To answer your question, what am I trying to do with this?
Simple, put something online adequate enough for people to listen to
It doesn't have to be perfect, but it does spread the word of God and Jesus!!!
I don't know if you're still about, Scoopz, but as a fellow Christian who also does a bit of home recording, I think your priorities are upside down.
And understandably so. We, as Christians, have been conned for so long into thinking that any old schlub {be it a song, album, performance, book, movie, cartoon, TV show, whatever the medium} is OK to put out there for people that don't believe in Christ as long as the name of Jesus is mentioned. Or it doesn't matter if a singer isn't singing in tune, God hears their heart. Or if the drummer is all over the place. They're worshipping ! Or the trumpeter is so indisciplinedly loud that their notes drown out everything else. He's doing it for the
Lord !
It is, my friend, time for a serious wake-up call.
Most Christian art simply doesn't get looked at, read, watched or listened to. Because most of it is dreck. Way too many of its practitioners display such a woeful lack of understanding of their fellow human beings. If God displayed the same kind of understanding of people that we too often do, he wouldn't be God.
Very few people that don't already follow Christ will put on a piece of music in order to be preached to or at. Some
may tolerate the message if,
and only if, the song knocks their socks off ! Many won't be in the slightest bit interested ~ but they may listen further and more than once, if the music is good. And if you are in a position to mix the song, then you are in a position to make it attractive. You actually have the power to make a great performance sound abysmal.
So if someone comes along here and says, "What a crappy mix" I might agree, but would respond by saying are you getting the message?
When you say your point of focus is worship, that tells me that like the overwhelming majority of Christians on this earth, you don't really know "what" worship is and you equate it with music, music that's played in Church or worship services. The biblical writers use a shed load of words that English translators have translated using
one word ¬> worship. That's poor. There is nothing that you do in your life with God that is
not an act of worship.
That means, you should pay attention to doing it
properly.
Most of the guys on this site aren't Christians, but it's not a "Christianity" site. It's a home recording one. And you will, if you open up your ears and your mind, glean a lot of tremendous advice and ideas that will help unstick you from where you are currently stuck.
I played with lots of Church outfits as a bassist, guitarist, percussionist and singer {Lord help us !} for 25 years. It was actually quite rare for people to really care about how they
actually sounded. Often, congregations were impressed by anyone that could hold a mic, blow a sax, strum a guitar or hit a drum and do a loud exciting fill or twangy bass slap. But those of us that were actually musically inclined used to
in our hearts. I wouldn't have paid to hear most of the outfits I played with. It being free was no consolation. When I used to run things though, I made sure we were rehearsed and disciplined, that we knew how to blend. When people didn't know how to sing in tune or play their instrument, they never got in. I got told off for it and people complained, but my philosophy then, as now is "don't suck then justify it by saying it was for the Lord."
As an aside, if you read certain biblical passages, God wasn't beyond telling the musicians how much he hated their stuff !
You need to start making good music, delivered, so the listener can enjoy it {even if they don't, at least you were trying to create good music}, your priority. Because you should be a worshipper of God regardless of what you're doing or thinking or saying. Had a long tiring day, and you're tired on the bus or train and you want to sit down on that final seat and rest your dogs ? Show what you think of God and let that other person take the last seat, and stand.
That's an attitude of worship. Especially when that is your norm.
I would like to offer a challenge then as well.
I can send anybody who wishes a set of my raw files.
I'd like to see/hear what the experts here can do with the raw in 2 hours
You see, this is another area where it seems to me your priorities are the wrong way round. What would
actually happen, if you took 7 or 8 hours to do a
good sounding mix that you can think about ? Would anyone spontaneously combust ? Would you get arrested and thrown into jail ? Would you be fined two years wages ? Would war break out in Australia ?
I've said enough. But let me leave you with this to think about. What do you think is more likely to give the message you want to get out there a fairer hearing; a substandard piece of tosh that you approach with an "anyhow" {as my friend Esther used to say} attitude or some great sounding music that is well rehearsed, well played, well-balanced, well recorded and well mixed ? Something that might have taken some hard work and a lot of time but, once finished, remains almost forever ?
Weekend planned.
