Advice to First Time Users of Worship Pads

Perhaps you've already been filling your worship sound with ambient pads for a long time now.  It's old hat to you.  

But maybe, you've never used pads before.  The whole concept of adding something to your worship team setup is intimidating to you.  You want to give it a go, but you have no idea where to start.

Have no fear!  Here are 4 simple, practical pieces of advice for first-time pads users to get you to the next level.

 

1. Using worship pads is way easier than you think it is!

Have you ever played a song through your church's sound system on a phone, tablet, laptop, or iPod?  Well, good news!  If you've already got the gear to play songs through your system, then you already have the gear necessary to use pads in your worship service.  

If you don't have that gear, there are three simple (and fairly inexpensive) pieces of equipment you need:

• A 1/8" cable to run from your device's headphone jack to a direct box
• A direct box (same as you'd use for a guitar, keyboard, bass, etc.)
• A microphone cable to run from the direct box to your mixer

Chances are, you already had this stuff lying around and you didn't even know it!  (Look here for more suggestions on what specific direct boxes and cables to buy.)  You can get away for cheap on this one.  (I personally like using a Radial PROAV1 direct box and high-quality cables.)

 

2. Pads are here to make your life easier as a worship leader, not more complicated.

Once you've used pads a few times, you'll learn how easy it is to use multiple pad sounds in different keys for different songs.

But if you're new to the worship pads scene and want to get your feet wet with as little effort as possible, do this: Choose one pad sound, and create a worship setlist with songs all in one key.  That way, all you need to do is start a single Pad sound one time and that's it.  No playlist-changing, no monkey business.  How easy was that?

Again, you'll soon grow out of this strategy as you become comfortable with using pads, but this is a great way to break the ice and get used to it.

 

3. The only way to get past the "first-time" hurdle is to DO IT.

There is literally nothing you can do to magically get past "the first time".  The first time will always be slightly nerve-wracking ("What if my gear blows up on me?  What if these pads sound horrible in the mix?", etc.)... but doing anything the first time - especially during a worship service! - will create nervousness.  And guess what?  That's OK!  

Develop the skill of getting comfortable trying new things.  Chances are, there are some great parts of life you could be taking advantage of right now if you would simply take the leap and do it for the first time.  Using pads in your worship service is no different.

 

4. Start small with a free sample pack, and get a taste for how worship pads can change your game.

Yes, any of our pads bundles are great for every worship leader who wants to enhance their worship environment (our Everything Bundle includes a boatload of features at a huge discount).  But if you're not ready to make that leap yet, don't worry.

If you haven't already, download the Pads Sample Pack for full-length samples of all of Coresound's pads.  This is a great way to try using pads in your worship service without investing up-front.  We know you'll love your new sound, and can't wait for you to unlock all the features you'll get when you buy a pads bundle.

 

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What about you?  What advice would you give someone who hasn't used pads before?  Or are you a first-time user who still has questions?  Comment below!

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