpful content. Schedule the video for a particular time
on Sunday on as many media as possible (one of the final steps after
uploading to Facebook and YouTube is a step that allows you to
precisely schedule your video’s release). Make sure the description
and cover image look nice. Scheduled videos in YouTube are assigned
an inactive permalink that you can share with your congregation in
advance.

Should I go to the church building and preach from the pulpit, do it

in a smaller room, or do it from home?

It seems like there are advantages and disadvantages to each of

these:

The pulpit conveys a sense of “church as usual.” It may be

helpful for your members to feel a sense of normalcy during this time.
At the same time, everyone watching is watching fully aware that what
is happening is entirely abnormal. It’s also hard to provide interaction
with viewers from the pulpit, and interaction is one of the primary
functions of live streaming (if you go that route).

A studio of some sort allows you to provide a higher-quality

presentation of the Word. This can be helpful for a congregation who
is hungry to hear the Word presented and applied by their pastor, but
the high-quality nature of such an environment often pushes churches
to try too hard or overcomplicate the process.
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 A home environment allows you to communicate “I’m in this
with you,” in a pastoral manner. This can be helpful to members
feeling lonely and isolated, but if the lighting and audio are terrible,
your sermon may not be effective.

Will video servers have enough bandwidth to cover Sunday

broadcasts?

If you’re using Facebook and YouTube, you’re unlikely to

experience much risk. If you’re uploading and scheduling pre-recorded
video, you can always do your upload before Sunday to ensure that
their servers aren’t struggling to process video on a Sunday morning.
If you’ve selected a more church-centric streaming or hosting service,
you may find that they struggle to keep up with demand. As
mentioned before, Zoom has been struggling to keep up with demand,
especially for churches attempting to engage more than 100
participants who are all using their webcams to call-in. Perhaps turning
off the inbound video streams of participants will help lighten the load
on these massive Zoom calls.

[Phil Thompson – “How to Livestream Your Church Service: A Practical

Guide” thegospelcoalition.org – March 26, 2020]

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Recording:
If you choose to prerecord your message, you may be doing so in hopes of
delivering a more polished final product. To that end, it helps to have some
practical knowledge of the audio-recording process. This chapter will discuss the
basics of how to record to any device you have in your possession and implement
those recordings in a number of different ways.

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Microphone Basics:
Generally, a microphone is a microphone and the way you use that
microphone for your live services will be the same as you would for recording.
However, here are a few practical things to keep in mind.

SM58 SM57
Dynamic Microphones:

These microphones have a small dynamic range and

need to be placed in close proximity to the audio source.

These microphones are traditionally used for voice,

percussion, and placement in front of amplifiers.

Condenser Microphones

Condenser Microphones:

These microphones have a large dynamic range and

excel at capturing sources from a greater distance.

Traditionally these microphones are used for ensembles

and capturing audio sources that are spaced further
apart.

Used correctly when recording, these microphones will

make the recordings sound more “professional.”

No microphone should be plugged directly into a smart phone or computer

unless specified as such.

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Voice

Even the most advanced singers and performers often forget the correct
placement for a microphone. Correct vocal placement is two finger widths away
from the mouth.

Group Vocals

Use a pair or single condenser microphone placed an equal distance from the
group. Note, however, condenser microphones are more prone to feedback, thus
they should be kept well away from any speakers.

Acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar is one of the harder instruments to mic because you need to
be aware of the performer and how microphones can interfere with their
movement. Because of this, it is advised for the performer to use an
acoustic/electric guitar so that they can plug directly into the sound system. Not
only does this allow for us to have more control over the sound, but feedback also
becomes less of an issue. If an acoustic guitar does need to be mic’d it is best to
place a dynamic microphone aimed at the very bottom of the neck about six inches
away from the guitar. This is a good position because it emphasizes picking, thus
giving a clean attack, while also reducing finger noise. When recording without
using the microphone for sound reinforcement a condenser microphone might be
a more professional sounding choice.

