Hi there! My name is David McGuire, and I am the Worship Technology Director here at Mount Carmel. We may not have met, because I tend to be fairly busy on Sundays, but hopefully this will help you know me a little better. I was born in Xenia, Ohio, moved to Huntington, West Virginia until I was 10, then moved to Columbus, Ohio, and I have been here in Cincinnati since my freshman year at Cincinnati Christian University. I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Music and Worship from CCU and graduated with Joe Hubbell, our Music Director. While I was at CCU I worked on the chapel tech team and loved all the behind-the-scenes details. My wife, Jenna, is a kindergarten teacher and we have two cats, which take up about 90% of my Instagram posts. I’ve been on staff at Mount Carmel for a little over a year and I am thankful for the opportunities I get to serve every week.

There are several positions in the tech booth that we fill on Sunday mornings, all with the purpose of enhancing our services both in-person and online. I am humbled by the ability to spend my time diving deeper into each part of our worship tech and by the chance to help others learn more and succeed in this odd mix of creativity and technology. So, I’d like to take you behind the curtain and show that I am not a wizard, I’m just a man who wants to help people learn more so they can serve better.

Our audio position mixes for both the Sanctuary and for online services. Audio is important for a number of reasons. This position affects how people hear what we are doing from the stage. Between speaking and music, there is a creative side to audio, but you also want the voices to sound natural. This goes beyond pushing the levers on the console; It goes into the dark depths of the audio world, including EQ, effects, sound compression, and even more abstract techniques. It always amazes me that one has to put so much time and effort into making people sound natural when going through a sound system when sounding natural is something our bodies were created to do so well on its own.

Our video team serves as the eyes for our online participants. In a world where we are constantly bombarded by videos and have access to some pretty decent cameras in our pockets all the time, these positions can be taken for granted. But we aren’t dealing with point-and-shoot cameras. To be the best eyes we can, we need to make sure our framing is balanced, the focus is sharp, and the movement is smooth. The video director is the last filter we have before the video goes to stream. This person must have a critical eye and the ability to communicate well with the camera operators. Having a video team that works well together really enhances our ability to present what is happening in the building to those watching online.

As of right now, our lighting operator’s only job is pressing the right button at the right time. Seems simple, right? But if you miss the timing, you can be left with a speaker in the dark and everyone waiting for you to press your button. I try to make the responsibilities easy for Sunday morning, but just like everything else that happens in the tech booth, there is a creative side to this position. I normally program the lights, but I would love to teach others (new or current) how to work the lighting console and get other creative vision involved. 

Last, but not least is our ProPresenter operator. This position oversees slides, videos, and countdowns. The person in this position must know when to change the slides for songs and be able to focus and read the signs for when the speaker needs their slides up. Again, not a technically difficult position, but one that requires a lot of attention for both rehearsals and services.

Hopefully, this gives you some idea of what we get to do every week. Not terribly intimidating, but important! If you are interested in learning any of these skills and possibly joining our team to serve with us on Sundays, I would love to talk with you! Just send me an email at dmcguire@mountcarmel.cc