How to use Tracks in Worship
Are you struggling to make your worship band sound great? Whether you are a small church or a large church, this is something that all worship leaders strive for. We want to sound our best, be in time with one another, and lead our church in worship well. One of the best things you can do to enhance the sound of your band is begin using tracks.
Reasons to use tracks:
1. Sound great
Using tracks (or multitracks) helps you sound great, and not just because they never miss a note. Using tracks fills out your sound. Even by using a single pad track, the empty space in your church gets filled out by having the tracks in the background. Whether you are playing a full band or acoustic set, there is a place for tracks.
Tracks also contain a click track that helps keep your band in time. A click track is a metronome that your band can follow along to in their in-ear monitors. If everyone is in time, your band will sound clearer.
Cue tracks are also included in tracks. These act as a guide to your band by counting in the sections of the song. Your band will hear “Intro – 2 – 3 -4” in their in-ear monitors, and no exactly when to come in. With cues, you no longer have to worry about your band forgetting to repeat a bridge.
2. Fill in for missing musicians
When leading worship, there are times when we don’t have all of the musicians we need. Maybe there’s a song you want to play that has a violin part, but you don’t have a violin player. Maybe there are multiple synth layers to a song, but you only have one piano player. Whatever you’re missing, tracks can fill in the gaps. Multitracks are tracks separated into individual instrument files. When you use our free app Prime to run tracks, you can select what instruments you would like, instead of using the entire track. So if you just want to play to the click and add a pad and shaker in the background, you can mute the rest of the tracks.
Using tracks also comes in handy for those times when a musician in your band cancels or calls in sick last minute. Simply turn on the bass part, and you have a bass player for Sunday!
3. Flexibility
Many people don’t want to play to tracks because they feel that they will be stuck to it and won’t be able to flow with the song. This is true if you are using tracks on a CD. But with multitracks, you can be as flexible as you want! In our Prime app, you can easily change the key, tempo, and arrangement of the track. You can also jump around between sections and repeat sections if you want to be spontaneous in worship. Using tracks in Prime makes it simple to be flexible. You control the tracks, not the other way around.
If you want to get started running tracks in worship every Sunday, we created a free training on how to get started. We will walk you through the equipment you need, creating a setlist, routing your audio, and being spontaneous with tracks. Sign up today at tracksinworship.com!
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