If you’re a Worship Leader and have been using loops for the past few years, odds are high you’ve stumbled across the Our Rising Sound site. The site was created by Arizona based Worship Leader Kyle Campos. For the past few years Kyle has operated the site and filled it with helpful tips and tricks related to using loops in a Worship Environment and insightful (and much needed) rants about Christian music and the state of the Church.
Kyle has also posted some of the loops that he has made and used in His own local church allowing people to try them out. He’s now started to create custom loops for people..Check Him out if your looking for a Custom Loop! We recently had the opportunity to talk with Kyle about his experience leading worship and using loops. If your a Worship Leader that is starting to use loops this is a great article for you!
If your new to loops check out our Transitioning your Band to Using Loops Blog Series and our Foundations Click Tracks and Elements Sample Collections.
How did you start playing music and Leading Worship?
My entire family is very musically gifted. My dad and mom were both in a band in their younger years and they led worship at a Vineyard church. So I grew up listening to my parents and older brother play music and much of it in the church worship context.
My parents planted a Vineyard in Lompoc CA and when I was in middle school started playing drums for our church and in a local area worship band. As I got into high school I was playing more and more guitar and started leading worship. The Vineyard was so good at training young musicians and I was very fortunate to be taught by a lot of super talented people.
What Instruments do you play?
Drums, Guitar and a little bit of keys. I started off playing trumpet in elementary school and I was awful, just horrible. Then I started playing drums in middle school and eventually wanted to write songs so I picked up my dad’s guitar and taught myself how to play. More recently when I got into loops I picked up keys, but I’ve got a long way to go on the keys.
Where are you currently serving as Worship Pastor?
I’m the Executive Elder and Worship Pastor at Life Connection Church in Phoenix AZ. I’ve been there for almost 5 years now. We’re an inner city Reformed Charismatic church in a rough neighborhood on a mission for Jesus. We have a lot of homeless, lots of drug addicts, prostitution, we’re across from an adult bookstore, crime, you name it we got it around us.
How did you get started with using Loops in a Worship Setting?
You know it got to a point where my ears were getting tired of the same instruments over and over. Playing live there was so much I heard in my head that we just couldn’t pull off live. We could do it in the studio, but not live. Eventually I just thought, “why can’t we do this live too?” So I started experimenting and investigating how it would all work. I got really inspired by a band called Helio Sequence. I got really into them and went to 4 or 5 of their concerts and they pulled off loops live in a way I never heard before. They were just incredible.
I took a few weeks off from leading and locked myself in a room and worked on a bunch of loops. Some of them good, others not so much now that I listen back to them. I got the band together and we practiced for a couple weeks playing to a click and the loops. I’m really fortunate to have such talented people around me, they picked it up and we just went with it. After doing loops for over a year now it’s pretty much second nature to us. All those jitters about getting off click or the computer crashing are pretty much gone.
What Tools do you Currently use to Create loops?
I do most all my programming in Reason, I use Garage Band for recording vocal cue tracks and then live I use Ableton Live to play the loops, vocal cue tracks and run the click. I use a M-Audio Oxygen keyboard, and use a Presonus Firebox as my audio interface.
What advice can you give to Worship Leaders that are just starting with using Loops?
First I’d say have a clear vision of what you want to hear musically and make sure your band is on the same page. Even if you have the best sounding loops on the planet, if your band isn’t on the same page stylistically, your arrangement is going to be a nightmare.
Second, take your time and practice. Make sure your drummer and band is comfortable with a click. Practice until you can’t mess it up.
Third, get involved in the loop community online and learn from guys who’ve been doing it and doing it well. There’s a lot of resources online so just engage and learn as much as you can. Most importantly, don’t let using loops distract you from what your job is. And that is to glorify Jesus. And don’t get so enamored with your incredible loop skills that you forget that our worship is Holy Spirit empowered, not loop empowered.
Make sure to check out Kyle’s site! If your looking for Custom Loops, get in touch with Him through His site. You can listen to some of the loops he has made here. Follow him on Twitter and check out his Church Life Connection Church
Related posts:
- Interview with Dale Baker This past fall we got the chance to sit down...