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Piano

Either a dynamic or condenser microphone can be placed safely within the

cover of a grand piano, or inside the upper portion of an upright piano. If you find
that you hear too much plunk-y hammer noise, move the microphone further away
from the hammers, on the underside of a grand piano, or on the back side of an
upright piano.

Guitar and Bass amps

Place a dynamic microphone pointed at the amp and one or two inches away
from the main speaker. Use a flashlight through the front grille cloth to find the
center of the speaker.

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Choosing Software:
In general, recording software all accomplishes the same goal: capturing
audio and displaying it in such a way that it is easier for a human to understand and
manipulate. Professional pieces of software include Pro Tools, Logic, and Cubase.
These pieces of software are prohibitively expensive unless a member of the
congregation is involved in the audio industry and already uses this software.
Luckily there are a number of free pieces of software with great, but limited,
functionality. Audacity for both Windows and Apple computers, and Garage Band
for Apple devices.

Audacity is generally considered the most widely used piece of free audio
recording and editing software, and the following tutorials will this software,
though much of the terminology and use will translate to other software.

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Practical Recording Theory:
The general question you need to answer is “how do I get this in to there?”
This being analog audio, and there being the device you are recording to. There are
many ways to do this, the simplest being to use the internal microphone in your
device which takes care of everything for you. However, this may not be the highest
quality microphone, or you may not be able to place the device in a location
appropriate for the microphone.

You can place your device in the middle of the sanctuary and stream the
message from the podium as you usually would, however you may find that the
audio is unintelligible and some may ask why it sounds echo-y. Alternatively you
could place the device on the podium to capture better audio, but your
congregation may then not be able to see the full service.

Using the method discussed in the “Streaming Setup” section is a quick and
dirty way to capture audio as you would in a traditional service and have that audio
be sent to your device using its built-in microphone input. (There are more
professional methods, but these involve purchasing a separate unit called an
interface.)

So, place your microphones as you would during a normal service. Have the
individual in charge of A/V run the mixer as they normally would, but instead of the
mixer sending audio only to the speakers in the sanctuary, audio will also be sent
out of the headphone jack to your device where it will then be picked up by a
recording software.

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Recording with Audacity:
This will be a very brief and succinct overview on how to record audio into
your computer using Audacity. Read the full interactive manual online here:

https://manual.audacityteam.org/

[[Firstly, download and install Audacity onto your computer. Audacity is open
source and free, thus the Audacity website will direct you to another website to
download the installer. This is completely normal and nothing to be weary of.

After installing and opening the software you will be greeted with a window
similar to this:

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 Firstly, save your newly created project:

Audacity will let you know that your “project” file is not actually an audio file
and you will not be able to hear your recording outside of the software. Hit, “OK.”

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 From the main menu, select “Tracks” “Add New” and click on “Mono Track”
to add a new mono track to your project. We are using a mono track since both the
internal microphone or signal from the mixer are are mono signals.

(1) Transport – This is the section of the application where you will access
the transport controls that allow you to play, stop, and record audio.
Hitting the red record button will automatically start recording in the
selected track wherever the cursor line is in that track or at the end of the
previously recorded section.
(2) Tools – In this section you will find the tools necessary to interact with
the recorded audio clips: Selection tool, envelope tool, draw tool, zoom
tool, time-shift tool, and multi-tool that is context dependent. Mostly you
will leave the selection tool selected.
(3) Recording level – Pay attention to this portion of the application when
recording in order to monitor the level (volume) of the incoming signal.

