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New Technology, Inexpensively Done for the Small Church
Posted by Robin Foster | January 20, 2008
More people are listening to CD’s and mp3 players than the old cassette tapes that many are still using to record sermons. Small churches are faced with the dilemma of facing the cost of converting the old tape system. In an effort to help many of our Southern Baptist sister small churches out in blog land, I give this testimony on how quality recordings on CD can be accomplished at a fraction of what it would cost buying a CD burner.
With new technology seeming to burst on the scene almost on a daily basis, I felt the need to get our church to change from taping sermons to digitally recording the sermon on CD. After looking at the price of conventionally setting ourselves up for doing this ($1000+, and that is for the bare essentials) I had given up hope.
Recently, my friend, Wes Kenney had just purchased a Digital Voice Recorder (DVR) from Wal-Mart for under $35. We used it to record the interviews we conducted at last year’s BGCO State Convention with Drs. Mohler and Akin. I noticed the DVR had a “mic” input, but didn’t think much of it until we posted the interviews and I started to add things together. After talking with Wes, I realized that I could hook an output from our soundboard at the church to the mic input on the DVR. The issue after that was transferring the file from the DVR to the computer so I could make copies of the sermon on CD.
In comes Wes to the rescue again and tells me of a free program that is downloadable from the internet called Audacity. After exporting the audio recording with the software provided from the DVR, I use Audacity to convert it to a “wav” file that can be played on Windows Media Player that also burns the file to a CD. This CD can now be used to play in someone’s car or home CD player. Audacity will also convert the file to a mp3 format for internet use. After reading this, one might think to convert files is a big hassle, but I am able to do all the converting in less than five minutes. To burn the file to a CD takes another two to five minutes depending on your system.
The cost: less than $35 including batteries. Maybe more if cables are needed. Of course, one will have to purchase CD’s if they want to hand the sermon out for others to listen, but that cost should be cheaper than buying the old tapes which would go bad after some use. It is also lighter to mail and should cut some expense in getting it to the listener. You also have the option converting the file to a mp3 format that can be put on your web sight so people around the world can listen to the sermon the congregation heard. Again, making it more cheaper than mailing it.
One application I will use this for is making a CD that can be handed out to prospects. The CD will explain who we are and the mission we are pursuing at Immanuel. This can be listened to as they are driving to work or doing house chores. It will give people a better picture of who we are so that on visits, questions can be answered effectively.
I plan on giving point by point directions in doing this, but until then, if the Lord leads you as he has led me, buy one and play with it some. If I can figure this out, I am positive you can.
Topics: Audio, Interviews, Technology |
January 20th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
robin,
the church that i’m at records both services on sunday, as well as the sunday school class that meets i the sanctuary. they are recorded on a dvd. one is made for each homebound person. so, i could send some of you copies of my sermon from today! the camera makes me look about ten pounds to heavy. but, my deacons then take turns delivering the copies to our homebound members…and some homebound prospects. this has been a huge blessing to the homebound. it has deacons being….well, deacons. and, it has really opened some doors for ministry and outreach to the families of these homebound folks.
david
January 21st, 2008 at 11:31 am
But what do you do with all of that extra space on the cd? I always thought it would be neat to find some Christian works that are public domain and rip them on to a cd for distribution along with the sermon. You’d have to include a copy of something like Adobe reader but it’d do the trick.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:38 am
Robin: Thanks for this helpful info. I too have been wondering how we could go to CD copies and not have to take out a small loan. I look forward to your point-by-point “how to.” BTW, what kind exactly was the DVR you purchased at Wal*Mart — I have never looked for/at one. Thank you.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Heath
The link is provided to Wal-mart.com in the post. That link will take you directly to the RCA DVR I purchased. But understand that I am cheap. There are other DVRs out there that do all kinds of things from adjusting sound levels to editing on the DVR itself. If you spend more than $100 I believe you will be wasting your money. Might I suggest that you also check out Tigerdirect.com and Bestbuy.com. Both sites should have some DVRs on them. I should have the point by point by later on tonight.
Josh,
Concerning the extra space, I normally preach between 30-40 minutes on Sunday morning. On Sunday Evening I go between 25-30 minutes. Most CD’s allow you to have up to 80 minutes of recording time. So, you could have your morning and evening sermons on the CD. But, that would also depend on if you would want to include the music portion of your service on it. Your idea about public domain stuff is great provided the sermon is good.
David
That’s why I like audio instead of video. No audio recording has made me sound 10 lbs heavier.
January 21st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Brother Robin,
At the least we can use the DVR for converting to an MP3 format for webcasting. Great idea for a small price.
Also, I did not get a DVR, I got the MP3 player so I go straight to MP3. But I do not have an input for the soundboard but at $30 it will be easy to move to the DVR.
Blessings,
Tim
January 21st, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Of all the good things to be fighting about on this good holiday all you pagans are talking about MP3s and DVRs?
You all need to resign as Newsmen and take up selling produce on the highway. At least you will be doing mankind a just service in an honorable way.
Shame on the bunch “a y’all.
cb
January 21st, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Heathens
January 21st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I have been using Audacity to trim down our Sunday services to just the message, and formatting it for our new iTunes podcast. As long as you have space on your website/server, you can get a podcast going for free.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I have had a few difficulties with audacity increasing the size of my sermons (the congregation have told me this too, but they wren’t listening to the mp3
). How do you keep the size of the mp3 output down to between 5-8 megs?
