All posts by Tim Hartman

Microphone Cleanup

By in System Maintenance, Tech Team

When was the last time you cleaned your handheld microphones? Yes, you can and should clean them. The handle or body of the mic is easy to clean with a disinfecting wipe. However, the grill of the mic is often neglected and prone to spreading germs, since many people put their lips on a mic grill without even thinking about it.

Keeping your mic grill clean is easy. Many grills are made to unscrew from the mic body. (Always check with the manufacturer.) Be careful not to damage the capsule or tiny wires underneath and place the mic body in a safe place. Now it’s time to wash the grill. Before you wash, gently remove the foam insert from inside the grill. I recommend regular dish detergent mixed with water in a bowl and soft toothbrush. Immerse the grill in the water and let any hardened residue soak if needed. Use the toothbrush to gently clean the mesh. Rinse well to make sure no soap is left in the grill. Rub the grill with a soft towel and let it sit overnight to air dry. Immerse the foam in the water and gently wash it by hand until it is clean. Rinse well to remove all residue. Squeeze the water out and let the foam air dry overnight. The next day, check to make sure both grill and foam are entirely dry before you reassemble the microphone.

For regular disinfecting, I recommend using a single use alcohol wipe available at your local pharmacy, since the alcohol evaporates without leaving any sticky residue to trap dust and dirt.

I don’t like to use cleaning chemicals or spray my mic grills with disinfectants. I treat mic grills like dishes because they often come in contact with people’s mouths. (In fact, some large venues have been known to clean their mic grills in the dishwasher.) Happy cleaning!

Tim’s Tech Talks – December 2019

By in Tech Team, Video


100,000 views. Three years ago, I made a YouTube video to help Pastor Navi Bola (in Fiji) set up the PA system that we had supplied his church by faith. I didn’t think much of it, until I looked at it one day and it had 25,000 views. Then it hit me, I can help church sound techs all over the world by creating how-to videos online. Ever since, I have been trying to create helpful content for church techs who are often volunteered without any prior experience or training. I’ve come a long way since I made this video. In the meantime, it recently hit 100,000 views and with that I feel a renewed burden to keep creating new content. Thanks for listening, watching and learning. I’m humbled by you using my content to learn, grow and help others hear the message of Jesus Christ

Tim’s Tech Talks – November 2019

By in Microphones

It’s that time of year again, Christmas Concerts, Cantatas and Children’s Choirs.
As you get ready for Christmas groups, it’s a good time to review the 3:1 rule of choir micing. It’s really pretty simple, if your mics are 1 foot from the choir, they should be at least 3 feet away from each other. But why is this important? Don’t we want more mics? More is better, right? Actually, when it comes to choir mics, less is more. There are a couple of reasons.


1. Feedback. In live sound, the more mics you have “open” or on, the greater your chance for feedback. Because micing a large group requires that the gain be turned up, you’ve already increased the potential for feedback, so by adding more mics you’ve created even more potential.


2. Double Micing. So what’s the trouble with this? When two microphones pick up the exact same source and are sent to your mixer, something happens. They cancel each other at certain frequencies. You may have heard this before when Pastor comes up to the pulpit and his wireless mic and the Pulpit mic are on at the same time. You get this weird “hollow” sound. It also changes as he moves around, in and out of the pulpit mic’s pickup zone. One of the biggest problems of over micing a choir is that it tends to sound worse, not better. Repeat it with me, “Less is more, less is more!”

My choir at Front Range is about 40 people, four rows deep and I use two (yes two) microphones. It’s all about placement. For choirs with multiple rows, put the mics higher than the front row. Mics up high, minimizes the distance difference between the rows. Next, point them down into the middle of the choir. Most directional choir mics have about a 120 degree angle of acceptance and this coverage increases as you get higher. For smaller choirs you can go lower. Remember, avoid placing your mics directly in front of the front row or the result will be a couple of solos instead of a choir.


Merry Christmas!

Tim’s Tech Talks – October 2019

By in Tech Team


As a volunteer techs, we tend to be very detail oriented, plan ahead, check it three times type of people. This makes it very easy for us to get frustrated, when others (perhaps church staff or special music volunteers) are unprepared or don’t seem to have a plan. It’s easy to complain or be frustrated, but don’t fall into that trap. Keeping a good attitude is important. Yes, we often scramble to change or add something in the next five minutes, so take it as a challenge. God has put you here because you can accomplish the job so take joy in the challenge of your work. Instead of letting bitterness grow, open up lines of communication. Often, the person doesn’t realize the difficulty of what they are asking. Take a minute to kindly share why something won’t work or how they can make sure it will work the next time.
Church staff, consider the tech challenges of your next service and plan ahead. It can be frustrating to your tech team, when they have everything set up and you come in at the last minute with an entirely new plan. Send out an e-mail or use planning software, so tech plans can be made and you can have tech team input. Finally, realize that sometimes things change at the last minute. It shouldn’t be the norm but it does happen. I’ve been in situations where the tension between the tech team and the church staff was at a boiling point and my job was to get them to play on the same team! Let’s not forget that we’re striving TOGETHER for the faith of the Gospel!

