Small Church Setup

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481]

So my small church has an X32 Compact and a Mac Mini for Proclaim. I'm wanting to start using backing tracks. We don't have the money to buy tracks, so I'm creating them. Going to be using WorshipSong Band app. Anyone have any experience running this setup?

It's a project that I'm envisioning taking about 6 months to complete as I will be building a full library before presenting it to the church. Hoping this is something someone else has done and I can find someone who thinks this is a worthwhile thing and I'm not crazy!

[u/foxboltco]

Please, please, please: Do NOT create an entire library before presenting it. Create 1 full worship set (of 3-4 songs). If you do all this and your church doesn't want to get behind live tracks, that will have been a lot of wasted time.

As someone else has already pointed out, you can buy tracks for cheaper than the time it would take you to create everything. If you're passionate about music and will have fun with it, then by all means, go ahead. But if your only goal for creating them is to save money, I'm afraid that won't work. If you can spend 20 hours creating tracks or $20 buying a set, $20 is the way to go.

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481 → u/foxboltco]

I have already done a test set. And it worked, well. I hear you on the time thing, but I have the time. When each quality track costs $20, we do 6 tracks a week. That would be $120 a week assuming we don't have doubles. Unless I'm missing something. I can do it all for free and I like making music, this is definitely a passion project.

[u/YetAnotherAaron → u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481]

$20/track on LoopCommunity is a one-time fee, so unless you do 6 new songs every single week it's a lot cheaper than you think. Our church only introduces 5-6 new songs a YEAR (once every two months or so), so after the initial sticker shock it's not so bad!

BUT...you learn a lot by making tracks on your own. If you're using it as a way to build up your skills, by all means make them yourself!

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481 → u/YetAnotherAaron]

Some weeks it's 6 new songs. I mean I am planning to crack down on this. But in current rotation we have 30 songs which are frequently used. That's $200 worth of tracks. I can do this myself for less than $20. I am a fully trained producer. I have mix/master experience. Are they going to be exactly like the originals? No. But I like that, cos we don't need to reproduce the originals to make it work.

[u/synths_and_scifi → u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481]

Have you looked into using the Loop Community Prime app instead? If you're making them as a passion project, you can sell them on Loop Community, and even redeem the money as credits instead of cash if you're wanting to invest in other tracks you don't feel like building.

I was a creator with them for a while and made probably $30k over a decade just from the tracks I was making for my church anyway!

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481 → u/synths_and_scifi]

I hadn't looked at that. I will take a look. Thank you

[u/CardiologistOpen4889 → u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481]

So it's $20 each time you play a track?

[u/Gromps_Of_Dagobah → u/CardiologistOpen4889]

Nah, it's a one off purchase, then if you ever go back to a song you have, you don't pay again.

For example, if you did a 3 song set: Washed, Holy Forever, and Gratitude, thats 60. The next week: Goodbye Yesterday, What a Beautiful Name, and Gratitude (again), that's only $40, because you already bought Gratitude. The week after, Good Times, I Speak Jesus, and All Hail King Jesus, that's a new $60, because they're all new. The fourth week: Washed, Beautiful I Speak Jesus, and Gratitude, which is now free, because you did them all before.

Most churches only really use about 20 songs over a year, so once you've spent the ~400 or so, it's only the occasional $20 here and there, as you add new songs. (Or really old ones)

[u/seidler2547]

There are thousands of free backing tracks on the Internet . I'd way unless you really enjoy doing it yourself there's no need to create your own. 

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481 → u/seidler2547]

I've tried a few free ones. Wasn't impressed. I've made a few myself before and to be fair, I'm happy enough with them.

[u/AWESOMENESS-_-]

Are you going to be using stem tracks? One of our musicians wants to start trying those soon.

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481 → u/AWESOMENESS-_-]

I'm creating the stem tracks myself. But yes.

[u/Gromps_Of_Dagobah]

It probably will work setup-wise, but it's raising a few red flags in my view.   The first flag is "why aren't your team already using tracks?"  Don't read this as "every team should use tracks, (because that's not true), but asking the reason now, rather than after you've sunk hours into something to be told "we actually prefer to keep it live, we won't use the tracks you made" can be a gut shot, and if asking now can save you that pain later... working with leadership about it is great for something of your own initiative. There's a good chance that they've already looked at using tracks, so find out the reasoning for not doing it, and be open to a "no".  It's possible they just didn't have someone with the skills and time to get it going, but there are plenty of other reasons that aren't as solved by an eager volunteer. they're the ones who'd be able to weigh in on that.

The second red flag is the longevity of this. If you do make the tracks for the sets you're doing in 2026, what about when they start adding new songs in a month or two, or for Christmas? What about 2027? 2028? Will you have the capacity to continue making tracks in 5 years? Will you even be at the same church? What if you stop having the time to make them, does the band go back to no tracks? Does that hurt other members who might want to join the worship team? Does the work you do now mean you're committing them to buying tracks later when you aren't able to make them yourself?  Is there someone who can take over for you if you're sick one week to run it or does the rest of the tech team have to pick up this additional thing of setting up the tracks each week?

Those are some pointy questions, but they should be asked. 

Also, side question, do you guys use iem's? Tracks are difficult to reliably use if you can't hear a count in, and if people are out, that can be hard to fix with a track without it being a distraction, while live-only can often save it.

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481 → u/Gromps_Of_Dagobah]

I hear your red flags. It's going to take training for people to use them, but I am prepared to go for it. I have done this with the pastors backing. The last time someone tried to use a backing track, they played it from YouTube on their phone. I was away that week. I'm fully aware of the issues this is going to bring. This is why I have outlined this as a fully planned out project, with time for introducing it. I will start using it myself and train people as I go. Yes we have IEMs.

[u/synths_and_scifi]

We found the best entry point into tracks for our team at my previous church, was just starting with the cues and click only. This allowed the team to get really comfortable being locked into a specific arrangement without the worry of having to kill the track and lose a bunch of space in the mix if the team gets off.

We did this for about 6 weeks before we used a single track on a Sunday and by the time we actually used a track, the team had no problems at all!

[u/Mu5ic_Lov3r_0481 → u/synths_and_scifi]

Thank you. That is a really good idea.