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 Try to keep this in the upper end of the green. It can turn red briefly
without distorting too much.
(4) Playback level – Pay attention to this portion of the of the application
when playing back multiple recorded tracks at once. Remember that
audio is additive, so even if the first thing you recorded did not run this
meter into the red, the more tracks you add, the louder your overall level
will get. If you hit red your audio may distort.
(5) Recording and Playback level adjust – Use this portion of the application
to adjust the over incoming level of the microphone signal as well as the
overall level of your audio. Note that all of your individual audio tracks
that you have recorded feed into this overall volume, so even if you have
this turned down, you can still have problems with distortion if the overall
tracks feeding the output adjust begin to overload. It is best to turn down
the levels of each track individually first. This will be covered more in the
chapter on mixing.
(6) Input and Output select – Use this portion of the application to change
the source for recording and the destination of the playback audio.
Audacity should select the internal microphone and speakers of your
device by default meaning that you should be set up when the application
first starts. However, you may have to change devices by selecting the
dropdown arrow to choose your device. Windows may display many
more devices than an Apple computer, if this is the case you may have to
try to record each source in order to determine which is which.
(7) Track Volume – This controls the volume of the corresponding audio
track. This effects the volume of that track that feeds the main output
volume.
(8) Track Panning – This controls the position of that track in a stereo space.
Even though your input is mono, your output device is stereo. Thus, you
can move the output of your track from left to right.

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 (9) Audio Track – This is the main display for your recorded audio. You have
two domains that you will work in: time on the left to right axis, and
amplitude on the vertical axis.

Click anywhere in your new mono audio track to select it and hit the red
“record” button at the top to start recording in that track. Note that if you have
audio coming to the input – either from the mixer, or from the internal microphone
– the level display on the input will change to show you how loud the incoming
signal is.

Too much red is bad and will probably not sound professional because it will
be causing distortions and unwanted noisy artifacts.

Try to keep the overall loudest part of your signal in the upper-green and
yellow.

If set up properly you should see some blue audio in your track. Now, let’s
talk about proper recording techniques. Notice how the overall level is not only
determined by the level you set the incoming signal to, but also how close you are
to the microphone. Professional recording is done by keeping the microphone a set
and consistent distance away from the audio source. Once that consistent distance
is found, only then is the incoming level adjusted in the software.

The incoming level adjust also sets the amount of background noise in the
recording. Too low, and the end listener will have to turn up the volume, also
turning up the level of noise. Too loud and you run the risk of distorting the input
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and adding unwanted artifacts to your recording. Just right and when there is little
to no signal you should only see a thin blue line like the first part of the image
below.

After the black line, the input level was turned up and, although there was
no input to the microphone, the inherent noise level of the room and computer is
picked up as noise.

This is all to say that it will take some practice to find the exact recording
level for your purposes.

The image above represents a speaker saying “check one two” into the
internal microphone of a computer. The noise is audible, but does not make the
voice unintelligible.

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 Zooming in on the beginning section of the audio with the zoom tool begins
to reveal the actual waveforms of the spoken words:

The beginning portion of all waveforms is called the “transient” and it can be
used to find the start of different words and phrases. This will be useful later if you
need to edit different sections of audio together.

Congratulations, you’ve successfully recorded audio! Now, how do you listen

to this recording outside of the Audacity project, or send this audio to someone
else? From the main menu, select “File” “Export” and click on “Export as MP3”.

This will prompt you name the audio file and select a destination:

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 For your application, leaving these settings as default will be more than
acceptable. This export procedure will combine all of your audio tracks into a
single stereo audio file the same length as the longest recorded portion of audio.
If you have recorded an entire two-hour long service, expect this export
procedure to take some time.

Now, listen back to your audio file that you created in whatever program you use
to listen to music or other recorded media. Does it sound distorted and loud, or,
more than likely, it will be quiet compared to everything else in your music library.
That is ok. There are some quick things to go over to fix these issues, and a
lifetime of learning in order to make your recording sound “professional”. That,
however, is not the goal.

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Practical Mixing Theory for Recorded Audio:
The goal is to create something that the vast majority of your congregation
will be able to listen to and comprehend without losing the heart of the message.

The previous guide should be more than enough for most situations. You
should be able to record the audio from your sanctuary’s mixer into a single mono
audio file that should be a decently accurate representation of what would
normally be heard in the sanctuary by the congregation. The previous guide does
assume that there is an A/V individual that normally runs the mixer and will be
doing the same for the audio being sent to the recording device.