Tim’s Tech Talks – September 2019

By in Sound System Upgrades

Can You Hear Me Now?
I’ve occasionally been in churches where things would have sounded better if they had just turned off the sound system. I have a passion to help pastors and churches build a sound system that works. Clear, clean, simple to use. Maybe it’s just me, but bad sound is everywhere. My friend, it’s worth it to put in a good sound system. You labor in the Word and bring a message from the Lord to your people. But can they hear it? Does your sound system actually muddy the preaching of the Word instead of bringing your voice clearly to the hearers? Does your personal aversion to the look of a headset microphone stop people from hearing more clearly? Does your objection to recommended speaker placement mean that some people can’t hear clearly? I’m not beating up on you, but a good sound system can be a vital tool for your ministry. I’m not an equipment salesman. I have no sales goals to reach. My heart is to help your ministry. It’s to help your people hear clearly. It’s to help you as a Pastor communicate God’s Word to your people. Bad sound is everywhere, loud, muffled, distorted. Let your church be that place where God’s Word is clearly heard. I’m not advocating that you hire the most expensive company. Because, while throwing money at it works sometimes, it is not a guarantee that you will get a good result. Some companies just want to install what I call “The Really Big Stereo.” It sounds amazing when they play music tracks but it doesn’t work for the important things. Every service is different, every auditorium is different, every pastor is different, every church is different. Find someone who will take the time to understand what you want, what you need and how to get there. It’s worth it. I’ve had people come up and hug me after a job and say, “Thank you! We can hear Pastor now.” and that sums up exactly what I’m trying to say.

Tim’s Tech Talks – August 2019

By in Tech Team

Tech Team Laziness?


I recently got a note from a Tech Director that went something like this:
Certain members of the church are concerned that Tech Team is not as involved in the service as the rest of the congregation. They are worried that the team doesn’t sing along with the songs, stand when everyone else does or take notes during the message. I think these are important but want to make sure that my team is focused on running sound and lights. What should I do?


While these are legitimate concerns, let me address something. The tech team can’t be as involved in the service as someone who simply sits in the service without responsibilities. They have a vital role to play and must be focused on what is happening next so the congregation can hear the music and message of the service. Even during the message they may need to advance sermon slides, run cameras, ect. In some ways they are giving up the privilege of sitting and enjoying the service so that the congregation can do so.


Here are four observations.


The tech team should try to participate in the service as long as it does not distract them from the task at hand. During the song service I try to sing a verse or two if I can, but break off early to re-focus on what’s next. Not everyone can do this. Some people need more focus than others to make sure everything is running properly. Also the job that you are doing may dictate the extent to which you can participate.


Concerning sitting down, this often depends on the height of your equipment. In many cases, you need to be seated to reach controls properly. It’s not disrespectful or lazy, it’s pragmatic. Control booths are often built for the seated user. I find that hunching over a mixer or lighting board for 20-30 minutes hurts my back. If the desktop is elevated then the team can stand up, but make sure they have tall, comfortable chairs to sit on for the rest of the service.


The tech team needs to be in service too. I’ve built a large enough tech team that the same people are not in the booth every week. We rotate the schedule. We have one experienced tech who is “Lead” for the week. They make sure sound check goes well and assist in training newer techs. We try to balance things out so everyone gets booth time and congregational time. This helps alleviate objections like “Tim is always in the sound booth.”

I have limited smart phone use in the tech area. While we are “disconnected” from the service in some ways, that doesn’t mean we can be playing with our devices. I’ve been places where techs missed cues because they were looking at their phone. I have supplied several printed Bibles to use instead of a Bible app. It’s just too easy to move from Bible app to messages to Facebook. If you need to communicate with the Tech Team, texting can be an excellent tool but use it wisely.

Tim’s Tech Talks – July 2019

By in Tech Team, Video

Have you ever had one of those Sundays where a guest’s slide show or video just didn’t work right?

Let’s say you have a guest speaker who comes in ten minutes before the service starts and hands you a slide show. You take it off to the media booth for the tech team.
Then, when it’s time for the presentation, everything goes wrong…

Let’s rewind and ask a couple of questions.

Do you have the necessary software to run his presentation?
Can you import his presentation into your software to display it properly?
If he has a video file, is it a codec (video file type) that your software can run?
Does the presentation have audio?
Will the speaker advance his own slides or is the presentation timed?
If he uses his computer, what kind of video connections does it have?
Is your system compatible with his video connections?
Does he want to use his laptop on the platform?
If so does his laptop need audio connected at the platform?