I have been broadcasting in wav. format, as it is lighter and mp3 players will also play wav format anyway.
Thanks guys,
Steve
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:11 am
Of course if the sermon is sorry the public domain stuff would give them something good to listen to…I’ve listened to some sermons like that before. Heck I’ve preached some sermons like that before but thats beside the point.
I’ve got audacity and I’ve never tried it but I’m told you can make the file size smaller by ‘down sampling.’ Some editing programs allow you to ‘down sample’ the audio file. For example if you file is 128 kb you can downsample it to 64kb and it will make it smaller. The sound quality goes down though so you just have to decide what you can put up with.
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
CB
We never claim to be newsmen unlike some “out” there.
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Just another suggestion…
For you guys with laptops, many of you have a mic input jack already so that you could take your message straight from the sound board and mix without worrying about a transfer from one device to another.
For those running a mac, you can record directly into the system and then use garageband to edit the file or compress it and even easily post a .mp3 or podcast. This is all part of the included software. BTW, for those using garageband, with a little extra work, you can even post your ppt or outline as “album art” that plays on video ipods so people can follow along during the message. Again, not cost if you already have the mac. For those who want to go the extra mile, there is a great little program called profcast (www.profcast.com) that for under $60 syncs your ppt to your audio for you and then puts it out in various formats for consumption on discs, dvd, web deployment, and ipods.
Steve, if you upload digital files, please use .mp3 format for the greatest compatibility for all users. over 80% of the market belongs to ipods which DO NOT play .wav files without converting the file to a .mp3
Just a few thought on the digital frontier…
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Thank you Robin,
I thought all you guys might be dead.
I thought I was going to have to go to the swamp and jump on a ‘gator to get a fight going.
You say you do not claim to be newsmen. Are you now claiming to be ANALYSIS GURU’s of recording technology?
BTW, who do you mean by some “out” there?
Are you speaking of Katie Couric or Dan Rather or some FOX News personality?
Could you be in reference to Jon Daily?
Surely you do not mean those boys from across Blogtown Pond at OUTPOST do you?
For shame, for shame. You of all people throwing stones of discord all the way across the pond at those fellows whose desire it is only to educate and inform.
I think I shall begin to call you Robin “Ernest T. Bass” Foster of STONE THROW CASTLE, a true killer of giants in the land with only a hand full of rocks.
Robin, have you ever killed a lion or a bear? Can you play a harp? Do you write poetry like King David or Ernest T. Bass?
cb
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 pm
aaaah… thanks bro John.. I didn’t realise you guys tehre still used ipods!
My brother used to work for Apple in Australia as national service manager. Ipods.. they don’t swear by them, they swear AT them… particularly with the problem of the screen breaking in two (is that because you think you actually DID drop it?).. I didn’t realise that Apple had such a big share of the market in the USA.
Well, when the screen breaks (as surely it will since Apple can’t stop this design fault), buy a generic brand
Steve
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:12 am
Bro. CB
To tell the truth, I have always thought of myself as a Rafe Hollister type who can’t sing.
I believe I will call you C.B. “Floyd the Barber” Scott. It seems you are good at stirring up controversy, but you never have a starring role in the scheme of things.
BTW, I would watch my windows, I am pretty accurate with a rock.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Man,
A little technology goes a long way in stirring up the blogtown recreation department. We have redneck rock skippin’ and bomb throwin’ and pond stirrin’.
Boy am I glad the Northland of KCMO is so calm.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:04 am
As far as getting a sermon down to 5-8 megs, unless you plan on preaching a 5-8 minute sermon, it is going to be difficult. Our files right now are running between 25-30MB. When everyone was on dialup, this would have been pretty daunting, but now that most have access to high speed somewhere (home/work/school/krystal burger), that size file doesn’t take very long to download.
January 26th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Solved the problem, bought a new cheap mp3 player (a Thomson) that has better quality recording and less megs per sermon!
At $38 that’s not bad!!
Steve
January 27th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I have worked in audio production for 10+ years and Audacity is the way to go, even on a mac….garageband stops you after a certain amount of time (like 1000 bars or higher) and it was designed to be a loop software, so it gets kinda “janky” when using it for long recordings. I have 500 dollar software that does the same thing as Audacity and I use Audacity.
While the DVR option is attractive, the idea of finding a used computer laying around with a cd burner is a better option. Most (I am saying 99%) of computers have an audio in, either mic or line-in or both, and you can attach them straight into the soundboard. Any input labeled “mic” could possibly either not get loud enough or be too loud to get a good recording, so if there is a “line-in” option, I would go with that. By using a computer with Audacity and any random burning software you have a digital archive of all sermons and services. I would have a back up on cd just in case, but this would allow you to easily make copies of services from time past.
I would make sure the files are small, and because of that stick to mp3. WAV files are pretty big, and would be a drag to download or to carry around on an mp3 player, especially the cheap ones I see alot of people with because they don’t have the amount of storage that ipods do.
After reading how long this comment was I think I should drop out of seminary and go back into audio production.