That’s right, it's a New Year and we’re talking about gear. New music gear. However, times are tight and you probably have enough reminders in how to spend God’s cash in your ministry. Who is going to bail out worship teams? Each of us. By having a good financial road map to see our expense journey through, we can make wise decisions to benefit our needs. Plus, we will make our financial committees and pastors happy by keeping our costs low.

I have drafted a simple but lengthy road map to help you find products for $100 - give or take. From instruments to technology, you may find this list to be helpful in prioritizing your gear needs. Everyone wants a brand new Taylor or Les Paul guitar, along of coarse, with that brand new Steinway piano, DW drum kit and don’t forget the state of the art new sound system with all the bells and whistles of an In-Ear-Monitoring system (wheh!). Well, maybe we can’t grant you wishes like Pedro can, but we do have a few solutions and new products to help!

Keyboards: Need a new keyboard or looking for new sounds? Try going laptop style with a MIDI keyboard. You may have seen a keyboardist with a laptop on stage. Ever heard of Reason, Cakewalk Sonar or Ableton Live? These computer software music sequencers allow users to not only record and manipulate sounds, but also play live as a musical instrument (software virtual instrument). These are just over $100 but they offer solutions that are more affordable rather than spending hundreds to thousands in keyboard stage space. All you need is a solid laptop, sufficient memory, fast processor and a MIDI keyboard. Simply run a USB/MIDI cable from your MIDI keyboard to the interface of your laptop. Next from the headphone jack of your laptop, route an audio cable and hand off to your sound guy to plug in.
Guitars: Need to finally plug-in that old acoustic? Try the classic Fishman to install a pickup that fits just under the saddle and has a superb string to string balance tone ratio. maybe you need a Dean Markley ProMag to install in your acoustic on-the-fly? How about getting rid of that Fender hum in the middle pickup position? We have more goodies just below listed for you.

  • Recorders
  • Ever left rehearsal and tried to remember that one lick you know you need to practice? Line 6 and Cakewalk just came out with brand new solutions.
  • Line 6 BackTrack is a 24 bit mini hard drive, 1/4” input recorder. It features a recording capability of 12 hours and allows you to connect USB to download all your licks on any computer.
  • Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3, is a software program to easily record guitar tracks without buying a complete Digital Audio Workstation. Have your own personal guitar recording festival.
Voice and Audio: Having solid and quality microphones are the first source in the sound chain. The old colored foam-dome covers are of the past. If you still have them, consider replacing them by the most popular and reliable Sure SM 58 and SM 57. These mics have saved me over many years in live and studio environments. They are the industry standard mic.

Drums:
Tired of that annoying bass drum pedal? You know, the one that prevents you from having that quick response or no response. For a quick and inexpensive replacement look at these and other products.


Worship Leader:
Need a new worship leader? Kidding. Instead, we can provide music and worship resources that leaders will enjoy.



Gear For Years:
Sweetwater has been my go-to company for purchasing my ciritcal music needs. A great friend referred me years ago and now i am referring you. Contact my personal sales engineer:
Michael Grebe at michael_grebe@sweetwater.com

If you have any products to mention that are around $100, reply in the comment window. We’d like to add your thoughts to the list that will benefit other worship teams like yours.

Until Next Time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
bd

Visit Worship Team Training