My senior year of high school I shot and directed my first short film, Tribes: a post-apocalyptic tale concerning two warring factions of teenagers. The film contained some inspired camera work and a great story, but the audio was awful. When I reviewed the footage I could barely hear the actor’s voices over the acoustic apocalypse created by wind, the metallic roof of a key barn location, and thrashing tree limbs. Just last month I watched Sound for Film and Television, by Berry Green and David Jimmerson with Matt Gettemeier (http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Film-Television-Barry-Green/dp/B00194G1KY), and had it been available ten years ago Tribes might have been the tour-de-force I was hoping for... or at least watchable. I encourage you to pick up a copy of Sound for Film and Television today and you can learn how to record good audio from the experts. Now, instead of spending this article regurgitating what I learned from Sound for Film and Television, I’ll share with you the unexpected spiritual lessons I discovered while learning how to record good production audio.
Many video producers, myself included, are more akin to a one-man band than a conductor at the center of a symphony. We don’t have department heads and a crew of a few hundred people to bring our vision to reality. Most days there are 30 hours of work to be done in 24. With all the demands for our time outside of work and the abundance of production needs our Church and Ministries have, one of the easiest areas to give up is time with the Lord. The flesh and blood people we interact with will let us know if we miss a meeting or deliverable, or don’t return their calls or emails, but with the Lord it is easy to let ourselves slip out of earshot.
I discovered the spiritual lessons hidden in Sound for Film and Television when they discussed signal-to-noise ratio, the ratio of signal power to the noise power corrupting the signal. Since I produce Christian videos I couldn’t help but think of one thing, how important it is to clearly hear the signal of the Lord’s voice. As Jesus said in Matthew 11:15, “He who has ears, let him hear.” But hearing the signal of the Lord’s voice becomes difficult when there is too much noise created by our own voice, others’ voices, the evil one’s voice, and the general cacophony of modern life. It is easy for my spiritual ears to be overwhelmed by my work, my family, the movies and television I watch, the reading I do, the music I listen to, and the time I spend on the Internet. All of these things are important to me, but if I constantly surround myself with all that noise how will I ever hear the voice of the Lord?
Thankfully there are solutions given on the DVD to improve a poor signal-to-noise ratio in order to receive the signal we want to hear loud and clear. Whether you work for a Church or Ministry or not, we all need to clear the signal path between the Lord’s voice and our ears. None of us want to be like those Jesus spoke of in Mark 4:12 when he quoted the Prophet Isaiah, “they may be… ever hearing but never understanding”. Hidden in the very practical approach to recording good audio on Sound for Film and Television there are four ways you can improve the signal-to-noise ratio between you and the Lord.
- Find distracting noises and silence them: If it has an on/off switch, turn it off. Find a place you can be alone with the Lord, pray, and read the Bible. Since he is omnipresent all you have to do is find a place you won’t be distracted by anything or anyone.
- Silence Echo: Maybe there are hurtful or negative statements bouncing around inside your head. Things like, “I’m no good, I’m ugly, I’m a hack”. If an echo exists in a location, a good sound person will tell you to change locations. Thanks to the Lord Jesus, we are allowed to do just that by the “renewing of our minds” spoken of in Romans 12:2. If the room of your mind is filled with echo spend time in the Word and prayer and you will change locations without moving an inch.
- Proximity raises the signal while lowering the noise: By deliberately making a time and place for the Lord you will be closer to him and hear him better. James 4:8 “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
- Rejection and Sensitivity combine for reach: How good is your mic? You have to be sensitive to the Lord’s voice and reject all other noises in order to hear him. The more time you spend reading the Bible and in prayer the better you’ll be able to reject the voices of others and be sensitive to the Lord’s. Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”’
Though Audio for Film and Television wasn’t intended as a work of spiritual formation it helped me tremendously when I discovered the spiritual lessons contained in its practical advice. Over the next couple months I challenge you to be deliberate in taking time to listen to the Lord in prayer and by reading his Word. On the DVD they say getting good audio is 70% of what you see. The better you hear the Lord’s voice your perception of everyone and everything will be changed for the better. And remember, even the Lord Jesus took deliberate steps to improve the signal-to-noise ratio between himself and God the Father; “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 2:35).
Stewart H. Redwine is a Video Producer for Christ in Youth as well as Producer and Director of Photography for onetimeblind’s hit mini-movies and Youth Specialties 36 Parables DVD series.
He enjoys writing, tending his garden, and slalom skiing in the gorgeous Ozark Mountain Country of Southwest Missouri where he lives with his wife and two children. You can read more of what he has to say about faith, culture, and the arts at StewartHRedwine.com.