It often surprises me how unprepared churches are for this even though this speaker has been on the calendar for months. Instead, we give the tech team 10-15 minutes to hopefully figure out how to make it work. Worse, often they don’t have the right tools to make this work properly. We’ve set them up for failure and it’s frustrating for everyone involved.

So what can we do?

1. Communicate. Include your tech team in an email with the visiting speaker about their presentation needs. Maybe they can even make suggestions ahead of time about what can be done to make sure the presentation works.
2. Plan ahead. See if you can get a copy of the presentation ahead of time and test it to make sure everything works. That way you’re not scrambling right before the service.
3. Evaluate your video system. Maybe it’s time to invest in a better computer, updated equipment or better software to make things easy to use.

Guest presentations are not rare events, so let’s be ready. Instead of being a frustrating part of your Sunday, they won’t be a big deal at all. It just takes a little planning and the right equipment.

Tim’s Tech Talks – June 2019

By in Sound System Upgrades, System Maintenance

One of the issues I often encounter with churches is helping older people hear the service clearly.
Age related hearing loss is called Presbycusis, and is marked by the following problems:
• sounds or speech becoming dull, muffled or attenuated
• need for increased volume on television, radio, music and other audio sources
• difficulty using the telephone
• loss of directionality of sound
• difficulty understanding speech, especially women and children
• difficulty in speech discrimination against background noise
(Source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbycusis)

Often I’m asked if we can “fix the sound system” so that older people can hear. However, this is generally troublesome for a the following reasons.
1. If I re-tune your system to compensate for hearing loss frequencies, it will become harsh and unpleasant for all other listeners in your congregation.
2. The volumes needed for some older listeners can be uncomfortably loud for other members.
3. Sanctuaries often contribute to hearing difficulty because of reflections and echo.
4. The sound system cannot compensate for speech discrimination in older members. Speech discrimination often has to do with how the brain processes auditory information. It’s a complex topic beyond the scope of this post.
So what do I recommend? A hearing assistance systems. These have several advantages.
1. They let you create an individualized audio feed that has more emphasis on higher frequencies to compensate for hearing loss.
2. They let the user control their own volume.
3. They isolate the user from the room, so that they only hear what the microphone hears. This may help in some cases of speech discrimination but not all cases unfortunately.

You can lead a horse to water…
I’ve found on several occasions that older people are embarrassed or maybe too stubborn to try out a hearing assistance system. One older lady told me that she was worried the headphones would mess up her hair. These are issues that are typically best handled from a Pastoral perspective.

Finally, if you already have a hearing assistance system, test it regularly. I’ve often seen some systems in very poor repair with broken antennas, noisy packs and other issues. Give a younger person a pack and have them listen through a service to make sure that everything is working properly and that you not missing something (good volume, no interference, equipment works properly, all the mics are heard correctly, ect.)

If you don’t already have one, consider adding hearing assistance system. There are several types and we can help you find the one that works best for your application.

Tim’s Tech Talks – May 2019

By in Sound System Upgrades, System Maintenance

Pop! Thump! Boom!
It happens every time you turn your sound system on or off, a loud pop or thump. Not only does it sound bad, it can damage your speakers. So why does this happen and how can you prevent it? Often, this happens when you turn equipment on or off all at once instead of in the proper sequence.
To keep things simple, your speaker amplifiers (or powered speakers) should be the last thing turned on and the first thing turned off.
Here’s why. Gear that sends signals to your speakers (a mixer for example) generally sends a very small power spike down the audio line when powered on or off. While it’s not very powerful, the job of amplifiers or powered speakers is to weak signals into powerful signals. The result is that when you turn off your mixer the amplifiers turn that tiny power spike into a big “THUMP” at your speaker.
Some gear has a “soft” power down, which means that you don’t have to worry about this issue. For the rest of us there are a few things we can do.

Establish a Power Up/Down Sequence. This can just be a small note, indicating in what order you should turn things on and off. Train your volunteers to follow this procedure.

Use a power sequencer. Several companies make units that will power the whole system up and down in a proper order with just one switch. This is a great way to simplify and protect your sound system.

Tim’s Tech Talks – April 2019

By in System Maintenance, Tech Team

Are you using portable speaker stands in your ministry? Did you know that they may be a liability if set up improperly? What if your 40 lb speaker falls over and lands on someone?There are three things to remember to deploy speaker stands safely.
1. Set the legs wide. A larger base is required to keep your speaker from tipping over. Portable speaker stands rely on a footprint since they don’t have weighted bases.
2. Make sure that the stabilizer bars from the legs to the center post are flat or pointing the opposite direction of the legs. The center post of the stand should be well below the central bracket where the legs pivot.
3. Use the safety pins and the lock knobs to secure the stands settings.
It’s not hard to make sure things are safe!