If, however, you wanted to have individuals record their portions to the
service and add them together after the fact, or if you wanted to create a virtual
choir by adding prerecorded voices into a single file, there will have to be some
editing and mixing done within audacity.

Editing is the process of moving audio in the time domain. If, for example,
you recorded each section of the service separately – stopping the recording
between each section or stopping the recording to go back and fix something – you
will end up with a few different audio files. You will want to do each section on a
new track by following the new track creation as outlined in the previous section.
Use the “Move” tool to move each section of audio to its appropriate place in the
timeline:

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 When this project is exported, it will combine all of the audio files into one
new audio file. Note that any audio that is overlapping between the sections will
also be combined.

Mixing is the process of adjusting the amplitude or volume of each track so

that they “fit” within the context of the overall audio.

If you find that the message of your recording if much quieter than a
recorded song, either use the track volume to turn down the song, or use the track
volume on the message track to turn up the message so that you can seamlessly
transition between the two in the final audio file.

Another use case for recording when congregations are not able to meet
physically would be to create a “virtual choir” made up of recordings submitted by
individual members of the congregation. The key to this process would be to
provide the same backing track (piano, string quartet, prerecorded audio from
YouTube) to each individual for them to play/sing along to.

Firstly, create a new audio track and record the backing audio into Audacity.
Make sure that there is an intro to the song or some way for others to find the
tempo and pitch. When you are happy with the backing track, export it and email
it to the congregation. Instruct each participant to open the audio file on their
computer, listen to it with headphones on and sing into a recording app on their
smartphone. In theory this would be easier than having each participant download
and learn how to use Audacity. Having the participants wear headphones is
important because it will keep the sound of the piano out of their own recordings.
If you are having problems with echo-y recordings, have the participants record
themselves in smaller rooms such as their bedroom, office, or closet.

The recordings can then be sent from each participant back to you to add
into your original Audacity file you made with the backing track.

Open the original file and drag-and-drop the file from the location on your
computer where you downloaded the participant’s files.

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 When files are dropped in Audacity they will automatically populate new
tracks. Ideally, since everyone recorded with the same backing track, you should be
able see and line up the first word of each track by using the “Move” tool.

Notice how even though each of these “Check one two…” tracks were
recorded individually, since they contain the same words it’s easy to see that they
will all line up.

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 Line up each track with the backing track and the recording should all fit into
place. There will be some timing and pitch imperfections, but that is part of the
charm of singing in a choir!

You will find that not all of the recordings have the same volume. Use the
volume slider on each track to raise or lower the volume until the overall audio
sounds normal to you. Try to avoid distorting the output volume of the overall track
by turning each individual track up too much! Since we are now dealing with a
stereo project, you can also use the Left and Right Pan slider to move each track
left or right. This will allow you to create the sense of a “virtual” choir surrounding
the listener, but will also make individual voices stick out more. The more voices
you have the further left and right you can move the panning slider on any given
track.

When you are happy, export your song as an MP3 and send it out to the rest
of the congregation to enjoy and sing along with.
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 Audacity also has a full suite of effects that can be used to make things
louder, quieter, echo-y, reverberant, etc. Combined, these effects are used by
audio professionals to create more interesting and enjoyable music to listen to, but
is beyond the scope of this guide. You are encouraged to play with these effects,
but know that those changes are “destructive” and, once applied, can not be
unapplied to the track. General practice is to “Save As” the project as a new project
so as to not change the originally recorded audio. These effects may also be
“previewed” before applying them to a selection of audio in order to get a better
idea of what the final product will sound like.[

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Further Resources:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/livestream-church-service-practical-guide/

https://learn.g2.com/how-to-go-live-on-facebook

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-go-live-on-youtube

https://manual.audacityteam.org/

https://obsproject.com/

YouTube Live tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFr_eGyqcFA&t=346s

Facebook Live tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7CZHtEfXDw

Audacity tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ClwSNm362E

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Notes:

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