How to Run Pads at Your Church - A Simple Set-Up
Pads are an easy way to add a little something extra to your worship team's sound. They are an ethereal base that drones behind what your band is doing. They provide a fuller sound by filling in the frequencies that your band's typical instruments don't fill up.
Pads are great because you can use them in any instrumentation set up - all the way from you leading by yourself with just an acoustic guitar to a full band.
In addition, you don't need a click track or in-ears to implement them - pads don't have a rhythm or time signature - they're just a static sound.
Here's a super simple set up you can use to incorporate pads into your leading today:
1 | Device to play pads
First of all you need some way to play the pads. This can be a cellphone, an iPod, a laptop - whatever. It just needs to have the ability to play music. I personally keep my pads on my cellphone so they're always with me whenever I need them.
2 | Pads
Next, you need the actual pads themselves. There are a variety of free options and paid options as well which are a little higher in quality.
If you're looking to just test it out - check out Karl Verkade pads Bridge (Ambient Pads III) or you can check out Jake at Churchfront's pads for some more options.
Once you have the pads, download them onto your device and cue them up in a music app.
3 | 1/4 to 1/8 cable
This is how you get the sound from your device to your soundboard. You need a 1/4 (instrument cable) to 1/8 (headphone cable) - plug the 1/8 into your device and the 1/4 into a direct box. And voila!
Here's the one I personally use: Hosa CMS-110 3.5 mm TRS to 1/4 inch TRS Stereo Interconnect Cable, 10 feet
4 | Volume pedal (Optional)
For an added level of control, add a volume pedal to your signal chain (I recommend an Ernie Ball pedal but any will work). Your signal chain will now look like this: iPod --> 1/4 to 1/8 --> volume pedal --> direct box. Having a volume pedal allows you to fade the pads in and out.
Here's the volume pedal I use: Ernie Ball 6181 Junior Size Volume Pedal-Mono, 25K VPJR
5 Tips to Instantly Improve Your Worship Leading
FREE AUDIO TRAINING: Discover 5 simple tips that will instantly improve your worship leading.
